Nomberg Law Live

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

“This is Steve Altmann of The Nomberg Law Firm. Today I want to talk about the seven common myths or misconceptions about filing for bankruptcy. There are thousands of people struggling right now with their finances. The overall feeling for many people is that the following bankruptcy, that there’s a negative stigma to filing for bankruptcy That’s just not the case today, as it was many, many years ago.

And, so the seven myths that I want to talk about… the first one is that bankruptcy will ruin your credit. For most people, their credit is already in disarray. It’s not where they want it to be. Whether they have medical bills or a credit card debt, they’re behind on payments already, and so if you’re in that type of situation, filing for bankruptcy is not going to ruin your credit. It actually gives you an opportunity to rebuild your credit and give you a clean slate to work from. So that’s the first misconception.

The second misconception is that everyone’s going to know that you filed for bankruptcy and that’s not true. It is a public record when you file for bankruptcy, but it’s not published in the newspapers everywhere And for someone to have to find out if you file they would have to go through the process of actually looking for that record. So unless you’re a business and it’s recorded in the local business journal, it’s not going to be accessible to many people

The third myth is that if you’re filing for bankruptcy, then your spouse must also file for bankruptcy. That is just not true. Certainly, if your spouse has the same debt as you, then it might be beneficial for you to file together. It’s more cost-effective to file together. There is nothing that says, or no rule that says because one spouse is filing that the other spouse must file with them. Your spouse might not have to file bankruptcy. Every situation is different. So that’s something that a lawyer, that you to talk to your bankruptcy lawyer about to determine the best alternative.

The fourth myth of bankruptcy is that you cannot bankrupt on taxes. There are income taxes that you can bankrupt on. There are certain rules that apply, and if the taxes are more than three years old, as long as you have filed all of your tax returns and timely manner, and depending on when the taxes were assessed, there are ways for you to bankrupt on income taxes.

The fifth misconception or myth of bankruptcy is that you’re going to lose all of your assets and property and bankruptcy. When you file a Chapter 7, you do have options to claim exemptions for personal property, some household items. You’ll also have the option for a homestead exemption possibly. So most of your assets are going to be exempted, so you would not lose those things. If you’re buying a vehicle, you’re usually giving an opportunity to reaffirm or keep the vehicle, and the same goes for your house. So losing assets is definitely not something that always happens in a bankruptcy.

The sixth misconception of bankruptcy is at its shameful – that so that you should be ashamed that you have to file bankruptcy. There are thousands of people that have to file every year. Most of the time it’s for reasons beyond their control. So I think it’s to the point today where if you have to file bankruptcy, the shame is not there maybe as it was many years ago.

The seventh myth of filing bankruptcy is that you have too much money in your 401k, and because you have too much money there saved that you can’t file for bankruptcy. The reality is you can, but you need to talk to your bankruptcy lawyer and have him review the facts with you about the origination of the 401K and the IRA that you have because retirement funds are exempt for the most part. There’s no reason why you couldn’t file bankruptcy even though you have maybe a substantial amount of money in your 401k. Those funds are for your retirement.

So those are the seven myths of bankruptcy. If you would like to discuss your alternatives about your finances, and maybe if you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, you can call me at 205-930-6900. Please stay tuned for our next set of videos. Thank you.”

Bernard: Hey, it’s Bernard Nomberg with the Nomberg Law Firm. We’re back on another Tuesday, talking about an area of the law. And I’ve got Jimmy Haggerty, a Vestavia-based attorney, here to talk with us. Jimmy, I appreciate you coming on this morning. And Jimmy’s going to talk to us about an area of the law that not a lot of folks know about, but it involves employees who are hired and work for the federal government, and they get hurt on the job. But before we get to the nuts and bolts about that. Jimmy, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and so forth.

Jimmy: I’ve been doing OWCP work, which is the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program through the Department of Labor, for a little over 15 years. Prior to that, I did a good deal of Insurance Defense work. I graduated here locally from law school and went to undergraduate school at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Bernard: Well, Jimmy, let’s get into this area about workers who are employed with the federal government and when they get hurt on the job. My firm handles worker comp cases, but it’s different from what you guys do. We handle state-side work comp for folks who are employed, maybe with private employers. There are also individuals who are State of Alabama employees. And that’s a whole different avenue of administrative tasks for folks who got hurt on the job. But what we’re talking about are people who are employed by the federal government. Give us an idea of what types of jobs those are and some of your clients.

Jimmy: FECA which is the Federal Employees Compensation Act, covers just about any and all federal employee that works for a federal agency. I’ve represented people at the post office, the IRS, the FBI, and a multitude of other agencies. And it’s basically similar to Alabama work comp law from a standpoint that if you’re injured in the course of your business, working for that particular agency, you will come under FECA and OWCP.

Bernard: And OWCP, again, stands for what?

Jimmy: OWCP is the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. It’s an agency under the umbrella of the Department of Labor, which is responsible for all federal employees injured in their work.

Bernard: Now, the types of claims and cases that you handle, are they largely administrative based? Are they litigation based? How are they typically handled?

Jimmy: They’re typically administrated based on the standpoint that you have a three-tiered level of appeals if your case is denied. For the first appeal, you can either request an oral argument or reconsideration. You have to do that within 30 days of your denial of your claim. The second one is a specialized reconsideration which has to be done within a year of the denial of the claim. And the third one is ECAB which is the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board. Which is done in Washington, D.C., and you have to go up there and argue in person.

Bernard: Okay, we’ll go through a typical example in just a minute. But if somebody is denied initially and they appeal that first tier that you just referred to. Who are they appealing to?

Jimmy: They’re appealing to the Office of Workers Compensation Program in Jacksonville, Florida, or London, Kentucky. And the claims examiner is given the request on the appeal then it’s handed to another officer, who will view it with a new set of eyes, so to speak, and then they will render their opinion. But if you get an oral hearing, you get to give your side of the story, so to speak, or before that hearing officer, before they make a decision.

Bernard: And will that either be in Kentucky or Florida?

Jimmy: Those are done by telephone.

Bernard: Okay, well, let’s create a hypothetical and talk about it for a minute. Let’s say that you represent a postal worker. And the postal worker steps out of their truck to deliver the mail and breaks an ankle because they’ve stepped in a hole. And then they come to you three weeks later saying I got hurt, and right now they are covering my medical care. What are you telling those folks? What are their rights?

Jimmy: Well, first of all, they’re due to get all the medical help they need with respect to the work-related claim. Once they are rendered to be at MMI or Maximum Medical Improvement, they may be in a position to get some type of monetary settlement, depending on what’s involved with the injury. It’s a lot like Alabama workers’ compensation, from the standpoint of scheduled members award off, that type of thing.

Bernard: Who picks the doctors or the medical care providers?

Jimmy: That’s a bit of a problem from a standpoint. They get to pick their own. But a lot of times, particularly right here in Central Alabama, if you’re a federal employee and you’re injured on the job, and you have to say to the guy that I need knee surgery, his firm will not take federal employees because the Department of Labor is so difficult to deal with.

Bernard: Well, that’s what’s going to lead me to the next question, the logistics. Who’s actually paying for this, and how does it get paid?

