Articles Posted in Brain Injury

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LOOK OUT FOR MOTORCYCLES!!!

According to performance measures developed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and The Governor’s Highway Safety Association, 80 motorcyclists were killed in Louisiana accidents in 2011, 59 of whom were helmeted. On June 15, 2013, another fatal motorcycle accident occurred on Louisiana Highway 1065 in Tangipahoa Parish. A Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana motorcyclist was killed when a an oncoming pickup truck allegedly made an illegal left turn into a private driveway on Louisiana Highway 1065 near its intersection with Louisiana Highway 442 in Tickfaw, Louisiana. The motorcycle crashed into the side of the pickup truck and, despite wearing a helmet, the rider was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Louisiana Trial Lawyer, B. Scott Andrews, of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury law firm of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., has been selected for membership in The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Scott Andrews is already a 2012-2013 member of The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40.

The National Trial Lawyers is a member-driven organization composed of premier trial lawyers from across the country who meet stringent qualifications as civil plaintiff trial lawyers. Through educational and networking opportunities, the organization strives to help its members build law practices which encompass superior knowledge, skill, experience and success.

Only top trial lawyers from Louisiana who are actively practicing in civil plaintiff and/or criminal defense law are eligible for invitation. Invitees must demonstrate superior qualifications, leadership skills, and trial results as a legal professional. The selection process for this elite honor is based on a multi-phase process which includes peer nominations combined with third party research. Prospective members of The National Trial Lawyers are carefully screened prior to receiving an invitation for membership. Membership is not automatically renewed; attorneys are reevaluated annually to determine whether their activities and accomplishments qualify them for continued membership.
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Every member (Paul H. Dué, Kirk A. Guidry, Randy A. Piedrahita and B. Scott Andrews) of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury law firm of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. has been named to the 2013 Super Lawyers list for Louisiana. The reason is clear – more than 25 years handling referrals of complex and difficult personal injury cases from lawyers around the world. This success is rooted in academia, with all firm members having graduated at the top of their law school class and having served as members of or as editors of their Law Reviews. The firm boasts former Louisiana Supreme Court and U.S. Fifth Circuit law clerks, Adjunct Professors of Law, past Presidents of the Louisiana Association for Justice, and both a former Louisiana appellate judge and an esteemed University of Texas Law Professor “of counsel”.

This background, combined with hard work and extensive experience, has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts. This success has been shared with the many attorneys who refer cases to the firm – who find the firm’s experience and funding assistance invaluable in representing their clients.

The members of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. combine their academic backgrounds, practical trial experience and financial “staying power” to add up to success for clients and the lawyers trusting the firm with referrals.
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Dué, Guidry Piedrahita & Andrews has been named to the U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” 2013 list, with first tier rankings in Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs and Product Liability-Plaintiff. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury law firm has been ranked in the first tier every year since the inception of the Best Law Firms rankings.

The U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers 2013 “Best Law Firms” rankings provide a comprehensive view of the U.S. legal profession that is unprecedented both in the range of firms represented and in the range of qualitative and quantitative data used to develop the rankings.

The third edition of these rankings features law firms given consistently impressive performance ratings by clients and peers. Achieving a high ranking is a special distinction that signals a unique combination of excellence and breadth of expertise.

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We lawyers are paid to talk, and talk we do. We talk too much. We never learn anything by talking, but we are driven to it.

I saw this at a closing I attended with my wife. The closing attorney talked the whole time, interrupted my wife and everyone else in the room, and insisted on his voice being the only one heard. It made my wife mad, and she felt that he refused to answer her questions. As a lawyer, I knew he was trying to explain the process; still, his inability to listen and understand the concerns of everyone in the room irritated me, too. He knew what he was doing and was trying to educate us, but because he didn’t listen (or at least appear to) better, he did poorly.

The hardest skill to learn is listening. When I went to the FBI course on Crisis/Hostage Negotiations, they taught me not just what to say, but what to hear. Jury selection in a trial is not just asking the right questions, but actually listening to and expanding upon the answers you get. Good lawyering requires good listening at all levels, and it is the hardest thing for us lawyers to remember, frequently because we are so unused to doing it!

Writing this column today helped me to remember that. Every lawyer (including me) has done exactly what this competent real estate attorney did. I am even embarassed to recall all the talking I did today without actively listening to what others said. I guess the lesson of this week’s blog is actively listening to everyone in all we do (lawyering or not) will make us do a better job, or at least be perceived as such. After all, isn’t how people perceive you almost as important as how you really are?

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Congratulations to Baton Rouge, Louisiana trial lawyer, Scott Andrews, of the law firm of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., for being recognized as one of America’s top young trial lawyers. Scott Andrews has been invited to join the invitation only professional organization, The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 under 40. No more than 40 attorneys per state are asked to join and invitations are extended exclusively to those individuals who meet stringent qualifications, who demonstrate superior leadership skills, and who exert passion and personal conviction as a young trial attorney.

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As of August 1, 2012, the Louisiana Supreme Court is accepting electronic or e-filing of documents from Louisiana attorneys in good standing. Attorneys interested in this voluntary program must first participate in a 30-minute online training session provided on the Louisiana Supreme Court website in order to obtain a password to begin filing documents. In addition to the regular filing fees accessed by the Court, the cost for e-filing is $100 for writ applications and $50 for other court documents such as oppositions, replies, and amicus curiae briefs. More information can be obtained by contacting the Louisiana Supreme Court Clerk of Court Office at 504.310.2300.

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The Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury lawyers at Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. salute the Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud Unit for cracking down on insurance fraud. Insurance fraud investigators made three arrests in July 2012 arising out of the submission of fraudulent insurance claims. The first involved a couple who allegedly set fire to their vehicle and then submitted a theft claim to State Farm; the second involved a fraudulent lost wage claim; and the the third involved the submission of false income information to obtain food stamps.

Anyone wishing to report criminal or suspicious activity to the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations is urged to contact Louisiana State Police detectives at 225-925-3682.

People who are seriously injured in accidents by the fault of another person deserve fair and just compensation for their injuries. People who submit false insurance claims deserve “three hots and a cot”.
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There is a one year prescriptive period for survival action claims in Louisiana. The right to recover survival action damages for injuries sustained by a deceased person prior to their death may be brought only by the following exclusive class of beneficiary (including by adoption):

(1) The surviving spouse and child or children of the deceased, or either the spouse or the child or children.

(2) The surviving father and mother of the deceased, or either of them if he left no spouse or child surviving. However, a father or mother who has abandoned the deceased during his minority is deemed not to have survived him.

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There is a one year prescriptive period for wrongful death claims in Louisiana. If a person dies due to the fault of another, suit may be brought only by the following exclusive class of beneficiary (including by adoption) to recover wrongful death damages which they sustained as a result of the death:

(1) The surviving spouse and child or children of the deceased, or either the spouse or the child or children.

(2) The surviving father and mother of the deceased, or either of them if he left no spouse or child surviving. However, a father or mother who has abandoned the deceased during his minority is deemed not to have survived him.

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