Are You Thinking Of Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer?

If you have been injured and are thinking of hiring a personal injury lawyer there are a few things to keep in mind.
First of all, find a lawyer who specializes in your type of case and in the type of law your case falls under. You want a lawyer who specializes in personal injury law, not one who specializes in other areas of law such as criminal law, wills, estates, or divorce.
Talk to several lawyers before hiring one to handle your case. Most personal injury lawyers offer a free initial consultation to discuss your case. This consultation gives you the opportunity to ask the lawyer questions such as: how much experience he or she has; what the fees are; what he or she feels your chances of having a successful case are; who will be working on your case (it may be an associate rather than the person you have the initial consultation with); and how long he or she feels it will take for a resolution of your case.
The initial consultation is for the benefit of both you and the lawyer. While you are deciding whether or not you want to hire that particular attorney, the attorney is looking at the case and deciding if it is a case he or she wants to take on.
During the consultation ask each lawyer the same questions so you have the information to equitably compare each lawyer and decide who you can work with best. You want to work with someone you are comfortable talking to because you may have to discuss some very personal information with your lawyer; so take note of how comfortable or uncomfortable you are when you visit each lawyer.
Take all the information you have about your case with you for each initial consultation including photos but don’t take your originals. Take copies. When you do sign a contract with a lawyer you may be asked to provide the originals, but copies should be fine for your initial consultations.
Before signing a contract with a lawyer, make sure you understand the contract. Personal injury lawyers almost always work on a contingency basis. This means the lawyer only gets paid if he or she wins your case. Instead of the fee being hourly, the fee is a certain percentage of your award, typically one-third. You would then receive the other two-thirds of the award. But if any fees such as filing fees, expert witness fees, etc. are paid out of your portion of the award the actual amount you receive could be significantly less than two-thirds. Make sure you understand whose responsibility the extra costs will be.
If an attorney declines to take on your case, don’t be offended. Instead ask them for a recommendation of a lawyer they think may be able to help you with your case.
And keep in mind that using a small-claims court can be a viable option to using an attorney in certain personal injury cases, but it is still a good idea to consult with an attorney first to see if that is best course of action for you to take with your particular case.

How To Choose The Right Lawyer When You Have Over 66,000 To Choose From

Finding The Right Lawyer
This is probably the most important step and should be one of your first priorities if you are serious about buying a house in Spain. Seek the services of a good lawyer, before you start the hunt. Why? Because with Spain currently still experiencing a property boom, and the market favoring the seller, it is important that you are ready to act quickly, to avoid any disappointment, should that perfect property present itself. A lot of house hunters start searching first and then worry about other things later. Considering that this will be a large investment of your time and money it is important to start off with your paper work in order first.
Your lawyer should be an independent professional who will protect your interests, and should be someone with whom you are comfortable with in terms of service and of course price. He or she should be fully conversant with both Spanish and U.K law.
Your lawyer or Abogado must be fluent in English as any badly translated contracts can, and have in the past rendered them useless, and can lead to a whole host of problems and some massive headaches in the future.
It is very important that you never sign any documents without getting your lawyer to check them first. This may sound like common sense, and it is. But picture this scenario: You’ve decided to buy a property in Spain but you are not entirely certain what you want . So you decide to start looking, ‘just to get a feeling for the market'
You are with really nice agents and they have a great deal that has just come in that morning,a perfect property at a very low price. So you rush off to view it. And guess what,it’s the one.
But you haven’t arrange a lawyer yet.
"That’s not a problem",say the nice agents,"all you need to do is place a deposit to reserve it, then we can take it off our books immediately (so no one else will snap it up) and then your lawyer can check the property and legal stuff later."
So you go ahead read and sign the deposit contract, under the premise that you only are reserving the property.
But this isn’t true, and the contract can have clauses that bind you to adverse terms in the main document that you receive at a later date. If you were to do this then you could well have a problem getting your deposit back later, should your lawyer find something that may make you not go through with purchasing the property. So get a lawyer in place before you start your search.
Check that the person representing you is actually fully qualified and is a registered member of the Law Society. He or she should be happy to give you their registration number for ‘the Colegio de Abogados’ which you can and should double check. If you should have any problems then you can and should complain to them.
Also, by using a register lawyer/solicitor you are covered in the unlikely event that they make a mistake or act negligently. Register lawyers are covered by professional liability insurance, so you would be able to take action against them, knowing that the fund exists to compensate you if your lawyer is found liable.
An added bonus would be whether your lawyer can advise you on the various forms of property ownership and the associated taxes. It is however advisable to get the advise of a specialized financial advisor or accountant.
For a detailed list of law firms in Spain based on my own research and experience then visit http://www.find-a-lawyer-in-spain.com. Thank You.

