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Personal Injury Law

Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer

Commonsense analysis of Iowa personal injury law. Focused on the rights of the common working man and woman.
By Steve Lombardi, Esq.

Post Frequency: 17.4/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2010 at 07:01:00

Workers' Compensation: Injuries up and payouts down - hmm, something doesn't sound right.

Posted on April 17, 2009
Middle of the night and I'm wide-awake – go figure. I was just surfing the internet when, at random, an article popped up that grabbed my interest. 'Construction Up, Injuries Up but Workers' Comp Payouts Down' couldn't have appeared at a more fitting time, especially considering I just posted an introductory article to this topic on Thursday...

Construction Injuries: Let the process begin

Posted on April 16, 2009
It's somewhat ironic how the economy is crumbling around us and buildings continue to go up (each one higher than the next, it seems). It's true – the construction industry has exploded and, though it has experienced some cuts in result of economic woes, it's currently one of the top job providers in the U...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: Who are the key players in securitization?

Posted on April 16, 2009
To accomplish securitization it requires several key professionals. As we learned yesterday initially there is a lender and a borrower. Today we identify the professional players in the investment selling and buying of the cash flow from all those loans...

NEGLIGENCE: Snow and ice can't cause a car accident, only drivers can.

Posted on April 16, 2009
The headline reads: Ice and snow blamed for fatal accident. Published February 15, 2009 11:34 pm This is one of those little things that will drive a lawyer to distraction. The precision of the English language being what it is and isn't when there is a logical inconsistency I tend to perseverate about better word choices...

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FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What is securitization or loan magic?

Posted on April 15, 2009
In very simple terms securitization is the conversion of loans to 'stocks' that can be sold on the stock market as an investment. To explain securitization let's start with the originator. If you've taken out a home mortgage you've probably paid an originator fee...

Iowa Workers Compensation: Single car accidents where the working driver is killed

Posted on April 15, 2009
Normally we think in terms of car accidents being about liability against another driver. But when a driver falls asleep at the wheel or for whatever reason loses control of a company owned vehicle or even their own vehicle in some instances; crashes, rolls and dies, the dependents may still be entitled to receive Iowa workers' compensation benefits...

Driver Safety: Failing to yield the ROW, kills one driver and injures anothers on I-35 southbound, Ames, Iowa

Posted on April 14, 2009
Garrett Chitty, 17, tried entering I-35 southbound where little room existed, stuck another truck being driven by Lewis Thomas of Cleveland, Ohio. Thomas' truck moved over to the left striking another truck driven by Gary Parsons, 51 or Deposit, N.Y. Unfortunately for Parsons his truck turned on its side onto the guardrail and he was killed...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are mortgage-backed securities?

Posted on April 14, 2009
FINANCIAL WRONGDOING: What is a mortgage backed security? Mortgage-backed securities are a particular kind of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), that we reviewed yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjoJ9UF2hqg Yesterday we covered CDO's and learned these investments used three levels of investors that each received a different level of risk and reward...

Driving Safety: A Critical Margin of Safety

Posted on April 14, 2009
On March 30, 2009 at 1:30 38 year old Jeffery Hamman of Sioux City hit a semi (drove his pickup truck right into the rear) that was pulled over on the shoulder for a mechanical problem. The semi was driven by 62 year-old Carlos Yon of Miramar Florida...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are collateralized debt obligations?

Posted on April 13, 2009
Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjoJ9UF2hqg CDO's are a way of turning mortgage debt into investments that can be bought and sold on the open market. Investing in CDO's involves calculating, using mathematical formulas, the risk involved in the debt going sour or the investment paying off a return on the money invested...

Medical Malpractice: What's the Price?

Posted on April 13, 2009
In 2007, a medical malpractice lawsuit was resolved. The plaintiff? A woman who suffered a crippling brain seizure that left her incapable of returned to work. The defendant? The medical school (and surgeon) at which her surgery was performed .baby boy suffered multiple seizures after signs of an infected circumcision...

Pedestrian Safety: Hit-and-Run Roadside Walker's Killer Still at Large in Iowa or Wisconsin or Minnesota

Posted on April 13, 2009
I wonder if your conscience is bothering you. Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do you continue to have a memory of the sound when your car or truck struck the man walking on the roadside in Iowa? Does that sound come back and haunt you? Aren't you eating as well? What no appetite? Yeah a guilty conscience can do that to you...

Continuing with police brutality, raising good kids and white collar criminals

Posted on April 12, 2009
Yesterday we discussed a Q&A from a justifiably angry parent whose son appears to have been arrested without the need to do so. Today we continue on with the dangers of death in police work. In the news in Des Moines is a similar case that may result in a civil claim being filed for excessive force during an arrest...

Investigating the rollover accident in Johnson County, Iowa.

Posted on April 12, 2009
On March 14th 2009 Lisa Marie Adams (17), Joseph Daniel Widmer (18), and Brendt Michael Fetzer were headed Westbound on 340th and lost control entering the South ditch and rolled. Lisa Marie Adams died from the resulting injuries, while Joseph was taken by Aircare to the hospital...

Des Moines Police Officers accused of brutality

Posted on April 11, 2009
From time to time I get asked for legal advice that has a broader audience and this is one of those Q&A's. This is about police brutality, or excessive force, assault and battery, finding the right lawyer, lawsuit economics, the dangers of law enforcement and general human nature...

