Louis Berk PLLC - March 2021

Louis Berk PLLC - March 2021

www.LouisBerkLaw.com 407-906-0500 March 2021

Car Accidents | Truck Accidents | Pedestrian Accidents | Slip & Fall/Premises Liability | Wrongful Death

Not Just Spring Break What March in Florida Has to Offer

It’s funny how things change. This time of year, I’m usually looking around and bracing for impact — after all, March in Florida is synonymous with spring break. Most places get a week here or a week there, but down in Florida, it’s an entire month, and I sometimes wonder how much of the American student population passes through our state every year.

But this time around, it just doesn’t feel the same.

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not saying I miss the madness of old. And I know plenty of college students still traveled down here, despite the public health restrictions in place against public gatherings. But there’s no doubt that as Floridians, we’ve come to rely on that injection of youth into our state every year, and I worry a bit about our local businesses. After such a hard 12 months, a slow spring break season is difficult. Ironically, March 29 is National Mom and Pop Business Day, when we’re all encouraged to only do business with local companies. I don’t know what comes to mind when you think about local businesses, but I think of my father, who once owned a coin laundry. I also think of my buddy, Owner and Executive Chef David Benstock of IL Ritorno restaurant over in St. Pete. I can’t wait for the day when we can go there again on a really packed night and enjoy the amazing food and atmosphere. In another year, I might have even done it this month, spring break or not! As it is, we’ll have to settle for local takeout. I encourage you to get that takeout or to get your daily cup of coffee from a local place instead of a chain. Small businesses could really use the help this March. Lots of people are talking about the future of 2021 and trying to figure out what things will look like. I don’t know much, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the spring break partiers will probably return here after the pandemic has been beaten. That’s been true for as long as Northern winters have been cold, and I don’t think it’s going to change. Personally, I’m enjoying a quieter March, and it’s great to see our state come alive with all the signs of spring. Anybody who says we have a “mono-season” here hasn’t noticed the birds that come and go each year or the plants that green up when you aren’t looking.

One word of caution as we enjoy spring together, though: Please, don’t drink and drive. It doesn’t matter if you’re a college student here for a weekend or a third-generation local heading home from the bar: It’s just not worth it. Not only are you endangering others and yourself, but it also doesn’t make financial sense. The cost of being picked up, whether from the cab company or a ride-sharing app, is minimal compared to a $10,000 DUI penalty. And during the peak of spring break partying, many of those same companies offer free rides. It’s worth looking into because driving after drinking is never, ever okay.

This time next month, the spring breakers who showed up will be gone, and summer will be well on its way, although not quite

here. We’ll be back in the water like before, instead of dreaming about it, and there’s a good chance we’ll break 90 degrees.

But until then, sit back, order from a local restaurant, and enjoy the fruits of spring.

-Louis Bernardo Berk

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Dehydration is a big problem. Many people don’t drink enough water each day — some reports show that 75% of adults in the United States don’t drink enough water, and over a quarter are dehydrated. Though those statistics aren’t widely agreed upon, it’s obvious that most people need more fluids. Even if it feels like you’re drinking a lot of water, remember that water leaves your body every time you sweat, go to the bathroom, and even breathe. Not keeping up with proper water intake can lead to dehydration. Even mild dehydration can cause health problems and impact your brain, heart, skin, and other organs, which can lead to headaches, confusion, fatigue, and gastrointestinal distress. We all know the solution to dehydration is to drink more water, but exactly how much water do we need each day? The amount will differ depending on the person, but one simple way to approximate your necessary daily intake is by dividing your body weight in half and drinking that much water (in fluid ounces) each day. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, you’d need to drink 87.5 fluid ounces — over half a gallon — of water per day. An Easy Way to Drink More Water AND AVOID DEHYDRATION

That might seem like a lot of liquid, but you can easily drink it without trying too hard. All you have to do is be proactive: Start keeping water any place you frequent during the day. Keep a bottle in your car, at your desk, by your favorite chair, near your workout equipment, etc. Having water easily available in the places you spend the most time each day helps increase your chances of actually drinking it. An alternative approach is to purchase a giant jug that can hold all the water you need to drink in a day. Seeing it all in one place might be intimidating at first, but this method makes things very simple. Keep the jug close, and your water intake will likely increase without too much additional effort. And if you’re just not motivated to drink plain water, you can always add sugar-free flavoring or lemon to make it more enticing.