War, Porn Web Site Creator Arrested

LAKELAND -- Polk County sheriff's deputies Friday night arrested the creator of a Web site that stirred international controversy with its alleged swap of free access to pornography for pictures from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including dead and mutilated Iraqi and Afghan war dead.

Chris Wilson ran the Web site, the name of which contains an unprintable word, from his apartment at the Glen Cove Apartment Complex on Edgewood Drive.

In September, when news reports of the site began to surface, Wilson insisted that because the site actually is hosted in Amsterdam, he was not violating any laws in Polk County.

"Nice try," Brad Copley, a prosecutor with the State Attorney's Office, who specializes in obscenity and sex crime cases, said Friday night. "He's in charge of the Web site. He lives here. He's operating from his house. It doesn't matter where his server is."

Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, was arrested on charges of obscenity, but not for the pictures of the war dead.

However, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, "We have notified the Army's criminal investigation division. We will forward to them any investigative documents they deem appropriate if they open an investigation."

The Army opened an investigation into the site in September, but then quickly dropped it. Investigators said they did not have sufficient evidence to prove that American military personnel had sent in the gruesome pictures.

As he was led from his apartment in handcuffs Friday night, Wilson, asked to comment, said only "I love my lawyer."

That lawyer, Lawrence Walters of Orlando, is a veteran First Amendment litigator, who has battled the Polk Sheriff's Office and Copley before in an obscenity case.

He said Wilson had sought him out prior to the arrest. And deputies said they found evidence that Wilson was researching speech and obscenity cases similar to his.

All that suggests Wilson may have expected trouble from local law enforcement.

As Walters said, "I'm not surprised (by the arrest), but disappointed. This is clearly retaliation for disseminating graphic news accounts and footage from Iraq and Afghanistan. There are hundreds of thousands of adult Web sites, including in Central Florida and Polk County, and my client is singled out. It smacks of selective enforcement."

He added, "I would hope that one wouldn't face the wrath of the legal system just merely because some police officers wanted to be on television."

Walters said that the law protects Wilson's site as legitimate speech and that his client has done nothing wrong.

Wilson's Web site advertises itself as primarily being dedicated to amateur pornography.

Wilson claims that soldiers serving overseas were trying to get access to his Web site, but were not able to use their credit cards from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He made an offer on the Web site that if they posted pictures proving they were military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, he would give them free access to the paid sections of the Web site.

For about six or seven months, people claiming to be members of the military have been sending in pictures of life overseas, ranging from picturesque scenery to hideous pictures of people burned black and unrecognizable, or with body parts mangled or blown apart.

According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the area that includes pornographic pictures was equally distasteful.

"Normal people don't have the ability to imagine how perverse and horrific these images were," he said. "It certainly is content that shocks the community."

According to Copley, many of the pictures of women clearly were taken without their knowledge or consent.

"There's revenge photos all over the Web site. Boyfriends posting pictures of ex-girlfriends, pictures taken from hidden cameras," he said.

Deputies arrived shortly before 5 p.m. with a warrant to search the apartment, Judd said.

They seized three computers, a laptop computer, recording equipment, a digital camera and tripod, several women's costumes, including a nun costume and a frilly costume with an apron, and other materials, according to Deputy Sandy Scherer.

Depending on what sheriff's deputies find on the computers, more charges could be pending, Judd said.

"It's important to recognize that this is only the beginning of the investigation, not the end."

Judd said his office began to investigate the site after it became aware of it through news reports.

"In my 33 years of law enforcement, this was one of the more horrific examples of obscene materials that the Sheriff's Office has ever encountered," Judd said.

