Jones&Hill June 2017

The Must-Read, Change-Your-Life Newsletter

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June 2017

Now that it’s June, the days are growing longer and warmer. The song of spring continues, and though the weather gets warmer, something else swells with greater volume — our sense of freedom. It’s in the air every June, almost tangible in the dusty morning light of summer days. The song of summer is a combination of light and sound — the aforementioned light, interposed with the audible music of buzzing cicadas, children playing, and screen doors opening and closing. Nothing says Louisiana summer like a screen door filtering a cool breeze. A nice fan whirring in the corner lends a hand. THE SONG OF SUMMER It takes more than a little heat to quell the most avid anglers. The bayous are replete with some of the best catching prospects of the year,

whether you choose to paddle down the gentle streams in a canoe, wade into the best fly fishing spots, or sit for hours on the riverbank.

Other helpers that enable us to endure these sweltering, humid summers are the pools, rivers, and lakes of our state. A good swimming pool transcends its necessity to help us survive and becomes a must-visit destination every June through August. Nothing beats resting poolside with a cool beverage when the humidity and the sun beat fervently upon us.

May we all look at this summer as a tourist would, forgiving the quirks that make it difficult —

the heat especially — and enjoying the music as it gently plays around us. The song goes on, and the children continue to laugh, the cicadas continue to sing, and the

To stay in our small-town nook with its quiet neighborhoods and backwoods terrain is

screen doors continue to open and close. It’s something to endure, but it’s also something to enjoy. We hope you enjoy it in whatever way suits you.

lovely — to visit Orleans is as well, but in a different way. The line between tourists and locals is blurred because even the natives step out to enjoy the music festivals, museums, and fine dining people from around the country seek out every year. I hope we can all live like tourists in our respective towns and cities and continually see the world around us as though for the first time — even when the oppressive heat makes us want to hole up in our air-conditioned homes.

– J. Cra ig Jon e s a nd Cra ig Ra y Hill

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WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER THEATER ‘Jaws’ and the Rise of the Summer Blockbuster

For many, summer is a great time to get outside and bask in the sunshine. For thousands of others, it signals a season littered with bone- rattling explosions, labyrinthine superhero crossovers, and

You can try to pin the movie’s enormous success — grossing $470 million worldwide — on its thrilling story, and certainly, that was part of it. As the Financial Times writer Nigel Andrews puts it, “Jaws” gave Spielberg “the template for the perfect blockbuster. Create a colossal baddie … and a colossal hero … [and] follow by natural law.” In fact, “Jaws” is as indebted to its timing and marketing as to the titular prehistoric fish. Before its release, Universal already smelled the blood in the water, giving three times the usual number of interviews during its shooting. They went on to give a preview at Long Beach, with executives Lew Wasserman and Sidney Sheinberg tape-recording the audience’s reaction. These tapes then went into “an unprecedented $700,000 dollars’ worth of TV advertising,” according to Andrews. After all that, it’s no surprise that “Jaws” ended up the highest-grossing film in history — that is, until “Star Wars” followed suit with a summer opening and smashed its record, building a bandwagon for every studio to jump on and establishing a genuine American tradition. Nowadays, you can’t throw a beach ball in June without hitting some spandex-clad superhuman. But, even as the trailer for “Transformers 15” comes on, we’re not complaining. We’re too enthralled by what’s happening on screen.

catchphrase-spouting animated characters.

All this is just to say that summer blockbusters are a big deal, raking in billions of dollars each year. According to Investopedia, “Ticket

sales for May, June, and July accounted for 39 percent” of the 2008’s total sales. That may not sound like a whole lot, until you consider

that “more than one-third of annual sales

occur during a single quarter of the year.”

It wasn’t always this way. Back in the early ’70s, ticket sales consistently flagged during the summer months. That is, until Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws“ hit the screen on June 20, 1975, and sent every beach bum on the coast scrambling out of the water and scurrying into theaters.

What Causes Truck Accidents?

