Avera Law Firm

The Avera Law Firm Blog is designed to update clients, vendors, and other interested persons regarding law firm news, personnel, legal issues, and legislative issues. The firm management welcomes posts and questions to the blog as an interactive means to provide information to the public.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Alachua County Sheriff's Teen Driver Challenge

This past week, three wonderful girls from Levy County were in a terrible car crash when an oppusum crossed the road in front of their vehicle. Two girls were killed and one remains in serious condition in a Tampa Hospital.



As parents, our hearts go out to these families as we try to understand how such a horrible tragedy can happen. What can we do do prevent such a thing? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps something.



A few months ago, Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell appeared on our show "Ask a Lawyer" and described her departments Teen Driving Challenge. The program takes teen drivers and arms them with information about all the dangers of driving and puts them through emergency driving on the department's driving course. The Teen Driving Challenge teaches kids emergency braking and evasive manuvers, off road recovery and skid control. Call the Sheriff's Office at 352-367-4099 to enroll your teen driver. The course is free.

posted by Mark Avera at 1/02/2010 06:59:00 PM | 1 comments

Friday, November 06, 2009

McDonalds...Hot Coffee...and the lies that followed

Remember Stella Liebeck? The lady that had the audacity to sue McDonalds for serving coffee that was so hot she had to have skin grafting? Watch the trailer of this movie currently in production....

www.hotcoffeethemovie.com/trailer

posted by Mark Avera at 11/06/2009 11:44:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Changing the Mind of the Health Insurance Company

On September 25, 2009, a sixty-three (63) year old happily married man, father of four and grandfather to thirteen grandchildren, and senior pastor at a church, was referred to Avera & Smith because he was suffering from stage IIB malignant melanoma of the left cheek which subsequently developed into metastatic disease to the left upper lobe of his lung and he needed help. When our client appeared in our office he had been given a very short period of time to live if he did not receive treatment for the metastatic disease. His only course of treatment, at this time, was Cyberknife radiosurgical management of the two lesions; however, his health insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield was denying the coverage necessary to pay for this procedure.
His coverage was denied because Blue Cross Blue Shield’s doctors believed the procedure was investigational. The company made this finding even after being advised by our client’s treating oncologists that the procedure was not investigational and was his only viable option because the client had already undergone a partial left lobectomy in April 2009 which revealed a 2-cm metastatic deposit of malignant melanoma, and he subsequently developed additional pulmonary nodules, one in the right middle lobe and an additional nodule in the left upper lobe, for which he was treated with three (3) cycles of chemotherapy. This treatment was ineffective and during a follow up evaluation of his response to this therapy, it was found that the right middle lobe nodule had increased from 8mm to 12 mm and there was an increase in the left upper lobe nodule from 6mm to 12 mm.
The procedure was also denied after Blue Cross Blue Shield approved and provided coverage for the placement of a fiducial marker in his right lung for purpose of performing the Cyberknife treatment.
Tina Seifert of Avera & Smith became involved in this matter and was able to successfully and quickly convince Blue Cross Blue Shield to re-evaluate the denial of this coverage and finally succeeded in getting the company to approve and pay for our client’s treatment. We are very proud of quickly convincing BCBS that they were wrong.
Indeed, regardless of where you are in the healthcare debate, you should know that “bureaucratic” decisions are arbitrarily made everyday that affect the lives of hard working Americans. Whether made by a corporation or government, it’s wrong and should never be tolerated in our healthcare system.

posted by Mark Avera at 10/13/2009 10:55:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Wrong choice to Regulate Truck Safety?

ARLINGTON, VA (October 5, 2009) – Families of truck crash victims and a coalition of safety advocacy groups today sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee asking them to reject the nomination of Anne Ferro, currently the president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association. The letter comes on the heels of a New York Times editorial on September 23rd stating, “Ms. Ferro’s record, we believe, is disqualifying … Americans cannot afford conflicts of interest in the running of their truck safety agency.”
“Today, approximately 15 people will die in truck crashes. Yet this nominee is a trucking industry insider and lobbyist,” said Jennifer Tierney of North Carolina. “The New York Times got it right when they said she would regulate the very industry she has advocated for. This is the perfect example of the fox guarding the hen house.”
The letter, signed by thirteen safety groups and family members of truck crash victims, said “in addition to our initial serious misgivings about a trucking industry official leading the federal agency responsible for regulating the safety of the motor carrier industry, Ms. Ferro’s refusal to commit to the implementation of proven, effective safety policies and regulations, both during our meeting and in response to questions at the hearing, have led us to request your opposition to the nomination of Ms. Ferro as FMCSA Administrator.”
P.A.T.T. Founder Daphne Izer of Maine said, “Safety has been on the back burner for too many years, resulting in thousands upon thousands of needless deaths and injuries. I want safety put before profits. Even the Bush Administration wouldn’t have had the gall to make this move.”
“Ms. Ferro’s responses at the committee hearing and her current position as a trucking industry lobbyist have led us to oppose her nomination to head this critical safety agency,” said John Lannen, Executive Director of the Truck Safety Coalition.