Medical Malpractice: Who's Responsible? And Who SHOULD Be?

Posted on April 11, 2009
As mentioned yesterday, medical malpractice is a serious issue. It happens, folks – more frequently than we like to admit. http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/840896 It happens across the globe, in a variety of medical fields, and can cause a more damaging/serious condition than that which was initially wrong...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What is a Ponzi scheme and how did Madoff get away with it for so long?

Posted on April 10, 2009
What is a Ponzi Scheme? A Ponzi scheme is a form of a pyramid scheme. In a Ponzi scheme the instigator interacts with the investors. The ruse is carried out by creating the false impression that the money is actually invested and making a profit. The key to a Ponzi scheme is to get the initial investors to reinvest what they are paid, thereby reducing or eliminating the need to actually show a return on investments...

Negligence can be attempting to pass at the cress of a hill.

Posted on April 10, 2009
A head on collision Monday April 6th led to the death of Patricia Ann Davis and Howard Jay Davis. Patricia was heading Westbound on 270th when she collided head on with a vehicle driven by Jonathan Jay Chumbley at the crest of the hill. This is why you don't attempt to pass on a two-lane highway as you're approaching the cress of a hill...

The Absolute Value of Non-Economic Damages Equates to a Person's Moral Compass Setting

Posted on April 09, 2009
ALL LIFE HAS SOME VALUE: The Time Value of Money relates to societies moral compass setting. Right after 9/11 I was scheduled to trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp from Katmandu. I'm in Nepal and a man says to me, "You Americans have everything and yet you have nothing...

Wear your seatbelt, rolling an SUV

Posted on April 09, 2009
On March 14th 2009 Lisa Marie Adams (17), Joseph Daniel Widmer (18), and Brendt Michael Fetzer were headed Westbound on 340th and lost control entering the South ditch and rolled. Lisa Marie Adams died from the resulting injuries, while Joseph was taken by Aircare to the hospital...

Medical Malpractice: Call it what you will...

Posted on April 09, 2009
Yesterday's article proved slightly controversial (to say the least); I introduced the controversial topic of medical malpractice and presented several statistics (linked to their source) concerning the touchy subject. The issue of medical malpractice may infuriate some, but the fact that it occurs exists...

Illinois motorcycle helmets remains voluntary

Posted on April 08, 2009
The Illinois Senate has rejected a mandatory helmet plan for those riding on a motorcycle. This is one of the more frivolous legislative efforts by the State of Illinois Legislature. The research on traumatic brain injury (head injury and TBI) proves just how foolish it is to allow those riding motorcycles to do so without a helmet...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: Credit Default Swaps 2 - Financial weapons of mass destruction.

Posted on April 08, 2009
Developing your understanding of credit markets and financial weapons of mass destruction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAFEvNsiqw Yesterday we posted part one of credit default swaps. Today we talk about why they were described by Warren Buffet as financial weapons of mass destruction...

Recognizing the symptoms or a lethal dose of alcohol

Posted on April 08, 2009
How do you recognize the symptoms of alcohol LD? Symptoms of alcohol poisoning start with nausea and progress to vomiting. The person will then pass out, be difficult or impossible to awaken, not be responsive to painful stimuli (such as pinching), have slow shallow breathing and the reflexes are absent...

Medical Malpractice: yearly tolls and averages

Posted on April 07, 2009
One – I've only ever had one surgery (knock on wood) and it was a minor surgery, at that. I've been pretty darn lucky thus far; however, the fact that I've only had one operation doesn't mean I haven't been exposed to risks for a serious medical mishap...

FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are credit default swaps?

Posted on April 07, 2009
Credit default swaps are a way of insuring credit instruments (loans) that make it easier for the lenders to sell the loans to investors. As the name implies the insurance is to protect the investor who buys the loans in the event of a default. The investor or investment banker give a part of what they expect to make in profit to insure the loan investment...

Iowa Workers' Compensation: Death benefits and negligence

Posted on April 07, 2009
Matthew Buckner was driving his van northbound on 315th St. when he lost control of the van he was driving approximately 100 yards north of the Highway 34 intersection. He entered the east ditch and rolled several times before coming to rest on its side trapping Mr...

Another drunk driver, another death, long sentence and suicide attempt

Posted on April 07, 2009
Yesterday we discussed a drunken driving case where someone was killed and it led to the offending driver probably being deported. Today we see how the drunk driver may be affected. Driving while drunk can kill others and can lead to a long prison sentence...

Worker Safety: Polk County, Iowa Hallett Materials worker dies, electrical fire

Posted on April 07, 2009
Polk County, Des Moines, Iowa A 35-year old man died as a result of either an electrical fire or from electrocution at the Hallett Materials site northwest of Des Moines today. The worker leaves behind a wife and three young children. Bainum leaves behind a wife, April, and three children, son, Tristan, 12, and daughters Holly, 6, and Lacy, 3...

Hawaii Five-O Medical Dream Team Invitations being stacked in the mail box

Posted on April 06, 2009
Friday, we sent out invitation number 6 to the next Texas Medical Dream Team member. Because Hawaii wants to consider tort reform that passes the cost of medical mistakes on to the patients we thought it wise to begin including the residents of Hawaii with these posts...

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