UM Motorist is a must, but if you don’t have it…

I recommend carrying “Uninsured Motorist” coverage with your insurance carrier. But if for whatever reason you don’t have this coverage, this system should help victims of hit and run accidents:

City Officials to Announce Hit-And-Run Alert System in LA

Los Angeles is the nation’s capital of hit-and-run collisions.
ByIrene Moore and Kim Baldonado
City leaders announced new details on an alert system for hit-and-runs. When there is a hit-and-run with a serious injury and good descriptions of the driver or car, that information will be sent out to the public in the area. Kim Baldonado reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. (Published Tuesday, Feb 10, 2015)
Updated at 5:39 AM PST on Wednesday, Feb 11, 2015
In an effort to reduce the staggering number of hit-and-runs in Los Angeles, city officials joined forces Tuesday with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Transportation to announce a city-wide alert system.
“The city of Los Angeles unfortunately has become known as the hit and run capital of the US,” said Damian Kevitt, who lost a leg when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver two years ago.

“When I was hit on the freeway on the streets of Griffith Park and dragged nearly a quarter of a mile underneath the car, I didn’t know my life would change so drastically,” Kevitt said. “All I knew was I wanted to live.”
Councilmen Joe Busciano and Mitchell Englander hope to reduce the epidemic of hit-and-runs in LA with the implementation of a mass notification system that would use social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Nixle to alert residents.
LA to Unveil Citywide Hit-and-Run Alerts[LA] LA to Unveil Citywide Hit-and-Run Alerts
The system is designed to provide notifications of fatal hit-and-run crashes, problem the city calls an “epidemic.” Vanessa Ruiz reports for Today in LA on Tuesday Feb. 10, 2015. (Published Tuesday, Feb 10, 2015)
“If we have year, make, model, description of damage to vehicle, the driver perhaps,” Englander said. “If we have that information, then it will go out geographically by division.”
Englander said they have reached out not only to Google and Waze, but also to any company with a dispatch system, including Uber, sanitation services, bus drivers, and metro and taxi drivers.
LA, California Leaders to Crack Down on Hit-and-Runs
Nearly 21,000 hit-and-runs resulted in 27 deaths and 144 severe injuries in LA during 2014, according to LAPD records. With nearly 50 percent of crashes classified as hit-and-runs in the city, LA soars over the national average of 11 percent.
There’s also an effort to create an alert system statewide, called a Yellow Alert. It would work like the current Amber Alert system, using electronic billboards and text messages to alert the public to hit-and-run drivers.
It’s modeled after a program in Colorado called the Medina alert, which has been successful — 76 percent of the hit-and-runs that were displayed on the billboards were solved.
“Anything to catch these criminals that are leaving people on the side of the road, that is what we are going to do,” said Stephanie Saporito, a spokeswoman for Englander.
Additionally, Busciano and Englander will also ask the City Attorney to draft an ordinance that would offer a standing reward for the apprehension and conviction of hit-and-run drivers.
Published at 9:12 AM PST on Feb 10, 2015
Source: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/hit-and-run-bill-alert-system-Los-Angeles-reward-ordinance-291405541.html

Friedman Law Offices Now Accredited by the Better Business Bureau

Friedman Law Offices is proud to announce that after a 16-point analysis we are now accredited by the Better Business Bureau and received their prestigious “A” rating.

Ari Friedman Law Offices, P.C., Attorneys & Lawyers  Personal Injury & Property Damage, Los Angeles, CA

Attorney Ari Friedman and Attorney Tova Friedman, specialize in Personal Injury Law, including all types of auto accidents, trip and fall, or any type of injury caused by the negligence of another party or entity.

Ari Friedman Law Offices, P.C. dba Friedman Law Offices, has met the high standards of the California State Bar and in addition to being eligible to practice as individuals, the law firm has been certified to practice law as a “Corporation” in the State of California.

California Bar Certificate

 

We “Personalize” Your Personal Injury Claim & Experience! Each client is treated with respect and courtesy. We ensure that every issue is addressed in a timely fashion.
Ari Friedman and Tova Friedman offer you a unique experienced traditional practice that features new and vibrant techniques. This combination enables us to fight for you. At the Friedman Law Offices the client always comes first! Please check our testimonials.

There is no place for discrimination in this country!