3 Ways to Help Your Legal Case Move Faster (And 3 Ways to Mess It Up)

Every legal case proceeds at its own pace. The Myra Clark Gaines litigation — a fight over an inheritance that began in 1834 — famously lasted 55 years. Even simple car accident cases often take more than a year to resolve. Frustration during the legal process is normal, but if you’re feeling it, there are a few things you can do to help your lawyers move things along: • Respond to communication quickly. • Share all of the details about your case. • Keep your emotions in check. This might seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised by how quickly ignoring these three items can send your case off the rails. Be Quick to Click When your attorney emails or calls you, it’s vital to answer as soon as you can. Some steps of the legal process are time-

to continue prodding you for information, and it could also save your case! Your lawyer won’t be able to defend you well unless they have all of the relevant information. Plus, if opposing counsel discovers something you’ve been hiding, your case may fall apart. Tamp Down Your Temper Court cases can get emotional, especially if something like child custody is at stake. Even so, if you have to appear in court it’s vital you keep your emotions in check and listen to your attorney’s advice about what to say and do. If you lose your temper or disrupt the court process, the judge could hold you in contempt of court — potentially triggering a fine or even jail time. This will certainly derail your case’s timeline. For proof, consider a defendant in a burglary case, Manson Bryant, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison. When he heard the verdict, Bryant started shouting at the judge — who added six more years to his sentence on the spot.

sensitive, and if you ignore your attorney or wait hours or days before responding to them, you could miss a crucial window. Your lawyer might even walk away from your case, like the attorney in the 2002 Garden v. Garden case who withdrew when his client stopped responding. That said, it’s vital not to overcommunicate with your lawyer either. Always respond when they reach out, but don’t flood their inbox with emails or load their voicemail with messages. Clogging their information channels will just slow down their work, and it might end up costing you. Your attorney’s billable hours may include time taken to respond to emails.

Don’t Hide the Details Some facts of your case could be

embarrassing or hard to talk about, but the best way to keep things moving is to share everything with your lawyer upfront. This will save time because your lawyer won’t have

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TAKE A BREAK

A LITTLE DISTRACTION

THIS ONE SMALL THING IS KILLING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

Distractions in your workplace destroy your productivity, regardless of where you actually work. But here’s the kicker: Some distractions don’t always register as distractions because they’re often minor, like a knock at the door or a conversation you can hear from two cubicles over. However, even when a distraction doesn’t feel like a distraction, it still kills your productivity. But one distraction in particular can absolutely ruin productivity. It isn’t as obvious as an unexpected phone call or a meeting that could have been an email. It’s a small, normal part of our everyday lives: the notification. We get notifications on our phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and even our smartwatches. Notifications are everywhere, and we’re conditioned to accept them. Take email, for example. You’re likely in the habit of checking email periodically — or whenever you get a notification. It can feel natural to quickly check your email and then get back to what you were doing. Except that never happens. When an email, text, or other random notification distracts you, it completely diverts attention away from what you were doing. If it’s spam, you may delete the email. Or, if you need to respond, it might take a few minutes or more. You may spend anywhere between 20 seconds to 20 minutes on any given email. However, this isn’t where time is lost. If you’re responding to a customer email, for instance, that is part of your productivity. The time is lost when you attempt to get back to what you were doing before checking your notifications.