posted by Mark Avera at 10/06/2009 11:26:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Truck Drivers Who Break the Rules

Trial Lawyers: 28,000 Truckers Violate Safety Rules; Raise Insurance Limits
August 31, 2009


A new analysis of government data reveals that more than 28,000 motor carrier companies that operate 200,000 trucks have violated federal safety regulations.
The trial bar association, the American Association for Justice (AAJ), said it found commuters are sharing roads with trucks that have incurred thousands of safety violations, such as defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceed weight limits and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependencies.
The group also said that current minimum insurance requirements for truckers are inadequate.
AAJ said it obtained data on the safety performance of U.S. trucking companies from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
States found to have a rate of companies in violation of safety requirements above the national average include West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, Iowa, Montana, Delaware, Idaho, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.
According to the FMCSA, more than 4,000 people die every year in collisions with trucks and 80,000 more are seriously injured. Also, though trucks make up less than four percent of all passenger vehicles on U.S. roads, they are involved in 12 percent of all motor vehicles fatalities.
AAJ also maintains that the minimum insurance requirements for commercial trucks are "completely inadequate to compensate those who have been seriously injured in a collision involving multiple vehicles or multiple injured individuals." In 1980, Congress set the minimum level of insurance to $750,000; when adjusted for inflation, $750,000 is just $292,000 in 1980 dollars, according to the analysis.
While large trucking companies may carry more than the required level of coverage, smaller companies often carry just the bare minimum, according to the AAJ. AAJ's analysis of the U.S. trucking industry found that 87 percent of the companies in violation of safety standards are small companies that have fleets of 10 trucks or less.
The AAJ said that many deadly accidents involving unsafe trucks are never recorded as safety violations. A 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that nearly one-third of commercial motor vehicle crashes that states are required to report to the federal government were never recorded. Additionally, state crash reports were not always accurate.
The analysis by AAJ follows a July 2009 GAO study which found that more than 1,000 commercial trucking firms that were ordered out of service because of federal safety violations evaded compliance by operating under a different name, but often using the same owner, address and employees.

posted by Mark Avera at 9/01/2009 05:27:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

New Scam Involving Jury Duty....

Our friends in law enforcement want everyone to be aware of this scam which is relatively new. Please, never give your social security number or date of birth to anyone over the phone. If this happens to you, please write the number of caller ID and call law enforcement immediately to report the incident.

Jury Duty Scam DO NOT DELETE WITHOUT READING !This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htmAnd here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

posted by Mark Avera at 1/27/2009 04:40:00 PM | 1 comments

Sunday, December 07, 2008

As families gather for the holidays, some will face a conspicuous absence - their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts or cousins can't make it home because they are serving abroad.

Military service requires sacrifice, but service members feel the distance between themselves and their loved ones most keenly on holidays. While families enjoy holiday feasts and gift exchanges, they should remember to support the members of the military whose jobs keep them far from home, in many different parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Korea, Japan, Germany and Iraq.

The USO (United Service Organizations) supports the troops through the year. Although most people do not realize it, the USO is a nonprofit organization that depends on individual and corporate donations. This grassroots funding and the support of 44,000 volunteers are the lifeblood that enables the USO to ease the burden placed on the troops and their families.
"Meeting these brave young men and women, I'm amazed at the great job they do, serving so far from home, family and friends, working tirelessly for months on end," says USO President Sloan D. Gibson. "As I visited with them and learned more about their lives, their children and their families, the sacrifices they make on our behalf, their stories become even more remarkable."

The USO operates centers around the world to help support military members and their families. In 2007, more than 7 million troops and their family members received support from 135 centers around the world. The USO also sends entertainment tours overseas to lift troop spirits.

"We have created expeditionary programs to deliver to our troops serving in the most remote locations," says Gibson. "Programs like our new 'USO in a Box' provide them with the feeling of home away from home."

In addition to care packages, the USO hands out prepaid phone cards. When troops return home, USO volunteers meet them at airports, guaranteeing that they come home a hero. Other programs let deployed service members record videos of themselves reading stories to their children.

To learn how you can brighten the season for military members and their families, visit www.uso.org.

posted by Mark Avera at 12/07/2008 10:04:00 AM | 0 comments