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The Requirements to Qualify for Social Security Disability Payments

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Meeting the Definition of Disability under the Law

social security disability paymentsUnder the Social Security laws in the United States, individuals with certain “disabilities” qualify for compensation. There are three specific criteria for establishing your right to collect SSD benefits:

  • You must be diagnosed with a mental or physical impairment
  • That impairment must make it impossible for you to engage in “substantial gainful work”
  • Your disability or condition must have lasted (or be expected to last) a minimum of 12 months, or must be expected to end in your death

Though it may seem clear to you that you have a physical or mental impairment, actually proving that can be challenging. Here are some guidelines to help you determine if you qualify:

  • Your condition must be “medically determinable.” In essence, that means that your disability must be discovered and described by a medical professional (a doctor or physician). When you apply to the Social Security Administration, you’ll want a letter from your doctor clearly stating the nature of your medical condition and how it prevents you from working. It should also state that you will not be able to work for a minimum of 12 months.
  • You must be unable to engage in any substantial gainful employment. It’s not enough that you can’t perform the job you had when you suffered your injury illness. The Social Security Administration will look at your training, education, work experience and age and assess whether there’s other gainful employment you can perform.
  • Your disability must be expected to prevent you from working for at least a year—You don’t have to wait the year to apply for benefits, but you must have a doctor’s assessment that you will be unable to work for a year, or that your illness is terminal.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn about how we can help you with a Social Security disability claim, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all Social Security disability claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Your Options When You Suffer Injury as a Pedestrian

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The Potentially Responsible Parties after a Car-Pedestrian Accident

injury as a pedestrianAccording to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 130,000 pedestrians suffered injury last year when hit by a motor vehicle. In addition, there were almost 6,000 pedestrian fatalities.

When you’ve been hit by a motorist while crossing, walking, standing or sitting anywhere near the road, your first course of action will likely be to bring a lawsuit against the driver. Under the laws of New Jersey, and in most states, a driver has the responsibility, upon getting behind the wheel, to remain alert and attentive to all surroundings, including the presence of pedestrians. Assuming you were not illegally crossing the road, you’ll have a strong case for recovery of damages based on the negligence or carelessness of the driver.

There are situations, however, where you may also be able to bring legal action against a local municipality for injuries sustained in a pedestrian accident:

  • A municipality may have responsibility for a poorly placed or marked crosswalk—In some situations, a crosswalk may be placed in a potential “blind spot,” where a motorist is not aware of it in time to slow down or stop. Crosswalks that are too close to a curve or corner or that don’t have a street sign, stop sign or light may be considered negligence on the part of the municipality.
  • A local government may be liable if roads or street signs/lights are not properly maintained—If a street light is not working or the signs at the corner are damaged or missing, a pedestrian may unintentionally enter the path of a moving vehicle.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured because of someone else’s carelessness, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all pedestrian injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Elder Abuse and Neglect – What It Is and What You Can Do

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Elder Abuse and Neglect

According to statistics, one of every eight Americans is over the age of 65 and two of every three senior citizens will experience physical or cognitive impairment (or both) in their lifetimes. One in three are expected to require nursing home care. Of those, more than half a million endure neglect or abuse every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

What Constitutes Elder Abuse and Neglect?

Elder abuse is typically defined to include intentional, knowing or negligent acts that cause harm or a serious risk of harm to at at-risk adult. The CDC lists six specific acts that qualify as mistreatment:

  • Physical abuse
  • Emotional abuse
  • Financial abuse
  • Sexual abuse
  • Neglect
  • Abandonment

Neglect is customarily characterized by a failure to act—typically a failure to meet the necessary needs of the resident/patient.

How Can You Tell If Someone Has Been the Victim of Abuse or Neglect?

Here are some of the telltale signs of nursing home or elder abuse and neglect:

  • Repeated and unexplained injuries or regular visit to a doctor, nurse or other health care provider
  • Withdrawal, loss of appetite, changes in mood or personality
  • Unwillingness to see friends or family
  • Bedsores or ulcers, poor hygiene, loss of weight
  • Person wearing the same clothes at successive visits
  • Changes in living arrangements or roommates
  • Missing items or money

Your Legal Rights

There are a number of grounds upon which you can file a claim for elder abuse or neglect, including

  • Carelessness in hiring, training, supervising or staffing
  • Failure to provide reasonable care
  • Failure to properly restrain or monitor
  • Medication errors

Contact Our Office

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all nursing home neglect and abuse claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The New Jersey Product Liability Act

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Protecting Your Rights When You’ve Been Injured by a Defective Product

The New Jersey Product Liability Act

As we discussed in an earlier blog, there are three different types of product liability claims in New Jersey: lawsuits based on defective design, on defective manufacturing and on defective marketing. The New Jersey Product Liability Act (NJPLA), however, provides the exclusive cause of action for New Jersey consumers who are hurt in an accident involving a dangerous or defective product. Before passage of the NJPLA, an injured person could use a number of legal theories to pursue damages: negligence, breach of implied warranty, misrepresentation and violation of the Consumer Fraud Act were typical allegations. Under the NJPLA, all product-based claims fall within a strict liability framework.

