I am a 28-year-old auto mechanic and the sole support for my wife and two young children. I was hit by a drunk driver and permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Will a settlement factor in my inability to work at my previous job and also the the high likelihood that I will not be able to earn as much now?

Personal Injury Settlement Lost Wages Injury Law

I am a 28-year-old auto mechanic and the sole support for my wife and two young children. I was hit by a drunk driver and permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Will a settlement factor in my inability to work at my previous job and also the the high likelihood that I will not be able to earn as much now?

It is difficult to state with certainty how your particular case will be assessed. Your settlement will compensate you for the fact that you will have to change occupations, but only to the extent that your new occupation is lower paying and that you may not be able to work as long due to your disability. Here is an example with some fictitious figures and facts that might help:

Suppose John is in the same situation. He was in the hospital following the accident for 6 weeks until he could come home. He is permanently in a wheelchair and, even though he can move his upper body, he can no longer perform the functions required of a mechanic, like bending and crawling under cars. He is a gifted mechanic and would like to somehow stay in the business. He also has a wife and two young children, ages 3 and 5. His wife does not work outside the home. Now there won’t be any chance of her going to work because, at least for the time being, John will need care 24/7 for at least 6 months, unless they hire someone to provide home care. John’s lost earning capacity less the amount of money he eventually may be able to earn in a different job will be part of his economic compensation. It is speculative, because no one knows what kind of job John will end up with ultimately. Loss of earning capacity also takes into account one’s age, level of education, skills, experience and previous employment history. An attorney or forensic economist would use work-life expectancy tables to determine how long a work life John will have based on analysis of normal life expectancy and reduced life expectancy. Here are some sample figures:

Economic Damages
Hospital/Medical bills$ 124,000
Wage loss for 6 weeks in hospital$ 6,000
Medicines (including future)$ 90,000
Lost earning capacity (over normal work life to age 65 adjusted for inflation & for ed., skills, etc.) $2.22 mil
Less salary he will earn in future (e.g., managing auto shop front office to age 50) ($ 880,000)
Difference in retirement and benefits$ 650,000
Home medical care if wife has to work (less wife’s income as teacher)$ 896,000
Home medical care if wife doesn’t work $1.6 mil
Social Security Disability Insurance (until able to work–about 6 months)$ 5,200
Social Security Disability Insurance income (if working in other occupation) $ 0
Potential total economic damages$3,815,200

Non-economic Damages
Loss of consortium$ 500,000
Inconvenience and Pain and Suffering$5 mil – $8 mil

Total settlement range $9.3 mil – $12.3 mil

Please note that John’s wife may also sue for loss of consortium. Again, this is based on limited information and is an example of a possible calculation of a settlement based on fictitious figures and facts. Your individual case may vary from this substantially.

If you lived in Louisville, Kentucky, the amount might be substantially lower than if you lived in Boston. In addition, some states have put a cap on non-economic damages and the amount for loss of consortium, inconvenience, and pain and suffering would be limited.

For information on how to value your specific claim, and to find out if your state has a limit on non-economic damages, contact a personal injury attorney in your area. Economic damages when long-term earning capacity is at stake can be tricky. Be sure your lawyer has experience in this area.

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I’m a pharmaceutical salesman who works on commission. After I was injured, I probably lost a lot of money because I couldn’t make calls on my clients to deliver samples, take orders, or sign on any new clients for a few weeks. Am I entitled to compensation for the money I would probably have earned?

Calculating Lost Commissions Injury Law

I’m a pharmaceutical salesman who works on commission. After I was injured, I probably lost a lot of money because I couldn’t make calls on my clients to deliver samples, take orders, or sign on any new clients for a few weeks. Am I entitled to compensation for the money I would probably have earned?

The short answer is yes. Now let’s back up a bit and talk about how you would go about proving what your potential losses are. You don’t know what orders might have been made, what new clients might have signed on, how much future commission you will lose as a result of the time you had to take off. A lot of work on your part will be required in order to prove your case. Some attorneys will do it on their own, but often they will want to hire an expert in forensic economics or a CPA to figure out these questions.

As a salesman, you likely keep a day planner of some sort with all of your calls and appointments. Your attorney or expert will ask you questions, as for example, did someone make the calls on your behalf, deliver your samples and cover those appointments for you during your absence? If so, did it turn into business for your company? Did it translate into any commission for the person who covered for you or for you? You and your attorney will need to track that information down. If no one covered for you, did you lose the business entirely to another pharmaceutical company? Is there a chance of still getting that business? If so, will that be at the cost of losing business elsewhere due to the additional time it will take?

