The post Car Insurance Up, Way Up. Gulf Coast Residents Need to Help Themselves first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
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Auto insurance rates are increasing dramatically. Here is what you need to do — get uninsured motorist coverage now. This insurance is specially designed to cover YOU from the driver with little or no coverage.
Here is my thinking. As insurance goes up, fewer people will get it. Already in our state, an estimated 20% of Alabama drivers do not have the state-required minimum. So, who pays if you get hit? Well, your insurance pays …if you bought uninsured motorist coverage.
A recent report from Bankrate shows insurance companies will increase your bill by roughly 26% this year. This increase puts the average cost in Alabama at around $2,200 a year. Though this amount is below the national average of approximately $2,500, I predict it will not stay there for long. Why? Our neighboring state of Florida has a 2024 average rate of about $4,000.
What is the reason for the sizeable increase? Severe weather damage, increased cost of repairs, and some observers say urban vandalism, which translates to auto theft and carjacking. These are not likely to change.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist covers can help solve another auto insurance problem in our state. The required minimum amounts in Alabama are way too little if you get seriously hurt.
Please don’t rely on others to protect you or pay their fair share. Protect yourself with good, solid insurance, no matter the cost. You will be so glad you did if you need it.
Let me add that uninsured motorist coverage is some of the least expensive insurance available.
If you are injured in a traffic accident or suffer any other personal injury like an on-the-job injury, nursing home neglect incident, slip, and fall, or boating accident, you can talk to us at the law firm of Steele Ritchie for free. We genuinely want to help. We are local attorneys with decades of experience helping people, especially in the southwest Mobile area. Give us a call at (251) 666-1212.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Lawyers Don’t Fight for Your Money first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>You’ll see ads where lawyers say they will fight for every dollar. Well, they don’t. Fight, that is. The law is more a mental skill than a physical one. Here is the reality of what you will see.
Any lawyer who screams or pounds the table in a courtroom may find him or herself in jail. I do not know any lawyer who got more money for a client by treating anyone to a fight. If that happened, it would upset the judge and be off-putting to the jury – which I suspect would take it out on the offending lawyer’s client.
In the legal business, either you can prove what happened, well, really did happen, or you can’t.
Now, a lawyer being thorough can mean more money to you. For example, checking video cameras or recruiting knowledgeable experts can help prove your case. But this is best done by methodically going through all the options. Why don’t you see this on TV? That image – though reality — does not make for a dynamic 30-second commercial.
Bottomline – choose determined over showy. By the way, my partner, Jason Steele, is especially known for his methodical approach to covering cases.
Let me give you one more tip in judging lawyer commercials. If you never get to speak with the person you see on the screen, you probably need to be at a better place. Every lawsuit requires many different people working towards the same goal, but you should be able to meet with the head person.
Jason and I strongly believe if you call us, you can meet with us. You have the right to know the people who are outthinking the other lawyers.
If you are injured in a traffic accident or suffer any other personal injury like an on-the-job injury, nursing home neglect incident, slip, and fall, or boating accident, you can talk to us at the law firm of Steele Ritchie for free. We genuinely want to help. We are local attorneys with decades of experience helping people, especially in the southwest Mobile area. Give us a call at (251) 666-1212.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Mobile & Mardi Gras Law: Keep Calm and Throw On first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>We love Mardi Gras in Mobile. I mean, WE LOVE MARDI GRAS IN MOBILE. Though the police seem to be more forgiving this time of year, there are some laws you are best to follow.
Accept the Danger of Flying Moon Pies. If you get hit with a pastry that is shaped like a planetoid, well, it may be hard to find a jury that thinks it is the krewe’s fault. The same can be said for flung beads. Watch out for flying objects and protect children. It has been known that some folks get overzealous and throw bags of beads or boxes of Moon Pies. If this happens, a jury might find in your favor.
Do Not Jump Over Barricades. The railings are there for a reason. Every police officer will have a ticket book and is capable of issuing a citation. Do you really want to extend Mardi Gras with a court date?
Do Not Throw Things Back. If you throw anything at a float, band member, or anyone marching, you may be arrested and spend the rest of the good times in jail.
Watch the Parades. Don’t Join the Parade. You cannot follow the floats. If you do, you could quickly be marched into the back of a patrol car.
No Underage Drinking. Really, do I have to mention this? I do because it happens. Just don’t. The child and the person who bought the liquor could be in serious trouble.
Some Mardi Gras Tips. If you need police assistance during a parade, go to the nearest intersection. I can almost guarantee you will find a uniformed officer there. Plus, put a card with your name and cell phone number in your child’s pocket. If you need it, you will be so glad you did.
Another Tip from a Mardi Gras Pro: I have attended more Mardi Gras parades than I can count and collected more Moon Pies than I should. Here is my tip … heat that Moon Pie in the microwave for a few seconds. I suggest about 8. No matter the time of year, you will fall in love with Mardi Gras all over again.
