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Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
Aug 2017
601 East 5th Street, Suite 250, Charlotte, NC 28202 • 704-377-7677 • Toll-free: 1-866-326-3090 • www.BollingerLawFirmNC.com
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Celebrating Our 30th Anniversary
RECOMMENDATION SERVICE Do you need a lawyer for something we don’t handle?
B y the time you read this, my wife, Maggie Timothy, and I will have celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. As I write this in mid-July, we are planning to take a four-day weekend trip to Asheville, North Carolina, in early August to celebrate. We did that on our 20th anniversary and stayed in a hotel in down- town Asheville. We parked the car in the hotel parking lot and did not use it the whole time we were there. We simply walked around downtown Asheville, away from the sweltering August heat of the Piedmont, and visited shops, art galleries, and all kinds of restaurants. We had a great time just hanging out in the very nice city of Asheville, the “Paris of the South,” and we are looking forward to doing it again this year. Everyone tells me that being married for 30 years is quite an accomplishment. I suppose it is, but if you both take your wedding day promises to heart and try to be a good person on a day-to-day basis I don’t think it’s that difficult to get through all those years. Now, we have had plenty of stress during our 30 years as a married couple. As regular readers of this newsletter know, our oldest child, Robbie, had some significant disabilities, so taking care of him added to our stress levels. Maggie and I went to law school together and were married just before our third year of law school began. Being a law student is also stressful. After we graduated from law school as newlyweds in 1988, I landed a job with a firm here in Charlotte, and we moved. Maggie did not immediately start working as a lawyer, so I supported us on my salary alone. As a new lawyer in 1988, I did not make very much money, and funds were tight for many years. A year after I started practicing, our son Robbie came along, and Maggie had to stay home with him for a couple of years before getting started on her career as an attorney. We both had student loans to repay in addition to all our other bills. Maggie’s old car died, and her brother, who was working overseas and did
not need his car, gave her his car. Our parents helped us out occasionally, too.
• Speeding ticket?
After a while, we had two incomes, but then our second child was born, so another maternity leave was needed. Eventually, our third child was born, and his birth coincided with a lack of after-school care for Robbie, who needed special attention due to his medical needs. At that point we decided that Maggie would be a stay- at-home mother to the baby, Will, and the disabled elementary school student, Robbie. Because she was home with the oldest and the youngest, our middle child, Jamie, stayed home too. Maggie continued in this role as a stay-at-home mom for 16 years. Jamie grew up and graduated from college and began living on his own; the baby, Will, turned 16 and could take care of himself during the day, and Robbie moved into a group home setting where others took care of him. Finally, after 16 years, she got herself back into the work force and began practicing law with the Fisher Law Group in Charlotte, doing what she loves: representing juveniles who are involved in the legal system. In addition to representing juveniles she also represents parents whose children are involved in the system, and she does expungements for people who have a criminal charge on their record that is obstructing their ability to get a job. She is happier now that she is back to work and using her law degree. In short, those 30 years of marriage have been eventful in many ways. We have learned that life is truly a journey, with a lot of unexpected bumps and turns and ditches along the way. You just need to keep your head down and focus on moving forward, taking care of your responsibilities, and living up to the promises that you’ve made. Hopefully Maggie and I will both live long enough to spend another 30 years together!
• Child support problem?
• Criminal charge?
• Buying a house?
If you need a lawyer for anything, anywhere in the world, call us first. We have these nifty lawyer directories, and we know a lot of lawyers anyway. We can help you choose a good lawyer in North Carolina, South Carolina, California, or anywhere else. We do this at no charge to our clients, former clients, friends, and anyone who reads this offer. So if you need a referral for another good lawyer, contact Bob Bollinger, and he will find you one. Call 704-377-7677 or email BBollinger@BollingerLawFirmNC.com Where to Find Us Online ...
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– Bob Bollinger
704-377-7677 • Toll-free: 1-866-326-3090 • 1
3 Studying Hacks for Successful Students Make the Grade!
studies typos at the University of Sheffield, notes that when we reread our work, “we don’t catch every detail; we’re not like computers or NSA databases.” Your student doesn’t catch their typos because they don’t expect them! By reading their work aloud, your student can fix those typos as they come up. But why put in all the effort when they can let Google do it for them? They can simply copy and paste the essay into Google Translate and let it read the essay aloud. Hearing their work ring out in Google’s monotone speech will help them highlight and fix those mistakes. Is your child wasting all of their precious studying hours on social media? According to Common Sense Media’s 2015 national census survey, tweens and teens spend an average of six to nine hours on some form of media daily. Help your student learn to self-regulate with StayFocusd, a web extension available for free in the Chrome Web Store. By adding this extension to your web browser, you can limit the amount of time your child spends scrolling through Facebook and maximize the time they spend on Google Scholar and Quizlet. Get Off Facebook
Are your kids already sweating exams this semester? Fear not! Combine these tips with a regular studying routine, and they’ll be set for anything their teachers assign this year.
Chew On This
Not all classrooms allow gum, but those that do offer students a distinct advantage. According to Scientific American, chewing gum increases the flow of oxygen to the areas of your brain responsible for attention and memory. Your student can even coordinate gum flavors with each of their classes. Do they have a biology test coming up? Encourage your student to chew peppermint gum while they study and while they take the test. Their brain will associate the minty flavor with those plant cell organelles they studied for an hour the night before.
