Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Car Accident Lawyers category.
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Legal News Congress Debates Whether to Allow Student Loan Debts in Bankruptcy 223
Few students can afford to pay for college completely on their own. The majority of students take out at least some form of financial aid to pay for their college education.
According to the 2007-08 National Post-Secondary Student Aid Study (the last year for which data is available), 66 percent of undergraduate students finished their degree with some debt, and the average debt was $27,803.
Student loan debt for graduate and professional students such as those attending law school or medical school can exceed $100,000.
Students graduating with poor job prospects in a still floundering economy may find themselves unable to pay back these debts. While many government loans offer income-based repayment plans and other options for those experiencing financial hardship, many private loans do not.
The high cost of student debt and the limited options for those with private loans has spurred some legislators to advocate for allowing private student loan debt to be included in a bankruptcy filing.
Proposed Changes
Changes to the bankruptcy laws in 2005 broadened the definition of the type of student loans that were excepted from a discharge in bankruptcy. In essence, the changes made private student loans ineligible for discharge in a bankruptcy – except in extreme cases of hardship, for which a petition to the Bankruptcy Court could be made. Federal student loans have been ineligible for discharge unless a showing of “undue hardship” could be made by the bankruptcy debtor for two decades.
Sen. Rick Durbin (D-IL) has proposed allowing private loans to be included in a bankruptcy. A bill was proposed in 2011 to make these changes, and legislators are currently debating it.
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News New Safety Testing Reveals Women and Children May Be at Greater Risk of Injury or Death in a Car Accident
Women often spend a lot of time driving their children to and from school, extracurricular activities like sports, and family activities.
Because they spend so much time on the road with such precious cargo, women often choose vehicles based on their safety rating and other perceived safety features. Yet new vehicle ratings reveal that safety information had been skewed for men, and that women and children may actually be at greater risk of serious injury from car accidents than previously thought.
Starting with 2011 models, the federal government began using a smaller “female” crash-test dummy for some safety tests, instead of the standard, average-sized “male” dummy. The result has been a lower safety rating for many vehicles – as much as two stars – to reflect the increased risk of serious injury for smaller passengers, such as women and children.
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Breaking News Texas Medical Malpractice Lawsuits May Be Futile If Dangerous Drugs Are Generic San Antonio
When generic drugs first became available in the 1980s, patients everywhere celebrated due to the drastically lower prices. What consumers didn’t know was that, in choosing generic drugs over brand name versions, they were giving up their right to receive damages should they suffer from injuries due to ingesting generic drugs.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, while patients who became ill after taking brand name dangerous drugs can win a malpractice lawsuit, those who take generic drugs cannot. The reason goes back to a Supreme Court decision which stated that, since generic drugs do not have control over what is listed on their labels, they cannot be sued for medical malpractice. Even cases involving drugs that necessitated amputations due to gangrene and major surgeries to address debilitating gastrointestinal problems, the prescription injury victims who were given generic forms of the drug had their cases dismissed.
San Antonio lawyer at The Herrera Law Firm, Inc. know that some Texas medical malpractice cases involve generic drugs and are working hard to fight for the rights of their dangerous drug lawsuit clients.
In the article, the significant inequity of patients filing medical malpractice lawsuits is evident. “Your pharmacists aren’t telling you, hey, when we fill this with your generic, you are giving up all of your legal remedies,” said Michael Johnson, a lawyer who represented Gladys Mensing, one of the patients who sued generic drug companies in last year’s Supreme Court case, Pliva v. Mensing. “You have a disparate impact between one class of people and another.”
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Lawyers Press An Inside View of the Veterans Benefits Claims Process
Story By LawWireNews
An Inside View of the Veterans Benefits Claims Process
After ten years of the United States’ military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans have heard about the types of wounds that Veterans are facing-and surviving-with head injuries being the most common. What most people don’t know about is the staggering number of injuries that are taking place.
The Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Federation of American Scientists, issued a report in September 2010, stating that, as of that month, Operations New Dawn, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom had resulted in a total of 178,000 brain injuries, 87,000 cases of PTSD and 1,600 amputations. See: Veterans Disability Attorney
While modern medical technology is saving more lives than ever before in military history, the result is that our men and women who serve overseas are often left with debilitating, if not lifetime, health problems. In addition to the physical and emotional burdens they must carry, returning Veterans frequently find themselves shocked by the financial impact of recovery. In many cases, the veterans may need an advocate, such as a veterans benefits lawyer, to help them pursue the compensation and benefits they deserve.
