Posts Tagged ‘douglas leonard and garvey’
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
By Charles G. Douglas, III
So, if you’ve been arrested, can the police scroll through your recent cell phone calls? A recent case in Massachusetts involved a situation where the accused was suspected of doing a drug deal within the sight of police officers. When he was placed under arrest, the detective asked what his cell phone number was. Following arrest and transportation to the police station, the detective conducted a few simple manipulations of the cell phone to check the history of incoming and outgoing calls that had been made recently. (continue reading…)
Tags: cell phone, Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, criminal defense, douglas leonard and garvey, police searh, warrantless search
Posted in Blog, Criminal, Criminal Defense | Comments Off
Thursday, January 10th, 2013
By Jason R.L. Major – New Hampshire Civil Attorney
What rights do you have if you are subjected to a baseless legal claim? What can you do to recover the thousands of dollars of legal fees and time spent defending yourself from a frivolous lawsuit or a vindictively-filed criminal charge? The answer is a claim for “malicious prosecution.” (continue reading…)
Tags: bad faith, Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, douglas leonard and garvey, frivolous, malice, malicious prosecution
Posted in Blog, Civil Rights | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 8th, 2013
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorney
Now that winter is here it is important to think about the hazards of snow and ice accumulation on vehicles during the winter season. Snow and ice falling from a moving vehicle can create hazardous driving conditions for vehicles travelling around them. To avoid this danger, it is necessary to take reasonable steps to remove the snow or ice accumulations.
Under New Hampshire State law, a driver can be cited for driving a vehicle in a manner that “endangers” or “is likely to endanger any person or property.” This may include large amounts of snow and ice that fall from a vehicle.
When driving, you should leave sufficient space when following vehicles to give yourself enough time to react and be able to avoid any snow/ice that may fall from another vehicle.
265:79-b Negligent Driving. — Whoever upon any way drives a vehicle negligently or causes a vehicle to be driven negligently, as defined in RSA 626:2, I(d), or in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any person or property shall be guilty of a violation and shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than $500 for a first offense and not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 for a second or subsequent offense.
If you believe you are the victim of a motor vehicle accident, you should consult an experienced personal injury attorney such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Automobile Accidents, Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, Concord NH Personal Injury Attorney, douglas leonard and garvey, endanger, hazaardous driving, negligent driving, nh personal injury
Posted in Automobile Accidents, Blog, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury | Comments Off
Monday, January 7th, 2013
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorney
A recent study suggests that dangerous medical errors happen more frequently than you might care to believe. Researchers reporting their findings online in the journal Surgery note that “never events” occur frequently.
In the medical community, the so-called “never event” refers to certain medical mistakes that should never occur. These mistakes include leaving an instrument inside a patient, operating on the wrong body part or performing the wrong procedure. While some type of mistakes in health care are considered not preventable, these “never events” are preventable.
The study’s findings are based on research covering 1990-2010. It is estimated that a surgeon in the United States left a foreign object (such as a sponge) inside a patient 39 times a week, performed the wrong procedure on a patient 20 times a week and operated on the wrong body part 20 times a week.
When you undergo a surgery, you expect it to go smoothly. Most times it does. Based on the study, patients receiving the wrong procedure had the highest odds of death or injury and younger patients had a better chance of surviving a “never event” than those over the age of 60. Patients between the ages of 40 and 49 had the most “never events.”
If you believe you are the victim of medical malpractice, you should consult a medical malpractice attorney such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Automobile Accidents, Concord NH Personal Injury Attorney, concord nh personal injury lawyer, douglas leonard and garvey, medical malpractice, slip and fall, surgical mistakes
Posted in Automobile Accidents, Blog, Boating Accidents, Medical Malpractice, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury, Slip and Fall, Snowmobile Accidents | Comments Off
Monday, January 7th, 2013
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Attorney
With the problem of rising health care costs, in the news over the past couple of years are efforts in certain states to impose caps on the amount of damages a medical malpractice victim can recover. Those in favor of such caps argue that the limitation will help with health care costs. There are published studies that reveal such a claim is not supported.
While caps have been passed in other states, the New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected imposing such caps over 30 years ago in response to the New Hampshire Legislature’s law to limit the amount of damages recoverable for non-economic loss (pain and suffering) to $250,000.
In 1979, Carsen v. Maurer, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that the cap was unconstitutional. In Carsen v. Mauer, the Court noted such a law treated victims of medical negligence different from victims of other kinds of negligence by restricting the damages they may recover for their injuries.
