North Carolina Law Talk – Summer 2016

Attorneys Mike Daisley and Bill Powers discuss developing trends and provide legal commentary on North Carolina Law issues.  If you have general questions about how the legal system works in North Carolina, please feel free to contact Mike and Bill at:

Mike Daisley:

• Goodson Daisley Law, P.C.
• 1419 East 7th Street
• Charlotte, North Carolina 28204
• 704-331-8014

 

 

 

Bill Powers:

• Powers Landreth, PLLC
• 2412 Arty Avenue
• Charlotte, North Carolina 28208
• 704-342-4357
• Bill@PowMac.com

 

 

Topics of Discussion:

• Happiest Days of the Year, Saddest Days of the Year
• What to Do After a Wreck
  • Exchange Information
  • Take Pictures / Videos
  • Seek Medical Treatment as necessary
• Retaining an Attorney
  • When to Call a Lawyer?
  • Interviewing Attorneys
  • Background Credentials
  • Ask Questions
  • Get a Comfort Level
  • Seek a Personal Relationship

 

Powers Landreth, PLLC and Goodson Daisley Law, PC are in no way affiliated with one-another.  Mr. Powers and Mr. Daisley, together with other attorneys in North Carolina, discuss developing legal trends, law issues, and legislation, in North Carolina Law Talk.  The information contained therein is topical and intended to help explain a sometimes complicated legal system.

If you have a non-specific question about Legal Policy, Laws, the North Carolina General Assembly, the Courts, or Lawyers, feel free to email Mr. Powers and Mr. Daisley individually.  We will attempt to explain the how’s and why things happen the way they do in court. . .in a general, conversational manner.

If you have a specific legal need or inquiry, please retain experienced legal counsel.

 

Modified Transcript of North Carolina Law Talk – Summer 2016” for the Hearing Transcript