The clients or potential clients will need to be questioned to find out some of this information, as well as any business associates of yours who stood in for you. Even with all of the answers and an expert to put some figures together, much of the lost potential income question is still speculative and subject to heated rejection by the other side, especially by the insurance company for the opposing party.

At the very least, you are still entitled to your lost earning capacity, which is the value of the work time you lost as a result of being injured. Since you work on commission, proof of your earning capacity will have to be offered via your tax returns for the last few years. Usually these are averaged, but that, too, is arguable by either side, since there may be an upward or a downward slope in your earnings over the years. If upward, you may want to argue that you have earned more each year, and this year would be no exception. If downward, the other side will undoubtedly argue that there is a pattern of less earnings each year, and they’ll want to give you less than the average.

Again, the speculative question will be the potential lost income from commissions over and above what you’ve averaged over the last few years for the time you lost. Although it takes a lot of work to put together your proof, it certainly can be done with a good attorney and possibly that economic expert to assist.

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I am self-employed and I had to shut down my business for a couple of months after my accident due to my injuries. I missed important business meetings with current and potential clients. My business lost money while I was laid up. How will my losses be calculated? How can I prove lost income opportunities?

Lost Time Wages Self Employed Injury Law

I am self-employed and I had to shut down my business for a couple of months after my accident due to my injuries. I missed important business meetings with current and potential clients. My business lost money while I was laid up. How will my losses be calculated? How can I prove lost income opportunities?

Unlike simply losing wages because you had to stay home from your job as an employee with a company, losing self-employed income is much more complicated and often requires a forensic economist to consult on your case, especially if they are substantial. (A forensic economist is a specialist in determining your economic losses.) The damages to which you are entitled, if provable, are lost income, loss of earning capacity, lost profits, lost business opportunities and loss of good will. You will also want to show that you mitigated your losses, that is, to the extent possible, you reduced your losses by having an employee “cover” for you while you were out.

You will have to provide your tax returns, probably from several years to look for a pattern in your income, and financial statements for the current year. The difficulty is that the past years don’t always tell the story of the current year or the future (as you’ll see in the example below). In addition, you will want to provide your calendar of appointments, and possibly obtain letters from those with whom you would have been meeting if such meetings might have produced income in the future. While difficult to prove lost opportunities, letters from potential clients will be key in that effort.

Suppose you are a management consultant, incorporated as ABC Management, in business for yourself for only two years. You had a 6-month contract with Richman Corporation where you had consulted for 4 months when you were injured. At the same time, you were marketing your services to several other companies. You were in the process of negotiating a contract with Wealthco to begin in 2 to 3 months; you had appointments in the next month to meet with Joe Blo from Happy Company to discuss a future assignment; and with Susan Summer of WannabeCo. to discuss some part-time consulting work now and in the future. Nothing was a sure thing.

Your injuries required one month of recuperation. In the meantime, you lost a month of income on your current contract with Richman, and they hired another consultant to finish your contract, so that’s two months of lost income there. You couldn’t meet with Joe, so he hired someone else for that future assignment. You missed your meeting with Susan, and now she’s decided to use an in-house person to do the work. What are your losses? Besides the one month of income, you lost the balance of the contract with Richman Corporation; you lost the potential contract with Wealthco; you lost the part-time potential with WannabeCo. In addition, perhaps these companies will not call you in the future when something comes up, because you weren’t there when they needed you (loss of good will).

You also lost valuable marketing time. This is speculative and difficult to prove-especially since you are fairly new at this and you can’t point to your past tax returns as proof of a certain level of income. It is up to you, your attorney, and your attorney’s expert, to make your case with the best possible documentation. Here is a sample of this management consultant’s lost earnings:

Two months lost on contract with Richman:$ 36,000
Potential contract with WealthCo: $108,000
Potential part-time consulting with Wannabe: $50,000
Loss of Good Will$ 20,000
Loss of Marketing Time (based on # of phone calls
you make, letters you send out, meetings you have
with potential clients per week$ 10,000
Total Lost Earnings/Earning Capacity $224,000

These are fictitious figures based on the hypothetical situation detailed above. The companies are also fictitious and any similarity to real company names is unintentional and purely coincidental. The best strategy here and for you is to hire an attorney who has experience in cases involving self-employed clients. He or she will be able to tell you exactly what you need to provide in order to prove your case and get the most equitable settlement for your claim.

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I am a 34-year-old single mom with two kids to support. I was unemployed but looking for office work when I was injured in a head-on car crash 3 months ago. How does the delay in finding work factor into my lost/future earnings?