ASPARAGUS AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA PIZZETTES

Inspired by EatingWell.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded smoked mozzarella cheese • 1/3 cup scallions, thinly sliced • 2 tbsp walnuts, toasted and chopped • 1 sprig of fresh mint leaves, torn • Zest of 1 orange

• 1 lb prepared whole-wheat pizza dough, divided into 6 equal portions • 12 oz asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces • 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil • 1/4 tsp salt

A University of California, Irvine study found that it takes an average of 23

minutes to get back to your task after every distraction, not just email. Over the course

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500 F and ensure there are two racks in your oven. 2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, stretch each piece of dough into a 7-by-3-inch oval and arrange evenly on the pan. 3. On a second baking sheet, toss asparagus with oil and 1/4 tsp salt. 4. Place dough on top rack and asparagus on bottom and bake for 3 minutes. 5. Remove both trays from the oven, sprinkle cheese over the dough, then top with asparagus and scallions. 6. Return pizzettes to oven and bake until the crusts’ edges are golden, about 8–10 minutes. 7. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with walnuts, mint, and orange zest before serving.

of a day, that adds up to a significant amount of wasted time.

How do you overcome this? Your best bet is to turn off

notifications. Most devices let you customize your notifications so you can turn them off during working hours. Here’s another quick tip: Set aside specific time during the day to check emails, texts, and other messages. You will significantly reduce the amount of time spent trying to refocus on the important tasks at hand.

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Referrals Welcome We thank you so much for referring clients to us over the years. We are grateful that you have

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1

Ready for a Florida March?

How to Easily Increase Your Water Intake 3 Ways to Help Your Legal Case Move Faster

2

Asparagus & Smoked Mozzarella Pizzettes Don’t Let This Distraction Destroy Your Productivity

3

‘Jersey Shore’ Stars Battle a New York Restaurant Over Meatball Merch

4

The Meatball Shop Sued Snooki! (And Another ‘Jersey Shore’ Star, Too)

actual meatballs. According to Page Six, the New York City-based restaurant The

Reality TV stars Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Deena Cortese are gearing up for a court battle. But this isn’t a showdown with another celebrity: It’s a fight to the death over merchandise with ... a New York City-based meatball restaurant! This case sounds laughable, but there’s some real “meat” to dig into. The controversy started when the celebrity duo — known as “The Meatballs” since their time together on “Jersey Shore” — launched a clothing brand/online store called The Meatball Shop late last year. The brand sells meatball-themed T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats with slogans like “Team Meatball Forever” and “Meatball Squad.” Over the holidays, they even offered a sweater with a checklist reading, “Pour wine, wrap gifts, decorate, be a meatball.” All of this merchandise plays off the pair’s “Jersey Shore” nickname, which Polizzi and Cortese earned because, as Food & Wine puts it, “The party girls are both very tan, curvy, and short.”

Meatball Shop sued Polizzi and Cortese in December of 2020, claiming their clothing infringes on its trademark. As of writing this, a judge is considering The Meatball Shop’s request to shut Polizzi and Cortese’s operation down. To add even more meat to the argument, it was the owners of The Meatball Shop restaurant (Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow) who first taught Polizzi and Cortese to make edible meatballs in 2017. The lesson was documented in a photo shoot with “In Touch.” Does it get more ironic than that? If you want to keep up with the drama, check PageSix.com, and if this article made you crave meatballs, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Visit Epicurious.com and search “classic beef meatballs’’ for a recipe that will knock your socks off.

Even with this claim to the moniker, the legality of the celebrities’ clothing line has some competition from, well, places that sell

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www.LouisBerkLaw.com 407-906-0500 March 2021

Car Accidents | Truck Accidents | Pedestrian Accidents | Slip & Fall/Premises Liability | Wrongful Death

No solo vacaciones de primavera Lo que marzo en Florida tiene para ofrecer

Es curioso cómo cambian las cosas. Generalmente, en esta época del año estoy echando un vistazo y preparándome para el impacto; después de todo, Marzo en Florida es sinónimo de vacaciones de primavera. La mayoría de los lugares tienen una semana aquí o una semana allá, pero en Florida abarca todo un mes, y algunas veces me pregunto qué tanto de la población estudiantil estadounidense pasa por nuestro estado cada año.