Bill:	Hi, I’m Bill Powers, one of the partners here at Powers McCartan PLLC in Charlotte. I’m joined by my good friend Mike Daisley. How are you doing Mike?
Mike:	I’m doing well. Hope you’re staying cool.
Bill:	I am. Thank you for joining us for the mid-summer edition of North Carolina law talk. This is a time of year when lawyers, as a whole, are busy. Mike, tell me what you’re doing right now. If there’s anything different during the summertime than the rest of the year?
Mike:	I don’t know about you. I see you’re dressed a little casual, I am too. I don’t know about you, if I’m not in court, and if I don’t have clients, I am not in a coat and tie. It just stays a little bit warmer than usual at this office. Summertime is a time, I mean law doesn’t stop, it is time sort of gear back up. Just a few weeks ago we were actually at a convention together. Congratulations, by the way, on being president of NCAJ North Carolina Advocates for Justice NCAJ.COM, that’s a good thing. It’s a good time to sort of, again, regroup, reassess things. It’s also a busy time in the law practice because, for both you and for me, although for different reasons, people are outside more.
	It’s no secret, they’re outdoors more, their days are longer. There’s more driving that goes on, and when there’s more driving, especially in the summertime when there’s more drinking, there’s a lot of careless driving and accidents do occur and injuries do occur. Folks will come see me about that, likewise on your end with the criminal defense you do with the DWI defense. I would imagine you see probably a little up-tick in terms of activity in your office as well.
Bill:	Sure. It’s an interesting thing. You and I have kind of talked about this, we see the natural oscillations, the cycles in the law. I think both you and I have practiced long enough to see those and start to recognize them. I never used to believe in the full moon or the rainy-day theory, but it does seem to work for different reasons though, for different factors. I wouldn’t want to conflate it, but during the wintertime I thin we see, on your side, where there’s more injuries due to bad conditions. While there may be less people on the road you’ve got worse conditions. Stopping distances are more difficult, people get a little bit more nervous when its’s snowy or icy. During the summertime we have really optimal driving conditions and as such you have a lot more drivers, but then on a per capita basis you’re going to probably see more wrecks. People going to the beach in a hurry to get there, what I call got-to-get-there-itus.
Mike:	One wonders, and I don’t know. I don’t know whether there is I-go-to-get-there-itus. I wonder whether there are more accidents per drivers, or is it just because there are more drivers there are more wrecks. I don’t know the answer to that question. I guess maybe the folks at the AAA or the National Transportation Safety Board might have those statistics. What I do know is that people are out driving more and therefore there are more car wrecks.
Bill:	Actually there are some metrics on it, they’re interesting and to no small extent disturbing. Some of the most happy days of the years, the holidays, memorial day, 4th of July, are some of the most dangerous driving days of the year. Meaning that the highest incidents of fatalities are on the major holidays, this is also on top of more people driving, there’s more consumption of alcohol. Often times people are in unfamiliar surroundings, I call it lack of situational awareness, where they’re not necessarily familiar where they are, may drink a little bit more than they normally would, they’ve got family in the car, sometimes kids.
	You mix that and it’s a dangerous combination between having a lot of people on the road, sometimes holidays, and this isn’t a holiday weekend, but the holidays we see more people drinking. I think you probably, correct me if I’m wrong because you’re the guy that handles a lot of different stuff, but I think the longer days … You have more work hours and more people working, maybe more workplace injuries whether it’s someone that’s roofing or maybe that drives for a living. In their more social interactions, people getting together for barbecues, do you find that injuries take place and then there’s a lag time maybe between when they call you and start getting legal representation?
Mike:	There’s not fixed formula,  some people, for really good reasons. I had a phone call yesterday, somebody had tried to handle a case on their own, which is okay, but the insurance company wasn’t doing very much, wasn’t going anywhere. What happens in that sort of case, I’ll take a look at it, see where they are. It’s sometimes difficult for me to come in in the middle of a case, but what I’ll do is assess it, make an evaluation of the client, and on a case-by-case basis decide whether I can come in, and if so on what circumstances. They don’t always come, in fact, I don’t like it frankly when they come in the day after the wreck. Normally cases where somebody’s been more seriously injured, maybe in the hospital, it may be several weeks before they’re out and their family members can really asses, “Do we need legal representation?” There’s no fast formula. In terms of the summertime it’s, again, you do see a uptake, again, just me because I think there’s more driving and they’re are more wrecks.
	You’re exactly right about some of the happiest times of the year will result in some of the saddest, most tragic situations. I guess if there’s one thing I want some of the viewers of this pod cast to just keep in mind is that summertime is happy time but it comes with, like anything in life, a series of risks. You’ve seen it through your practice, I’ve seen it through mine. Those risks are the heat, the heat takes a lot out of us, and again with more numbers on the road one needs to ratchet up your care. Even though the wreck may not be your fault, but on the other hand you’ve got to be extra careful watching out for the other guy, maybe you can avoid having to come in to see me in the first place. The other thing I’d like to address is the comments about the absorption of alcohol in the heat and whether or not … Again, you deal with that a lot. While that cold beer may taste really good on a hot day, there is something about alcohol consumption and heat and what that does sort-of dehydrates the body and accentuates the effects of the alcohol even more.
Bill:	I don’t know if there’s any particular study on that. I will say that as a whole as it gets hotter people drink more, they get dehydrated, they get more thirsty, and they drink more. Mike, if we could, and we try to keep these segments relatively short, but if we could wrap up this segment. Maybe you give us 3, 5, 7 bullet-points of what to do. Let’s focus on your practice, legal representation for plaintiffs injury, personal injury, work cases. What would you recommend people do when they get hurt or are in an accident?
Bill:	I would say what would recommenced to people? If you’re hurt, go see a doctor.  Things like that.
Mike:	Yeah. One, at the wreck itself. If you’re capable and conscious just make sure you get as much information as you can. The good thing these days, what everybody needs to have, are these little things (mobile phone, mobile camera, video). You can take a ton of photographs and I would certainly recommend that right there at the scene. Obviously exchange information with the other driver. Most of the time the police officer will do that. Go get checked out. If you think you’re hurt go get checked out. I tell clients sometimes-
Bill:	Don’t try to tough it out, right?
Mike:	I admire that. I have a physical condition myself and I appreciate people who want to tough it out. I tell people and I say understand that when you do that you might as well be sitting down and writing a memo to the insurance company, they’re insurance company. I just want to let you know I’m feeling great today. It’s important at least go check it out, because you’re not a doctor, I’m not a doctor, we can’t tell people whether they’re okay. They need to get a doctors opinion for that. The other thing is to, I think, be careful in your selection of an attorney. People get tons of letters, usually, and of course there’s usually tons of TV advertising.
	I’m not trying to disparage either one of those practices per se, but I will say that you need more than just a letter in the mail or just a commercial on TV to chose what your best bet is in terms of hiring an attorney. That would be get recommendations from people, when you call them ask what kind of experience they’ve had. I think you get a comfort level like you and I would with a doctor or a dentist of whatever, there’s a personal relationship that you develop and you have a gut feeling. If you feel like you like this attorney, you can deal with them, that’s always a good sign too.
Bill:	I’m hearing 4 points. Exchange information, take lots of pictures, safely, don’t tough it out, go see a doctor, and interview your lawyer, and if you need a lawyer interview carefully until you have good bets on … Make sure someone you are comfortable with.
Mike:	I think that’s good advice for the summer time, and frankly anytime. Let’s just enjoy the weather, enjoy the summer, and let’s do this again soon.
Bill:	All right. We’ll end this segment of North Carolina Law Talk. Mike, I’m sure we’ll shoot another one here quickly. Thank you. If you have questions please call Mike Daisley. Mike, which telephone number now?
Mike:	The new number actually. Remember, I’ve got a new law firm. I’m very happy about this, it’s Goodson Daisley Law. Paul Goodson does a lot of Veterans benefits and social security disability. I joined his practice. Goodson Daisley Law is 704-331-8014.
Bill:	All right. Thank you much.