What is Strict Liability?

Under the concept of strict liability, there is no requirement that an injured person prove negligence. Negligence requires a showing that the wrongdoer failed to use reasonable care, which caused an accident, resulting in actual losses. In a strict liability claim under the NJPLA, an injured person must only show that the product was not reasonably safe or fit for its intended purpose. That may be shown in three ways:

  • The product contained a manufacturing defect
  • The product failed to contain adequate warnings or instructions (the so-called “failure to warn” claim)
  • The product was defectively designed

To prevail on a claim alleging defective manufacture of a product, the plaintiff must only prove that the product “deviated from the design specifications of the manufacturer” or from what are considered identical units produced according to the same standards or specifications.

To win on the failure-to-warn claim, an injured person must demonstrate that the product did not include warnings or instructions that “a reasonably prudent person…would have provided in the same or similar circumstances.”

To succeed with a defective design claim, an injured person must show that the risks of the product as designed outweighed its usefulness or that the product could have been designed in a way that minimized or eliminated the risk of harm.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options after suffering an injury due to a dangerous or defective product, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Your Rights When You’ve Been Hurt by a Dangerous or Defective Product

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The Different Product Liability Claims

There’s a common misperception that all products that make it to the market have been sufficiently tested to determine whether they pose a risk of injury to consumers. That’s not necessarily true. In the rush to be the first to market, many product manufacturers take shortcuts, often with respect to any testing of the product.

When you have been hurt because of the malfunction of a product or because of exposure to a dangerous product, there are typically three potential types of legal claims you can file:

  • Claims alleging defective design — An allegation of defective design contends that the designer failed to use reasonable care to determine whether the product as designed posed an unreasonable risk of injury or harm. Such a claim does not consider whether the product was properly manufactured.
  • Claims alleging defective manufacturing — This claim alleges that, regardless of whether there was reasonable care in the design of the product, it was carelessly assembled, constructed, manufactured, fabricated or built. That may involve substandard materials, carelessness in overseeing the manufacturing process, improperly training the workers who manufactured the product or failing to properly inspect the product after manufacture.
  • Claims alleging marketing defects (also known as a “failure to warn” claim) — An allegation of defective marketing centers on whether the product contained appropriate warning labels or instructions for proper use.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured by a dangerous or defective product, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Common Medical Diagnostic Errors

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Medical problem. Wrong diagnosis.

When you are suffering from injury or illness and seek medical care, you expect that, at a minimum, your condition won’t worsen because of medical carelessness or negligence. Unfortunately, for many reasons, far too many people suffer needless injury after receiving care from doctors or nurses. One of the most frequent involves mistake or error in properly diagnosing an illness or condition.

The Different Types of Diagnostic Mistakes

Though the diagnosis of a medical malady is not an exact science, there are situations where medical professionals act inappropriately and can be liable for damages:

  • Incorrect diagnosis/misdiagnosis — A medical professional may come to the wrong conclusion about an injury or illness. This may stem from a failure to reasonably conduct appropriate tests, from a misreading of test results, or from a lack of experience/understanding of the specific medical condition.
  • Missed diagnosis or failure to diagnose — In this situation, the doctor fails to take reasonable steps to establish that a certain condition or illness is present.
  • Failure to diagnose or check for a related injury, illness or complication—There are times when a doctor should anticipate related conditions or illnesses, but fails to do so.
  • Delayed diagnosis — If a doctor makes the right diagnosis, but the telltale signs were there for some time, there can be liability if there’s needless injury or loss.

According to statistics, diagnostic mistakes are the single most prevalent basis for a medical malpractice claim, accounting for about one of every three medical malpractice lawsuits filed.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all medical malpractice claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The Basic Requirements for a Medical Malpractice Claim

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woman with stomach pains
If you’ve been ill or suffered any type of injury and sought medical care, only to have your condition worsen, you may have a right to seek damages through a medical malpractice claim. There are, however, certain fundamental criteria that must be established before you can successfully prove medical negligence.

There Must Have Been a Formal “Doctor-Patient” Relationship

Before you can bring legal action against a medical professional, you must show that you sought the doctor or nurse out and that he or she agreed to provide medical care. You can’t bring a lawsuit for advice you overheard at a social event or that you read about in a magazine. If a medical professional has treated you directly, that’s typically easy to prove.

You Must Show That the Medical Professional Failed to Meet the Standard of Care

A medical professional does not have an absolute duty to cure you or even bring about any improvement in your health. He or she must only act as a reasonable professional, with similar training and experience, would do in the same geographic location. This standard is customarily determined through the testimony of medical experts.

