Harman Law - November/December 2020

Harman Law - November/December 2020

November/December 2020

THE HARMAN HEADLINE

HARMAN LAW

Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, and Employment Lawyers

FROM ULTRASOUND HEARTBEATS TO MOVIE-OBSESSED TODDLERS

The Triplets Are Growing Up Fast!

I’ll never forget the look on my wife Jen’s face at our very first ultrasound appointment two and a half years ago. We knew that we were having a baby, of course, and since there’s a history of twins in the family, we thought there was a chance we were having two. But we never suspected there were three little Harmans waiting to meet us. I can still see the doctor’s office perfectly. Jen was lying back on the table, and not long into the ultrasound, the doctor said, “There’s the heartbeat. And, oh, I hear a second one!” We grinned at each other. Then he added, “... and a third one.”

Like lightning, my wife shot up on her elbows. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, “ Three babies?”

In what could have been an Oscar-winning performance, the doctor looked at her very seriously and said, “Ma’am, I don’t usually kid about these things.” In hindsight it’s pretty funny, but at the time, I was definitely in shock. I didn’t say a single thing through the rest of the appointment. I just sat there grinning like an idiot — something Jen pointed out to me later. This story is on my mind because the triplets’ birthday is just around the corner on Dec. 19. It’s crazy to me that they’re already turning 3. It feels like just yesterday we brought the last of the babies home from the NICU during a snowstorm. They were all so tiny, and now they’re toddler-sized balls of energy who hardly ever sit still. At almost 3 years old, Emerson, Nolan, and Miles are constantly running around, playing, and yelling at the top of their lungs. The only time we can really recapture that quiet baby sweetness is when we put on their favorite movie “Cars.”

Up until this year, we kept the kids’ screen time pretty minimal. They never really watched TV unless football was on and we were watching as a family. But this summer my mom was babysitting for a few days, and she introduced them to the Pixar movie “Cars.” When they came home, all they could talk about was Lightning McQueen — the red sports car that’s the main character in the movie. They actually call the movie McQueen instead, and if we would let them, they’d watch it nonstop. Whenever they’re awake it’s “McQueen this,” “McQueen that,” and “When can we watch McQueen?” If we let them watch the movie, as soon as it’s over they start crying and begging for us to put it back in. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty amazing that “Cars” gets all three triplets to sit still for an hour and a half. The peace and quiet is really nice, and I actually enjoy the movie, too! But their obsession eventually got to the point that we had to detox them from “Cars” for a few weeks. With their birthday coming up, I have my fingers crossed that no one introduces them to “Cars 2.” I’ve never seen it, but if it lives up to its 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I’m not sure I could stand having it play over and over all Christmas. We’ll see how it goes!

Wishing you a happy holiday season,

–Michael Harman

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – Call Us Today 704-885-5550

A Meal for the Changing American Home

HOWA THANKSGIVING DINNER MIX-UP LED TO THE TV DINNER

Would you believe that Thanksgiving dinner — a meal dedicated to home cooking, family time, and, well, being thankful — was directly responsible for the invention of the TV dinner, the ultimate manifestation of the solitary, processed meal? If you are a little suspicious of that fact, you’re not alone. But, the connection is real. Those little frozen meals on trays were the result of a Turkey Day mix-up of epic proportions. The year was 1953. That fall, the frozen food company C.A. Swanson & Sons drastically overestimated how many Americans would want a turkey as the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving spread, leaving them with about 260 tons of extra turkey packed into 10 refrigerated railroad cars. They needed a way to sell this surplus quickly because they had to keep running the train cars back and forth between the East Coast and the Midwest to

generate the electricity needed to keep the turkey from spoiling.

The company sent out a bulletin asking if any of their employees had a solution to the problem. Swanson salesman Gerry Thomas had a winning idea. He suggested they package up the remaining turkey with a few sides as frozen dinners that would be ready to eat after being thawed. The twist? They would be served in compartmentalized aluminum trays, much like airplane meals, which were the inspiration for Thomas’ idea. Additionally, they would be marketed as “TV dinners,” with their packaging designed to look like a television set. By 1954, roughly half of American households had TVs. Over the next 10 years, that figure jumped to 92%. As the TV rose in prominence in American living rooms, the TV dinner’s

popularity increased exponentially. Swanson sold nearly 10 million of them during the first year of production. By 1959, Americans spent half a billion dollars gobbling up TV dinners. Several other phenomena have been linked to the advent of the TV dinner, such as the erosion of the traditional family dinner and a preference for TV entertainment over family conversation during mealtime. It’s hard to believe it all happened because of one Thanksgiving Day with too much turkey!

The Real ReasonWhy Charles DickensWrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ Let’s Take Down Scrooge Together!

Before he was visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, Ebenezer Scrooge was one of the worst bosses of all time. In the original version of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, Scrooge is described as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” who abused and underpaid his clerk, Bob Cratchit. That’s a pretty fair rendering of the fictional character. Unfortunately, it’s also not all that far from reality — our team has met a lot of Scrooges in the real world. In our years taking workers’ compensation cases, we’ve found there are plenty of penny-pinching bosses out there just like Scrooge. They’ll do anything to build their wealth, including breaking the law by withholding compensation for employees injured on the job. Just as Scrooge didn’t prioritize Bob Cratchit’s well-being (he almost didn’t give him the day off on Christmas!), many real-life employers don’t prioritize the health and safety of their staff. This isn’t a new problem. In fact, Charles Dickens knew all about it, and awful real-life bosses were on his mind when he wrote “A Christmas Carol.” According to Time magazine, the book was largely a social commentary on the poor working conditions and use of child labor in England in the 1840s. This true history of the feel-good story is often

overlooked, but when Dickens wrote about Scrooge’s realization that he should treat his workers well, he was aiming to inspire real change.