Proofread With Google
Is your child trying to perfect an essay before a midnight deadline? Be sure they leave time to read their essay aloud! Tom Stafford, a psychologist who
When you refer us, we want you to be the “hero” in the story.We want that person you referred to come back to you months later and say, “I am so glad you referred me to the Bollinger Law Firm! They were so nice to me, and they took great care of me and my case. They got me a better outcome than I imagined possible! Thank you so much for telling me to call the Bollinger Law Firm!” I worked in blue-collar jobs as a young man, before I graduated from college. These jobs included tailing a ripsaw in a furniture factory and cutting carpet cushion in a foam rubber factory. It makes me furious to see honest, hardworking people being mistreated after getting hurt at work. I get a lot of satisfaction from helping working people get a fair outcome on their workers’ comp claims. Everyone’s case is different, so these results are not indicative of future results. Your Referrals Are Very Important to Us
Bob Bollinger recently settled a case for a highly specialized medical professional who suffered a hand injury while performing a surgical procedure on a patient.The hand injury, a laceration, resulted in some nerve damage that impaired the professional’s ability to perform the procedures that the occupation required.The practice terminated the professional’s employment a few weeks after the injury due to their inability to work. But its insurance company also denied the workers’ comp claim outright, even though a nurse had witnessed the accident and helped the professional with first aid.There was simply no legitimate reason to deny the claim.After being hired, Bob immediately requested a hearing to contest the bogus denial. Following a pre-hearing mediated settlement conference, Bob settled the claim for approximately four years’ worth of the professional’s potential temporary total disability weekly benefits.The medical professional may have to learn a new specialty in order to return to work, but the settlement will provide a nest egg in the meantime. Bob Bollinger is a board-certified specialist in workers’ compensation law with over 25 years of experience. Here is a case that Bob recently handled.
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Should You Apply for Social Security Disability? Social Security disability is an insurance program available to any worker who has paid into the Social Security program by way of payroll taxes during the course of their working career. In order to be insured for Social Security disability, you must have paid into the system for at least five of the past 10 years. You also have to have been disabled for a period of 12 months or have a condition that is likely to disable you for at least 12 months.
The Social Security Administration considers certain medical conditions to be disabling, but most people applying for disability benefits do not have a medical condition that meets or equals one of these listed conditions. In most cases, to be eligible for disability benefits, you must prove that you cannot perform your former job, any jobs in addition that you have performed in the past, or any jobs that are generally available in the regional economy. Therefore, your local community may not have any jobs you can perform, and you may be unable to perform your most recent job, but all this still doesn’t mean you will qualify for benefits.
You can apply for Social Security disability online or in person at a Social Security office. In Charlotte, the Social Security office recently moved to Coronation Boulevard in East Charlotte. If you think that you might qualify for Social Security disability, do not hesitate to contact our office to discuss your situation with one of our lawyers. Attorney Chad Winebarger handles most of our Social Security disability cases, and Chad would be happy to talk with you.
calls “substantial gainful activity,” or SGA. SGA means that you are earning a certain amount per month from work. You can find a particular year’s SGA at the Social Security Administration’s website, ssa.gov. After you have been disabled for a year under workers’ compensation, you should seriously consider applying for Social Security disability, but remember this: You need to apply for disability within five years of the last time that you earned wages upon which the Social Security payroll tax was paid.
In addition, to be eligible for benefits, you cannot be engaged in what the Social Security Administration
Photo of the Month
Ritz Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
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4 ounces dark chocolate pieces, melted 24 Ritz (or generic butter round) crackers 1 pint of your favorite ice cream
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•
Instructions
1. Melt chocolate pieces in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir until smooth and drippy. 2. Arrange crackers, bottom side up, on a cookie sheet. Use fork to drizzle melted chocolate over crackers, then place them in freezer to cool quickly. 3. Remove crackers from freezer and place small ice cream scoop in the center of 12 crackers. Press remaining crackers, chocolate side down, onto the ice cream scoop.
“Morely” is the injured Golden Eagle that was a resident of the raptor center at Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, from 1984 until he died of old age last year. He was injured and could not fly. I took some photos of him a couple years ago. – Bob Bollinger
4. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Wrap individual sandwiches in plastic wrap to store in freezer for up to 7 days — but they’ll never last that long.
Recipe inspired by goodhousekeeping.com.
704-377-7677 • Toll-free: 1-866-326-3090 • 3
601 East 5th Street, Suite 250 Charlotte, NC 28202 704-377-7677 Toll-free: 1-866-326-3090 www.BollingerLawFirmNC.com
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INSIDE This Issue
Celebrating Our 30th Anniversary
Make the Grade!
Testimonials
Should You Apply for Social Security Disability?
Ritz Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ignorance Is Bliss … Is It Healthy?
They Say Ignorance Is Bliss … But Is It Healthy? The Effects of Negative News
world around you. As you consume threatening news, you’re more likely to spot threats in your day-to-day activities that aren’t there, which leads to anxiety.
It’s nearly impossible to log on to social media or turn on the TV without seeing something distressing. Instead of dwelling on what’s troubling, let’s focus on how to protect our mental health.
Why Is the News So Negative?
The Psychology of Bad News
How to Fight the Negativity
As news media revenue goes down and people become desensitized, news organizations feel the pressure to show emotionally relevant material such as crime and accidents. At a basic level, for something to be “newsworthy” — negative or not — it needs to be the exception to the rule, not the norm. That means watching the news might give you an inaccurate view of what daily life is like in the world.
A study by Psychology Today found that people who watch negative news feel worse about pre-existing worries than people who watch happy or neutral events. That means people watching the news don’t just feel anxious about the world — they feel more anxious about their own lives. British psychologist Dr. Graham Davey, who specializes in the effects of media violence, says negative news can affect how you interact with the
It’s important to understand important issues of the day. But when the news becomes too much, psychologists encourage you to take a break with some good news — or no news at all. Advances in medicine and technology happen all the time! Seek out those stories, or take a break from news altogether. That’s when no news can become good news.
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