Jimmy: The Department of Labor pays for the entire claim. Once it’s in the system, supposedly, and you get a claim number, from that point on, it’s a matter of going back and forth. It is kind of like a quasi Blue Cross Blue Shield; accept it. They’re very, very touchy about making sure the things are filed properly in order to get paid for them.

Bernard: Sure. I can see that with any work comp case, whether it’s a federal, state, or private employer. What about a situation when the employee first gets hurt? This postal worker we’re talking about; steps into a hole and breaks his ankle. Who’s he supposed to notify to say, ‘I got hurt. What do I do next?’

Jimmy: He is supposed to notify his supervisor within 30 days of the accident. And that is done through A form called CA-1. Whereby he fills out the front portion of this form, and the supervisor fills out the back portion. And the supervisor sends it off to London, Kentucky. And that’s when the claim number is set up.

Bernard: And our scenario, let’s say that we now have an emergency because he knows he’s hurt, and he just goes straight to the emergency room. How should he proceed or deal with that?

Jimmy: If it’s a life or death situation, I would tell them to proceed on. And if the emergency room says anything, all federal employees have Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Bernard: I see. And we can deal with the paperwork after the fact.

Jimmy: I’d rather seek forgiveness than ask permission if somebody’s at death’s door.

Bernard: Certainly. Let’s say that our guy had surgery, and he’s off work for six to eight weeks because he can’t walk at this point. Is he paid any compensation or his salary while he’s out?

Jimmy: Yes, again, similar to state workers comp. Plus, he gets a continuation of pay for 45 days until the workers’ comp sets in.

Bernard: And usually, how long does it take for that compensation to kick in when they’ve been off work?

Jimmy: I would say anywhere from 30 to 45 days.

Bernard: Is there an adjuster? Or is there a claims handler for these claims?

Jimmy: They have claim supervisors that are Department of Labor employees in London, Kentucky, and Jacksonville, Florida.

Bernard: It’s interesting. I guess that’s just our part of the country.

Jimmy: It’s this region.

Bernard: Okay. And our guy in this scenario, three months after he gets hurt and has his surgery, the doctor says from a medical standpoint, you’re as healed as you’re going to be. And he says you have an impairment rating of 8%. You’re eventually going to be able to walk on your foot normally, but you need to ramp up to get to that part. And let’s say that he does that, and we’re now six months after the original injury, and all the dust has settled on his medical care, and he’s done treatment. The doctor says just come back if you need me. At that point, what’s the next step for the employee?

Jimmy: After everything is said and done, accepted, and he’s reached MMI. As a general rule, you’ll get a letter from the Department of Labor saying you reached MMI on this date, your average weekly wage was this, we’ve determined that the benefits that they’ve been paid to date are that, and we’re going to give you some type of a scheduled member award for this amount of money. And it’s not done by any negotiation process. It’s like, here it is. If you don’t like it, you go through the same appeal process that you would follow if they had denied your claim from the get-go.

Bernard: I see. Let’s say that our postal worker doesn’t like what he’s being offered. He thinks that they’re just wrong in either the calculations or whatever it is. It’s not enough money in his mind. Then, what?

Jimmy: Then nothing. What I would like for y’all to do is take this back and check your math. All the math is done right there on the letter. And they spit those things out of the computer on a daily basis. And that’s just the way it is.

Bernard: So, where do you come in? I’m going to assume that you’re most needed if It’s a denied claim.

Jimmy: Correct. Well, also, my need comes in if there’s a third-party claim. In other words, in this scenario, if he was stepping out of the truck and the guy rear-ended him and caused the damage. Our guy would get a letter from the Department of Labor that said through our investigation, we have ascertained that a third party is responsible for your injuries. And what happens there is the same letter says, we’re putting the burden on you to go after the third party. So I also get involved with third-party claims. And once you get the third party involved, then me or whoever’s handling it, from a legal standpoint, is responsible for protecting the lane from the Department of Labor for benefits and medical. You don’t pay back a dollar on a dollar. It’s like Blue Cross. There’s a 20-item formula; you have to do all the calculations, where you include attorney fees, expenses, and whatnot. And at the end of the representation, the client gets money from the Department of Labor and the insurance company for the third party. And then the Department of Labor gets part of their money back.

Bernard: Right. We won’t get too deep into the subrogation today. And I appreciate all the information that you’re providing because most folks who are federal employees really just don’t have an idea of what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do it. So they’ve got a 30-day window to notify their supervisor to make sure the claim is proceeding.

Jimmy: Exactly. And the burden is always on them; I stress that all the time. Don’t even assume your supervisor’s going to turn it in.

Bernard: Well, Jimmy, I apologize for not asking you earlier. Folks who are watching this, whether it’s live or later on, if they’ve got a case like this or want to ask questions, how do they get in touch with you?

Jimmy: My number in Birmingham is 205-822-1223. I don’t have a problem with folks asking me general questions. I’d much rather answer a phone call and help somebody out than have somebody call me six months down the road, messed up eight ways to Sunday.

Bernard: Yeah, the earlier, the better. What if they want to email you instead?

Jimmy: Sure. My email address is jah@gloorstrickland.com

Bernard: Okay. Just a couple of things before we wrap up today. Talk to us just briefly; if an oral argument is requested and granted, what kind of process is that?

Jimmy: The process sets up in such a way that you’re in the conference room with your attorney, and the hearing officer is up in DC with the court reporter. And I always suggest to people, even if you don’t hire me to do it, to ask for an oral argument of your own. Because this hearing officer, for lack of a better term, is, a lot of times, more qualified to understand the ins and out of legal and medical causation in those claims. And you get to give your side of the story, so to speak. And that the hearing officer will have a much better idea after hearing the claimant, as well as his or her attorney, in addition to the filings. Sometimes, it is voluminous filings of all the paperwork. You know you do have claims that go on for years.

Bernard: What’s the statute of limitations or the time period that a person has to make a claim?

Jimmy: Three years.

Bernard: So, three years from the date of the accident itself?

Jimmy: I generally tell people three years from the date of the accident.

Bernard: What about occupational exposures to chemicals and the like? Could those also be covered?

Jimmy: Those could also be covered. The only difference is you file a different form. If it’s a standard work comp injury, like a broken arm or cervical injury, that comes under a CA-1. If it’s an occupational disease, say exposure to chemicals or whatnot, that would be a CA-2.

Bernard: So it’s just different paperwork, different path but same ride.

Jimmy: Yes. Same thing with the death claim. There’s a different form for that as well.

Bernard: What’s the statute of limitations on the death claim?

Jimmy: The statute of limitations on the death claim is the same statute; 3 years.

Bernard: One last thing that just hit me. What are some typical reasons for denials that you’ve come across?

Jimmy: As a general rule, most of the denials I see are from a medical causation basis. Typically on the legal causation side, they have a witness or some civilian report what happened, that type of thing. But they expect very precise documentation from all healthcare providers. In other words, if you have a doctor that comes back and says, ‘Well, I looked at the history of the case, and based on what I know, it’s work-related,’ that’s not going to help. They’re not going to hook. What they want is the rationale used and everything else from the standpoint of how he got from point A to point Z and everything in between. Hence, that goes back to the problem that so many, typically specialists, will not deal with federal employees. It’s just not it’s not worth it for them.

