Delaware Business Lawyer Blog

On July 29, 2009, the Federal government issued a publication called "5 Tips For Shopping For A Mortgage." Although these tips may seem obvious, you'd be surprised how many people don't follow them.

One tip is to get advice from somebody who knows what they're doing - somebody you can trust. As a Delaware real estate lawyer, I find that most of my clients contact me after they've already been approved for the mortgage. At this point, it's kind of late to start asking questions about how your mortgage loan will work, or what fees you'll be paying. There's absolutely no reason for you to struggle through the application process by yourself when you can get your attorney to review what you're doing and offer helpful advice.

Another tip is to actually shop around for the best deal for you. This could save you thousands of dollars. How do you shop for a mortgage? Check out these suggestions.

As a Delaware personal injury lawyer, it still makes my blood boil whenever a doctor who's been hired by an insurance company claims that my seriously injured client didn't really suffer what's known as a traumatic brain injury.

This is the first in a series of articles that will explain how and why this occurs, and what highly skilled attorneys for brain injured clients are doing about it.

Let's begin with an example of what I'm talking about. I represent a young woman who was severely injured in a car crash here in Delaware. One of her injuries was a traumatic brain injury. A well known psychiatrist was hired by the insurance company for the other driver, and he tested my client over 2 full days. After the testing, he issued a report that said, among other things, that my client could not have suffered a brain injury because her MRI and CatScan were normal, she didn't hit her head, and she didn't lose consciousness.

During my 8 hour deposition of this so-called medical expert, I asked a series of questions which resulted in typical hogwash responses. Rather than accepting whatever he said as gospel, I continued to press this expert witness until he finally told the truth. Here's a sample of what he said after a lot of questions.

He started with the statement that "Her MRI and her CAT scan demonstrated no clinical solid evidence of a trauma to her brain."

So I asked:
Q. Tell me what literature you rely on that supports the notion that a negative MRI and negative CAT scan rule out brain injury.
A. There is none.

And later on, I asked:
Q. Let me go back to the MRI and CAT scan, for just a moment. Would you agree that a person can have a normal CAT scan and a normal MRI and yet have a brain injury?
A. That's possible.

He also finally admitted that just like a baby can suffer "shaken baby" brain damage without ever hitting its head, an adult driver can also suffer a brain injury if their head is thrown forward and backward hard enough.

And upon still more questioning, he admitted that a person does not have to lose consciousness in order to have a brain injury.

In my next article on this topic, I'll share more information about brain injuries caused by car crashes, and how insurance company doctors try to pretend that the injury never occurred.