Some Tillman’s Corner Fun. If you like Mardi Gras and motorcycles, let me suggest the Mardi Gras Biker Ball, presented by the Mob Town Riders, on Feb. 10 at Tillman’s Corner Community Center. There is a fee, but they really let the good times roll.
If you are injured in a traffic accident or suffer any other personal injury like an on-the-job injury, nursing home neglect incident, slip, and fall, or boating accident, you can talk to us at the law firm of Steele Ritchie for free. We genuinely want to help. We are local attorneys with decades of experience helping people, especially in the southwest Mobile area. Give us a call at (251) 666-1212.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Alabama Accident: Learn This or Lose Money first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>Pass this around to your family and friends. They will need it when the time comes. I suggest you mentally practice these so that they become routine.
Here we go.
In an accident, admit nothing.
If you are even 1% at fault in Alabama, you will collect nothing. Do not even say, “I’m sorry.” Trying to help someone and say something soothing is natural, but this phrase can cost you plenty. You can ask questions like “Are you hurt?” or “Should I call an ambulance?” But you never want to give even the impression that you are responsible.
There is one other time you should not talk before getting legal advice. That is when asked to give a recorded statement by an insurance company. You ultimately may have to give one, but I strongly advise that you not do so without first talking with a lawyer.
Don’t delay medical treatment.
I don’t know if it is the adrenaline that floods the body after an accident or some fake show of strength, but way too often, people will try to minimize their injuries. Imagine you were on a jury and a person waited days, even weeks, to seek medical help. What would you think? That is why seeking immediate medical treatment is vital to your receiving a maximum settlement.
Discuss these simple rules with family members, especially young adults or teens in your household. As I so often see in my practice, it can mean receiving the money needed to get better or not receiving any money at all.
If you are injured in a traffic accident or suffer any other personal injury like an on-the-job injury, nursing home neglect incident, slip and fall, or boating accident, you can talk to us at the law firm of Steele Ritchie for free. We genuinely want to help. We are local attorneys with decades of experience helping the people of the Mobile area. Give us a call at (251) 666-1212.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Accidents and Death: It Is So Odd in Alabama first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>Dead is “dead and forgotten” in Alabama. At least, that is the way it seems.
Here is the reason why. In other states, the family of a person killed in, say, an auto accident can sue for the money that person would have contributed to the family income. Some examples are the cost of raising the children, the funds needed to pay the rent, and even the value of love and companionship. That is not the case in our state. Our state only lets you collect money a judge or jury thinks is equal to what it will take to get the bad guy not to kill anyone else.
This may surprise you, but Alabama attorneys have fought with insurance companies to try and prove an accident on the state line was in Mississippi, Georgia, or Florida. It can mean the difference between a few thousand dollars and a few million dollars for the surviving family members.
To me, here is the oddest part of our law. While other states focus on helping the surviving family members, Alabama concentrates only on punishing the wrongdoer.
Another strange fact is that only the personal representative (a person usually named in a will) can file a lawsuit in Alabama. Unless that person is a family member, no relative can pursue the case.
Here is another reality. There are time limits. So, I suggest that if a family member dies during an accident, you talk to an Alabama personal injury lawyer, such as myself, as quickly as possible.
If you suffer from any personal injury accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, wrongful death, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you get back on your feet.
Plus, join us on NBC 15 LawCall here in Mobile every Sunday night at 10:30, right after the news. We’ll have some legal information you can use. Plus, we specifically set aside a few hours on Monday morning to answer any questions you may have in real time. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Need To Know: Alabama Law & Traffic Accidents first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>Hit by another driver? Want your fair share of the available insurance money? To help in that, you need a “crash” course in Alabama auto wrecks.
First, this might shock you, but every year, Alabamians receive about $4 billion in compensation for traffic accidents. Yes, 4 billion with a B.
This money falls into three categories:
To maximize your dollars, here is my advice:
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We will return to our 30-minute show next week. All this season, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Alabama Roads: Night Walkers and Death first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>Here is the shocking truth: 75% of pedestrian deaths are at night.
You need to know this fact because, one, you do not want to be hit, and two, you do not want to hit anyone else. Even more shocking is that this number of nighttime accidents does not happen in other industrialized countries.
The sheer number of pedestrian deaths is staggering … 7300 U.S. walkers died in 2021. This is coming to public attention because of a deeply insightful New York Times article by Emily Badger, Ben Blatt, and Josh Katz.
I deal with traffic accidents every day. Many are from the carelessness of a driver … looking at a cell phone, driving too close, not slowing down at a construction area … but this research shows that we have purposefully designed our roads to ignore those who do not drive a car or truck.
This sounds true to me. We have prioritized cars and trucks getting from one place to another quickly. Here in Mobile, we have interstates running through the city. Also, traffic lights are only for cross streets, which results in some pedestrians having to walk blocks to cross the road safely.