Bernard: One of the things that we constantly communicate to our clients is that from the very beginning, the first time you see a doctor tell them where it hurts; every body part. Even if it’s just something that you’re not sure is going to be a long-term thing. Tell them the beginning, get it in documentation, and then that will be a basis of six months or a year from now when you’re still having those issues. Do you subscribe to that advice as well?

Jimmy: Yes, I do. And I also believe that once you start seeing a doctor, as we all know, you may hurt your knee, and during the process, particularly after an automobile accident, you may have some other issues that come up. And they may come back and say, ‘well, I only made a claim for the knee.’ So my philosophy is it’s your right to make a claim for everything that was involved in that accident. So, go ahead and file a new claim for the other problem you may have. The worst-case scenario is they’re going to say no. But if you wait now, and three years later, you say, now I’m thinking that it did involve.

Bernard: Yeah, that’s the biggest fight. Well, Jimmy, it’s all sound and excellent advice. We appreciate you sharing your expertise and your knowledge. Again, how can folks get in touch with you?

Jimmy: In Birmingham, 205-822-1223.

Bernard: Again, this is Bernard Nomberg with Nomberg Law Firm. You can always reach us at 205-930-6900. We’re in downtown Birmingham. nomberglaw.com is our website. And you can find us on Twitter and Facebook. We will be back again next Tuesday with another area of the law. Thank you for sticking with us for a little bit this morning. We hope you have a good rest of your week.

Disclaimer: Please note that this transcript has been generated automatically and may contain errors, inaccuracies or deviations from the original video. It is provided as a convenience and is not intended as an exact representation of the content.

 

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Bernard: Hey, it’s Bernard Nomberg from Nomberg law firm. Back on another Tuesday to talk about the law. I’ve got my buddy Allen Arnold here; I appreciate you coming. And today, we’ll talk about various employment law topics. It’s one of the specialties that Allen handles. Allen, if you would tell us a little about yourself and your firm?

Allen: I’ve been practicing law for 13 years now. I have almost exclusively practiced labor and employment law my whole career—that governs the Fair Labor Standards Act for overtime wages and minimum wage compensation; the Title Seven of the Civil Rights Act that protects you from discrimination based on your race, sex, religion, or national origin; Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. We also cover things like the Family and Medical Leave Act and two retaliatory discharge statutes in Alabama for jury duty—your employer can’t fire you because you miss work to serve on a jury, and they can’t fire you if you file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits or have an on the job injury.

Bernard: Before we get into those details, and we’ll get into that, let’s talk about the 5 Points Law Group and your partners, and tell us a little bit about them.

Allen: Well, we’re very excited about 5 Points Law Group. It’s a new firm; we were formed in May of this year. We work with Kira Fonteneau and myself do Labor and Employment law. We have Burton Dunn, who does conservatorships and elder care issues. And we have Kristin Sullivan, who does wills, trusts, estates and probate matters. And then we have Heather Fann, who helps with family law for those having a hard time with their family life.

Bernard: I know most of the lawyers in this firm, and they’re not new lawyers; it’s just a new firm. They’re very experienced, and they really know what they’re doing now. Allen, let’s go into the area of the fact that most Alabamians who were employed are at-will. What does at-will mean?

Allen: Well, the simple answer is it means an employer can terminate your employment at any time for any reason. It also means you can quit at any time for any reason. But any reason really does mean any reason. Unless they’re the exceptions, they come in the laws I practice in for employment law. Those are exceptions to that doctrine where they cannot discriminate against you. If they fire you because of your race or because you’re a woman, or you’re exposed to a hostile environment and you complain about that—that is the exception to at-will employment, and that’s what we help people with.

Bernard: This may be a crazy example, but if today is a solid color blue shirt day, and somebody walks in, and they’re wearing a yellow stripe shirt, is that a terminable reason?

Allen: Under the at-will doctrine, it would be. But let’s say you walk in with a striped shirt and a lady walks in with a striped shirt, and the woman is fired, and you’re not. That might be a pretty good example of sex or gender discrimination, and that’s what we could help you with because then they’d have to explain why you’re being treated differently.

Bernard: I know that, at least in part, unemployment claims kind of tag along with a lot of the claims that you’re looking at. Let’s go into that for just a minute. How does one apply for unemployment, and when should you not file for unemployment, and those kinds of things?

Allen: Well, generally, filing for unemployment consists of going to the Alabama Department of Labor website and calling the 1-800 number and initiating a claim. It’s a fairly simple process. Albeit, it takes a while for a claim to ever come through. However, before you file a claim, if you think for some reason your termination or the end of your employment was illegal or wasn’t right, you should consult an attorney first. One of the loopholes in the law that favors employers is that if you file for unemployment compensation benefits, and the company opposes you and has a hearing about why you were legally fired, and the employer wins the hearing, your claims under most of the other statutes that I help people with go away because a judge or a court, even though it’s not one appointed by the president of the United States, it’s just an administrative law judge at the unemployment department of labor, they can’t contradict each other. And if they decide you’re fired legally at the Alabama Department of Labor, no judge can overrule that. And that’s why you should check with an attorney prior to filing your unemployment to protect your rights because the potential of your lawsuit can exceed the value of your unemployment claim, and you don’t want to hurt your potential for a case. It’s always a sad day when I have to tell somebody, “You’ve got a case, but because of the unemployment.” It’s always disappointing. So, check with an attorney first quickly right after you’re terminated because you do need those benefits; you’ve got a family to feed, but you also still need to make sure you’re not losing something in the process.

Bernard: That’s all great advice, and I think that’s well-founded. And it’s very important for folks to know this. What about those folks who are still employed with the company? They feel like they’re in hot water, or they’ve been told they’re in hot water, so to speak, and they get called in by management for a meeting. A lot of times, we’ve been asked by our clients, “Can I record the conversation?” What kind of advice do you have for folks about that?

Allen: In Alabama, you are permitted to record a conversation that you are a part of. That doesn’t mean you get to leave your cell phone in the manager’s office and record two people talking—it means when you’re part of a conversation, and you think you’re going to be in hot water, don’t hesitate to turn on your smartphone and record the conversation. You do not have to let them know you’re doing it. And that is a great way to protect yourself and your rights and for everybody to have an accurate memory of what actually happened. Many times I like to say that everyone’s telling their own truth. And a recording takes that problem out of the equation and can be very helpful in a wrongful termination suit because then there is no dispute about what was said during those meetings for discipline or termination.

Bernard: Again, solid advice. Let’s say that in this scenario, somebody has gone in and met with their manager, and the manager says, “We have to let you go for whatever reason,” and now you’re terminated, you’re no longer an employee, and you’re escorted out of the building. But now, you think you’ve got some type of legal grounds to pursue, and somebody wants to come in and meet with you [Allen] about their potential case. What types of things should they bring to the meeting? What type of information should they have, paperwork-wise or whatever, when they come into that first consultation with you?

