Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton - August 2020

Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton - August 2020

August 2020

A CLIENT’S EXPERIENCE WITH HARE WYNN

D ebbie’s elderly mother had always taken pride in being self-reliant. Even in her late 80s, she refused to let age slow her down. She was as committed to her own independence as she was to the family and community she loved and served. In so many ways, she embodied what we all admire about The Greatest Generation. That all changed the day she was broadsided in an intersection by a driver who ran a red light. Her clavicle was broken in the accident, requiring surgery and then rehab. As a result of weakness caused by inactivity and inability to function on her own, Debbie’s mother subsequently broke her ankle, which created more stress, trauma, and difficulty for her. This left her anxious, shaky, unable to drive, and dependent on others for help. That single event irrevocably changed her life, having set in motion a cascade of events which proved difficult from which to recover. After the accident, Debbie and her mother were advised by friends and family to seek legal counsel and pursue damages. A family member had a friend in the legal industry who highly recommended them to Jamie Moncus at Hare Wynn. Debbie describes her first meeting with Jamie: “When we met with Jamie, my mother was still in the rehab unit. Jamie had asked to see her. She was lying in bed and in terrible shape, but she was able to speak with him. He was just so gracious, kind, compassionate, and wonderful that my mother immediately trusted him, and we knew we had made the right decision in selecting him as her attorney.” As litigation progressed, Jamie; his co-counsel, Tempe Smith; and Karen, his assistant, went to great lengths to make sure the case was prepared to go to court.

However, shortly after depositions, they were approached by the defense attorneys with an offer of mediation, which Debbie, as her mother’s legal representative, accepted.

The only way a lawyer can know the true value of a case is by having a great deal of experience in a courtroom trying cases with real juries. Jamie is a trial lawyer. He thrives in a courtroom and has successfully tried a great number of cases. Therefore, he was uniquely positioned and qualified to best advise Debbie as to what her mother’s case was worth and what would be a fair settlement for her. This knowledge and experience proved invaluable for Debbie, who attended the mediation with her husband. Debbie explains: “When we went into the mediation, we had no idea what to expect nor what was reasonable to ask for, but we trusted Jamie and Tempe to lead us and guide us, which they did. Throughout the day, the defense attorneys kept coming to us with one lowball offer after another, which we kept rejecting. Finally, they made an offer Jamie considered fair and acceptable. Then it came down to, ‘If we go to court, what could we potentially expect?’ Jamie’s the type of guy you can look in the eye and ask for a straight answer — knowing he will give you one, and his expertise in court I understand is legendary. He said, ‘Going to court is a gamble. You do not know whom you are going to draw on your jury. I can advise you that this is a good offer. It is within the range of what I would have expected for this case. If you go to court in a rural Alabama county, with a jury of unknown peers, they could come back with an amount that is less.’ His words really gave us great peace, and we trusted and valued his insight and experience, so we decided to accept the offer and the case settled that day.”

Debbie describes her experience with Hare Wynn:

“They have a fantastic team approach at Hare Wynn, and they were in frequent communication with us. They let us know what to expect, what we needed to provide, and what the firm would be doing for us. All of that was clearly explained. Hare Wynn — above their professionalism in providing legal counsel — excels at communication, compassion, and concern. And that is so important when you are dealing with someone who is quite elderly, as my mother is. They also repeatedly reached out and took the time to email me and ask how she was doing. That meant a lot to us. What attorneys do that? That is compassion and caring, and that is a whole lot more than someone’s prowess in knowing the law. You can have a lawyer graduate from any law school, but if he does not have compassion, that is not who you want for an elderly victim, and Jamie understands the elderly. Furthermore, seeking legal representation is much more than just hiring a lawyer, and being a great lawyer involves more than just knowing the law. You want somebody who is on your side, one who understands what you are going through who will not only do the very best for you but will also do it with care. And so, we could not be more pleased with the firm or the settlement. There is no one who, I believe, could have represented my mother in a better fashion than Jamie, Tempe, and the team at Hare Wynn. They were a great fit for our family.”

