Pennsylvania Law Monitor : Pennsylvania Lawyer & Attorney : Stark & Stark Law Firm : Yardley, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey

Chatting on a cell phone or texting while driving on our roads and highways is causing accidents in ever-increasing numbers. In Pennsylvania, there are over 6,000 distracted driver accidents each year involving drivers using a handheld cell phone.

In New Jersey, the numbers are even higher. According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, distracted driving contributed to more than 20,000 car accidents in 2007. More than 1,500 distracted driver accidents involved handheld cell phones and 1,421 involved a hands-free cell phone.

Distracted Driving Laws
No statewide Pennsylvania law has been passed yet. If the current bill in the House Transportation Committee becomes law, drivers must pay a $50 fine for texting while driving. Fines would double in a school or road construction zone.

In the city of Philadelphia, the fine for talking on a handheld cell phone while driving, bicycling or using a skateboard is $75 for the first violation. No moving violation points are assessed.
In the State of New Jersey it is illegal to talk on a handheld cell phone or text while driving. No moving violations points are issued, but drivers are fined $100. 

New Federal Laws for Texting Effective January 26, 2010
The United States government has prohibited the operation of hand-held texting devices by drives of commercial trucks and buses. The ban is effective immediately and violators may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said in a statement, "We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe." He added, "This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving."

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has found that drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every six seconds while texting. Researchers also say drivers who text are at least 20 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers.

• Email This
• Print

An Owner's Manual For Your Divorce is a 10 part podcast series presented by Joseph D. Visco, member of Stark & Stark's Divorce group. The series is intended to assist you in understanding the general process of a divorce from the initial discussions with your spouse to the post divorce follow-up.

The eighth installment will focus on the trial portion of your divorce. If you and your spouse have been unable to settle your case between yourselves and none of the settlement alternatives described in Section VII have been successful, it may be necessary to prepare and submit your case for trial before the Judge. In this installment, Mr. Visco will give an overview of the trial proceedings. You can download a copy of the installment notes here. (PDF)

You can download the eighth installment here. (2.3 MB)

• Email This
• Print

Winter is a great time of year.  Many people enjoy sledding, skiing and ice-skating during the winter months.  However, these activities may be dangerous.   If you follow some simple safety precautions, you will greatly reduce your chance of being injured.

• Always wear a helmet. 
• Inspect your toboggans and sled before using them.
• Supervise your children at all times.
• Avoid hills that have a lot of obstacles, such as trees, rocks, fences and poles.
• Do not stand up on the sled.
• Be sure that your feet are always pointing down hill.  Never sled face first.
• Sled in wide-open spaces.
• When walking up the sledding hill, be sure that you stay to the sides.
• Only sled during day light hours.  Obstacles are too hard to see at night.
• If you think you are about to hit an object, roll off your sled immediately.
• Do not sled near lakes or other bodies of water.

Sledding accidents may result in serious head, back and neck injuries.  These accidents are preventable by trying to be safe and using common sense.  You want to enjoy the outdoors and avoid serious injury.

Tyler Tomlinson, Esquire of Stark & Stark, has successful represented several children that were involved in significant sledding and tubing accidents.  Many of this incidents were preventable.  However, the ski resorts or property owners had unsafe conditions on their premises.

• Email This
• Print

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently issued a press release on its website reminding tax exempt organizations to file their annual Form 990 to preserve their tax exempt status. The informational return is required to be filed by the 15th day of the fifth month after the end of the organization’s tax year. For organizations with a fiscal year end date of December 31st, the informational return is due on or before May 15th of the following year. If a tax exempt organization does not file the required annual return for three consecutive years, the organization may lose its tax exempt status. The IRS makes a list of revoked organizations available on its website, and any income received by an organization after its revocation date may be subject to tax.

Tax exempt organizations with gross receipts normally under $25,000 are required to file Form 990-N. Tax exempt organizations with gross receipts over $25,000 are required to file Form 990-EZ or Form 990. Private foundations, regardless of financial activity, must file Form 990-PF. Finally, churches are not required to file any type of Form 990 or related return.

• Email This
• Print

An Owner's Manual For Your Divorce is a 10 part podcast series presented by Joseph D. Visco, member of Stark & Stark's Divorce group. The series is intended to assist you in understanding the general process of a divorce from the initial discussions with your spouse to the post divorce follow-up.

The seventh installment will focus on master's hearings, mediation and arbitration. Trials take a very long time to be scheduled, and are often times not completed in consecutive days and therefore usually require several days of testimony extended over several months. Trials are extremely expensive and almost always further polarize the parties. Family masters, mediations and arbitrations are a less expensive and time-saving alternative to traditional lengthy divorce litigation.You can download a copy of the installment notes here. (PDF)

You can download the seventh installment here. (2.3 MB)
 

• Email This
• Print

The great snowstorm of Feb. 5-6, 2010, is history.  Officially, 28.5 inches was measured at Philadelphia International Airport, just shy of the all-time record and putting the winter of 2009-2010 to No. 2 for snow in 126 years of record-keeping.  They are calling for another big storm this week. 

Of course, all of this snow makes for very dangerous walking conditions.  The chances of being hurt as a result of slipping on ice or snow only increases. 