Allen: For an initial consultation, things that are helpful are any pay stubs you have. They tell us so much information; they can help us. The first thing people ask, a lot of times, is, “How much is your case worth?” I’ll never know the answers till I look at your pay stub. It’s all based on your wages, and it’s not an arbitrary number, which sometimes we do see that on TV. And even the numbers on TV are based on the person and their numbers and their payroll and how that’s done. Plus, it will tell us where to send the lawsuit. Other information that’s helpful if it’s a workers’ comp claim—if you think you’re fired because you filed a workers’ comp claim, bring us the paperwork for the report of injury. Bring us any disciplinary notices that your employer gave you ever—both before and after the injury. If you have performance evaluations in your possession, bring those. Any document that really has to do with your performance or your workplace, good or bad, helps us evaluate your case. The primary thing to bring that’s also helpful are handbooks and policies. It is very helpful in any sort of wrongful termination case to show that the employer didn’t follow his own rules they set out for you. But what helps us as attorneys to bring your case is to be able to allege from the beginning that they broke their own rules. But we need to know those rules first.

Bernard: It is pretty incredible how often you see that where you get the handbook, and you’re going through discovery and depositions, and the managers just don’t know what the policies and procedures are, and they just follow their own way of doing things. So those handbooks can be great information to help with your lawyer.

Let’s talk about if you feel like you’re having issues at work, but you’re still employed, you’re still going to the job, and you’re doing your work, but you’ve got a manager or supervisor or coworker who’s giving you fits—whatever it may be—what are your thoughts about keeping a diary?

Allen: My thoughts about keeping a diary are if you’re going to do it, at the top of the diary, put in there “for my potential lawyer or my existing lawyer” on the top of each and every page. That means what you’re writing is done in anticipation of litigation, and that protects that diary for either an existing lawyer or future lawyer because you’re thinking about protecting your legal rights. A diary that you keep independently, or without maybe that little bit of protection, could potentially be brought out in the discovery of a case. And from experience, I can tell you diaries never make the employee look good in front of a judge or a jury because you’re putting your thoughts and your feelings, and sometimes just so you can get them out of your head, but they’re not things you necessarily need to share with 12 strangers, a court reporter, a judge and a deputy clerk—and especially not the employer you’re suing, who’s going to try and make hay out of. So just putting that little bit at the top cover of a diary that says “for my attorney” helps a ton because if there’s ever a hearing on the issue, the judge is going to sit there and look—they’re taking steps to protect, this is privileged information. Absolutely that is the way to go about that.

Bernard: The folks who think that they have a claim for discrimination, they can’t just file a lawsuit in federal court, can they?

Allen: For the most part, no. There are a few exceptions, but primarily almost every discrimination claim for race, gender, religion, national origin, age or disability all have to go through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It’s essentially the first step in the process, and it’s not a bad process, but it does take time, and you have to kind of walk your way through it before you get what’s called a Dismissal and Notice of Right to Sue. That process is important. A lot of people go and file a charge on their own or go straight to the EEOC of their own volition. I, being an attorney who practices in this area, strongly advise against that. The commission means well; it really does, and I’ve got good things to say about many of the investigators here in Birmingham and down in Mobile and Biloxi. But they have a process they have to follow. And that process sometimes comes from Washington at a slower pace than the pace of cases handed down by the Supreme Court or the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. It very much helps if a lawyer helps you draft your charge and makes sure certain things are stated, so they’re clear. Because a big argument an employer likes to make is “You didn’t bring it up the first time, so the issue is waived.” And that isn’t true, it’s because the investigator who took in your intake form without the help of a lawyer doesn’t read those opinions, doesn’t think about those issues, and you could put yourself in a position where you forgot a potential claim, or your claim may not succeed because you left out some information. And so, I strongly advise talking to an attorney about any discrimination claim. Our firm does that every day; we talk to probably 25 to 75 people every day to help kind of go through the process of figuring out and making sure if we can bring a charge. We make sure everything we can is done to try and make sure your discrimination case has the best chance of succeeding.

Bernard: And if folks want to get in touch with you about these types of cases, how can they reach you?

Allen: We have our website: www.5pointslaw.com

Bernard: Is that the number 5 or spelling it out?

Allen: That is the number 5. And we also have www.fonteneauarnold.com. And on that page, you’ll see a little more variety about the various areas we can help you with. There are several pages for each sort of category. For example, I spend a lot of my time on cases with the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is a highly regulatory technical law. And our intake forms and our process will make sure we find those things. Or if you think you’re about to take family medical leave, make sure you find the forms your employer should be giving you. A lot of times, employers skip the process because they’re going to give you FMLA anyway, and they don’t dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. But then, if they let you go either during or right after that leave, those mistakes can help you with a case. You can also reach us at 205-252-1550, or Google our name, and any one of our potential numbers will pop up that will get you straight to us and to our staff, which will help initiate the beginning of your case or an intake form.

Bernard: Allen, this is all very informative information about employment law. Sure appreciate you sharing your expertise and wisdom in these areas. Guys, I think that’ll conclude for us today. Allen, again, I appreciate you coming on with us and sharing your knowledge. We will be back again next Tuesday on another area of the law. Of course, you can always reach me at www.nomberglaw.com. Our number is 205-930-6900.

Disclaimer: Please note that this transcript has been generated automatically and may contain errors, inaccuracies or deviations from the original video. It is provided as a convenience and is not intended as an exact representation of the content.

Bernard: Hey, it’s Bernard Nomberg with Nomberg Law Firm. We’re back for another Tuesday talk on the law. I’ve got my buddy Chip Nation here. Chip, I appreciate you coming on this morning.

Chip: Thanks for inviting me.

Bernard: Chip’s a local guy who has a practice up in Jasper, and we’ll get to that in a few minutes. But today, we’re going to talk about an area of the law that a lot of folks in this part of the state may or may not be aware of. Part of Chip and his partner Jimmy Warren’s practice in Jasper is on black lung cases. We’re going to talk for a couple of minutes about Chip and his background and where he’s from and all of that. And let’s get after it. Again, I appreciate you being on this morning, and I know you were born and raised in Jasper and went to high school there and eventually found your way to Birmingham. You currently really live here but go to Jasper for work.

Chip: That’s right. It’s been 14 years now —15, including clerking. I grew up in Jasper. My father was a circuit judge for several years, and he still practices there. I went off to college and found my way to Cumberland—it’s a law school, and I never left Birmingham after that, but due to my roots, just decided to go back to Jasper to practice.

Bernard: Of course. Of course. And You and Jimmy have been in practice together for how long now?

Chip: My whole tenure, so 14 years.

Bernard: Excellent. And I suspect you know a couple of decent barbecue restaurants in Walker County.

Chip: There are some good and some famous ones, too.

Bernard: [Laughs] Well, let’s talk about Warren and Associates. So tell the folks, what do you guys do? What kind of work do you handle?

Chip: We do, mainly personal injury, which to me includes workers’ compensation, product liability, and Social Security disability. We market ourselves as a personal injury law firm, but of course, in a small town, you’re willing to do other things to help people. Not everybody knows who to go to or who does what. So you can’t totally specialize, but as much as we can, that’s what we do.

