In Louisiana, fault and legal responsibility for accidents is a cause of action for negligence. Generally, for a victim to "win" their case, they must prove the four elements of a negligence claim. The four elements are duty, breach, causation, and injury.
Every driver has a "duty of care." This means that a driver must be careful and must be on a pretty constant watchout for dangerous or unusual conditions on the road ahead. The duty also means driving at a sufficient distance from the car in front of them so that they are able to stop if there is a sudden stoppage of traffic. Generally, if someone rear-ends another vehicle, it is often inferred that they were not paying careful attention and were driving too close to the car in front of them. Thus, the phrase "following too closely." For complex legal questions such as determining liability in a car accident, you are welcome to reach out to our Louisiana car accident attorney at Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. It is important that you are able to obtain compensation for all of your losses and our experienced attorney has a proven track record of helping victims secure what they are owed. What if the car ahead stopped suddenly? In most cases, drivers do not suddenly apply their brakes and stop suddenly while driving. In most cases, there is a reason for a sudden slow-down or stop. That reason is most often the fact that traffic stopped or slowed ahead on the road. If there is a good reason for the car ahead to have suddenly slowed or stopped, then the general rule will apply: the driver of the vehicle following will likely be held liable. On the other hand, if the driver in the lead stopped or slowed suddenly for no reason, that might be a case where the lead driver might be held liable in whole or part. Louisiana has a comparative negligence law whereby damages are apportioned based on percentage of fault. A driver who stopped or suddenly slowed with no justification might be held 40% liable. If that is the case, then the driver in the rear vehicle will end up paying only 60% of the total damages assessed because of the accident. Even if the driver in the front has committed negligence, the driver in the rear still has a duty to not follow too closely and a duty to be very watchful when driving. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. If you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading and visiting our website. In Louisiana, there is a crime called "negligent homicide." See La. Rev. Statutes, § 14:32. Negligent homicide is defined as the killing of a human being by "criminal negligence." Note that negligent homicide can also be charged in Louisiana if death is caused by a dog or other owned animal. In this article, we will limit our discussion to homicide by a human being.
Negligent homicide is a difficult crime to prosecute (and defend) because of the vague legal definition of "criminal negligence." To aid our explanation, let's look at the definition of non-criminal negligence. Most people have probably heard the term "negligence" in reference to accidents. For example, if two vehicles crash, one of the drivers might be held legally liable for the accident, injuries, and property damage because he or she was negligent. Those kinds of cases are handled by the civil courts. There are no criminal charges because the accident was, well, an accident. No one intended the accident, injuries, or fatalities to happen. In the civil courts, the victim must prove four legal elements. If negligence is proven, the victim is entitled to compensation. The four legal elements are:
For criminal negligence, the same four legal elements must be shown except that the breach is "really bad." Most often, the injuries/damage to property must also be "really bad." In terms of the breach, "really bad" is often defined as a reckless disregard for safety and life or knowingly ignoring obvious risks to safety and life. The behavior at issue is often defined as "shocking" to most people. More legalistically, it might be said that criminal negligence involves conduct that grossly deviates from the standard of care that should be exercised by a reasonable person. For example, if a driver is speeding, that driver is behaving negligently since there is a duty to obey speeding laws. In all honesty, most drivers drive faster than the posted speed limit (at least occasionally). Mostly, the excessive speed is 10, 15, maybe even 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. Most of us would not consider that breach of duty to be reckless, shocking, or a gross deviation from how a "reasonable person" would drive. But what about driving 30, 40, or 50 miles an hour over the speed limit? Most of us would say that is reckless. If a crash happens, it would not be an "accident" but rather a logical and foreseeable result of that sort of reckless driving. Then, if the crash killed several people, we would not be surprised if criminal charges were filed. Potential punishments If convicted of negligent homicide in Louisiana, the general potential punishments are jail time of up to 5 years and a fine of up to $5,000. If the person killed is under ten years old, the minimum sentence is two years. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are top-rated, relentless, and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. Louisiana has a specific criminal statute dealing with identity theft. See LA Rev. Statutes, §14:67.16. In Louisiana, identity theft is defined as "the intentional use, possession, transfer, or attempted use, with fraudulent intent, by any person of any personal identifying information of another person to obtain, possess, or transfer, whether contemporaneously or not, credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value without the authorization or consent of the other person."