You Must Show That the Breach of Duty Caused Your Injury

If you suffer injury after receiving treatment, you must typically show that it’s more likely than not that the injury was caused by the wrongful conduct of the medical professional. This can be particularly difficult if you are already suffering from a serious medical condition.

You Must Show Specific Losses

You can only recover compensation if the medical professional’s conduct caused you to suffer losses you would otherwise not have suffered. For example, if there are additional unreimbursed medical expenses resulting from the wrongful acts, those may be covered. Specific damages typically include pain and suffering, mental suffering/anguish and lost wages and income.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options after suffering an injury due to a dangerous or defective product, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Your Rights after Suffering Injury in a Mass Transit Accident

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Train derailment

The Duties of a Common Carrier

Buses, light rails and commuter trains offer many advantages to consumers. You don’t have to worry about parking, you can minimize wear and tear on your personal vehicle (if you even need to own one), and most forms of public transportation are generally safer than traveling in your own car. But what happens when you are injured in an accident involving a bus or train? Can you still take legal action to protect your rights?

The Concept of a “Common Carrier”

As a general rule, when you are hurt in a motor vehicle accident, any lawsuit you file to recover for losses will be based on a general theory of negligence. To show negligence, you must prove that the person causing the accident “breached” or failed to meet a duty to act reasonably under the circumstances.

When the accident involves public transportation, however, that duty is somewhat different. An injured party must still show negligence or breach, but the duty is higher, under the legal principle of “common carrier” liability.

Under the law, a common carrier is anyone or any business that provides public transportation, including buses, trains and taxi cabs. It can also include limousine services or school buses, depending on state laws. In most states, a common carrier is required to exercise “the highest degree of care” to ensure the safety of passengers.

It’s important to understand, however, that the duty imposed does not amount to absolute or strict liability. The injured party must still show that the carrier failed to meet the expected standard of care.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured because of someone else’s carelessness, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The Different Types of Product Liability Claims

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production lineWhen you purchase a product online or in a bricks and mortar store, you expect that the manufacturer or marketer of the product has properly tested it to ensure that it doesn’t pose an unreasonable risk of injury to the public. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case—in the rush to be the first to market, many designers and product manufacturers cut corners, often with respect to testing. In addition, too many companies fail to provide warnings about dangers they actually know about. Nonetheless, they wrongfully allege that there’s an “explosion” of product liability lawsuits in the United States. The reality—less than one of every 40,000 lawsuits filed annually involve dangerous or defective products.
Under the law, there are three distinct grounds for a product liability lawsuit:

  • Negligence or carelessness in the design of a product—Before a product ever goes into production, it’s an idea. Some ideas don’t translate well to products, as there’s simply no way to manufacture them in a way that makes them safe. Others need to be redesigned to ensure they don’t pose an unreasonable risk of harm to the public. With an allegation of negligent design, the injured person is not necessarily questioning the quality of the manufacturing, but arguing that the design itself posed the unreasonable danger. For example, a motor vehicle with a high center of gravity may be unreasonably susceptible to rollover because of the design.
  • Negligence or carelessness in the manufacture of a product—Here, the injured party alleges that some component of the manufacturing of the product caused the injury. It may have been substandard parts or poor craftsmanship, or the manufacturer may have failed to properly monitor the process. The cause of the injury, under this allegation, is a breakdown in the manufacturing process.
  • Negligence or carelessness in the marketing of a product—If a company knows or should know of danger associated with a product, but fails to provide adequate notice with the product, there can be the basis for negligent marketing claim.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options after suffering an injury due to a dangerous or defective product, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Why You Need an Experienced Attorney When You Suffer a Serious or Catastrophic Loss

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catastrophic injury In any accident, the losses can be significant. You may be out of work for days, weeks or months and medical expenses can escalate in a hurry. When the type of injury is serious or catastrophic, though, it’s extremely important to have an experienced lawyer to help you get full and fair compensation.

What Is Serious and Catastrophic Injury?

Serious and catastrophic injury is typically characterized by the severity of the injury/suffering, as well as the length of time that the injured person will be affected. A lesser injury that is nonetheless permanent may still require the skill and knowledge of an attorney who has handled serious and catastrophic loss claims.

Typically, serious and catastrophic loss includes traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, paralysis, paraplegia or quadriplegia, burns, broken bones, permanent scarring or disfigurement, and amputation or loss of limb.

The Consequences of a Serious or Catastrophic Injury

As a general rule, the more serious the injury, the more care that will ultimately be required to treat the injury. In addition, the more the injured person is likely to suffer during the remainder of his or her life. Not surprisingly, the evidence to support such claims is typically more complex. An attorney handling such a case must have a clear sense of the type and cost of treatment the injured person will require, now and in the future. Furthermore, the lawyer must be aware of any damage caps that apply in the state where the lawsuit will proceed, as well as the types of damage caps. Many states have placed these limits on so-called “non-economic” damages, such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

Contact Our Office

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

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