Bernard: Well, in Walker County, just north of Birmingham and the Tuscaloosa area, that’s a unique geographic area of the state. I know that the black lung cases have been around for decades, and your firm, as part of your practice, handles those. So let’s talk about that for a few minutes. As far as I know, from our discussions, the current coal mines that really are active anymore are in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties.

Chip: That’s right. Walker County, for decades and decades, had several underground coal mines, and I think there’s still a strip pit or two operational. But mainly, as far as I know, in Alabama, the only operational underground coal mines are in Jefferson and Tuscaloosa.

Bernard: But a lot of, and I know you guys have handled those cases for years, a lot of folks probably live in Walker County but work in those other counties.

Chip: That’s right. And both coal mines in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson are both fairly close to Walker County. So, you do have a lot of residents of Walker County that work in those mines.

Bernard: Now, a typical workers’ compensation case in Alabama is when somebody gets hurt working on the job for an employer. Whether you’re a state employee, and that’s a whole different type of work comp case, or federal—but what we’re talking about is when somebody’s working for private employment and that company, the employer, is subject to the Alabama Workers’ Comp Act. Now within that are cases that we as lawyers call black lung cases. Why don’t you talk a little about what is a black lung case? What type of person gets affected? And let’s delve into that for a few minutes.

Chip: To bore you for a second, but to give you the legal definition—occupational pneumoconiosis, or a lot of times in a coal mine situation, we just call it coal miners pneumoconiosis or black lung, is simply inhaling coal dust and rock dust. That is the baseline definition. But what goes into it is, most of the time, you see coal miners who have worked many decades, two or three decades, in the mines. And as they get older, they say, “Well, I’m getting short of breath,” or “I’m just not able to do what I used to do,”  which, of course, part of it could be because of age. But many of these guys feel like there’s more to it than just age. So those guys, we’d recommend go see your doctor; go see a pulmonologist; tell him your work history and that you’ve been around coal dust and rock dust, and see what he says. You have to have a medical diagnosis to pursue a case. But based on your work history, a lot of these guys find that something is more wrong than just old age.

Bernard: Let me ask you. The folks that pursue these types of claims, do they typically become symptomatic and have issues going on and that’s what leads them to the doctor?

Chip: That’s usually what happens. You know, I think a lot of people, especially when you’re focusing on, “I need to get a certain amount of years in; Yeah, I’m having these issues, but I don’t really want to do anything about it right now;” I think a lot of people put it off. So we often see people at the end of their career say, “Hey, I’ve been dealing with this for 10-15 years, but I was able to keep going, and I went and saw my personal doctor, and he said you got asthma or something.” Well, I would recommend to those people, you know, go see a pulmonologist and tell him your work history and the environment you were in and see if it’s not something more than asthma. Or it could be what they call occupational asthma, which would fit under the umbrella of occupational pneumoconiosis.

Bernard: I suspect a lot of these folks just don’t want to know what’s going on with them; they may be scared to know. I think it’s human nature; a lot of folks just don’t want to know what may be going on with their body. Plus, I think another factor may be that these folks are high-wage earners, and they don’t want to not be working and earning for their families. So I understand the tug there that they may put it off.

Other than coughing and shortness of breath, what other symptoms that folks may initially experience may make them or need for them to go get diagnosed or get tested?

Chip: Having trouble breathing at night would be one. You know, if you realize, “Hey, I need an extra pillow here to sleep well at night.”  Wheezing, coughing with sputum production—but shortness of breath, I would say, is the tell-tale sign. And again, if you or I are short of breath, you know we don’t work in a dusty environment per se. So if we went to the doctor, he might say, “You’ve got a respiratory infection, or maybe you have asthma.” But these guys who work in this environment are more apt to have work-related breathing issues. And it makes them susceptible to it. So I would encourage anybody with a breathing issue who worked in the mines to don’t just go to your personal doctor—go to a specialist.

Bernard: The specialist being a pulmonologist who’s a lung specialist?

Chip: That’s right.

Bernard: And what type of test do they undergo?

Chip: They’ll do a chest x-ray, which in state cases, you don’t have to necessarily have a positive chest x-ray. You just have to have a diagnosis. And then they’ll put you through the breathing procedures; they’ll get you to blow a balloon up basically, but it’ll have some ability to tell what your lung capacity is and if your lungs are operating correctly or if there’s a restrictive or obstructive defect.

Bernard: What kind of treatment is there? Or is their treatment for folks once they’ve been diagnosed?

Chip: There’s really no treatment for black lung. However, if you do have COPD or asthma that the doctor says, “Maybe you’re not a smoker, but you have COPD, and there’s no other good explanation for why you have it,” there are treatments for those particular lung diseases. But still, you may have an occupational disease, even if it’s just diagnosed as asthma or COPD.

Bernard: I guess getting out of the mine and no longer doing that job is probably the best way for the injured or the diagnosed worker to get some relief.

Chip: Exactly. Almost all doctors, even the ones hired by the coal company, will tell you that if you have black lung, you don’t need to go back.

Bernard: Let’s talk about the other conditions you just mentioned—asthma and COPD. What other, or is that all the other, conditions that you typically have seen, that if they’re not diagnosed with black lung, or maybe even if they are, those are also corresponding conditions that they also have?

Chip: Well, under the umbrella of occupational pneumoconiosis, and we have figured this out through litigation that you better plead occupational pneumoconiosis in your complaint and not coal workers pneumoconiosis.

Bernard: Right, a bigger swath or a bigger umbrella diagnosis.

Chip: That’s right. You can bring in, potentially, the asthma if it’s called occupational asthma, COPD, or any type of restrictive lung disease. So when you go to the pulmonologist and do those breathing tests, if you’re abnormal on any of those, you may be diagnosed with something, and we can talk about a pneumoconiosis case. And it’s not just related to coal workers. I mean, there’s silicosis and aluminosis. I don’t generally see those cases, but they are in Alabama, of people that work in plants or any kind of dust that they breathe in that causes them problems—in any job that makes them more susceptible to breathing in dust and causing these issues, I would go see a pulmonologist and have them evaluate you.

Bernard: Not to put you or me on the spot from a medical standpoint. But from a layperson’s understanding, when someone’s breathing in that dust or the coal, the fine fibers, then the problem that it becomes is because it creates a coating in the inner lining of the lungs, and that’s what creates the inability to have a full lung capacity and breathing. Is that your understanding of what goes on?

Chip: That’s right.

Bernard: Do you see any other professions besides the coal miners and others who may work in plants where there’s that kind of dust? Any other professions you guys have seen with similar diagnoses, and you’ve pursued cases?

Chip: Yeah. Any type of plant where cotton is present in small fibers. Welders are susceptible to breathing in fine particles. And I’ve talked about underground coal miners, but above-ground coal miners—there’s a lot of rock dust on the surface. I would say, more than likely, you’re going to find an underground coal miner to have issues, but we have had issues with above-ground coal miners. So even if you work in a strip pit, you’re potentially capable of getting pneumoconiosis.

Bernard: Chip, what is the time period for which a person has in order to make a claim to go forward?

Chip: From the time you realize or have been diagnosed, that’s called the injury date. You have two years in state court to file a lawsuit from the time of the injury. So if you just recently retired, it’s going to be two years from your last date of work—not just your retirement date.

