Pop quiz for parents: When your teenagers are talking on cell phones or texting while driving, who are they talking to?

You’d probably guess that friends rank pretty high on the list. You might make the same assumption about boyfriends or girlfriends. What might surprise you is more than half of teen’s phone calls behind the wheel involve you – parents. And that’s not all.

We’re all

Asker: How long do I have to file a claim for injuries from a car accident or medical malpractice?

Attorney: I always say that after an accident, time isn’t on your side. There are time limits that restrict your legal rights to seek compensation for your injuries. These deadlines are called statutes of limitations, and they vary not only from state to state, but also depending

Asker: Can I sue for a slip-and-fall in a store or parking lot? The company was very unapologetic about the incident and they were expecting me to handle my medical bills on my own. Can I sue for the slip and medical bills or would it be considered too minor?

Attorney: Of all the types of accidents out there, it seems that slip-and-fall injuries are among the

Asker: Can I request to be billed for copayment when seeing a specialist, like a neurologist, after an accident. I am currently not able to work and can’t pay out of pocket now?

Attorney: Pursuing a personal injury claim can take time, so you might not see the money you deserve for a little while. That shouldn’t prevent you from getting the treatment you need now. You

They say knowledge is power, but a disturbing new safety study proves that knowing an action is dangerous apparently doesn’t stop drivers from doing it anyway. A Harris poll published late last month found that of the thousands of drivers surveyed, large percentages clearly recognized the risks of driving while distracted or intoxicated – and then admitted to engaging in those same hazardous behaviors.

It’s alarming that

Asker: Do I have to accept what the insurance company offers me for an injury claim? If I accept a settlement offer that doesn’t cover all of my damages, do I give up my right to pursue compensation for the remaining damages? How do I know if the offer is a fair amount?

Attorney: Choosing to accept or reject a settlement offer is always a gamble. If

Asker: In New Jersey, do I have to pay medical bills for an accident that wasn’t my fault? If I go through my insurance, I have to pay the $2,500 deductible before they pay for anything. I didn’t even know when signing up for this policy that there was a medical deductible. I don’t feel like I should be paying for an accident I didn’t cause.

Attorney:

Asker: I was hurt in a car accident recently, but I can’t afford my own attorney at this stage. Why are lawyers so expensive? Do they always charge up front for fees? I want to sue, but can’t afford the fees right now.

Attorney: I’m sorry to hear about your accident. You’re not alone if you’re having financial problems resulting from it. Most of the clients my

If your summer plans include a dip in the pool or a swim in the ocean, then it’s important that you know the dangers of drowning and what you can do to prevent an accident or cope with a drowning injury. When you think of drowning, you probably imagine a nightmarish scenario in which you find your child unresponsive at the bottom of the pool. Yet with

You’ve heard the saying about cutting off your nose to spite your face, but insurance companies take the concept to whole new levels of bizarre. More than once, we’ve seen them essentially keep policyholders prisoners in hospitals rather than discharging them according to doctors’ orders just so the insurance company wouldn’t have to pay for necessary medical equipment. No matter that another day of hospitalization costs substantially

You pay your auto insurance premiums in exchange for a promise of coverage. In states with no-fault laws involving accidents, a crucial part of that coverage is personal injury protection, or PIP, the portion of coverage which pays your medical bills if you are hurt. But imagine that you get hurt and that the insurance company to whom you’ve paid thousands of dollars suddenly decides that it

Imagine how it might feel to know that everywhere you go, someone is following you, perhaps videotaping or photographing you without your consent. You find cars tailing you when you leave work at the end of the day. Suspicious people pursue you everywhere, even coming to your workplace and seeking out personal information about you from your coworkers. Eventually, every shadow startles you.

If you thought only

You hear a lot about the rules of the road, but usually they apply to people who are actually moving: drivers, pedestrians, cyclists. In his quest to get out of paying a claim, one particular insurance adjuster invented a “rule” that left us pretty shocked. Apparently people in vehicles parked on the sides of the street are the ones responsible if a truck driver backs into

The risk of workplace injuries involving ladders is, well, high. Falls are among the most common causes of deadly unintentional injuries, and not just in the workplace – everywhere. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed work injury data from 2011 and ladders play a significant role in fall injuries, especially in the workplace.

Statistics? You’d Better Be Sitting Down

When we talk about falls

A study from international healthcare journal BMJ Quality & Safety suggests that doctors make more mistakes than we realize when it comes to identifying our medical conditions. Medical errors happen with astonishing frequency, but the results of this study illustrate that misdiagnosis is far more common than the average American probably thinks. Each year in the United States, 12,000,000 patients are misdiagnosed.

Statistically, that means one in