If you believe you have been the victim of a personal injury or medical malpractice, you should consult an experienced medical malpractice lawyer such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, Concord NH Personal Injury Attorney, concord nh personal injury lawyer, douglas leonard and garvey, medical malpractice, nh medical malpractice cap, nh personal injury
Posted in Automobile Accidents, Blog, Boating Accidents, Medical Malpractice, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury, Snowmobile Accidents | Comments Off
Sunday, January 6th, 2013
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorney
In a previous blog, we explained that in 1980 the New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected the legislature’s attempt to impose a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering or non-economic losses. Well, in 1990, those in favor of limiting such damage awards were back at it.
This time, the proponents wanted to impose a statutory cap of $875,000 for non-economic loss in all personal injury cases, which would include medical malpractice cases. Although the cap amount was higher, the Court rejected the idea of having a cap itself. In Birannigan v. Usitalo, the New Hampshire Supreme Court noted it was “unfair and unreasonable” to impose such a burden (limit on damages) on those severely injured and in need of compensation.
In this time of rising health care costs, it is easy to come up with a simplistic (although incorrect) solution to the problem and target victims of personal injury. Our Supreme Court has rejected as unconstitutional previous efforts to single out personal injury victims with arbitrary caps or limits on their right to recovery non-economic or pain and suffering damages.
If you believe you have been the victim of a personal injury, you should consult an experienced medical malpractice or personal injury lawyer such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, Concord NH Personal Injury Attorney, douglas leonard and garvey, nh cap, nh damages award, nh legislature on cap, nh personal injury, non-economic damages
Posted in Automobile Accidents, Blog, Boating Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury, Snowmobile Accidents | Comments Off
Monday, December 31st, 2012
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorney
The 2012 statistics for fatal crashes in New Hampshire show that increases in motorcycle fatalities and pedestrian deaths explain most of the rise in traffic deaths this year. Officials are uncertain why motorcycle and pedestrian deaths increased this year.
While the number of crashes may fluctuate from year to year, the primary causes remain the same according to New Hampshire State Police. About 75 percent of total traffic fatalities relate to impaired driving, distracted driving and speed, along with a lack of seatbelt use.
Analysis by the Department of Safety showed that August was the deadliest month in 2012, with 22 people killed in 20 separate crashes. September was next, with 11 crashes and 12 deaths.
As for seatbelt use, New Hampshire does not have a mandatory adult seatbelt law. Officials state that an estimated 75 percent of drivers here use their seatbelts voluntarily but about 71 percent of fatal accidents involve a lack of seatbelt use.
There’s a similar statistic related to the use of motorcycle helmets, which are also not mandatory in New Hampshire. Helmets were not used in 63 percent of fatal motorcycle crashes in 2012.
Another disturbing increase is the number of alcohol related fatalities. From 2009 to 2011, 41 percent of fatal crashes were related to impairment by alcohol and/or drugs.
If you have been a victim of a car accident, you should consult an experienced personal injury attorney such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Automobile Accidents, Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, Concord NH Personal Injury Attorney, douglas leonard and garvey, helmet law, nh personal injury
Posted in Automobile Accidents, Blog, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury | Comments Off
Friday, December 28th, 2012
By C. Kevin Leonard – New Hampshire Employment Attorney
How would you answer if you were asked is it illegal for an employer to fire a female employee who has engaged in no wrongdoing but the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction? Well, most of you are probably wrong but the Iowa Supreme Court recently upheld the legality of terminating a female employee because he found her too attractive.
In Nelson v. Knight, Iowa dentist James Knight fired his dental assistant, Melissa Nelson, after 10 years of employment. He stated she was his best employee. Nelson was fired not because she did anything wrong but because Knight’s wife viewed her as a threat to her marriage. While the Court stated Nelson’s firing was “unfair” and raises concerns about a “slippery slope,” it ruled that Knight did not terminate Nelson based upon her protected status – gender.
The Iowa Court stated that Title VII is not a general fairness law. In other words, a termination may be unfair but not illegal unless the employer engages in discrimination based upon an employee’s protected status.
It was undisputed that the employer’s wife requested him to terminate his assistant and the employer feared he would try to have an affair with her down the road if he did not fire her. The case is disturbing because it seems that the female employee was viewed as a threat because she was a woman.
If you believe you are the subject of employment discrimination or other adverse employment action, you should consult an experienced employment attorney such as one of the attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, concord nh employment lawyer, concord nh lawyer, douglas leonard and garvey, employment law, Title VII
Posted in Blog, Discrimination, Employment Law | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
By Richard J. Lehmann – New Hampshire Criminal Attorney
The expanding use of technology in our lives has challenged the law to address issues that were unimaginable to the drafters of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. A recent decision by Judge Posner, a highly regarded judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, addressed the question of whether the police may conduct a search without a warrant and look at the recently called numbers list in an arrested person’s cell phone.