Bernard: The last date of exposure in the workplace?

Chip: Right. And in pneumoconiosis, you have to have 12 months of being exposed to dust. Unlike other occupational diseases, we don’t have to have a certain amount of time, and you just have to have exposure. So it is a little bit different, treated a little bit differently in the law, but the main thing for everybody to realize is you want to do something about it within two years of last being exposed.

Bernard: Because if you don’t, then potentially you lose your legal rights to pursue those cases. But we’re talking today about state court claims; we’re not talking about federal court claims.

Chip: That’s right. My firm and myself just handle state court. There are not many of us that do it, but we’re one of a handful. Most people, and there’s not a ton of these people either, but most people do the federal black lung. And that is, what I find, the miners are more familiar with through their union and so forth. They really preach federal black lung if you think you have an issue.

Bernard: Do you know if folks can pursue both state and federal?

Chip: You can pursue both. And if we reach a resolution in your state court, it doesn’t prohibit you from going forward.

Bernard: Well, that’s good to know. I should have mentioned this at the beginning, and I apologize. How can folks get in touch with you and Jimmy Warren at your firm?

Chip: Our website is www.warrenandassociates.com. My phone number is 205-221-1044, or you can email me at chip@warrenandassociates.com

Bernard: Okay, if anybody has black lung or similar type breathing claims and, particularly, if you’re in Walker County or any of the contiguous counties in this part of the state, to please get in touch with Chip and see if you have a claim to pursue.

Chip: Absolutely, we’d love to help you.

Bernard: Let me ask you, once somebody pursues one of these claims in state court, do you necessarily have trials in these cases? And I know every case is different, but what typically happens with these cases?

Chip: Well, it’s just like any other workers’ compensation case. As you would know, you file your lawsuit; you do discovery; they’ll probably want to take a deposition or two, and may have to go take a doctor’s deposition. And as with the trend and most litigation nowadays, we try to settle these cases after a certain point. And most of the time, we’re able to do that. But at the end of the day, if you can’t, there’s a trial waiting on us.

Bernard: Certainly, and you’re always working toward that trial, but we can resolve it any time prior to that.

Chip: Exactly, and I would say, more often than not, we’re able to resolve it. But of course, it’s never a promise we make when we go into the case because you just never know.

Bernard: Absolutely. Chip, this has been some very informative information. We certainly appreciate you sharing your expertise with us.

Chip: I appreciate you having me.

Bernard: Absolutely. Guys, again, this is Chip Nation with Warren and Associates in Jasper. Let’s shout out that phone number one more time.

Chip: Yes, 205-221-1044.

Bernard: And again, I’m Bernard Nomberg with Nomberg Law Firm. You know we come to you every Tuesday morning to talk about different areas of the law or something fun that’s going on in Alabama. I can always be reached at 205-930-6900. You know our website is www.nomberglaw.com. We’re on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. We’ll be back next Tuesday on another area of the law. And we hope you guys have a good rest of your week.

Disclaimer: Please note that this transcript has been generated automatically and may contain errors, inaccuracies or deviations from the original video. It is provided as a convenience and is not intended as an exact representation of the content.

Bernard: Hey, it’s Bernard Nomberg with Nomberg law firm. We’re here again on another Tuesday, talking about a very important area of the law. My buddy JD Lawrence is here with Farris, Riley & Pitt LLP. We’re talking about an area of the law that most folks may feel is covered but probably is not. We’re dealing with automobile insurance coverages. We’re talking more specifically about underinsured and uninsured coverages. JD is an expert in this area. In fact, got a great jury verdict earlier this week. Congrats, JD. It was an auto case; we might get into that in a few minutes. JD, tell the folks a little bit about yourself and let’s get started.

JD: My name is JD Lawrence, and I grew up in Ashford, Alabama, down in Houston County. That’s how I know Bernard and David. I’ve been practicing law for over 16 years. I’ve been here at Farris, Riley & Pitt LLP for over 4 years. I’m a partner here, and I constrict my practice primarily to helping people who have been injured in auto accidents.

Bernard: And JD, I know that in almost every automobile accident case that you guys handle, and David and I have handled, auto insurance is always one of the key factors when it comes to figuring out these cases.

JD: Of course, you’ve got to have some money there to be able to pay the client. 

Bernard: Most folks, when taking out coverage, which is now state law for more than a decade, my experience is, they’ll tell us that they’re fully covered. And they may have liability, they may have collision, and they may have med pay, but there’s that other area of the law that we’re talking about today that most folks really are not that informed about. And I want you to explain what underinsured and uninsured coverage is.

JD: Well, when you obtain a policy of insurance, there’s a provision within your policy; it’s called uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured is obviously if someone causes a wreck that does not have insurance. You can file a claim under that provision in policy; the uninsured. You also have what’s called underinsured motorist coverage, that’s a provision within your policy that allows you to file a claim with your insurance carrier if the driver who caused the wreck does not have enough coverage to pay your claim.

Bernard: So those types of coverages, UM and UIM as they’re called, really are to protect you compared to liability coverage, which also protects you. Explain the difference when they come into play.

JD: Well, liability coverage protects you if you’re at fault for the wreck. Under or uninsured motorist coverage protects you if someone else is at fault for the wreck.

Bernard: And there may not be coverage or enough coverage out there to satisfy the value of your case.

JD: That’s correct. There are studies that say that as low as 12-13% of drivers in Alabama have no coverage, and I’ve seen it as high as up to 20%of drivers in Alabama do not have any coverage for this situation.

Bernard: Most folks who are going to be watching, this may be new to them. Let’s take a scenario and kind of run through how this comes into play.

Let’s say that you represent somebody in a fender-bender, and your client, the plaintiff, has been injured in the wreck, and they have had a couple of surgeries. You have valued their case because the permanency is a six-figure case. And in this scenario, the guy who hit you from behind the defendant driver, the tortfeasor, only has 25,000 in liability coverage. But you have 200,000 in underinsured coverage.

So, let’s talk about what if we get a jury verdict of 100,000. How does this play out?

JD: Well, the first $25,000 would be paid by the defendant’s liability coverage, the other guy who caused the wreck. And then, you can file a claim with your insurance company to pay the remaining balance of the verdict of $75,000. So it’s important to have UIM coverage because it protects you if the other driver does not have enough insurance to pay your claim.

Bernard: So, if you have this jury verdict of $100,000, you collect the $25,000 from the tortfeasor. But you don’t have, as the plaintiff, UM or UIM coverage. Does the rest of that jury verdict potentially go away?

JD: Potentially, yes!

Bernard: So you’re only collecting that $25,000. 

JD: Well, the insurance company may be liable only to pay that $25,000.

Bernard: So, is it required by law to have UM or UIM coverage?

JD: No, it’s not. But when you obtain your policy of insurance, you have to specifically state, when you sign your declaration page in your policy, that you do not want UM or UIM coverage.

Bernard: So let’s say folks watching this go and look at their declarations page from their auto carrier, but they don’t have the coverage. Can they call their agent and sign up for that coverage?

JD: Yes, they can.

Bernard: Do you have an idea or recommendation about how much coverage a person should take out?

