Archive for August, 2009

Pennsylvania requires motorists to have minimum auto insurance coverage. Extra coverage—such as uninsured motorist coverage—can help protect you if injured in an accident not covered by the standard insurance plan.

In this video blog, attorney Dean Weitzman explains the role of auto insurance in car accident cases, the importance of hiring a lawyer who understands insurance coverage, and how to recover maximum compensation if you or the negligent driver are uninsured.

Everybody deserves a second chance under our American legal system.  You do the crime, you do the time, and then you go back into society and try to make something of yourself.  That’s what former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is trying to do.  So why are so many people on his case?

Public reaction has been mixed after the Philadelphia Eagles announced yesterday that the team signed Vick to a one-year contract,  according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Why, critics are asking,  should the Eagles have signed the former Atlanta Falcons QB  — who was indefinitely suspended from the NFL and recently served 18-months in federal prison for running a dog fighting ring after his 2007 conviction?  How could the Eagles have hired an animal abuser?  Why would the Eagles have done such a stupid thing?

Well, I don’t like what Vick did either.  I am an animal lover who has three dogs and a cat.  I find his actions repulsive and inhumane, as did the courts and the judge who sentenced him to a 23-month prison term. But should that stupid action on Vick’s part mean that for the rest of his life he is only judged on this one heinous,  selfish, arrogant, mean and horrendous act?

The only reasonable answer is no.  For any of us who make a huge mistake or do something vile or stupid or hateful, somehow there has to be a way out through a second chance, through forgiveness, through lessons being learned in life.  And I believe that Vick or anyone else who commits a crime deserves such a chance.

As a free society, with laws and punishments and repercussions for our actions, there must also be a means for healing, for moving forward, for rehabilitation.  You’d want the same opportunity for yourself if you did something stupid and went to prison for it.  Starting now, Vick’s past is his past.  He served his time.

Now let’s see how he handles his second chance.  This chance  is there for him to fly as an Eagle and as a member of the Philadelphia community or for him to squander and perhaps forever be banished from professional sports as a failure and former felon.  It’s in Vick’s hands and heart now.

An online poll by the Inquirer on whether Vick should have been signed by the Eagles is so far split almost evenly, with 48.7% of the respondents supporting the move, while 51.3% opposed it as of 5 p.m. today.

There are already some Eagles season ticket holders who are posting their tickets for sale on Web sites in protest of his signing by the team,  according to a report in the Inquirer.  I think that’s ridiculous.  I think that attitude is part of what’s wrong in our country today, from people who believe they are holier than thou, until their own asses are on the line.  No one seems to give the other guy much slack.

Vick did a terrible, horrible, repulsive thing.  But he went to prison for it and paid for his past actions with 18-months of his life in a federal prison cell.  Now it’s time to give him another chance and see if he makes the best use of it.

As the U.S. Senate continues its final debate on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s the perfect time to remember why this vetting process is so important for all of us to observe.

Judge Sotomayor has been in the news since she was named by President Barack Obama as his pick for the nation’s highest court this past May.

So why should all of us as Americans bother paying attention to this process and to this judge’s credentials, or to those of any candidate for the nation’s highest court? Why should it matter to us as individuals who is on the Supreme Court? Aren’t we insulated from the court and its actions so it doesn’t really affect us?

Actually, the court and its members have direct and profound  effects on us all through the decisions the court hands down. On every huge Constitutional and legal issue that faces us, the Supreme Court has ultimate review powers.  The Supreme Court has set legal boundaries on everything from abortion to gun ownership to the rights of individuals who have been arrested and accused of crimes.  The Supreme Court made the decision that validated President George W. Bush’s 2004 election win over Sen. Al Gore.  All of these decisions, and thousands more, affect us every day.

And that’s why we need to care and pay attention to who is next named to the Court.  It potentially could have made a difference for Vermont resident and musician Diana Levine, who in 2000 sought medical treatment in a hospital for migraines and severe vomiting.  She was intravenously given the anti-nausea drug, Phenergan, by a hospital staff member but complications led to the amputation of her right arm when the drug entered an artery.  She sued in state court in Vermont and won damages from the hospital and clinician, then sued Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the warning labels on Phenergan were inadequate. The case ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court , which earlier this year ruled in her favor.  That’s exactly what they should have done, but the problem was that the Court ruled on very narrow legal grounds, with three of the court’s justices voting against Levine’s arguments.  Had just two more justices been swayed by the dissenting justices, it could have gone the other way.  And that’s why it ultimately matters who is serving on the highest court. Each member matters on a nine-member court.

We need to have a U.S. Supreme Court that is made up of members who see the Constitution as a living document in our times, and not just as old words on old paper dating back to the 1700s.  To do that, it’s critically important to have the right people on the court who won’t run roughshod over the rights of Americans in any case it hears. That is a critical protection for all of us if we ever end up in court fighting for our own rights.

Judge Sotomayor is that kind of person who will look out for us as individuals while balancing the Constitution in ways that this current court can’t seem to do consistently.  So whether you support Judge Sotomayor or oppose her nomination, now is a great time to read her statements, learn of her judicial philosophy and find out more about her as her nomination proceeds.  Every member of the Supreme Court should be seen as important to us all, whether we like them or not.  Their decisions affect our everyday lives profoundly.