Calculate Earnings Unemployed Person Injury Law

I am a 34-year-old single mom with two kids to support. I was unemployed but looking for office work when I was injured in a head-on car crash 3 months ago. How does the delay in finding work factor into my lost/future earnings?

An unemployed person may have no present income, but he has earning potential. You have the capacity to earn money, the amount of which is based largely on your level of education, work history, background and experience. Your attorney will be able to build a case for your lost earning capacity, that is, your loss of future earnings, with information from you and the help of an economic expert. It doesn’t even matter what kind of job you were looking for. What matters is what you are qualified to do.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical situation. Suppose you were going to be disabled by your injury for 6 months. Your dominant arm is severely injured, broken in two places with a dislocated shoulder. You also have some broken ribs, which take months to heal. You will be unable to search for a job, and to interview for a position you might have gotten a week after the accident had it not happened. You have a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, and a teaching credential. You also paint and have been selling your paintings. You sold one recently for $1,500. You want to open an art studio to show your work one day. You have sold about 4 paintings a year for the last 3 years and are becoming better known in the area. You were looking for a job teaching art at the high school level that would pay about $35,000-$50,000 a year. To the extent you are able to continue looking for a job, one that you would start when you are physically able, you should do that. Mitigating your damages always makes a better impression on a jury than not doing anything to help your own situation.

What will you get for your lost earning capacity? What is the most you can do with your background? Here are some sample figures:

Lost future wages (as an art teacher for 6 months): $ 22,500
Lost earning capacity (as an artist with unknown potential): $ 15,000
Lost earning capacity (running an art studio): $ 10,000
Total potential lost earnings/lost earning capacity: $ 47,500

A lot of this is speculative and based on what you and your attorney are able to prove convincingly to a jury and relies greatly on what figures your economic expert can support.

This example is based on fictitious facts and figures. Your individual case may vary from this substantially. For information on how to value your specific claim, contact an attorney who is familiar with personal injury cases and ask how he would go about proving your specific losses.

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If I only use 3 notes, is that copyright infringement?

Use Of Notes Music Law Intellectual Property

If I only use 3 notes, is that copyright infringement?

There are rumors that sampling only four notes is not copyright infringement because it is protected as “fair use”. This notion of reducing copyright infringement down to the number of notes uses, however, is simply wrong. If you sample a single note, beat, or line from a sound recording without permission, that constitutes copyright infringement. Under current US copyright law, unauthorized “sampling” – no matter how minimal or seemingly innocuous- is usually not considered “fair use”.

Under US Copyright law, the true test for copyright infringement is not the number of notes sampled, but whether the sample is “substantially similar” to the original work. The other main questions is whether it should qualify as “fair use”.

In short, if you engage in unauthorized sampling and get sued by the owners, don’t expect to prevail in court on a “fair use” defense if you use the songs commercially for your own private benefit.

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)

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Is sampling illegal?

Legality Sampling Music Law Intellectual Property

Is sampling illegal?

Yes, contrary to popular belief and practice, sampling of an original copyrighted song without permission of the copyright’s owner is illegal copyright infringement.

Unauthorized sampling actually violates two potential legal rights. First, the instant you sample a portion of someone’s song (no matter how small), it constitutes a violation of the copyright in song itself – the © symbol – which is owned by the song writer or the music publisher. Second, sampling violates the sound recording copyright – the symbol – which is usually owned by the record company or recording artist. Thus, sampling without prior permission subjects the illegal copier to a copyright infringement in federal court by the original author (or publisher) and by the record company.

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)

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What is sampling?

Sampling Music Law Intellectual Property

What is sampling?

“Sampling” is the practice of digitally copying or transferring snippets or portions of a preexisting (copyrighted) record to make a new composition. An artist will take a piece of a pre-existing recording and use that piece (i.e., “sample”) to create a new recording. Sampling exists mostly in rap, hip-hop, street, or dance records. A prime example of a successfully sampled song is the huge MC Hammer hit single, “U Can’t Touch This,” which was a sample of Rick James’ prior hit, “Super Freak.” Thus, samples are basically “derivative works” of a previous copyrighted song. The right to prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work is one of the five bundle of rights of the copyright owner – the song writer(s) or publisher(s). As such, the copyright owner must grant permission (a mechanical license) before the copyrighted song(s) can be used.

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)

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Where can I get permission?

Permission Music Law Intellectual Property

Where can I get permission?

Simply call the performance rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC to determine the owner(s) of any song(s) you want to sample.