JD: Well, I would recommend that you have at least as much coverage for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as you do for liability coverage. So, if you have $100,000 of liability coverage, I would suggest that you have at least $100,000 in uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Bernard: That’s a good rule. Before I forget, how can folks get in touch with you if they want to talk about this topic?

JD: Well again, I practice at the law firm of Farris, Riley & Pitt LLP. We’re located in Downtown Birmingham. Our phone number is 205-324-1212. And we have a website and Facebook; we’re involved in social media also.

Bernard: Well, let’s go back for just a couple of minutes and continue our talk about underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage and why you need it, and the importance of it. JD, explain a little bit about the difference between the two coverages.

JD: First of all, uninsured is basically if the driver does not have any insurance at all. And underinsured is in the event that the driver has very little insurance or a limited policy. An interesting fact that I don’t think we have covered is uninsured motorist coverage will protect you in a situation where a driver causes a wreck, injures you, and leaves the scene, we call it the [06:47 incomprehensible] situation, but that’s when your uninsured motorist coverage will kick in to protect you.

Bernard: It’s good to know because I know that, unfortunately, [06:57 incomprehensible] cases are way too common, especially up on the highways with big trucks and folks who are in a hurry and just think they can get away with causing the accident.

JD, taking out this type of coverage, is it expensive?

JD: No, it’s not. And here’s the interesting fact; a lot of times, your agent’s not going to want to push this coverage and tell you a lot about the coverage because they do not want you to file a claim on your policy but generally speaking, it’s not very expensive. It’s prorated out over the 12-month period of the policy, and you can get at least a limited amount of coverage for very inexpensive.

Bernard: So folks, if you’re watching this, whether it’s today or in the upcoming weeks, if you’ve got handy your declarations page, which you could easily either get online from your automobile insurance carrier or call your agent, take a look at your declarations page and see whether or not you have that coverage. And if you’re reading that paperwork and you don’t understand it, talk to your agent about that or give JD a call here at Farris, Riley & Pitt, let’s repeat that.

JD: 205-324-1212

Bernard: JD, I appreciate your expertise in this area and your coming on and talking with me for a few minutes. A very important topic that most folks, until they need that coverage, don’t realize how important it can be for them.

JD: Well, Bernard, thanks for having me.

Bernard: Well, guys, I appreciate y’all’s few minutes again this Tuesday to talk about another area of the law. Of course, you can always reach me at 205-930-6900 at the Nomberg Law Firm. We will be back next Tuesday; we’re going to talk with Shannon, who is the proprietor of John City Diner, a big Bama fan, and a great fan of downtown Birmingham and all that’s going on around here. We hope you guys have a good rest of your day and a good rest of your week.

Disclaimer: Please note that this transcript has been generated automatically and may contain errors, inaccuracies or deviations from the original video. It is provided as a convenience and is not intended as an exact representation of the content.

 

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Bernard: Morning. It’s Bernard Nomberg with the Nomberg Law Firm, again on a Tuesday, as we have been for the last several months, and we’re going to talk about another area of the law. I hope you all are doing well and dry from all these rains we’ve been having. I’ve got my buddy John Stamps here. John’s a local lawyer; I appreciate you being on this morning. John is with the Black Belt Law Center, and he’s got some interesting stuff we’re going to talk about today. If you would, John, just talk a little bit about yourself. Tell the folks who you are.

John: Well, John Stamps, country boy from Talladega County. Most of our practices are in West Alabama, starting on the other side of Tuscaloosa and what’s traditionally called the Black Belt of Alabama, Sumter, Greene, Dallas, Lowndes, Perry, and Wilcox; those counties that have been traditionally labeled as the Black Belt. Hence the name Black Belt Law Center.

Bernard: What kind of work do you guys do?

John: We do a little bit of everything. I guess you can call it a whatever-comes-to-the-door law, but primarily criminal defense and personal injury.

Bernard: Now, your offices are based out of?

John: Out at Bessemer, Alabama, but I tell everybody it is based out of my truck. So if you call me, I’ll come.

Bernard: It’s very good. Well, we’re going to talk about one area of the law that I know that you handle quite a bit, which deals with police stops if you would just share a little bit of your knowledge with the folks.

John: I guess we started back to school, and this is something I like to do at the beginning of the school year. There’s something you can pass along to your children, and it’s: we like to talk a little bit about what are your rights and responsibilities as a citizen when you’re stopped by the police.

And I always tell people you want to cooperate with the police, but you have certain rights. I guess we kind of started out primarily. The main right that I would say you need to exercise is your right to remain silent.

I see so many times people come into my office, and they put themselves behind the eight ball because they basically get the blabbermouth when the cops pull them over. They’ll tell everything that they know.

And doing criminal defense, I tell you, exercise your right to remain silent. It’s not being disrespectful. It’s not being rude; it’s your right as an American citizen based on the Constitution.

You have the right to have an attorney present before you answer any questions. And it’s not about trying to get your kids out of something that they did, and it’s not about trying to get yourself out of what you did.

It’s about protecting your rights that you’ve been guaranteed under the Constitution.

Bernard: So let’s just create a hypothetical here. Let’s say you’re pulled over, and the officer or the trooper comes to your door and asks for your license and registration. Should you be proactive in asking questions of the officer? Or should you wait for the officer to ask?

John: Always wait for the officer to ask questions.

Put it this way; you don’t want to be combative with an office. I tell people that even though you’re exercising your rights, you don’t want to be combative.

And I tell people that there are good officers and there are bad officers, just like there are bad lawyers and good lawyers.

And then again, you might be in a situation you never know what the officer’s personal life is like or what he’s bringing to the job on that day; people can have a bad day on the job. And sometimes, when you’re dealing with the police officer, their bad day can be your worst day.

So you always want to be respectful.

Don’t really question the officer; just make it clear to him that you’re cooperating with him and that you’re exercising your right to remain silent.

If you don’t mind, give you a hypothetical. Let’s say he asks for your license; please give your license to him; that’s something you’re required to do by law.

But let’s say if he starts investigating you for a crime, he says, I smell marijuana in the car, so do you have any marijuana in the car?

What’d you say is: Officer, I want an attorney present before I answer any questions, and I want my parents present, that’s if you’re a minor.

Bernard: As the person who’s been pulled over, do you have the right to do any videotaping of the encounter with the officer or the trooper?

John: It’s not against the law, but I caution everybody.

And this is more of a common sense piece of advice: it is not against the law to videotape an officer, but you do not want to be reaching around in your car when an officer is approaching your vehicle; that’s common sense.

Let’s put it this way, great officers that are doing a wonderful job have to protect themselves, and they have to protect the public. So when you’re reaching around in your car, they have no idea if you’re reaching for a phone or if you’re reaching for a gun or reaching for a weapon.

So, I always tell kids, and I tell my relatives and families, to have their hands on the wheel when they approach your car.

If you don’t have your license out when they come up to the car, that’s not a time to start reaching for it as they approach the car.

You let them tell you, and you ask the officer, ‘Can I reach and grab my license, sir?

So it’s not a time to start pulling out your phone and recording it. If you already have your phone on or someone’s already recording, that’s fine as long as it’s not creating a combative situation with the officer.