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Turn Your Entryway Into a Command Center

Create a clever shoe solution. Keeping your shoes by the door ensures that on busy mornings, the left shoe isn’t in the bedroom while the right shoe somehow ended up in the playroom. However, shoes can quickly pile up into a mess of their own. If there’s space in your entryway, cubbies or labeled storage bins are a great solution to make sure each kid has a designated spot for their shoes. If you don’t have storage space by the door, a wall-mounted coat rack is a great workaround. Install the rack close to the floor and have your kids hang their shoes on the hooks when they come in. To your battle stations, everyone! Make sure each member of your family has a designated spot to put their belongings in the command center, including you. Sure, you might not have homework to keep track of, but what about your keys? Your parent battle station can include a bowl for keys, a tray for new mail, and a calendar to help you monitor your weekly schedule at a glance. Organizing your entryway won’t magically make school mornings stress-free unless you consistently utilize the system.

“Has anyone seen my backpack?” “Dad, did you sign my permission slip?” “Mom, I can’t find my shoes!”

This is the household anthem heard on school mornings across the United States — a chaotic rush of tracking down shoes, throwing together lunches, and racing to the bus stop. What if there were a stress-free way to make sure everyone in your family had everything they needed to walk out the door each morning? Believe it or not, it’s possible! And it all starts with turning your home’s entryway into an organized command center. Get hooked on coat racks. Building an entryway command center starts with coat racks. You should have enough hooks for every member of your family to hang their jackets, backpacks, and purses. It’s also good to have some extra hooks just in case. Get your family in the habit of hanging their belongings in the entryway rather than trailing them through the house.

Kids will need to build the habits of leaving their shoes by the door and returning their backpacks to the hooks after they do their homework. So stick to the plan, be patient, and take it one day at a time.

BY ORGANIZING YOUR DOCUMENTS

their desk, inside a filing cabinet, or locked away in a safe. No matter where you keep this information, the most essential question to ask yourself is this: Can I access this information quickly and accurately? Proper organization and storage, as well as taking the time to eliminate clutter, are very beneficial when it comes to these types of documents. Staying organized not only allows you to access needed information quickly, but it can also help reduce the

stress and anxiety caused by replacing important paperwork or spending hours searching for it.

To help get you started, here are a few tips you can follow to organize your documents:

August kicks off with Simply Your Life Week, which makes this a great time to get some things in order. Simplifying our lives means more than going through the closet, decluttering our living rooms, and getting rid of the things we don’t use anymore. The goal of simplifying is to make things easier on us as we live our daily lives, but it can help us in the future as well. It’s important to have your important documents at hand and to know where you find them in your home. These include your Social Security card, birth certificate, passport, a will or trust, power of attorney, medical records, and other such information that you may need in an emergency or certain situations. In many instances, some people keep all these documents tucked away in a folder on

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Sort through your documents and decide what to keep and what to toss.

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Destroy any outdated information you have, such as bank statements that are 3 years or older or tax returns that are 7 years or older. Store your documents using a method you’re comfortable with and that works best for you. This could be physical storage in your office or digital storage on the cloud.

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Take some time this month to sit down and go through your information. The time and effort you put into it will pay off in the future.

It’s Essential to Keep an Eye Out For Your Loved Ones

When a family member needs 24/7 care, placing them into a care facility can reduce the stress on the rest of the family and significantly help that family member. A nursing home or assisted living home has the resources to ensure your loved ones are well looked after. However, while these facilities can be extremely beneficial, they aren’t always as nurturing or safe as we’d like. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect can happen, and when it does, it’s devastating. Over the past fewmonths, it may have been difficult to check on aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, or siblings who live in nursing homes. Many of these facilities closed their doors to visitors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the high-risk individuals who lived there. Yet, as the country starts to slowly open again and families are able to visit their loved ones again, it’s nowmore important than ever to stay alert to signs of neglect that they could have experienced these past fewmonths. In many instances, nursing home staff can be impatient, careless of their duties, or even verbally or physically abusive. It’s important that when you visit, you pay attention not only to the staff who may show these signs but also how your loved one is acting and behaving. Someone who has endured abuse may:

Solution on Page 4

You can make these easy freezer breakfast burritos in under an hour! They’re healthy, delicious, and perfect for mornings on the go!