This city, state, country has no place for discrimination. This New York jury awarded the Plaintiff $900K:

A deliveryman for the Midtown restaurant Mangia 57 has won a $900,000 jury verdict, payback for the anti-Semitic harassment heaped upon him by three supervisors at the eatery.

“It’s a very happy ending — I’m in another world,” said Adam Wiercinski, of Washington Heights.

“They would call him a ‘dirty Jew,’ and when he would say, ‘But I took a bath,’ they would laugh and say, ‘No, you still smell like Jew,’ ” said his lawyer, Matthew Blit.

Night-shift manager Artur Zbozien often “passed gas” in front of Wiercinski, and would then joke that the gas was Zyklon B, the poison used in Nazi gas chambers during the Holocaust, according to the Brooklyn federal court lawsuit.

“How can I explain to you — he passed wind, loudly,” Wiercinski told The Post of Zbozien.

“Everybody laughed, and then he said, ‘See, this is your Zyklon B, you stupid Jew.’

“My father had six siblings — only two of them survived in what is now the Ukraine,” Blit said.

“I had to explain to the members of the jury, what is Zyklon B,” he added. “Because they were very young; they do not know. When I explain how it was used in the gas chambers, they were very serious. Everybody [in the courtroom] was silent.”

Other supervisors would dock Wiercinski’s tips, call him a “Jewish pederast,” and throw pennies at him, again making anti-Semitic jokes, the lawsuit said.

Wiercinski worked at the West 57th Street restaurant from 1992 until 2008, staying despite the abuse because, “He was 50 years old,” explained Blit. “He said, ‘Who else is going to hire a 50-year-old deliveryman.’ He was afraid.”

Jurors heard just three days of testimony last week, including supporting accounts from three of Wiercinski’s outraged co-workers. Much of the testimony was in Polish, the language used by many of the restaurant’s employees. The jury reached a verdict Thursday in just four hours, Blit said.

“He’s in shock,” the lawyer said of Wiercinski’s reaction to the hefty jury award. “He was so happy. It’s a moral victory for him.”

Employees at the restaurant and caterer, which has three Manhattan locations, have denied the harassment took place. The restaurant is expected ask that the verdict be tossed out or that the award be reduced. Calls to its attorney were not immediately returned.

The verdict will be appealed, a lawyer for Mangia 57 said Tuesday, insisting that there was no evidence — besides Wiercinski’s own word — that upper management was ever made aware of any problems.

“Mangia 57 denies and Artur Zbozien denied at trial that anything like this [anti-Semiticism] occurred,” said the lawyer, Daniel Kaiser. “I’m going to ask that this be thrown out entirely, or at least that the award be reduced to a nominal amount.”

Jurors bought Wiercinski’s story despite evidence presented by the defense that between 2000 and 2008, Wiercinski was receiving Social Security disability checks while collecting his full delivery job paycheck under a fictitious name, Adam Jamroz. Wiercinski admitted as much during a pre-trial proceeding, but took the fifth at trial, both sides conceded Tuesday.

Mangia knew who Adam Jamroz was for the past 20 years — if they agreed to let him call himself Adam Jamroz and be paid under that name, the jury saw that they were just as guilty as he was,” countered Blit.

Brooklyn federal Judge Leo Glasser has ordered that the transcript in which Wiercinski described the alleged Social Security fraud be turned over to the US Attorney’s Office, Kaiser said.

As for management purportedly not knowing about the anti-Semitic attacks, “We put in evidence a statement from Artur Zbozien, a sworn affidavit, in which he said that upper management knew about the abuse and transferred him to a different location because of it,” said Blit. “Then, when Zbozien asked to go back, they let him go back” to Mangia 57, Blit added. “That’s what the jury found so outrageous.”

“I’m not sure the defense attorney was at the same trial we were,” Blit added. “The jury got it right.”

Source: http://nypost.com/2013/10/28/anti-jewish-jokes-about-nazi-death-gas-nets-man-900k/

iPhone and Android App “Car Crash Assist” is released!

Friedman Law Offices is proud to announce the arrival of our iPhone app “Car Crash Assist”.

This app helps guide you in obtaining pertinent information after an accident. After you have entered the data, you have the option of sending the information directly to an injury attorney as well as to yourself.
Gather the other persons information, take a snapshot of their drivers license, take photos of the scene and car damage, and have it all immediately sent to yourself and/or an attorney.