As can be seen, this is a crime of theft using fraud as a mechanism. That is, instead of physically stealing something of value, the theft is accomplished by fraudulently pretending to be someone -- impersonation of their identity. So, the legal elements of identity theft are
Like most theft crimes in Louisiana, the punishments depend on the value of what is stolen (cumulatively). The punishments are
In addition, in all cases, upon conviction, the criminal defendant shall be ordered to make full restitution to the victim and any other person who has suffered a financial loss as a result of the offense. Furthermore, as with other theft crimes, when the victims are of certain categories, then minimum sentencing guidelines or enhanced punishments apply. The categories are victims who are 60 years of age or older, victims under 17, and those with disabilities. The changes are as follows
Potential criminal defenses If you have been arrested or are being investigated for alleged identity theft, contact a top-tier and experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorney here at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. Our offices are in Shreveport, Louisiana. Many potential criminal defenses to alleged identity theft focus on the criminal elements listed above. Thus, one potential defense is to show that there was consent or authorization. Generally, consent can be explicit or can be implied. There is also a stated exemption in the statute for when a false identity is used for the "sole purpose of misrepresenting his age." Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are top-rated, relentless, and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. If wrongful and negligent actions by a big rig 18-wheeler truck cause an accident that results in someone being killed, Louisiana allows a wrongful death insurance claim or lawsuit to be filed. The wrongful death cause of action is allowed by statute. See La. C.C. Article 2315.2. Pursuant to the statute, the insurance claim and lawsuit may be brought by certain family members of the deceased person for their losses. These losses are NOT the losses suffered by the person who was killed. If the person did not die immediately because of the truck accident, then those losses could include medical bills, pain and suffering, etc.
In a Louisiana wrongful death claim, the compensation being sought is for some categories of economic damages. This includes
A wrongful death claimant can also seek compensation for other types of losses that are non-economic in nature. These include
In some cases of extreme negligence and reckless behavior, it is possible to recover punitive damages. Punitive damages are not compensation but, rather, punishment levied against the wrongdoer for their wrongful behavior. If a loved one has been killed in a big rig truck accident, one may benefit from a consultation with an experienced Shreveport wrongful death 18-wheeler accident attorney like the ones at the Law Office of Philip B. Adams. Act quickly since there is a one-year deadline after the death for filing your wrongful death case. The deadline is strict, and if you miss the deadline, you will not be able to file your case. However, it is important to note that not every member of the surviving family can file a wrongful death action. The wrongful death statute identifies who can file a wrongful death action. First, a claim can be brought by the surviving spouse and child or children of the deceased. The claim can be brought by one, some, or all of these individuals. If there is no surviving spouse, then the children have the right to assert the wrongful death claim. If the deceased person left no spouse or children, then the wrongful death claim can be filed by any surviving parents. Both can file or either of them if both remain living. If the deceased person left no spouse, child, or parent surviving, then any or all of the surviving brothers and sisters can file the claim. Finally, if the deceased left no spouse, child, parent, or siblings, the claim can be filed by any or all living grandparents. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. If you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website. Extortion is a crime in Louisiana punishable by no less than one year in jail and up to 15 years of incarceration. Extortion is also commonly known as "blackmail." Under Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:66, "extortion" is defined as "... the communication of threats to another with the intention thereby to obtain anything of value or any acquittance, advantage, or immunity of any description." Specific examples are stated, such as:
