Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission indicated that corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections for or against candidates.

As an experienced trial lawyer since 1979, I have spent my career fighting on behalf of victims against large corporation and insurance company interests. In many jurisdictions throughout the United States, corporations have attempted to stack the judiciary and political offices with individuals more aligned with their interests attempting to throw roadblocks in the way of injured victims. Super PACs contributed to various campaigns throughout the country that were closely aligned with their interests. Most of the big money flowed to conservative Super PACs who raised twice as much money as Democratic leaning Super PACs.

It is reported that $661 million dollars of this election cycle was brought in by Super PACs with $417 million going to conservative advocacy groups.

As a consumer safety attorney who has represented thousands of victims who have been injured by defective products or the wrongs of others, I have been aware for a long time that corporate interests and insurance companies have systematically and deliberately squeezed consumers by attempting to contribute to politicians and judges who would protect their interests.

Continue reading "The People Have Spoken and the Election Results Reveal that the Interests of Big Corporations and their Money Have Limits" »

All of us have friends or relatives who claim to “know it all”. I recently had the opportunity to meet with a client in the presence of a dear friend who tended to monopolize the conversation and interfere with the proper work to be done by myself, investigator, and associates. The “friend” had watched all too many lawyer TV shows and did not have a clue about the realities of litigation.

The “close friend” who accompanied the client was so insistent on “proving” to me that he had an extensive business background and litigation experience despite the fact that he was rather ignorant and the meeting turned into a contentious waste of time, whereby I felt that the client’s legal interests were being harmed by the “dear friend”. I later learned from the client that the friend previously caused a breakup in other meaningful relationships as well as with attorneys who had been working on her legal case prior to my involvement.

In the last 33 years, I have been involved in legal situations where a friend or relative has interfered with a case so much that their beneficial intentions result in harm.

Many times when there is a tragic event involving catastrophic injury or the loss of a loved one, many friends and relatives come out from the woodwork. Many will have their own view on how the case should be handled, how much money the case is worth, and their own opinions as to liability or jurisdictional issues. Most of the time, their opinions are nothing more than uneducated puffery which act as a fly in the ointment. There is no substitute for experience and after three and a half decades of practicing law, I have come to learn that legal advice should be judged by results and experience and not by the intentions of friends.

The experience and specialized training required to prosecute a complex injury or product liability case in the highly complex structure of the law today is not something that can be taken lightly by any client, friend, or family member.

Be careful what you write in text messages and understand that any voice message you leave may be discoverable and come back to haunt you one day when you least expect it.

I recently received a call from a friend of mine who was engaged in heated litigation and when defense lawyers received copies of his client’s text messages he placed and received over a period of months, not only were they detrimental to his case, but also caused the client much more grief with his spouse after she discovered romantic messages sent to him from another lady.

I am fond of using the quote that “chance favors the prepared mind” and am quite concerned today as an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer that social networking via cell phones, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites reveal too much of our lives to the world. What happened to privacy and keeping our personal business confined to ourselves?

Case law allows the discovery of such information in litigation and therefore I always urge my clients to shut down any and all social networking sites during the pendency of litigation and always remind my clients and the readers of this blog that when you post something into cyber space, there is almost always a permanent record of it that may come back to bite you one day.

Although each of the telephone companies has their own policies, I was recently informed that Verizon keeps records for 12 months, but only keeps text message records for 3 months. While this is what they claim, I believe it may very well be possible that many carriers retain these messages for a longer period of time and one should approach these issues most cautiously.

Lost evidence almost always destroys what could have been a successful case. Unfortunately, many times our law firm is consulted several months after an incident or accident occurred after another lawyer has recognized that they are in over their head and had been looking for an easy “A” recovery which, evidently, was not going to happen.

When a complex accident occurs which causes catastrophic injuries, death, or property damage, it is important to immediately preserve the evidence and send non-spoliation of evidence letters to any and all responsible parties so that careful inspection and analysis can be conducted, and cause and origin can be determined.

The experienced Pennsylvania catastrophic injury lawyers of Reiff and Bily prefer to immediately retain an independent investigator and expert to inspect, as well as photograph the scene of the incident and the properties involved. A consultation with experienced experts will reveal what we need in order to properly evaluate our client’s claim. There is an old doctrine in law that states that anyone who loses or destroys evidence must suffer consequences.

This doctrine dates back to 18th century case law. Spoliation of evidence is defined as the destruction of material or alteration of evidence or the failure to preserve property for another’s use as evidence in pending or reasonably foreseeable litigation.

If you or a loved one has sustained a catastrophic injury as a result of negligence or a product failure or the actions of another, make sure that your attorney understands the spoliation doctrine and preserves any and all evidence necessary to successfully prosecute your claim. If you would like to speak to one of our knowledgeable attorneys about your particular situation, do not hesitate to contact us today at (800) 421-9595.