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In this video, Anthony Zabicki, Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Accident & Personal Injury Group, discusses medical malpractice law. Mr. Zabicki discusses the various types of medical malpractice claims, what you should do if you or someone you know is a victim of medical malpractice and what you are entitled to if you have been harmed due to the negligence of others.
This is part 6 of an 8 part series with Henry E. Van Blunk, Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Business & Corporate Group, and Elizabeth Bloomer Nesvold, Managing Partner at Silver Lane Advisors. In this installment Mr. Van Blunk and Ms. Nesvold will discuss internal succession strategies.
Swimming pools provide a lot of fun times during the summertime. However, it is important to remember that swimming pools can be dangerous if people are not careful.
According to the Center for Disease Control, there were over 3,300 deaths caused by drowning or submersion in 2000. This rate is particularly high for children under 16. Drowning is the second leading cause of death for this age group after motor vehicle incidents. Another 2,600 children are treated in the emergency rooms each year for near-drowning incidents.
10 Easy Ways to Make Your Pool Safer:
If you or your child has been seriously injured in a swimming pool accident, you may be able to file a premises liability claim or lawsuit for damages against the pool owner. Pennsylvania’s premises liability law is complex, which is why it is important that you retain the services of a knowledgeable and experienced injury lawyer that knows how to represent clients with swimming pool injuries or in wrongful death drowning cases.
Unemployment Benefits
Generally, you cannot receive unemployment benefits and Social Security disability benefits at the same time. If you are disabled under the social security disability definition, you are claiming that you are unable to work because of a disability. If you are applying for, or receiving, unemployment benefits you should be actively seeking employment – meaning that you are not disabled.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Disability (indemnity) payments that you receive from workers’ compensation and/or another public disability payment will likely reduce you and your family’s social security benefits. Your Social Security disability benefits will be reduced so that the combined amount of the social Security benefit plus the amount of your workers’ compensation and/or public disability benefit does not exceed 80% of your average current earnings.
Examples of public disability benefits include civil service disability benefits, state temporary disability benefits, and state or local government retirement benefits which are based on disability.
Private disability benefits, from a disability benefit policy which you have purchased, do not effect your social security disability benefit amount. However, disability policies purchased by your employer often require you to apply for Social Security disability benefits. These policies usually state that the amount you receive under the policy will be reduced by the amount you receive from Social Security if and when you qualify for Social Security disability benefits.
This is part 5 of an 8 part series with Henry E. Van Blunk, Shareholder in Stark & Stark'sBusiness & Corporate Group, and Elizabeth Bloomer Nesvold, Managing Partner at Silver Lane Advisors. In this installment Mr. Van Blunk and Ms. Nesvold will discuss business structure and profitability.
In this video, Kevin Bradway, Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Accident & Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation Groups, discusses what you should do if you’re injured at work. Mr. Bradway discusses the options available to you if your workers' compensation claim has been denied or what you should do if you are currently receiving workers' compensation benefits and your employer is trying to take them away.
Workers' Compensation in Pennsylvania - Part 2 from Stark & Stark on Vimeo.
Homeowners often ask what legal remedies exist against builders, design professionals, and other parties for defects in design or construction of their homes. Often times, however, the defect is not readily apparent, and is therefore not discovered for several years after the homeowner begins residing in the house.
Most non-lawyers are aware of the four year Statute of Limitations for many cases, such as contract cases. What most people do not understand, however, is that the Statute of Limitations can be extended if the damages or defective condition are not discovered immediately. Typically, a Statute of Limitations commences to run at the instant that a right to sue arises, which is usually when a contract is breached or a personal injury is sustained. Because strict adherence to a Statute of Limitations can cause injustice in the limited class of matters in which the injury or defect is not discovered for some time after it occurs. For this reason, Courts have applied what is called the “discovery rule” to soften the application of the statute of limitations. The “discovery rule” provides that the Statute of Limitations does not start until a defect or event giving rise to the right to bring a law suit is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Therefore, in the case of defects in the construction of a residential structure, the Statute of Limitations does not begin to run until the defect in design or construction is discovered or should have reasonably been discovered.
This sounds like good news for the homeowner discovering that the architect who designed his or her home designed a roof at an incorrect pitch, or that the builder erected a wholly structurally unsound building. The Statute of Repose for Construction projects, however, may stand in the way of a suit against the architect or builder to recover for these defects even with the benefit of the “discovery rule” in extending the Statute of Limitations.
The Statute of Repose is a law which bears some similarities to a Statute of Limitations, but differs in substantial ways. In sum, the Statute of Repose abolishes a cause of action after a certain period regardless of when a defect or event giving rise to the right to sue is discovered. In Pennsylvania, the Statute of Repose for Construction Projects is twelve years from the completion of construction of the structure in question. Therefore, any claim against an architect, builder, or contractor must be brought within twelve years of the date of the completion of the defective design or work. It should be noted that the Statute of Repose does not extend the applicable Statute of Limitations – if a defect is discovered or reasonably should be discovered when the defective design or defective work occurs, or earlier than the twelve year Statute of Repose period, the Statute of Limitations applies. Interestingly, the Statute of Repose has been interpreted not to bar a suit against manufacturers of defective building products, and therefore the “discovery rule” applies to cases involving such defective building products.
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