The statute also has a "catch-all" category that states that extortion is "a threat to do any other harm." Given the broad language of the catch-all provision -- "do any other harm" -- Louisiana courts have held that threats of economic injury or to property interests can satisfy the definition of extortion. If you have been accused or charged with extortion, contact us here at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams, LLC. We are experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorneys. Our offices are in Shreveport, and we offer criminal defense legal services in Caddo Parish, Bossier Parish, Red River Parish, De Soto Parish, and all other parishes in Louisiana. Louisiana law enforcement officials DO investigate claims of extortion, and persons who are accused of extortion ARE prosecuted. For example, as reported by the Sun Herald, a New Orleans man was investigated for extortion after he was fired, and he demanded payment of $20,000 from his former employer. The former employee threatened to report fake crimes by his former employer and also demanded "settlement money" for alleged "pain and suffering" after claiming he fell several times at work. Louisiana criminal defense and exemptions Note that where the threat is lawful, there is no crime of extortion. Thus, if a lender threatens to foreclose on real property if payments are not made, that action -- foreclosure -- is lawful. Thus, the threat is not extortion. The same is true for repossessing a vehicle if the installment payments are not made, and such would be true for lawful political and labor activity like threatening a union strike. Other defenses can depend on the type of extortion charged. If it is alleged that the extortion involved a threat to reveal a secret, it might be a criminal defense to show that the facts were not, in fact, secret. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. If you or a loved one has been injured in a Louisiana car accident, the injured victim has a right to make a claim for compensation, including compensation for pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is one of the many categories of damages that can be sought by victims of negligent and wrongful behavior here in Louisiana. Other damage categories include compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, costs to repair vehicles, etc.
As a category of damages, pain and suffering can be tricky to prove. Mainly, this is because pain and suffering is not a physical thing, and there are no documents that prove "pain and suffering". Injuries can be shown by medical records and photographs showing bruises, lacerations, and broken bones. Likewise, medical bills and the like can be proven with actual invoices from the service providers. This method of proof is not the case with pain and suffering. The insurance investigator or the jury will have to make an estimate of how much the victim's pain and suffering is worth. Pain and suffering is subjective and is inferred. That being said, experienced Shreveport auto accident attorneys know various methods of helping to prove pain and suffering. One method is to use the evidence of medical bills and expenses as a surrogate for the amount of pain and suffering. A Louisiana car accident that results in $100,000 in medical bills logically will typically involve more pain and suffering than an accident with only $10,000 in medical bills. Pain and suffering occurs at various points in a Louisiana car accident. It occurs just before, during, and after the actual accident. Then, pain and suffering occurs during the medical treatment phase. A surgery, for example, is painful (even though most people have anesthesia to dull and dampen the pain). Then, there can be a lot of suffering and pain as the body heals and if there is any need for rehabilitation. The more rehabilitation involved and the longer the healing process takes, the more the victim has been in pain and has suffered. Thus, the totality of the medical bills can be used as an estimate of how much the victim's pain and suffering is worth. Photographs are another type of evidence that can help prove what pain and suffering is worth. As with the severity of the injuries, a severe crash can help a jury believe that the victim has suffered greatly. Likewise, photos of the vehicles and the scene of the accident can be used in this manner. In addition, photos of the actual injuries, bruising, physical therapy efforts, etc. can be used to visually show the level of pain that the victim suffered. Another method of proving pain and suffering is to provide reports and/or testimony from treating doctors and family members who have observed how the accident caused suffering. Testimony from your own providers, family members, co-workers, etc. who have seen you firsthand can be very compelling in front of a jury. Finally, there are some other types of evidence that can be used. Victims are often asked to keep a journal/diary following an accident. The purpose is not necessarily to write about the pain but about how the victim's life was disrupted. Thus, for example, sleepless nights might be listed along with the inability to do things that were once commonplace. How much detail is depicted in a diary depends on the person writing in the diary. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams, LLC. If you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us and schedule a consultation, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website. If you are charged with a crime in Louisiana, the prosecuting attorneys -- that is, the government -- have the burden of proving your guilt. You are innocent until proven guilty. The standard of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt." That is a high standard to meet. As a consequence, all good criminal defense strategies aim to reduce the chances of the prosecuting attorneys meeting that standard. Tactics include seeking to exclude evidence and witnesses for constitutional and procedural violations. If you have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking, you may benefit from contacting an aggressive, dedicated, and experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorney at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams.