Pero esta vez simplemente no se siente igual.

Dejemos algo en claro. No estoy diciendo que extrañe la antigua locura. Y sé que sigue habiendo muchos estudiantes universitarios que viajaron hasta aquí a pesar de las restricciones de salud pública que están vigentes en contra de las reuniones públicas. Pero no hay duda de que, como habitantes de la Florida, hemos llegado a depender de esa inyección de juventud en nuestro estado cada año, y me preocupan un poco nuestros negocios locales. Después de 12 meses tan duros, una temporada lenta de vacaciones de primavera resulta difícil. Irónicamente, el 29 de marzo es el Día Nacional de los Dueños de Negocios Familiares, cuando a todos nos animan a hacer negocios únicamente con las compañías locales. No sé qué viene a tu mente cuando piensas en los negocios locales, pero yo pienso en mi padre, que alguna vez fue dueño de una lavandería de monedas. También pienso en mi amigo David Benstock, propietario y chef ejecutivo del restaurante IL Ritorno en St. Pete. Estoy ansioso por que llegue el día en el que podamos volver a ir en una noche donde haya mucha gente y disfrutemos de la magnífica comida y la increíble atmósfera. En otro año, incluso podría haberlo hecho este mes, ¡fueran vacaciones de primavera o no! Tal y como están las cosas, tendremos que conformarnos con comida local para llevar. Te animo a que compres esa comida para llevar o que compres tu taza diaria de café en un lugar local y no en una cadena. Los negocios pequeños en verdad podrían utilizar esa ayuda en este mes de Marzo. Muchas personas están hablando sobre el futuro del 2021 y tratando de descifrar cómo serán las cosas. No sé mucho, pero si tuviera que adivinar, diría que los estudiantes que viajan por las vacaciones de primavera probablemente regresarán aquí después de que la pandemia haya sido domada. Así ha sido durante todo el tiempo en el que los inviernos del norte han sido fríos, y no creo que vaya a cambiar. En lo personal, estoy disfrutando de un Marzo más tranquilo, y es fantástico ver que nuestro estado vuelve a la vida con todas las señales de la primavera. Cualquiera que diga que tenemos una “monotemporada” aquí no ha observado las aves que

van y vienen cada año o las plantas que reverdecen cuando no estás prestando atención. Sin embargo, mientras disfrutamos juntos la primavera, te doy un mensaje de precaución: por favor, no conduzcas ebrio. No importa si eres un estudiante universitario que está aquí por un fin de semana o si eres un habitante de la localidad de tercera generación que se dirige a casa desde el bar: simplemente no vale la pena. No solo estás poniendo en peligro a otras personas y a ti mismo, sino que simplemente no tiene sentido desde un punto de vista financiero. El costo de que te recojan, ya sea la compañía de taxis o a través de una aplicación de transporte compartido, es mínimo comparado con una multa de $10,000 dólares por conducir en estado de ebriedad. Y durante el pico de las fiestas de las vacaciones de primavera, muchas de esas mismas compañías ofrecen viajes gratuitos. Vale la pena tomarlo en consideración, porque conducir después de haber bebido nunca, nunca está bien. El mes próximo, a estas alturas, los vacacionistas de primavera que vinieron se habrán ido y el verano ya estará en camino, aunque aún no habrá llegado plenamente. Estaremos de vuelta en el agua como antes, en

lugar de soñar con ello, y existen grandes probabilidades de que hagamos un cambio de 90 grados. Pero hasta entonces, relájate, ordena de un restaurante local y goza de los frutos de la primavera.