Truck accidents in the United States affect thousands of lives each year. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, large trucks are involved in nearly 300,000 crashes every year. That’s a scary statistic, especially for anyone who gets nervous pulling up next to a semi on the freeway. Trucks are particularly dangerous due to their size, and most of the accidents they’re involved in affect multiple cars. If you’ve been involved in a truck accident, you should know the potential causes as you look at legal action. So, what unique factors make truck drivers more susceptible to accidents? For one, there’s fatigue. Drivers average over 2,500 miles — the distance from Los Angeles to New York City — every week. They have some regulations to avoid overwork, but they can still drive 11 hours every day with those regulations. Needless to say, it’s easy to imagine drivers getting fatigued logging in so many hours. With all that time at the wheel, distractions also play a big part. Many drivers entertain themselves with cellphones and even videos. It’s not safe in a passenger vehicle, so it certainly isn’t safe while hauling 10-ton loads.

That’s the thing — when a vehicle is larger, the potential danger gets larger. Every car has blind spots, but not the way semis do. All cars have the potential for equipment failure, but when a truck experiences that, the result is more severe.

Big trucks usually belong to big companies. When you’re faced with legal action after a truck accident, it pays to work with someone who has experience taking on these big companies. If you’ve been injured in an accident, give us a call!

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The Clock Is Ticking Is It Too Late for You to Sue?

The legal system is a rigid world of rules and deadlines. If you have a lawsuit you need to file, it’s important to move forward on that as soon as possible — put it off or putter around, and it may be too late by the time you get around to it. How long do you have to file your lawsuit? There isn’t a one-size-fits- all answer. However, in the state of Louisiana, we can tell you that the statute of limitations for injury cases is one year — one of the lowest periods of time in the country. The same goes for property damage. The clock on the statutes of limitations starts ticking as soon as the plaintiff discovers any harm done, which could be from the date it took place or months later. It depends on your circumstances. This is where it gets tricky, but here’s an example to help: Let’s say, on January 1, a doctor performs an operation to remove your gall bladder, but they remove your spleen by mistake. If you suffer no unusual effects until July 1, when a doctor’s visit reveals the wrong surgical act was performed, the statute of limitations for suing that doctor begins on July 1. But if the complications happened right away, the year clock starts ticking on January 1.

Many people we work with don’t run into this issue because they’re depending on the lawsuit for relief — of course, they’re acting

now. But we’ve had other cases where they take too long, and when statutes of limitations kick in, there’s not much we can do. So is it too late for you to sue? We can help you determine that. Call us at 888-481-1333 to talk about your case. Just remember — act quickly. The clock is ticking.

Sudoku

Summer Crab Roll

Ingredients

• • • •

8 ounces fresh or canned crabmeat

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 2 soft rolls, split down the center like hot dog buns Green leaf lettuce leaves (for serving)

• •

Freshly ground white pepper

Directions

1. Mix crab and mayonnaise in a small bowl and season with salt. 2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. 3. Butter opening of buns and cook until golden, about 2 minutes per side. 4. Place a large leaf of lettuce in each bun. 5. Add crabmeat mixture and season with pepper. 6. Enjoy!

Recipe inspired by BonAppetit.com.

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Phone: (888) 481-1333 Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. www.joneshilllaw.com

Jones & Hill Injury Lawyers 131 Highway 165 South Oakdale, LA 71463

THE BULLETS THAT BEGAN WORLD WAR I The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

When Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, he set off a series of events that would lead to the largest-scale war the world had ever known. The shots he fired on June 28, 1914, led directly to the collapse of fragile alliances throughout Europe and the beginning of World War I. Since the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908, tensions were high between the people and their ruling empire. With the Archduke visiting Sarajevo in June of 1914, the Serbian secret military society, known as the Black Hand, devised a plan to assassinate Ferdinand. Seven men were stationed throughout the city as the Archduke’s motorcade traveled through the streets. One of the attackers threw a bomb at the vehicle containing the royals. Instead of landing in their car, it bounced off, coming to a stop in the street and exploding underneath the following car in the motorcade. The explosion wounded roughly 20 people, but did not harm the intended targets.

a safety precaution, officials devised an alternate route that would avoid major streets and crowds. Tragically, the motorcade took a wrong turn, putting them back in harm’s way. As the car stopped to turn around, Princip produced his pistol and fired two shots that would fatally wound Ferdinand and Sophie.

In the aftermath of the assassinations, Austria-Hungary would issue an ultimatum

to Serbia that would test alliances throughout Europe. A month later, on July 28, 1914, World War I had officially begun. For more information on this subject, check out Greg King and Sue Woolmans’ book, “The Assassination of the Archduke.”

Shaken by the first attempt, the Austrian royals altered their plans. They decided to head to the hospital to visit those injured in the bombing. As

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