After reviewing and downloading pictures from the Web site, the State Attorney's Office presented the pictures to County Judge Angela Cowden, Judd said.

Copley then filed 301 criminal charges against Wilson.

He was arrested on charges of 100 counts of distribution or transmission of obscene materials, 100 counts of offering to distribute or transmit obscene materials, 100 counts of possession of obscene materials. All of those are misdemeanors.

He faces one felony count of wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

The misdemeanors carry a potential penalty of up to one year in jail each, and the felony carries a potential penalty of up to five years in state prison.

Walters criticized the number of misdemeanors filed, saying the Web site itself should have constituted one count only.

"It smacks of charge stacking," he said.

Wilson was booked into the Polk County Jail on $151,000 bail.

Dana Willhoit can be reached at dana.willhoit@theledger.com or 863-802-7550. Ledger editor Billy Townsend contributed to this story.

Florida Lawyer Debuts Blog about Nutritional Supplements and the Law

A new legal weblog devoted to litigation and regulation of dietary and nutritional supplements has launched.

Boca Raton, FL, Nov 7. /SOAPWIRE/ -- Intellectual property and technology attorney Joel B. Rothman of the law firm of Rutherford Mulhall, P.A. has launched a new informational legal weblog devoted to litigation and regulation of dietary and nutritional supplements. The Nutritional and Dietary Supplement Law Blog is at www.nutrisuplaw.com or www.dietsuplaw.com.

This new legal blog or "blawg" contains news and analysis on a wide variety of legal issues facing producers of vitamins, cosmetics, diet pills, herbal remedies, organic products and foods.

"The nutritional and dietary supplement industry is growing rapidly," says Rothman, "and the variety and complexity of legal issues facing makers of innovative wellness products are multiplying. This new weblog will help industry insiders, in-house counsel, and other interested individuals stay abreast of legal developments effecting the supplement market."

The nutritional supplement industry is highly regulated. Several federal agencies provide oversight including the FDA, FTC, and USDA. States are also beginning to regulate supplement labeling and sales. Manufacturers of supplements need to understand the advertising rules including laws restricting claims about safety and efficacy, ingredient labeling, and good manufacturing standards.

State attorneys general and federal authorities have shown a willingness to prosecute deceptive advertising claims for supplements. Consequently, lawyers for dietary supplement makers need up-to-date information on new regulations and litigation effecting the industry.

Intellectual property infringement issues abound in this area. The intensively competitive supplement market has led to numerous trademark and patent infringement lawsuits against both large and small supplement manufacturers and marketers. In addition, because the Internet is used as a marketing tool by most every supplement manufacturer, the uncharted legal territory of Internet law has led to disputes over illegal spamming, domain name hijacking, and other cyber law violations.

The anti-doping controversy in sports has raised allegations that over-the-counter supplements contain steroids or human growth hormone. The focus on steroids has led to criticisms of supplement manufacturers and increased attention on good manufacturing and labeling practices. At the same time, the historic feud between pharmaceutical manufacturers ("Big Pharma") and the supplement industry continues over supplement ingredients such as ephedra and non-ephedra stimulants used in diet pills.

Consumers want nutriceutical and cosmeceutical products with natural, wholesome ingredients that are safe and effective. Supplement producers want educated and satisfied consumers who recognize and appreciate the value of their products. The nutritional and dietary supplement law blog will educate and enlighten the industry on the legal challenges it faces for the greater good of consumers and manufacturers alike.

More more information, please visit the nutritional and dietary supplement law blog at www.nutrisuplaw.com or www.dietsuplaw.com.


About Joel B. Rothman. Joel is a technology attorney with the Florida law firm of Rutherford Mulhall, P.A. Joel's practice includes transactions, litigation and regulatory matters for businesses, including intellectual property matters such as trademark, copyright, patent and trade secrets, and a portion of Joel's practice is devoted to representing nutritional supplement manufacturers. Joel is a former New York City rackets prosecutor and is "BV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

About Rutherford Mulhall, P.A. Rutherford Mulhall, P.A. has been serving its clients since 1990. The firm specializes in providing high quality legal services with an emphasis on prompt service and individual attention. The firm is truly full-service and its attorneys and staff are professionals dedicated to meeting all of its clients' legal needs. The firm has earned the "AV" rating of Martindale-Hubbell. The firm's web site is http://www.rmlawyer.com.