Once you get the address of the copyright owner(s), write or fax over your proposal to the owners or their licensing agent. If this does not work, try contacting Warner Bros. Publications or Hal Leonard, Inc. They are owners or agents of many copyrights of different publishing companies and are good at responding to inquires.

When negotiating a “sampling license,” remember you must secure two licenses: (1) a mechanical license from the record company (which owns the sound recording); and (2) a licence from the writer/publisher (which owns the underlying song).

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)

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What are the penalties if I do sample?

Penalties Sampling Music Law Intellectual Property

What are the penalties if I do sample?

If you sample without permission, not only are you violating US Copyright laws, you may also be in violation of your own recording contract. If you are signed to a major label, most recording contracts contain several provisions called “Warranties,” “Representations” and “Indemnification,” in which you promise all the material on your album is original and agreeing that if your label are sued for copyright infringement, you agree to reimburse them for all their court costs, legal expenses and attorneys fees.

Similar “warranties” and “indemnification” clauses exist in the distribution agreements between your record company and the retail stores. Thus, when you violate a copyright by sampling it without consent, all the warranties point back to you as the artist. Therefore, if you sample illegally, be prepared to possibly shell out substantial sums of monies to not only the copyright owners, but also possibly to your label and their distributors and retail outlets.

In addition to these costly legal problems, the penalties for copyright infringement is harsh. If you sample somebody’s song without obtain proper clearances, you may be liable to the author for “statutory damages,” which generally range from $500 to $20,000 for a single act of copyright infringement. If the copyright owner proves you willfully infringed their music, you can be liable for damages up to $100,000. The copyright owner also has the right to obtain an injunction against any further infringements, forcing you to cease your further violation of the copyright owner’s rights. There is also a destruction procedure, which forces the infringer to recall all the illegal copies of the song in the albums and destroy them. Finally, you may even face criminal charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office if you engage in intentional copyright infringement. Therefore, before any artist tries to sample somebody’s copyrighted material to create a new song, no matter how small a portion of the song is used, they should secure the right to do so from the owners of the pre-existing copyrighted owners – the writers, publishers and/or the record companies.

(Reprinted with permission of Ruben Salazar, Esq.)

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Drug Warnings: Welding Rods Side Effects and Risks

Welding Rod Warning Drug Toxic Chemicals

Free Case Evaluation From An Experienced Drug Liability Attorney.

Drug Warnings: Welding Rods Side Effects and Risks

Welding rods, used to fuse metal together in the welding process, have been found to release toxic levels of several chemical elements into the air when heated. These chemicals, in the form of fumes and dust, can have serious side effects. The largest number of welding rods side effects are from toxic levels of the chemical element manganese, but adverse side effects have resulted from exposure to chromium and nickel as well.

Suffered harm from Welding Rod exposure? You may have a lawsuit. Click here, for a top rated law firm to evaluate your legal rights.

Toxic exposure to fumes and dust from welding rods happens most often in the workplace where safe levels are determined by OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration). For OSHA limits on manganese levels and the dangers of manganese
Exposure, see the publication of the National Safety Council. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) controls the levels of manganese found in bottled water, but is not involved in occupational safety.

The first record of a link between manganese exposure and the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease was published in 1837, and the link was fairly well-known by the 1950s. In spite of this, manufacturers of welding rods and other welding materials did not begin including a welding rods warning on the product labels until around 1967. Even then the warning did not convey the real seriousness of the welding rods risk. A sample warning states:

CAUTION: Welding may produce fumes and gases hazardous to health. Avoid breathing these fumes and gases. Use adequate ventilation. Use USA standard Z49.1. “Safety in Welding and Cutting” Published by the American Welding Society

These warnings have often been placed on the bottom of packages where they weren’t likely to be seen. See Welding Rods Lawsuits, Litigation, and Lawyers – What You Should Know for legal decisions concerning welding rod warnings.

Manufacturers are required by law to produce material safety data sheets (MSDS) for products used in the workplace, and workers have a legal right to see them for any materials the workers are using. Click here for a sample welding rod MSDS.

Check out the following articles for more information about Welding rods, filing a Welding rods lawsuit and finding a Welding rods attorney.

For more information about welding rods, see Drug Overview: Welding Rods Side Effects and Claims

For more information about welding rods side effects, see Welding Rods Side Effects – Parkinson’s & Cancer

For more information about welding rod updates, see Welding Rods Information and Warnings

If you would like to learn more about welding rods lawsuits, see Welding Rods Lawsuits, Litigation & Lawyers

To learn more about welding rods attorneys and how to find one, see Hiring a Welding Rods Attorney and Lawyer

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