The Legal Process For Child Injury Claims - Part Three

Depending on which county the lawsuit is filed in, the discovery phase can take many months or sometimes more than a year. When discovery is completed, and each side knows what evidence will Josie and the Pussycats offered at trial, this is the time when the parties may conduct settlement discussions. Sometimes the parties will engage in alternative ways to resolve the case, like mediation. In mediation, the parties agree to hire a retired judge or an experienced attorney who will assist the parties in reaching a settlement. Mediation is voluntary and nonbinding (unless a settlement is reached). A mediation session is Batman model kit confidential Axis and Allies anything that is said during the session cannot be used at trial. Many times mediation can be used to successfully resolve a case involving children. Mediation sessions can occur in one day or last several days, depending on the complexity of the case.

The settlement of a child's injury case also requires court approval. A Settlement Guardian ad Litem (SGAL) must also be appointed by the court (please refer to Chapter 7 which explains the settlement process for child injury claims). It may be advantageous to appoint the SGAL early in the case so this person can be fully apprised of all developments during the course of the litigation. Sometimes it may be advantageous to have the SGAL attend and/or participate in mediation to assist the attorney in settlement talks.

If the case does not settle after discovery has ended, the case will then proceed to trial. Each side has the option of trying the case before a judge or jury. A jury trial does not happen automatically. One party must specifically request that the case be decided by a jury as opposed to a judge. Most often the defense will request a jury. This is accomplished by filing a document in court called a "jury demand" and then paying a "jury fee" to the clerk. The court rules usually require that certain documents must be filed and exchanged within 30 to 60 days before the trial date. These documents may include witness and exhibit lists, motions, trial memorandums, and jury instructions, among others.

Understandably, most parents want to avoid going to trial in their child's personal injury case. Trials are stressful and can cause additional anxiety for everyone involved. Usually a trial is the last resort to resolve the child's case. Oftentimes the insurance company will not want a serious or significant child injury case to go to trial, particularly when there is no serious dispute about fault for the accident and the severity of the injury. However, some the insurance companies have a reputation of utilizing "scorched earth" litigation tactics by needlessly forcing and prolonging the litigation process in an effort to wear down the attorney and force a smaller settlement. Sometimes this will include forcing an unnecessary trial, particularly if the insurance company is convinced that the child's attorney has little experience in trying accident cases in court. Usually, it is only by threatening and preparing for trial that the child's attorney will be able to secure a reasonable and just settlement offer for the child. This is why it is extremely important that the parent retain an attorney who has experience trying cases in court. You don't want to use a lawyer for a serious injury case only to find out a few weeks or months before trial that the lawyer has either never tried a case in court or that the lawyer is afraid to try the case. In those situations, it may be too late to hire another attorney to take over. Many of the most experienced and reputable personal injury attorneys who handle children cases may refuse to take over a case so late in the process, especially if the trial date is only a few months away. Of course, there may be exceptions but this is usually a situation for parents to avoid.

A trial will also necessitate a decision about whether the injured child should appear and/or testify in court. Not every case requires the testimony of the injured child. There are strategic reasons for and against having the child testify in court. The primary consideration has to be the health and best interests of the child. If testimony in court will cause too much stress and anxiety, then an alternative is to videotape the child's testimony outside of court and then show the video to the jury. Each case is different, and the decision will rest on the specific facts of a case and the attorney's judgment on what course of action is best.

Christopher M. Davis is a href="InjuryTrialLawyer.com">Seattle attorney focusing personal injury cases. He is also known as a child accident lawyer and has written the the book 'Little Kids, Big Accidents' as a resource for parents of injured children. Learn more about Chris Davis and the Davis Law Group by visiting href="DavisLawGroupSeattle.com">DavisLawGroupSeattle.com

What Have You Done to Earn the Good Stuff in Life?

Anyone who's practiced attracting what they want knows they have to allow it; they have to agree to receive what they ask for. There's more to it than just that, but this is usually a big factor when things don't show up or are delayed. Allowing is not always as easy as it sounds. Though I see a difference between the energy of deserve vs. earn, I think they're intimate partners. If you don't think you deserve, you may not ask to begin with; yet, you might also think you have to earn the right to ask, as well as to receive.

