Posts tagged Rants and Raves

• Reason #25 for the high cost of medical care

  Ben Glass | March 19, 2008 3:52 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  A former dentist from Pennington Gap has been found guilty by a federal jury of 10 felony charges, including racketeering and fraud.According to officials with the office of U.S. attorney John Brownlee, 51-year-old Roy Shelburne has agreed to a forfeiture of a total of $200,000 to the federal government because of the conviction.Shelburne is now facing a maximum penalty of a prison sentence of...

• A Lighhearted Look at Federal Judges

  Ben Glass | February 14, 2008 8:49 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  All of the lawyers who read this blog will really enjoy this short musical video.

• Pay Day Loan Rates Should Not Be Capped in Virginia

  Ben Glass | January 14, 2008 8:46 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  The Virginia General Assembly has started its 2008 session and one are of controversy is whether so-called "Pay-Day" loan rates should be capped.House Bill 12 proposes limiting the annual rate of these loans to 36%. This is a bad idea.A "pay-day" loan is a short term unsecured loan, usually of only a few hundred dollars, that generally carries a rather high rate of interest, especially when...

• Health Insurance Plans taking more than their fair share

  Ben Glass | November 20, 2007 9:24 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  There is an article in today's Wall Street Journal about the bit that 'subrogation' can take out of your personal injury case. The WSJ blog has a good discussion going and I have contributed to it. The bottom line with personal injury cases today is that the plaintiff and her lawyer need to figure out, in advance, whether the health benefit plan will be seeking reimbursement. If so, this has to...

• Appeals Court Issues Rare Public Rebuke of Judge

  Ben Glass | November 14, 2007 5:35 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  In an extraordinary public rebuke of a sitting judge for one of his decisions, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has formally apologized to the parties for the cost and delay that the judge's action caused. The case is Calderon v IBEW Local 47.The plaintiff started a lawsuit and served one party but initially failed to serve a second party. The judge, Manuel L. Real, issued an order to "show...

• Coin Flipping Virginia Judge Tossed

  Ben Glass | November 06, 2007 6:36 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  In a highly unusual proceeding, the Supreme Court of Virginia has dismissed a Juvenile Court judge who (1) decided a custody matter by flipping a coin;(2) had a mentally disabled woman pull her pants down to show an alleged wound;(3) made and ex parte call to a local hospital to attempt to verify/discredit the woman's story about being wounded.What (else) is unusual is that the Supreme Court,...

• Is Capping Payday Loan Rates a Good Idea?

  Ben Glass | November 05, 2007 6:20 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Here we go again. New laws being floated in Virginia to cap profits a business can earn. Those businesses making "payday" type loans are in the riskiest of lending businesses. They are taking a huge risk, and should be allowed to charge whatever they want as long as1. Loan terms are fully and fairly described2.The rules of the loan terms are followed.After that, no one is forcing these folks to...

• Dangerous Dogs In Fairfax County

  Ben Glass | November 01, 2007 10:45 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  I'm so glad to learn that upon searching, there are no dangerous dogs in Fairfax County.Now I can sleep at night.I'm sorry. This is idiotic. Who is going to go here to search. How much did Virginia spend on this?Oh, I get it now.The state is requiring liability insurance for dangerous dogs. Wonder who is insuring that?Here's the code section:Virginia Code § 3.1-796.93:1. Control of dangerous or...

• "No" to Mandatory Legal Malpractice Insurance

  Ben Glass | October 31, 2007 8:59 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  The Virginia State Bar is again considering the issue of forcing lawyers to buy malpractice insurance. Complete waste of time.Their own statistics show that 90% of lawyers who deal with the public have malpractice insurance.I think that lawyers should carry malpractice insurance but its not the business of the bar to force any business owner to carry insurance any more than it could force the...

• Don't Talk to the Insurance Industry "Unarmed"

  Ben Glass | September 28, 2007 9:08 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA Category: Miscellaneous
  

  "Unarmed" with good information, that is. Alaska personal injury attorney Michael Schneider has a great example today of how an injured victim's trust ended up costing him. According to Mike, the Allstate rep "earned" the victim's trust with their "you don't need a lawyer, you'll do just fine with us" mantra.The problem is that in dealing with an adjuster, the information is usually flowing only...