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LEGAL BRIEF
JANUARY 2024 FriedmanSimon.com 516-800-8000
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING RESOLUTE STANDING STRONG THROUGH LIFE’S EBBS AND FLOWS
Many people associate the month of January with New Year’s resolutions. I respect that some people believe in making resolutions and are motivated by them, and others find that making resolutions just doesn’t work for them. In thinking about the idea of resolutions, I wanted to see what the dictionary had to say. One of the definitions is: “The quality of being determined or resolute. For example, ‘He handled the last actions of the war with resolution.’ Similar: determination, purposefulness, resolve.” As the New Year also tends to be when people reflect on how far they’ve come and where they’re heading, I found myself doing just that, thinking about our firm in the context of being resolute. Roger and I started our firm on Sept. 1, 1991. In the months before, we had gone shopping for office furniture with our wives, and we met with various vendors to buy computers, a telephone system, and a fax machine. We were excited to open our doors and begin representing clients from our brand-new office. In 1991, Labor Day fell on Sept. 2. Over that long holiday weekend, the office building where our new office was located was burglarized. When we came to work on Sept. 3, the very first day of business operations, we discovered that our new, state-of-the-art, expensive phone system had been stolen. Fortunately, the story evolved into one of those “someday, we’ll laugh about this” life episodes. But at the time, it felt deflating. Since then, as a firm, we’ve passed through many snowstorms, several power outages, the tragedy of 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting “lockdown” when our office operated remotely for approximately three months. Closer to home, Roger and I, as well as numerous members of our wonderful team of legal professionals, have lost loved ones over these years. Many of these events were uncomfortable, some were painful, and some felt utterly devastating. If it was a minor setback, we moaned. If it was a major loss, we mourned. I am grateful that after each difficulty, we could move forward. We remained resolute. I take comfort in knowing that, despite the significant challenges over the years, we have stayed true to our mission of helping seriously and catastrophically injured people rebuild their lives. Every client who
reaches out to our firm for legal representation after some careless or reckless person caused them to suffer a severe injury is dealing with their own crisis. It is a privilege to be able to help them. We will all know pain. Our personal experience of pain can help us become more empathetic to the pain of others, more willing and able to meet them where they are and move forward with them to a better place. In this new year, I am glad our firm has remained resolute. I am grateful it has strengthened our ability and resolve to help others overcome their difficulties. Working to do a better job at this every day is the road ahead for us.
Whether you make formal resolutions or not, I hope you remain resolute this year in taking great care of yourself and that 2024 is a wonderful year for you.
–Eddie Friedman
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Spoliation in a legal context can refer to the loss, alteration, or destruction of evidence in a case. Essentially, spoliation occurs when the evidence has been “spoiled” in some manner, making it unavailable for trial. It can be intentional or unintentional. For example, an apartment building’s automated surveillance video system that recorded a slip-and-fall accident but deletes the captured footage automatically on a predetermined schedule might unintentionally cause spoliation of evidence. A doctor who tampers with a medical record to delete information regarding a patient’s history or presentation of symptoms with the hope it will weaken a patient’s medical malpractice case against the doctor has engaged in intentional spoliation of evidence. What Is Spoliation of Evidence and Why Should You Care?
To achieve business success, is education necessary? Not always! Many entrepreneurs without formal education have left a mark on their respective industries and started businesses such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Virgin Group. And Kierra Henderson, better known as the Trucking Guru, has recently added her name to the list of prominent successful entrepreneurs who never finished high school. Henderson faced adversity countless times during her youth, dropped out of high school, became a teen mom, and found herself in trouble with the law. To give herself and her daughter a chance at a better future, she turned her life around and was hired by a local AT&T store. In this position, she won several awards and regularly earned management’s recognition. However, the company outsourced her job overseas, leaving Henderson scrambling to find something new. A friend told her to get into the trucking industry. She knew nothing about trucking but figured it was worth a shot. She lied on her resume, claiming to have a degree and even making up a former employer to make herself more hireable. This company didn’t look into Henderson’s background and offered her the job. Unfortunately, the work was more difficult than Henderson anticipated. She messed up continually but was determined to keep the job and worked to improve. Before she knew it, she had earned an operations manager position with the same company. Eventually, she learned how to dispatch and started doing it on her own time. After she raised enough funds, she bought a truck and partnered with a trucking company to bring in more money. One truck became two trucks, and two trucks quickly became four. Today, Henderson’s fleet consists of 116 trucks and has brought in more than $100 million. In 2021, she launched The Truckin’ Millionaires Tour, where she offered training and coaching to educate people on self-sufficiency in the trucking industry. She even hosted a huge convention in Dallas in October 2023 called the TTG Fest, featuring over 13 guest speakers who discussed trucking, the transportation industry, and entrepreneurship. Henderson’s story proves your past does not determine your future. Even if you dropped out of school, made mistakes, and found yourself in legal trouble, you can still turn it around, find a new passion, and reach new levels of success. Don’t let any obstacle block your progress! Keep On Trucking How Kierra Henderson Built Her Multimillion-Dollar Empire
When our law firm is retained to advocate on behalf of an injured client and the particular circumstances of the case call for it, we promptly send the at-fault party a “non-spoliation letter.” This letter demands
that the party receiving it preserve and retain all photographs and videotapes of the areas within a specified distance and for a specified time period from
before until after the subject accident. The evidence to be preserved can vary significantly depending on the events that caused the injury. Mentioned previously were a trip-and-fall and a medical malpractice case. Other examples of evidence to preserve would be any GPS devices, “black box” (a device that records driving time and in
some cases vehicle speed at the time of the accident, etc.), and any other on-board recording devices in a truck accident case. As you can see, the variety of items an at-fault party may be called upon to preserve after an accident can be extensive. Why should you care? If it can be shown that an at-fault party negligently or intentionally disregarded a timely served non-spoliation letter, the consequences for the case outcome can be dramatic. In some cases, a court may dismiss the defendant’s answer, meaning the at-fault party is liable. The case then moves on to proceedings to determine the value of the injured party’s damages. In other cases, a jury, in their deliberations, may view the defendant unfavorably when they learn that critical information, which may have helped the plaintiff’s case, “conveniently” became unavailable. The takeaway: Please call us ASAP after an accident. We want to take every step we can to build the strongest case possible for our clients, including serving a non-spoliation letter right away.
