Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
Q: My son was pulled over and his car was searched. They found marijuana and rolling papers in his car. They charged him with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. I read your article every week and wanted to know if you would represent my son?
Denise
Athens, AL
A: Thank you for considering us to represent your son but Joel and I do not practice criminal law. Part of the confusion is that lawyers are not allowed to advertise that they are a specialist in a particular area of the law. The only exceptions are tax attorneys and patent attorneys.
The reality is that no lawyer is going to be really good at everything. Lawyers do develop areas of practice and some lawyers develop extremely narrow specialized areas of practice. They are truly specialists.
Joel and I practice personal injury law which includes automobile accidents, workers compensation claims and commercial vehicle accidents.
In automobile accident cases, the attorney must know what the rules of the road are and what makes another driver responsible for damages. In Alabama, we have a mix of English common law where a jury determines whether or not a person acted as a “reasonable” person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances or whether their actions were “unreasonable” in a manner that foreseeably caused harm. The other type of law that we have is statutory rules which dictate when you must yield the right of way or how far behind another vehicle you must be at any given speed.
Once you understand the rules of liability then you look at what damages are recoverable under Alabama state law. Recoverable damages are typically lost wages, medical bills, property damage, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering as well as compensation for a permanent injury.
An attorney has to obtain competent medical testimony and be familiar with the rules of evidence as well as rules that apply to liens and subrogation interests. Hospitals that treat a person for an accident or injury have a statutorily created lien that gives them the right to be paid first. Other types of insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid have legally created obligations for repayment and if you have health insurance with a private insurer such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, they also have a right of repayment.
If you reach an agreement to settle with the person that caused the accident and you don’t notify your own insurance company of the settlement before you accept it, you may give up certain rights to other money benefits that may have been otherwise available to you.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-764-1124