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Una manera sencilla de beber más agua Y evitar la deshidratación

libras) a la mitad, y esa será la cantidad de agua (en onzas de líquido) que debe beber cada día. Por ejemplo, si usted pesa 175 libras, deberá beber 87.5 onzas de líquido (más de medio galón) de agua al día. Esa puede parecer una gran cantidad de líquido, pero es posible beberla fácilmente y sin demasiado esfuerzo. Todo lo que tiene que hacer es ser proactivo: comience a tener agua disponible en todos los lugares

La deshidratación es un gran problema. Muchas personas no beben suficiente agua diariamente. Algunos informes muestran que el 75 % de los adultos de Estados Unidos no beben suficiente agua, y más de una cuarta parte están deshidratados. Si bien no existe un amplio consenso sobre estas estadísticas, es obvio que la mayoría de las personas necesitan más fluidos. Aunque usted pudiera sentir que está bebiendo bastante agua, recuerde que esta sale de su cuerpo cada vez que transpira, va al baño e incluso respira. No mantener una ingesta

que frecuenta durante el día. Tenga una botella en su automóvil, en su escritorio, junto a su silla favorita, cerca de sus aparatos de ejercicio,

etc. Tener agua al alcance de la mano en los lugares donde pasa la mayor parte del tiempo cada día aumenta sus probabilidades de beberla.

adecuada de agua puede conducir a la deshidratación. Incluso la deshidratación leve es capaz de ocasionar problemas de salud y afectar el cerebro, el corazón, la piel y otros órganos, lo que puede provocar dolores de cabeza, confusión, fatiga y malestar gastrointestinal. Todos sabemos que la solución para la deshidratación es beber más agua, pero ¿cuánta agua necesitamos al día? La cantidad variará dependiendo de la persona, pero una manera simple de calcular su ingesta diaria necesaria es dividir su peso corporal (en

Otra posible estrategia es comprar una jarra gigante que pueda contener toda el agua que necesita beber en un día. Verla toda junta en un solo lugar puede ser intimidante al principio, pero este método simplifica mucho las cosas. Mantenga la jarra cerca, y su ingesta de agua probablemente aumentará sin demasiado esfuerzo adicional. Y si simplemente no tiene muchas ganas de beber agua natural, siempre puede agregarle saborizante sin azúcar o limón para hacerla más apetecible.

Instrucciones

Pizzettas de Espárragos y Mozzarella Ahumada

1. Precaliente el horno a 500 °F y asegúrese de que su horno tenga dos rejillas.

Inspiradas por EatingWell.com

2. Forre una bandeja para hornear grande con papel para hornear. Estire cada porción de masa hasta formar un óvalo de 7 x 3 pulgadas y colóquelo de manera uniforme sobre el molde.

3. En una segunda bandeja para hornear, revuelva los espárragos con aceite y 1/4 de cdta. de sal.

Ingredientes

• 1 taza de queso mozzarella ahumado y rallado

4. Coloque la masa en la rejilla de arriba y los espárragos en la de abajo y hornee durante 3 minutos.

• 1 libra de masa para pizza

de harina integral preparada, dividida en 6 porciones iguales

• 1/3 taza de cebollines, cortados en rodajas finas

5. Retire ambas bandejas del horno, espolvoree queso sobre la masa y luego coloque encima los espárragos y los cebollines. 6. Regrese las pizzettas al horno y hornee hasta que los bordes de la corteza estén dorados. Esto tomará entre 8 y 10 minutos.

• 12 onzas de espárragos, recortados y cortados en trozos de 1 pulgada

• 2 cdas. de nueces, tostadas y picadas

• 1 cda. de aceite de oliva extra virgen

• 1 ramita de hojas de menta fresca, arrancada

7. Retire del horno y espolvoree con nueces, menta y ralladura de naranja antes de servir.

• 1/4 de cdta. de sal

• ralladura de 1 naranja

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