Litigation Process

October 30, 2024

Car Accidents and Admissible Evidence

This image shows what happens if you are involved in a car accident and your front airbag deploys with your feet on the dash. Ouch! The result is ugly: two femoral hip fractures which are serious and painful and will require surgery to repair followed by a 4 to 6 month recovery period. The owner’s manual of every vehicle with airbags warns of this danger. Assuming the accident was the fault of someone else, can you still recover compensation for your injuries in such an accident if you failed to heed the airbag warnings and that failure caused your injuries in the accident to be worse? Continue reading

August 5, 2024

A Crash Course for Gen Z and Parents of Adult Gen Z

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Let’s start with who is officially Gen Z. Individuals born between 1997 and 2012 are considered Gen Z. The adult members of Gen Z range from 18 years old to 27 years old. .

As these Gen Z adults leave the nest (hopefully) and make their way into the world, they need to understand terms like “deductible”, but only 27% of them do. Specifically, as to auto insurance, 22% of Gen Z adults have “little or no awareness” of the importance of auto insurance”. This is especially frightening because this age group also happens to be the most likely to be in an auto accident. Read on for one of the most important auto insurance tips for everyone, not just Gen Z. Continue reading

July 29, 2024

Would You Settle for Less?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Part of our job is to attempt to keep up with what our opponents (the insurance industry and their lawyers) are thinking and doing. One of the many ways we try to do that is by reading insurance industry publications such as Claims Journal. In a recent Claims Journal article, the author interviewed Harish Kapur, CEO of Across America Insurance Services. Mr. Kapur’s comments are nothing new to us, but they are a good reminder to anyone who is considering filing a personal injury or wrongful death claim. Here are three key take-aways:

The insurance companies handle injury claims all day-every day, while this is hopefully your one and only injury claim.

Mr. Kapur bragged about his “crack team of in-house adjusters” and how they “have to know everything about the file.” The insurance adjusters know what information is critical. They know how to ask questions and frame the narrative during a recorded statement. They are trained how to interview witnesses and scour the internet for information on you.

February 26, 2024

What Is a Release of All Claims?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

For Valentine’s Day, I received a gift card for a spa. When I began to book an appointment online for the massage, I was asked to electronically sign a Release of All Claims. Among other things, the Release of All Claims for a massage at this spa stated that if death resulted from the massage, then the spa was not responsible. There were also other excessive provisions. I declined to sign the Release of All Claims, and the spa was kind enough to refund the purchased gift card, but the outrageousness of their request is not particularly isolated. Every day, businesses ask their prospective customers to sign releases before providing services or allowing participation in activities. As such, we thought it would be good to review what exactly is a release of all claims. Continue reading

November 3, 2023

Don’t Be Cute

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Litigation is fighting with rules, confrontation with a referee. Most people do not enjoy confrontation, and for others, it brings out their worst. If you are involved in litigation or have a claim that may result in litigation, please take our advice: don’t get cute. A few news articles lately have shown what happens when people try to get cute during litigation. Continue reading

August 28, 2023

Best Lawyers and The Law Offices of John Day

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Five lawyers at The Law Offices of John Day have been recognized by Best Lawyers. The categories in which at least one of our five lawyers were recognized were: Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice Litigation, Product Liability Litigation, Bet-the-Company Litigation and Commercial Litigation. What is Best Lawyers and why should you care? Best Lawyers is an organization that only recognizes lawyers who have been nominated and voted on by their professional peers through more than 13 million evaluations across 76 counties. This year, after that laborious process, Best Lawyers recognized and listed 159,987 lawyers. So why is this important? Continue reading

May 23, 2023

Knoxville Manufacturer of Air Bag Inflators Refuses Recall Request

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The National Traffic Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the federal agency charged with overseeing the safety of vehicles on the country’s roadways. After an eight-year investigation, the Knoxville company, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Inc., has been told to recall roughly 67 million inflators in the United States because they could explode and hurl shrapnel. According to the NHTSA, two people have been killed and seven have been injured in the United States and Canada. Here is what you need to know and some legal thoughts on this issue. Continue reading

May 4, 2023

Social Media as Evidence at Trial

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Donald J. Trump is currently the defendant in a civil case involving allegations of sexual assault. Perhaps not surprisingly, he has been tweeting his thoughts about the trial. The judge has warned him about doing so and has also admonished Trump’s lawyer about “having a conversation with [his] client” and the implications of obstruction of justice statutes. After reading the news about this issue, we thought it might be a good time to write about how social media use can affect your case and a trial. There are lots of questions that often come about the intersection of these two issues including: (1) Is social media hearsay? (2) Can social media be used as evidence/ Can social media be used in court? (3) Can lawyers look at social media during a case or at trial? Let’s take each one of these questions separately. Continue reading

January 20, 2023

“We’re Not the Suing Family”

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Kristen Chenoweth, the Emmy and Tony winning actress, has a new book out, and this week she has been giving interviews to promote it. In the interviews, she has talked at length about the serious injuries she sustained in an accident on the set of the television show “The Good Wife.” Lighting equipment on the set fell and hit her causing a fractured skull, a fractured rib and nose, broken teeth and other long-lasting injuries. Chenoweth’s Dad counseled her to get legal representation. She did not. She now regrets it. Here are some things you should think about if you are hurt in an accident and are reluctant to seek legal representation. Continue reading

January 9, 2023

Some Easy New Year’s Resolutions

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Well, here we are – the second week of January. How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Or as some people refer to them: casual promises I make to myself but I am under no legal obligation to fulfill. If you are struggling with your resolutions, you are in good company. Twenty-five percent of resolutions fail within the first week and the overwhelming majority fail within the first month. For this reason, every January, we like to give people some resolutions that are easy to keep and can make a huge difference in your life. More good news: these three can be done together! Continue reading