Hegwood Law - June 2019

LAWSUITS FROM BEYOND Crazy Lawsuits Surrounding the Dearly Departed

Solemnly Spooked

We pride ourselves on being a country where everyone receives a fair trial. And while that’s not always the case, even the craziest claims still have to be heard in some capacity by a court of law. As you can imagine, this can result in plenty of spooky high jinks in the courtroom. Let’s take a look at some of the more baffling court cases in recent memory.

An unnamed New York resident — just what on earth is going on in New York? — claimed that the house they’d recently purchased was horribly and cripplingly haunted by unseen forces. The poltergeist was said to disrupt their daily activity, and the plaintiff was suing on the grounds that the home was notorious in the area for being

Dead Man Talking

In something straight out of a Coen brothers movie, a New York man had to sue The New York Times on three separate occasions to get them to stop reporting that he was dead. In all fairness, it seemed like an honest mistake prolonged by the ineptitude of his public counsel and a whole lot of terrible coincidences all rolled into one. Juan Antonio Arias just so happened to share the same first and last name as one “Juan Arias” who had met his untimely demise. After it was reported in a Times article, the living Arias accidentally had his own date of birth and Social Security number added to the death certificate of his now deceased namesake in a terrible mix-up from the coroner. As a result, he sued on three occasions after his lawyer missed certain deadlines to turn in proper documents. Thankfully, the issue was resolved, but not before he had his credit cards and Medicaid revoked after appearing to be dead

haunted and had a reputation as such, therefore it should have been disclosed to the buyer before closing. They won. That’s right; the court ruled that the seller misled the plaintiff and should have disclosed the nature of this potentially harmful house. Shockingly enough, this type of thing is required to be disclosed when selling a house in New York. Well, at least a buyer will have peace of mind knowing that they got a sweet new pad and a ghoul for pennies on the dollar.

SAFETY

The Best Graduation Gift You Can Give Your Child

1. Statutory Durable power of attorney — to designate someone to take care of his or her financial matters if they get sick or become incapacitated. 2. Medical power of attorney — to name someone who will ensure that his or her health care wishes are honored.

One of the most precious gifts anyone can have is family. This time of year proffers several opportunities to celebrate this gift. While Mother’s Day and Father’s Day shed some much-deserved light on parents for all the hard work they do to provide, encourage, and motivate their children, graduation ceremonies bring families of all kinds together to acknowledge the immense dedication of their students. If you are a parent or grandparent who is helping your recent graduate prepare to head off to college and into adulthood, one necessary but often overlooked aspect is organizing their legal affairs. Because many of these grads are entering into legal and/or financial contracts for the first time — housing leases and student loans, etc. — it’s of the utmost importance to bring your future college student into our office so we can prepare the following necessary documents.

3. HIPPA authorization.

While other preparations, like registering for classes and purchasing furniture and cooking supplies — not to mention teaching them how to cook — tend to top parents’ to-do lists, helping children with these documents is the best way to ensure their safety as they leave the nest. Here at Hegwood Law Group, our attorneys pay careful attention, so they can word each document precisely as you wish and help your child make wise (and legal) decisions about who to name for power of attorney positions. Start the process by going to HegwoodLaw.com/contact-us to fill out our brief contact information form, or give us a call at (281) 643-7673!

2 HEGWOOD LAW GROUP

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