 

 

Courtesy of:

Ari Friedman
Attorney
www.AFriedman.com

Friedman Law Offices Presentes “Car Crash Assist” Android Application

This app helps guide you in obtaining pertinent information after an accident. After you have entered the data, you have the option of sending the information directly to our firm as well as cc’ing yourself.

When you first download and open the app, you will have the option of inputting your own information (or you can click “add later”).
We can always hope that an accident doesn’t happen to begin with, however, in the unfortunate event of an accident, just follow the step-by-step instructions.
You will be greeted by some basic information such as “staying calm”, when to call 911, etc.

Then you will be presented with fields to fill out all of the required information. Use this as a guide.
Gather the other persons information, take a snapshot of their drivers license, take photos of the scene and car damage, and have it all immediately sent to yourself and/or an attorney.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nampx.carcrashassistapp

An iPhone version is currently being developed and will be released within a week.

Attorney Ari Friedman
Injury Lawyer  -Los Angeles

What Will Auto Insurance Cover?

Auto Accident Attorney Recommendation – What Will Insurance Cover?

When a client comes to my office after they were involved in an auto accident, I often request their “Insurance Declaration Page”. This document will show every type of coverage that my client’s insurance carrier will cover in the result of an accident.

Liability Coverage vs. Collision Coverage

California law requires a minimum of $15,000 per person / $30,000 per occurrence in liability coverage as well as $5,000 in property damage liability coverage. (Also known as 15/30 or 15/30/5). (California Insurance Code §11580.1b)

What is liability coverage?

If you are at fault in an auto accident, you are “liable”. If the not-at-fault party makes an injury claim against you/your insurance, and if you have the minimum coverage of 15/30, the insurance will only pay a maximum of $15,000 to a single injured person or a maximum of $30,000 if more than one person was injured.

If the injured party’s claim is worth more than that amount, you can potentially be sued personally and be on the hook to pay a settlement or court judgment for any amount over what the insurance pays out.

Property Damage Liability:

Even if a party is not injured, but you are at-fault, you or your insurance can be responsible to pay for the damage to the other vehicle. If you have the minimum required by law, $5,000, and if there is more damage than $5,000, you can be personally responsible for any amount over your insurance coverage.

Uninsured Motorist (UM) & Underinsured Motorist:

If you were the victim of a hit and run, and the accident was not your fault OR if you were hit by a vehicle that was uninsured, this provision of your auto insurance would cover you. This coverage isn’t found on every policy, but your insurance carrier will have you sign a waiver of UM coverage, if you decline this coverage. It is highly recommended that you purchase this type of coverage so that your medical bills as well as pain and suffering can be covered in the event you are the victim of a hit ‘n run or if you were hit by an uninsured motorist.

Underinsured motorist would apply only in certain circumstances when your injury claim is worth more than the insurance coverage available by the other party.

Medical Expense (“Med-Pay”):

Regardless of fault, this coverage covers you or your passengers medical bills incurred in an accident. Some policies require this to kick in only after your health insurance is exhausted,  aka: “Excess Med-Pay”. Some policies have reimbursement provisions.

Collision Coverage and Comprehensive Coverage:

If your car was involved in an accident – whether you were in the vehicle or not, “collision” coverage will pay for the repair or replacement of your vehicle. If an uninsured vehicle hit you, the UM coverage will not pay for the damage to your car. You would need collision coverage.

Comprehensivecovers you in the event your car was stolen.

Other provisions of an auto insurance may include policy: rental, roadside, towing, “uninsured deductible waiver”.

If you were injured in an automobile accident, make sure to call our office to discuss your policy so we can assure you utilize the coverage allowed under your policy.

Ari Friedman
Personal Injury Lawyer
323-596-1234
www.AFriedman.com

Can I trust the insurance company?

So you were involved in an auto accident. Your auto insurance company says they will be handling your case for you.

“Tell me in one sentence why I need a lawyer”.

Your insurance company may handle payment or repair of your car, but they wont be paying you if you were injured!

If you were injured in an auto accident, it is in your best interest to call an experienced personal injury attorney.

Attorney Ari Friedman will work for you to get you a favorable result. Remember, car accident lawyers don’t get paid for a consultation and only get paid when money is made on a case! There is no out of pocket money you will be paying your lawyer.

Contact Ari Friedman today!

YOUR local personal injury attorney

Ari Friedman

323-596-1234

www.AFriedman.com