There are a few things that you should do if you are hurt on someone’s property as a result of snow or ice.  The first thing is to be sure that you receive the appropriate medical attention.  If you are seriously hurt, you should call 911 and wait for an ambulance. 

Next, you should notify the property owner so that they may correct the dangerous condition.  You do not want any one else to be hurt.  Also, this will help later prove that you were really hurt on their property.  If you are hurt on a commercial property, they may want you to complete a report or given them a statement.  Be careful about doing this.  They will usually try to use whatever you tell them against you later.   

Pictures. Pictures.  Pictures.  If possible, you should take pictures of the dangerous condition.  If you have a camera, then you should take five pictures of the area.  You can also use a cellphone camera.  Pictures can be very valuable in proving that the dangerous condition existed.  Also, it will prove that the property owner should have taken care of the condition before you were hurt.  These pictures will sometimes help you win your case. 

Your next call should be to an attorney that handles slip and fall cases.  At Stark & Stark, we handle these cases every day.  We will have experts that will want to inspect the dangerous condition as soon as possible.  Also, we will want to make sure that you are fully compensated for the damages that you suffered.

• Email This
• Print

As many people are now aware, Congress has (at least for now!) let the federal estate tax die. The federal estate tax is scheduled to come back in 2011 and in future years after that. In future years, estates worth as little as $1 million dollars are scheduled to be taxed (compared to estates worth more than $3.5 million dollars in 2009). It is still believed that at some point this year Congress is going to reinstate the federal estate tax, perhaps retroactively (there is speculation that the $3.5 million dollar exemption from 2009 will continue; of course most people thought Congress would never let the federal estate tax expire in the first place). Due to the current repeal of the federal estate tax, there are two issues that you may have in your current will that you should review with your trusted estate planning advisor:

Issue 1: Your Estate Plan is Written to Leave Too Much to Your Children and Nothing to Your Spouse.
Some estate plans have been written to leave as many assets as possible to the testator’s (a person who makes a will) children (or to a trust for the benefit of the testator’s children) without triggering a federal estate tax, with the remainder going to the testator’s spouse. If a testator died in 2009, $3.5 million dollars would have passed (estate tax free) to the testator’s children (or the trust), with the balance going to the testator’s spouse. As of today, the current federal estate tax exemption is unlimited, therefore, a testator dying today would leave his or her entire estate to his or her children (or the trust), leaving nothing to his or her spouse; this is clearly an unintended consequence of the expiration of the federal estate tax for many people.

Issue 2: Your Estate Plan is Written to Leave too Little to Your Children
This issue is not as serious as the one above, but may still concern some people. If your estate plan was written in a specific year to leave the then current federal estate tax exemption to your children (i.e. you had your will drafted in 2009 to leave $3.5 million dollars to your children), it was a good plan while the federal estate tax was in place, as you could leave the specified federal estate tax exemption amount to your children, with the balance going to your spouse. Now, with no federal estate tax, you may desire to leave even more to your children, so it may be time to review your will.
Even if you do not have the above issues in your current will, it is important to have it reviewed by an estate planning professional. Estate planning done over the years often considered the then current federal estate tax. If Congress does not act this year, the federal estate tax will be $1 million dollars in 2011, an amount that will require additional estate planning for many people.

As it is unclear what Congress will do, if anything, about the expiration of the federal estate tax, please check back often for further updates as we move forward in 2010.

• Email This
• Print

STAY CALM
Turn off your car. If anyone is injured: give first aid if qualified or call 911.
     
CALL THE POLICE
Always call the police so that there is an incident report on file and be sure to cooperate fully with the police officer.

GATHER INFORMATION - WRITE IT DOWN!
If you are able to, and it creates no danger to yourself or others, get names, addresses and phone numbers from the witnesses. Also, try to take pictures with a camera or cell phone to document the damage.

SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION
If you are hurt, go to the local Emergency Room immediately. Serious injuries do not always result in instant pain. If there is the slightest chance you may be injured, see your doctor as soon as possible.

NOTIFY YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY
Cooperate fully with your insurance company.

REPORT THE ACCIDENT
Pennsylvania law requires that you file an accident report within two days after an accident. Your insurance company or the police department will provide you with the standard form.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN INJURED, SEE A LAWYER IMMEDIATELY
Consult an attorney who is experienced in handling auto cases. You may talk to Stark & Stark either over the phone or in person at our office. If you are unable to come to the office because of the injuries, then we will meet with you in the hospital or at your home. You do not pay any lawyers fees unless your case is successfully concluded.  Call Stark & Stark at 1.800.53.LEGAL or visit us online at www.StarkInjuryGroup.com.

KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
You should know your legal rights, and you should know what to do to protect those legal rights before giving any statements to the other driver's insurance company.

• Email This
• Print

An Owner's Manual For Your Divorce is a 10 part podcast series presented by Joseph D. Visco, member of Stark & Stark's Divorce group. The series is intended to assist you in understanding the general process of a divorce from the initial discussions with your spouse to the post divorce follow-up.

The sixth installment will address the discovery portion of your divorce proceedings. Mr. Visco discusses interrogatories, requests for the production of documents and oral depositions.You can download a copy of the installment notes here. (PDF)

You can download the sixth installment here. (2 MB)
 

• Email This
• Print