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If you cause an automobile accident and you don't have car insurance, the ticket for no insurance is probably the easiest problem you will face. Texas law says that your license can be suspended until you fix the damage done (if you are guilty). The driver or the insurance for the driver you hit will be hounding you for payment of the harms you caused. And, of course, you have to find a way to fix your car. This post is not another reason why you should obey the law and have insurance, it is about what to do if you caused an accident and people are coming after you for payment, but you have no insurance.

In a situation where you are at fault and have no insurance, you still have all the defenses available to any other driver. The plaintiff must prove the causation of the accident, they must prove their injuries and damages are a result of the accident, and they have to prove those damages are reasonable and necessary.

I have represented several defendants without insurance. Defense isn't my usual type of work, but with seventeen years experience prosecuting these cases you learn a lot about what the defense does. If you have insurance, use the defense attorneys provided to you by your insurer. If you don't have insurance, consider hiring a lawyer to try to limit the costs claimed by the injured party.

The decision to hire a lawyer to defend you is a balancing act between the cost of representation and what it will cost to resolve the case. The worst decision would be to spend a fortune on attorney's fees and still have to pay a high damage settlement. What you need is a realistic appraisal of what it will cost to make the problem go away and the cost of representation to keep the settlement costs at a minimum.

If this situation applies to you, give me a call and we can look at what your situation requires.

By no means do I mean to belittle what happened to the WalMart? employee trampled to death Friday, but I have to comment.

Tramplings seem to happen very often, at concerts, in terrorist attacks like the one on Hadj Pilgrims some years ago, in stores, etc. A majority of the blame falls on humans, for being poor herd animals. However, I place a lot of this blame on those who supervise these events. To me, the key similarity of all these tramplings is that somebody, somewhere, forgot what can happen when that many people must pass through the same location.

The location must be wide enough for a large group to pass, without bottlenecks. The cue cannot be so long that the rear has no idea what is happening in the front. If those in the back cannot know what is going on in front, the push to move forward cannot be stopped. There must be a way to allow side escapes should the way forward be blocked. The rear must be informed of what is ahead. People must be placed along the cue to maintain composure. Probably the biggest factor, is don't let a throng form for a timed event. A throng may increase appetites, it may make for good advertising, but it is an invitation to disaster.

When a crown forms, all in competition for a limited prize, competition results. Competition and mass movement are a lethal combination.

The shoppers at the WalMart? have blame, yes. The WalMart? itself has the most blame in my opinion. For allowing a large crowd to form, for not controlling access to the doors, for not keeping the crowd moving in an orderly fashion, for not regulating the flow of traffic, for a host of errors which they should have foreseen, but did not.

Now through December 24, 2008 I am offering a half price deal on all flat fee and hourly work. This is a great opportunity to lock in a low price for legal services, yet retain the same level of quality service you have come to expect.

What this means is:

Complete Individual Will Packages $250
Complete Mother and Father Will Packages $500
Uncontested Divorces $750
Contested Divorces $1,500 retainer billed at $100/hour
Uncontested Adoptions $750
Contested Adoptions $1,500 retainer billed at $100/hour
Uncontested Child Support or Visitation Modifications $750
Contested Child Support or Visitation Modifications $1,500 retainer billed at $100/hour

On December 25, 2008 rates return to their normal levels, so if you or your loved ones have been considering retaining a lawyer, now is the time to act.

*DISCLAIMER*
Yeah, the law requires I say this: This offer is only valid from November 24, 2008, through 5:00pm December 24, 2008. Please visit my website at www.shtxlaw.com to learn more about me. This offer specifically excludes and all contingency fee work. This offer is not a modification of existing contracts for work already established. This offer is only valid for contracts for new work signed between from November 24, 2008, through 5:00pm December 24, 2008.

Sometimes life becomes a maelstrom of failures, incompletes, things to do and a general mess. In those moments it’s hard to figure out where to start. You can loose entire days looking at the problems and analyzing them, trying to figure out the ONE perfect place to start. But, the ONE escapes you.

When life gets that disorganized or chaotic you have to break out of the nothingness of inactivity. For some, a break helps. Fully getting away from it all for a few hours or a day, and coming back refreshed. Sometimes getting away does nothing. You return to the mess and it beats you down to exactly where you were when you started. For some starting off by cleaning helps. By getting organized, it is easier to make things happen and flow. Sometimes though, even cleaning can become a constant distraction of organizing without ever reaching the efforts that will resolve the issues.

When everything is a mess, when you don’t know where to start, when a break does not revitalize you, you have three choices. One, walk away (not recommended, it will likely follow you or happen again). Two, do nothing, which is what you were doing and it didn’t fix anything either. Three, do something, anything. The latter is my recommendation.

I’m not saying to make rash decisions and actions. I’m not saying to be a “bull in the china shop of your life.” I’m saying just grab the first thing that presents itself and do it. It is so much easier to keep going after you started than it is to get started at all. By grabbing the first thing that comes up needing to be done, you start moving. Once you start, don’t stop till the end of the day or energy fails you. If you get only a few things done, take pride in what you did, and set your sites on the next day. If you keep at it, you will unblock the power of your own actions. You will be able to get to a place to prioritize, and you will be on your way.

If you already know the ONE thing that needs to be done, of course, do it first. If you have no idea at all where to start, I recommend just starting somewhere. The rest will come to you eventually.

I was quite baffled by the stats for the blog last week. Supposedly there were 967 direct accesses to the site, and 153 xml readers. That was the highest one day usage of the blog, and I have a hard time believing that many people visited. If you read this, please post a comment, any comment, so I can get a feel for what is really happening.

UPDATE:
After looking deeper into the stats, it seems that the "RIPE Network Coordination Center" network out of Denmark is the culprit behind the excessive hits. They have been a source of a large number of hits before.