I tell people that if an officer tells you not to record, you don’t want to do something that the officer tells them not to do.

The officers are taught to escalate the situation. Whatever force you come at them with, they’re going to use a little bit more force to get you under control, as they would say.

So you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re escalating it.

Bernard: Okay. Let’s step back away from the situation where somebody gets pulled over. Schools are now back in session, and way too often, I bet you get those phone calls from folks where their child has been charged with underage drinking or in possession.

Let’s talk about that for just a minute. How do you advise your clients? Maybe you’re talking to the parents of the child or maybe the child themselves. Talk to us a little bit about that.

John: Yeah, it happens all the time, and I put it this way, ‘hey, I’ve been there myself.’

You know, you’re out with your friends, or somebody has the little six-pack, you’re in the South, and you feel like you’re a big man, and you just can’t walk off and lose all those cool points or whatever you want to call it nowadays, so you’ve got to hang out.

But I tell people this, don’t put yourself in a situation. If an officer comes up, don’t flee, don’t run, and cooperate with the officer.

If you don’t have anything in your hand, don’t start questioning, and don’t get into a situation whereby he asks you a question, and you assert your rights.

I guess another thing, too. I see other people say, ‘we just poured the beer out.’ Be careful when doing that because there can be a tampering-with-the-evidence charge.

If you don’t have anything in your hand, I always say to answer the officer’s questions.

But if they ask you something incriminating, please say I want an attorney present.

Give them your license or whatever you have, give them your ID, tell them your name, but please cooperate and do whatever the officer tells you to do.

Sometimes people ask me, do you have a right to refuse an unlawful order?

Let’s say you’re standing out with your friends at school, and an officer comes up to you and tells you, ‘hey, you need to move over here son.’ or you need to do that.

Sometimes kids hear parents talk at home, and they’re like, ‘Hey, I don’t have to do what you say. I’m not doing anything wrong.’

Please, teach your children not to do that because, an officer, if you don’t comply, will make you comply, and sometimes that’s where things go very wrong.

Bernard: Sure. And I should have mentioned this earlier. Tell folks, John, how they can get in touch with you if they have questions or concerns about these issues.

John: Well, you can call me anytime. My office number is 1866-585-2966. Or my cell, I give it out to everybody, is 205-317-6390. Feel free to call me 24/7.

Bernard: Do you guys have social media or a website?

John: Yes, https://www.blackbeltjustice.com/ is the website, and the email is john@blackbeltjustice.com, and you can find me on Facebook @John Thomas Stamps III.

Bernard: It’s good information we’ve gone over so far. I know that your whole practice doesn’t just focus on criminal work. What other types of areas do you have experience in?

John: Mainly, its personal injury and criminal defense. And the bulk of it is personal injury. If you’re injured through no fault of your own, sometimes you slip and fall in the store, or you’re injured on the job; if I can’t help you personally, we will find you someone that could do you a good job. So please call us.

Bernard: Great. Brett popped in with the comment, thank you, for that. If anybody has any questions or concerns while we’re on live, you’re certainly welcome to send us a message here as well as when we finish. This will be posted to our firm’s Facebook page as well as our website. You’re always welcome to reach out to us at 205-930-6900. And as John said, you have all his contact information.

I want to go back to one other area officer of the law.

It’s football season, and especially in the South, where football is so important, you see these videos and fights in the stadium. I hate to see those videos, but everybody watches them. There’s a little bit of humor in there but a lot of sadness, as far as I’m concerned.

So here’s my question to you. You’ve got some, typically, either they’re inebriated from something or emotions are high because their team just got beat by the other.

How do you advise folks who are now under police custody or being hauled away from the stadium? How do you advise folks to deal with that situation from a criminal standpoint?

John: My thing is to cooperate. As you see all the time, police will hit you with, what I call, the kitchen sink of charges. First, you’re fighting, then if you don’t stop fighting when they tell you to stop, next thing you kind of pull away from them a little bit, then they got you with the resisting arrest charge.

The key thing is once an officer tells you something, comply and keep your mouth shut. Put it this way. They got you on tape nine times out of ten, or socially with the age we live in, they got you on tape a lot of times.

But don’t get in there like, ‘well, I’ve done this, and I’ve been drinking all day, officer. And I’m tired of it, and I had to whoop his behind or do that.’

In other words, keep your mouth closed. Don’t give them any more evidence. That’s the best thing I can tell you, don’t give them any more evidence than they have on you already.

Bernard: Well, I really don’t like seeing those videos, but at times, they do provide a little humor. You can’t help but watch it, even if it is your team that’s on the losing end.

John, let’s say that it escalated to the point where there really has been a lot of drinking, and things are just not good, and your client or your future client is now being taken away to the county jail.

And let’s say that they’re now in Tuscaloosa County Jail. What’s the first time that you usually get contacted by a potential client of yours? And then, how do you advise them to deal with the fact that they’re now in jail?

John: Got you. The first thing we say is, don’t give any statements to a police officer. When you’re called out on the phone, make sure you’re being careful. Don’t give any comments. It depends on what you’ve been charged with.

But if it’s just fighting, you still don’t want to say too much over the phone if you call someone to bond you out. Because police officers, those sheriff deputies at the jails, record everything on those phones. Those are recorded conversations.

So what you want to do is your call; you get bonded out, then call an attorney. We’ll come in and see what we can do to help you.

The key thing I can say is, in those situations, keep your mouth closed. Another thing, try not to let it escalate to those situations.

And this is kind of on the sad end of that.

You see people fighting, and all it takes is just one unlucky hit or whatever you want to call it – people have died from this.

Someone falls, you punch them, and someone falls and hits their head on the curb or the concrete; you don’t see it as much in college football, but a lot of it in NFL games.

Specially, you go to these places where the fans are notorious; people die out in the parking lots of these things. People’s lives are destroyed.

I represented a young lady, who gets into a fight, and she takes the fight to a whole another level. She cuts another lady in the face with a knife; well, this lady is doing prison time. It’s not a lot you can do.

Judges, don’t give probation where you’re normally talking about a situation where someone’s been permanently maimed or scared.

Even if it’s your first time, you’re probably looking at prison time. So please think about it before you act.

That’s all I can say.

Bernard: Well, that sounds like some great advice that whether you’re pulled over in a traffic stop, or you’re approached by a police officer on campus or near campus, and they suspect something, is to cooperate.

Well, that’s some great advice. John, I appreciate your few minutes here this morning.

John: I appreciate you having me.

 Bernard: Again, tell folks how they can get in touch with you if they want to talk further about these matters.

John: 1866-585-2966 is the office number, and the cell number you can reach me on is 205-317-6390. 24/7 I’m there.

Bernard: That’s good stuff, John. Again, it’s Bernard Nomberg with the Nomberg Law Firm. We’re in downtown Birmingham, as you guys have been following us, and we sure appreciate all the viewers who watch us live and then watch us later on. You can always reach us at 205-930-6900. We’ll be back next week with another informative topic, and I appreciate you all sticking with us and hope you have a good rest of your week. Take care.

Disclaimer: Please note that this transcript has been generated automatically and may contain errors, inaccuracies or deviations from the original video. It is provided as a convenience and is not intended as an exact representation of the content.