If you or someone you know has been injured on the job, you deserve to be taken care of, just like Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Don’t let your Scrooge of a boss withhold the compensation you deserve! Instead, call our team of experienced workers’ compensation attorneys at 704-885-5550. We’ll work as hard as Dickens’ Christmas ghosts to turn your situation around and get your claim approved, even if it takes an appeal to do it.

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – HarmanLawNC.com

Neidy Is Expecting!

SUDOKU

Meet the Newest Addition to the Harman Law Family

It turns out Michael’s triplets won’t be the only Harman Law kids with a December birthday! Our fantastic paralegal, Neidy Aguilar, is expecting a little girl in early December. “It was a surprise for both of us, for sure, but we’re definitely really excited! We’re just trying to prepare as much as we can,” Neidy says. “We’re setting up a nursery and buying anything that we think we’re going to need. With COVID-19 and being pregnant, it’s been hard. I haven’t gone out at all unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Neidy and her husband, Geovanny, did make one exception to their stay-home rule. When they first found out Neidy was expecting, they took a romantic “babymoon” trip to Maggie Valley and stayed in a cabin to celebrate.

“It was great to get away from everything and relax a bit more before the baby comes,” Neidy says.

The little girl will be Neidy and Geovanny’s first child, unless you count their sweet 8-year-old pit bull, Phoenix. So far, Neidy says, Phoenix has been taking his new role of big brother very seriously. “He’s been extremely overprotective. Everywhere I go, he goes. If I am in the living room and just walk to another room, he’ll follow. Everywhere in the house I go, he is right there next to me, which is nice, but you know, I need my alone space, too!” she says. To stay busy, Neidy spends a lot of time walking Phoenix, playing with him at the dog park, and doing crafts at home. One of her passion projects is collecting photos and notes of important life events in a journal so she and her family can look back on them one day. We’re going to miss Neidy here at the office when she goes on maternity leave, but we can’t wait to meet her little girl! If you chat with her between now and December, be sure to say congratulations. This good news is a bright spot in a crazy year!

Solution on Page 4

Cinnamon-Spiced Candied Sweet Potatoes

These candied sweet potatoes will make your family beg for more!

INGREDIENTS:

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4 lbs orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces, then cut lengthwise into 1-inch wedges 1 cup light brown sugar, packed

• • •

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed

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4 (2-inch) cinnamon sticks

•

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 2. Place sweet potato wedges in a 4-quart baking dish. 3. Sprinkle sugar, salt, and cloves over sweet potatoes.

4. Dot with butter and place cinnamon sticks around sweet potatoes. 5. Bake, turning every 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender

and the liquid is syrupy, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. 6. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. 7. Discard cinnamon sticks and serve.

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – Call Us Today 704-885-5550

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Inside This Issue

Michael’s Triplets Are Turning 3! 1

Sudoku Solution

How a Thanksgiving Dinner Mix-Up Led to the TV Dinner The Real Reason Why Charles Dickens Wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ 2 Cinnamon-Spiced Candied Sweet Potatoes Neidy Is Expecting! 3 3 Memorable Thanksgiving Day Football Plays 4

3 MEMORABLE THANKSGIVING DAY FOOTBALL PLAYS

Thanksgiving is all about good food, family, and football. Each year, football fans look forward to sitting down and watching the game with their family, regardless of whether or not their team is playing. While many games have been played over the years, some stand out more than others because of some major players and their quick actions. Here are three individuals who made their Thanksgiving Day games ones to remember. Lawrence Taylor New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was said to have “single-handedly” beat the Detroit Lions in this memorable 1982 Thanksgiving Day matchup. The game was only the fourth of the season for Taylor, who had just recovered from a sprained knee injury suffered in a previous game. With the score tied at 6-6 in the fourth quarter, Taylor intercepted the ball from the Lions quarterback, Gary Danielson, and ran it 97 yards for a touchdown. Leon Lett The Miami Dolphins were up against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day in 1993. This game was marked by

its strange weather: Snow covered the field in Dallas, and temperatures reached only 26 degrees F. But that wasn’t what made the game memorable. In the last 15 seconds of the game, the Cowboys blocked the Dolphins’ last 40-yard field goal attempt. As the ball was rolling on the ground, Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett dove for it but slipped and missed. The Dolphins recovered the ball and were given the chance to kick another field goal at the 1-yard line. The attempt was successful, and they won the game. Phil Luckett One of the most memorable moments during a Thanksgiving game took place in 1998, when the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions entered overtime in a 16-16 tie. Referee Phil Luckett oversaw the coin toss, and that’s when things became tense. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis appeared to call tails, but Luckett said, “Heads is the call.” Upon review later, officials discovered that Bettis changed his mind mid- toss and had indeed called heads first. The Lions got first possession and scored a field goal to win the game.

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – HarmanLawNC.com