The Infinite Intelligence doesn't expect you to earn anything. It does follow energy exchanges, but it doesn't attach the self-imposed belief that says you have to earn what you receive or that there's any requirement to be considered as one Fleer Ted Williams deserves; nor, does it use the same value system we do.

For anyone ready to disagree about the earning part, let me explain what I mean. In our human frame of reference, we believe people earn things. That's our word for an Barbie and Ken that's agreed to. You don't earn the right to make a purchase, you agree to it and an exchange is made. It's actually the same principle for any job or anything at all. But, I'm talking about going beyond man-made laws to higher laws, the laws that operate everything in existence.

Everything is yours and nothing is yours. Everything you think you own is on loan to you from the Universe. We agreed to create and/or follow rules or laws like gravity and fair exchange so we keep a level of order. We do our best to decide what some things are valued at so we know what to exchange. If you've ever heard the true story about the man who was ready to end his life because he could no longer perceive anything good about it, until a stranger smiled at him, you realize it is impossible to impose a value on a life saved by a smile that cost nothing but a relatively small amount of energy on the smiler's part. And in that brief moment, the value of that smile was and remains priceless.

Whether you use the label of God, Universe, Spirit, or any number of names used today, IT wants us to have, use, and enjoy all. Spirit allows us to impose rigidity or flow on our experiences, and created the quantum field to reflect our deepest-felt conscious and unconscious beliefs so we can look in the "mirror" and see what we're up to at the inner levels, to have revealed to us the beliefs we're toting around like beacons or boulders.

We've 1970's toys conditioned to believe we have to be a certain way to be acceptable or deserving, even of love. Most were never taught that we're a process, much less taught how to consciously engage with this, especially since we're in process the whole of our physical lives until the moment after our last breath. We also release blocks if we realize the ones who taught us were taught the same ways.

Your true state is whole. You are whole in Spirit. You don't need to grow. It is your experiences you desire to grow. Nothing about you needs to be changed or fixed, but you may have the intention to experience something about yourself or your life differently. The latter is what you want to hold as your intention so the quantum field reflects this back to you. When you focus on what's broken, you don't focus on solutions or resolutions. It's better to ask yourself how you can be more of what you desire now.

The reason anyone, including some of the biggest Law of Attraction gurus, still experience "stuff" is because stuff happens . . . because life is an ongoing process. Because nearly all of us have baggage filled with beliefs that need to be transformed from beliefs that don't serve us to ones that do. And you don't do this once; you do it on an ongoing basis.

When we believe we need to change or fix or eliminate anything, we create obstacles to attaining what we desire, which always ends up being about how we want to feel inside. We don't mean to add fuel to the fire, but we do. When you think something is broken, you either have your mind on the past (self-judgment) or on the future (self-judgment). You're everywhere but where and when you are. You're not in a state of oneness because self-judgment causes you to feel separate from Spirit, from others, and from who you really are.

If you were "out of your mind" and in your truth of process, you'd know this; and like a stream, you'd flow and not feel conflict about the direction you travel or the speed, or even about having to go around rocks or anything else that shows up on your path. But, even such conflict is part of the process for some and can be valued by them if they pay attention to the gift and the gain. The gift and gain are more easily experienced if you release self-judgment and embrace the truth: Love is the highest form of energy. Love your unique self.

I wish you a wonderful day and a day filled with wonders.

Joyce Shafer, LEC and author (jls1422@yahoo.com), offers the 8-week online Reinvent Yourself: Refuse to Settle for Less in Life and Business coaching program where You Decide What You Pay to Participate. Real methods, real results. Check out her exclusive Platinum Program Membership. Want the materials, but not the coaching? New Release! Reinvent Yourself eCourse program materials available at href="lulu.com">lulu.com (see her other books/e-books there, as well). Get a discount when you purchase directly from her. See program details, sign up for her free newsletter at href="freewebs.com/coach4lifebalance">freewebs.com/coach4lifebalance Or, email her for more information