Many people have questions about which type of car insurance to choose: full tort or limited tort? Here is a brief overview of the differences. Full Tort If you are involved in an accident, you may bring a claim in order to receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, property damage and other out-of-pocket expenses. You may also sue for non-monetary damages such as pain and suffering and loss of consortium (loss of a loved one’s companionship while they are recovering from an injury). Because juries have a tendency to award larger judgments to the plaintiff in lawsuits involving full tort policies, auto insurance companies that provide full tort policies run a higher risk of loss. Therefore, premiums for full tort car insurance is generally more expensive than those for other policies. Limited Tort With this option, you may still bring a claim for compensation for medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and other out-of-pocket expenses related to an accident. You generally will not, however, be allowed to sue for non-monetary damages such as pain and suffering and loss of consortium, unless your injuries are considered serious or disfiguring. In exchange for giving up your right to bring a lawsuit…
Read MoreMMD&C Attorney Lucas A. Clark, IV, who is an appointed member of the Radnor Township Government and very active in township and county politics, helped host a meet and greet for Rich Cappelli and Chip Mackrides in Radnor on October 22. Rich and Chip are the two candidates for the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County who have been endorsed by the Delaware County Republican Party, as well as many others. This successful event was attended by many local practicing attorneys and other involved individuals who were interested in meeting the candidates. Luke will be attending the numerous county and township events leading up to this year’s general elections and also will be present in Radnor’s third ward on Election Day in order to help voters understand the candidates and their positions on the issues at hand.
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System (WCAIS) is now available online. If you are an injured worker, you can now access some portions of your claim online. You may be able to access copies of assignments, hearing notices, exhibits and transcripts if your case is currently in litigation. There is also the limited ability to change your information online. For example, as injured worker you can change your address online through WCAIS. Note that this will only make the change available to the Commonwealth; it does not change your address with the insurance company. Injured workers can register with WCAIS using claim information they already have. Registration and Claim Information retrieval can be done at www.wcais.pa.gov
Read MoreAs of this summer, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted Rule of Civil Procedure 1915.11-1, which abolished the use of parent coordinators in Pennsylvania child custody cases. The new rule states that only judges may make decisions in child custody cases, which also includes hearing officers/masters, and therefore the courts shall not appoint any other individual to make decisions or recommendations or alter a custody order in child custody cases. This new rule reflects the Court’s concern with judicial following recent controversies in two different counties regarding juvenile placement and guardians ad litem. While the decision to abolish the coordinators favors transparency and will contribute to more direct accountability for decisions in child custody court, a lot of family law practitioners believe that the program had value and instead should have been tweaked instead of scrapped. Some believe that the parent coordinators were helpful for the parents, attorneys, and courts while other believe the courts were outsourcing too much judicial authority to coordinators who often knew little of the law. According to the Rule, any Orders that have previously appointed parent coordinators have been vacated as of May 23, 2013.
Read MoreMMD&C Family Law Attorney Lucas A. Clark, IV will be providing the Delaware County perspective on Family Law Discovery Issues as part of a panel of distinguished Family Law Attorneys. The presentation has been approved for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit, whereby practicing attorneys can receive credit towards their annual legal education requirement. The presentation will take place at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s CLE Conference Center on June 13, 2013. The Session is entitled: The Family Lawyer’s Discovery Tool Kit. The panel will be giving an overview of the formal and informal discovery tools and methods, there will be a discussion of the forms and pros and cons of various discovery tools; they will address strategic discovery and complex discovery issues such as privilege, third-parties, confidentiality, HIPAA, independent medical examiners, and experts; they will explore court intervention and enforcement of discovery issues with applicable case law; and they will discuss county-specific procedural information for Southeastern Pennsylvania’s five counties for which Attorney Luke Clark will be the Delaware County representative. Mr. Clark’s materials will include a Delaware County Motion for Case Management, a Discovery Order, a Pretrial Statement, a Pretrial Inventory and Appraisement, an Equitable Distribution Hearing Notice, a Hearing Officer’s…
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