The case United States v. Abel Flores-Lopez was a federal drug prosecution. Police arrested the defendant and seized his cell phone. Then without a warrant, the police searched the cell phone’s listing of recently called numbers. By learning those numbers, police were able to conduct further investigation that ultimately implicated the defendant in additional drug activity, for which he was eventually convicted and sentenced to prison.
The defendant tried to have the evidence kept out or suppressed, claiming that the warrantless search of the cell phone violated his right to be free from unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
The court started by recognizing that a cell phone is really a computer. It is also, the court wrote. “a diary writ large.” Despite acknowledging that a warrant is required to search a computer or to read someone’s diary, and that computers and diaries can contain huge amounts of personal information, that the degree of intrusion, combined with the fact that many cell phones can be remotely “wiped” clean of any information at all, justified allowing the police to conduct warrantless searches of lists of recently called numbers.
Privacy and the right to remain free from unreasonable searches and seizure is not just important to drug dealers. All of us have an interest in protecting our privacy from government intrusion. The people who wrote our Constitution understood this.
Just how far the police can go in searching your electronic devices for information is a question that will have to be resolved through the development of precedent in this rapidly evolving, specialized field. Anyone who finds themselves caught up in a similar situation should immediately consult with a lawyer with expertise in this area, such as the criminal and civil rights lawyers at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. at 224-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: cell phones, Concord New Hampshire attorney, Concord New Hampshire lawyer, criminal defense, douglas leonard and garvey, Fourth Amendment, illegal search, privacy
Posted in Blog, Civil Rights, Criminal, Criminal Defense | Comments Off
Friday, December 7th, 2012
By Stephen A. Duggan – New Hampshire Family Law Attorney
The issue of a person’s income is important in determining someone’s child support obligation. This can be challenging when the person paying child support is self-employed. In a recent case, the New Hampshire Supreme Court defined what business expenses a self-employed person can claim in determining income for the purposes of child support calculation. The ruling is significant for anyone who either is self-employed and pays child support or receives child support from a self-employed ex-spouse. The case is In the Matter of Nancy E. Woolsey and Grant E. Woolsey: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2012/2012106woolsey
According to the opinion, the father was self-employed, hauling construction materials from April to December and plowing in the winter. In 2010, the father moved to modify his child support downward claiming a legitimate change of circumstances, that is lack of hauling work due to the economy and increased fuel costs. His business had gross income on profit and loss statements from 2008-2010 of 70k/50k/50k. Each year he took business deduction of about $25,000 reducing claiming her personal income was about $25,000 for each of those years, for purposes of calculating child support or otherwise. The mother challenged his business expenses, arguing that he was underemployed and had other income he was not reporting to the IRS. She asked the Court to find the father could pay his original child support obligation.
The trial judge found that the father had not shown a financial hardship or a substantial change in circumstances and that his gross income was the same as his business income. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court judge and found that “self-employment income” is gross receipts when a portion of that money is payable to others as a legitimate business expense and not available for child support. Simply, the trial court must use legitimate gross business receipts as the self-employment income used to calculate child support. And, that “legitimate business expenses” if they are “reasonable and necessary for the production of income” and “actually paid and incurred.” A trial judge needs to determine whether the claimed expenses meet the above test.
Thus, if you are receiving child support and believe your ex-spouse is diverting money away from personal income by way of fraudulent business expenses, this decision may help get the information necessary to investigate and discover whether those expenses were “actually paid and incurred” and enforce your right to fair child support.
If you are on the other side of the equation, the Woolseycase mandates that you carefully keep track of and document your business expenses and make sure that you document that they are actually paid incurred and paid. Failure to do so may open the door for opposing counsel to argue, and for the trial court to find, that your personal income is higher than your business expenses reflect. Obviously, such a finding will impact your child support obligation.
Carolyn Garvey and Steve Duggan of Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.A., are experienced in handling these complex divorces and those involving self employed individual. They are ready to assist you with any domestic matter.
If you are going through a divorce, you should consult an experienced family law attorney such as one of the lawyers at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form.
Tags: business assets, business expenses, child support calculations, child support income, concord nh divorce attorney, concord nh divorce lawyer, divorce, douglas leonard and garvey, family law, financial hardship, nh child support income, NH Divorce Attorney, nh divorce lawyer, self-employed, self-employment income
Posted in Blog, Divorce and Family Law | Comments Off
|