Plea Deal Near With 2nd Abramoff Associate

By Susan Schmidt and James V. GrimaldiWashington Post Staff WritersFriday, December 9, 2005; Page A08
Federal prosecutors have all but finalized a plea agreement with a second business partner of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for cooperation in the ongoing criminal investigations of Abramoff, congressional aides and Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), lawyers in the case said yesterday.
Adam Kidan, a longtime confidant of Abramoff's, has agreed to testify against Abramoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., next month when he is to face trial on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with their purchase of a fleet of Florida casino boats. A Kidan plea would tie Abramoff's legal troubles in Florida more closely to the Washington investigation into his lobbying practices, pressuring Abramoff to reach a deal of his own that could implicate members of Congress and other government officials, lawyers involved in the case said.

Adam Kidan is ready to testify, a lawyer says. (Randy Bazemore - AP)
The Jack Abramoff Story
Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been indicted for illegal actions he allegedly took to purchase a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a businessman who was later killed in a gangland-style hit. Other efforts he took to funnel money to support causes of interest to his clients are also being probed.
Kidan, who has known Abramoff since their student days when they were members of the College Republicans, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the purchase of the SunCruz fleet in the fall of 2000.
"Adam will testify against Abramoff and Ney if he is given an opportunity to do so," said Joseph Conway, an attorney for Kidan.
Prosecutors in the case declined to comment. Abramoff's Florida trial is scheduled for Jan. 9. A hearing for Kidan to enter a new plea has been scheduled for next week, a development reported yesterday in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "We don't have a signed plea agreement yet," Conway said. "It is certainly going that way, but it is not totally done yet."
Stephen L. Braga, Scanlon's attorney, said: "That's a very surprising development that will only increase pressure on Mr. Abramoff to cut a deal."
Neal Sonnett, a Florida lawyer representing Abramoff in the SunCruz case, declined to say whether his client is in plea negotiations with the government. Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff's Washington attorneys, also declined to comment on whether plea negotiations are underway.
Prosecutors have told Ney they are preparing a possible bribery indictment against him over official acts that benefited clients of Abramoff. Ney inserted comments in the Congressional Record at Scanlon's request praising Kidan and castigating the reputation of SunCruz's then-owner, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, during contentious purchase negotiations. Six weeks ago, prosecutors got agreements from Abramoff, Kidan, Ney and former Ney aide Neil Volz to suspend the five-year statute of limitations while the investigation continues.
Ney's spokesman declined to comment. Ney has said he was defrauded by Abramoff and Scanlon.
Ney placed a newspaper ad in his district this month saying that he has asked the House ethics committee to investigate the Abramoff allegations but that he has not heard from the panel. "I recognize that questions have been raised in recent months regarding my association with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff," Ney said in the ad. "As I await the opportunity to clear my name and as I continue to get attacked by the media and my political opponents, I am working as hard as ever on behalf of those that I represent."
Abramoff and Kidan were indicted in August by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy relating to their $147.5 million SunCruz purchase. Prosecutors alleged that Abramoff and Kidan faked a wire transfer of $23 million -- the down payment they had agreed to put into the deal. The $23 million became the subject of a dispute between the Abramoff group and Boulis.
Boulis was killed in a gangland-style hit in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 6, 2001. Three men -- Anthony Moscatiello, Anthony Ferrari and James Fiorillo -- were charged last month in the Boulis murder. Kidan had hired Moscatiello and Ferrari to provide catering and surveillance services to SunCruz.
Moscatiello, identified by authorities as a former bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family, asserted after his arrest that Ferrari had admitted to him that he and another man killed Boulis after getting a call from Kidan, according to court filings. Conway declined to comment on the Moscatiello assertions.
Abramoff's SunCruz world frequently overlapped with his lobbying activities. For example, as the casino deal was closing, Abramoff introduced then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) to his lender in a private box at FedEx Field. DeLay's deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, was listed as a reference on loan papers, as was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Kidan attended an exclusive party in DeLay's office on Inauguration Day 2001 in Washington. During the purchase negotiations, Boulis received from DeLay's office a flag that had flown over the Capitol.