To answer the question of why this is happening in America, it seems logical that many European cities were designed before the invention of the car, so they were mapped out to encourage people to walk. Another interesting fact is that 70-75% of European cars have manual transmissions. That requires two hands to operate … so you can not hold a cell phone.
There are other reasons why pedestrians may be in more danger at night, for example, mental illness, drugs/alcohol, cell phone use, and lack of reflective clothing.
Here is my advice. If you drive at night, watch out for the person walking. You may think you have the right of way and that the person needs to look out for you. But I have seen families destroyed after such an accident, and you do not want to be one of them.
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We will return to our 30-minute show later in January. All this season, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Night Traffic Deaths: 9X more likely first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
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If you drive at night, you are more likely to die at night. And I mean much more likely.
Another study showing the increased danger of night driving has come to my attention. Not because there are significant traffic deaths after dark; we knew that, but instead, it found that daylight savings time increases those deaths. When you think about it, it is not all that surprising. As it gets darker earlier, all the bad things about driving at night simply affect more people.
So, what is causing the danger? The number one reason is that you cannot see as far down the road with headlights as with sunshine. Headlights give you about 250 feet of visibility. If you are traveling at 70 miles an hour, you can cross that distance in 2 seconds. Not much time to react.
Two other important reasons for traffic trouble are drowsiness and drunk driving. Both are arguably nighttime problems.
Tiredness seems to be most prevalent between midnight and 6 am. A driver can quickly lose control of a vehicle if they close their eyes for even a second.
As for drunk driving, what can I say? To be safe, you need to watch out for erratic behavior. The drinker is not looking out for you.
As a younger man, I felt that driving at night was when you could lower your guard a little and enjoy the ride. But my work here at the law office and in reading a lot of research has taught me that this is just not so.
If I could give just one piece of advice about night driving, it would be to slow down. Whether you can see it or not, there is potential danger down the road.
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We are taking a break during football season but will return to our 30-minute show later in January. All this season, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post 2024: New Year, New Alabama Laws first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
]]>Behave badly in a boat? You now have a better chance of seeing the inside of an Alabama jail.
Boating Changes
Starting January 1, our state will treat boating incidents more like car and truck accidents. Here is an example: reckless boating, which was a misdemeanor, is now a boating violation. That change means tickets cost more, and jail time can be included. Increased penalties are also included for having a child under 8 on board without a life jacket and boating without a safety certification.
My strong legal advice … check the new law before you put your boat in the water this year. I expect the new laws will mean more vigorous enforcement.
Overtime Changes
Now, this is a little tough to understand, and I am not a tax lawyer, but here goes. The state of Alabama will not charge state income tax on overtime. I am told it should save hourly workers who do work past 40 hours a week about 5%. I am trying to imagine how employers will keep up with this.
Adoption Changes
Our state adoption laws have not changed in about 30 years. Starting in 2024, adopting a child should be easier and quicker. The significant change is separating child adoption from the process of appointing a guardian for an adult. The new law also opens communication between the different court systems.
New Specialty License Plates
If you want to pay for a license plate to help a good cause, there will be several new ones this year. For example, helping veterans of recent conflicts, brain cancer research, and emergency medical service providers.
Doggie Dining Still Rocks
I am happy to report the dogs allowed in outdoor seating at Alabama restaurants is still on the books. Woof.
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We are taking a break during football season but will return to our 30-minute show later in January. All this season, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
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]]>The post Can You Legalize a Santa Poem? You Bet! first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
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I like to laugh. It is just the ho, ho, ho of the season that gives me great joy. And it seems other lawyers think the same.
One of my favorite seasonal favorites is reading the legalized version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
First, a section of the original – which is really called A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore. I am sure you will recognize it.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
Now, here is how a lawyer would write it. According to a Wall Street Journal article, no one knows the original author.
Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter “the House”) a general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse. A variety of foot apparel, e.g., stocking, socks, etc., had been affixed by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that St. Nick a/k/a/ St. Nicholas a/k/a/ Santa Claus (hereinafter “Claus”) would arrive at sometime thereafter.
It sure sounds like the lawyers I know. If you want to read more click here.
Now, one of my other favorites. Lawyer David J. Pigott is the author.
Twas the night before Christmas, when the elves thought it’d be cute
To hit dear old Santa with a labor dispute.
It seems old Saint Nick had a duty of care,
And the elves all agreed their pay was unfair.
Santa’s lawyers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of slip-and-falls danced in their heads.
I especially like that last line. If you want to read the whole poem, you will find it by clicking here.
I hope you have a joyous Christmas. Be safe, and to all a good night.
By the way, here is the original Wall Street Journal article – https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-LB-50194
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We are taking a break during football season but will return to our 30-minute show in January. All this fall, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
The post Can You Legalize a Santa Poem? You Bet! first appeared on Steele Ritchie.
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