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Small Business, Big Impact: YOUR RESOURCE FOR DIGITAL MARKETING SUCCESS
As a small-business owner, the internet can become one of your best sources for growth. In fact, 86% of businesses report having increased their brand awareness by using digital marketing, and 75% say doing so also boosted their brand’s credibility with their audience. However, not everyone knows where to go to learn more about digital marketing and how to use it in their businesses successfully. That’s why we compiled a list of FREE resources to learn more about digital marketing and boost your business’s online presence. RESOURCE NO. 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL MARKETING BY GOOGLE DIGITAL GARAGE This self-paced course contains 26 modules covering several aspects of digital marketing, including how to use analytics and plan your online business strategy. It also features videos for more visual learners, and after completing the 40-question exam at the end of the class, you’ll receive an officially recognized digital marketing certificate from Google. You can find the course by Googling “Fundamentals of Digital Marketing by Google Digital Garage.”
RESOURCE NO. 2: DIGITAL MARKETING TRAINING BY NEIL PATEL If you haven’t heard of Neil Patel, you should know he’s one of the leading voices in digital marketing today. He’s wildly successful and offers to teach others what he’s learned over the years for free. You can learn more about SEO, conversion optimization, YouTube, and more using his courses and the worksheets he provides. To access Neil’s library, visit NeilPatel.com/training and use the “What do you want to learn?” table of contents on the left of the page to choose what you’d like to learn about. RESOURCE NO. 3: ANSWER THE PUBLIC One of a business’s biggest struggles when growing an online presence is creating content that results in profitable engagement. The best way to discover what matters to people is to ask them! That’s essentially what Answer the Public does FOR you ( AnswerThePublic.com ). It pulls the most popular internet searches regarding any topic you type into the site so you can see what people want to know about your niche. SUDOKU
Baked Salmon With Garlic and Lemon
Prepare to tantalize your taste buds with a zesty dish that combines salmon with the vibrant flavors of garlic and lemon!
Ingredients
• 2 lbs salmon fillets • 4 cloves garlic, minced • Juice of 2 lemons • 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano • 1 tsp dried thyme • Salt and pepper, to taste
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 2. Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Place the salmon fillets on the baking dish. 3. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture over the salmon. 4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the salmon is cooked through. Serve and enjoy! Directions
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516-800-8000 FriedmanSimon.com
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 2
Resolute for You The Remarkable Rise of Kierra Henderson, the Trucking Guru Your Case Can Depend on the Preservation of Evidence Your Essential Digital Marketing Resource Guide for Small Businesses Baked Salmon With Garlic and Lemon Would You Put a Needle in Your Eye?
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THE WEIRD ACTIONS OF BRILLIANT THINKERS
Some of history’s greatest thinkers were more than a little eccentric. Let’s look at strange facts about five inventors, scientists, and philosophers who helped shape our world. Inventor Nikola Tesla walked around a building three times before entering it. He apparently became obsessed with the numbers 3, 6, and 9 and would only stay in hotel rooms that had a number divisible by 3. Famed physicist Albert Einstein created a contract for his first wife that outlined her household duties. The contract established that she must provide fresh meals, clean laundry, and “silence on request.” Unsurprisingly, they divorced after 11 years.
her pockets almost everywhere she went. She also kept them in desk drawers and open areas around her lab. This practice is believed to have contributed to her death from aplastic anemia in 1934. The ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras was afraid of fava beans, which wasn’t an uncommon fear during his time. Myth said that fava beans contained the souls of the dead since they had a flesh- like appearance. Finally, Sir Isaac Newton once inserted a sewing needle into his eye for an experiment to learn about how the eye perceived color and light. Surely, there was a less gruesome way to test his hypothesis!
Scientist Marie Curie carried test tubes full of radioactive isotopes in
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