• Have severe mood changes

Ingredients

• Have poor hygiene

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2 tbsp olive oil, divided 1 medium onion, diced 1 bell pepper, diced 16 oz ground chicken

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1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp paprika

• Live in dirty living conditions

1/2 tsp garlic powder

• Have bed sores

6 eggs

16 oz sausage

12 8-inch tortillas

• Emotionally withdraw or have unusual nervousness

1/2 tsp salt

12 slices cheddar cheese

• Have unexplained abrasions and bruises

Directions

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In a skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan over medium heat, add chicken, sausage, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Cook for 3–4 minutes before stirring to get a brown crust on the bottom. Then, stir and continue cooking until meat is cooked through. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs together.

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In another skillet over medium heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil. Pour in eggs and scramble them, cooking until no liquid remains. Set aside. Lay out the tortillas with one slice of cheddar cheese on each. Place an even amount of vegetables, meat, and eggs on every tortilla. Wrap each burrito and enjoy immediately or wrap in foil and freeze for another morning!

• Have unexpected changes in their bank accounts

It’s essential that if you notice any of the above, you report these issues to the facility’s director or call the police if you believe that your loved one is in danger. Your next step is to contact a nursing home abuse attorney to discuss your rights and give your family a voice. To learn more about nursing home neglect and abuse, and to speak to our nursing home abuse attorneys about a free case review, visit our website at HWNN.com.

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Inspired by TheToastyKitchen.com

www.hwnn.com 800-568-5330

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2025 3rd Avenue North, Suite 800 Birmingham, AL 35203

Solution

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A Client’s ExperienceWith HareWynn

3 OrganizationTools for Stress-Free Mornings

How Easily CanYou Find Important Documents?

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Know the Signs: Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

AreYour Thrift Store Donations Being Thrown Away?

Are Your Thrift Store Donations Being Thrown Away? Are you thinking about donating your kids’ old clothes or that slow cooker you haven’t used in months? Though donating your unwanted items is a great thing to do, amid the pandemic, many people have not considered the future of secondhand shopping and charity-based thrift

example, isn’t sold in their stores. Instead, it’s sent to discount outlets and then into global markets. However, Mexican traders, who account for 30% of business at thrift stores close to the U.S. southern border, and Kenya, the world’s largest buyer of unsold secondhand clothes, have stopped buying during the economic shutdown. Meanwhile, some good-intentioned Americans are leaving their goods outside thrift stores’ front doors, not realizing that without enough space to house the excess donations, many of these thrift stores will have to pay disposal fees, costing the business potential revenue and sending your items into local landfills. However, Goodwill still wants your donations! You just might have to hold on to your items for a little bit. Check to see if your local thrift stores are open for donations. Many recommend waiting until the influx slows down, but others have expanded their inventory storage and are ready to keep up. Just make sure to follow their guidelines on acceptable items because any broken or worn items only add to their costs. Happy donating!

stores like Goodwill. In 2018, Goodwill funded nearly $5.3 billion in charitable services, like educational assistance, job training, and work placements. But now, Goodwill and similar organizations are facing a unique problem: They’re receiving too many donations. To prevent your items from ending up in a landfill, consider the following before you donate. Under the circumstances, this situation is understandable. Thanks to nationwide stay-at-home orders, many took advantage of their newfound spare time to spring-clean and subsequently donate unwanted items to charity. However, with the confusion about how long the COVID-19 virus can live on clothing, secondhand shoppers have been staying home, worried about the health risks of buying used goods.

Famously, thrift stores still keep unsold goods out of landfills. Up to 75% of Goodwill’s merchandise, for

4 • www.hwnn.com