Here are some of the top criminal defenses to charges of drug trafficking" Violations of constitutional protections Everyone has rights that are protected by both the federal and Louisiana Constitutions. These include the rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, to be silent when asked questions by law enforcement officers while you are in custody and subject to interrogation, to have an attorney present during questioning, to have a fair and impartial jury, and more. If the police, for example, violate your constitutional protections, then evidence obtained by the police in violation of your rights may be excluded. Exclusion of improperly obtained evidence is often a key mechanism for a criminal defense team. This method involves filing a written motion with the judge asking for improperly obtained evidence to be excluded from use at trial. This might mean the exclusion of ALL of the drugs that might have been found and seized during an unlawful search of your person, vehicle, or home. If this happens, then the prosecuting attorneys have no evidence to prove that you had any drugs in your possession. Without drugs, there often can be no conviction for drug trafficking (assuming, for example, no confession to having drugs). Violations of police procedures For a prosecutor to successfully obtain a conviction based on drug evidence, he or she must demonstrate that the police complied with various procedures. As one example, if a lab test is done to confirm that the substance taken from you was drugs, then a number of procedures must have been followed. The substance tested must be PROVEN to have been the substance taken from you; lab procedures to prevent contamination must have been followed; etc. . As another example, a key fact that the prosecuting attorney must prove is that you actually possessed drugs. Thus, when the time arrives for trial, the prosecuting attorneys often must produce the actual drugs that were seized. But how do we know that the drugs produced were the ones taken from YOU? Those specific drugs might be some other person's drugs. To overcome this, the police must show what is called a "chain of custody." The drugs taken from you were passed from the officer to someone in the evidence room, to someone else, and so on. Challenging whether the police followed proper procedures can be a viable criminal defense. Lack of intent Drug trafficking convictions require proof that you intended to traffic -- that is, sell -- the drugs. One top criminal defense is to argue a lack of intent. Under such a scenario, if the prosecutors fail to prove intent to distribute, you will not be convicted of trafficking. Possession carries less severe punishments trafficking. Perhaps your defense can demonstrate that you merely possessed a drug and did not intend to distribute it to others. Mistake Another top criminal defense against drug trafficking is a mistake. This generally means offering evidence that the police were mistaken about who owned the drugs in question. Essentially, the defense is that the drugs were owned or possessed by someone else. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. If you are a tenant here in Shreveport, LA, and you have been injured in a slip-and-fall accident because of your landlord’s negligence, you may have a claim for compensation. If this has happened to you, you may benefit from seeking a legal consultation with an experienced Shreveport slip and fall accident attorney like the one here at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. Use our Contact Page.
In Louisiana, landlord-tenant, slip-and-fall accidents fall under the category of premises liability. Generally speaking, according to Louisiana law, landlords must maintain safe and hazard-free premises for their tenants. This means that landlords must comply with applicable building codes, make necessary repairs, keep common areas clean and free from obstructions, and otherwise remove hazards and dangerous conditions. Examples of hazardous and dangerous conditions might include
There are several requirements to be successful in your claim against your landlord. First, you will have to show that your landlord knew of the hazardous conditions like a broken railing or sidewalk. Alternatively, you can show that your landlord should have known about the dangerous condition. This issue is often about how long the condition has persisted and whether, in that time, a reasonable landlord (who routinely inspects the property) would have seen or noticed the condition. Second, you will have to show that the injury that resulted was foreseeable from the condition. This is often straightforward since broken concrete can foreseeably result in a trip and fall. This is why factual issues like lighting can matter in these types of cases. A cracked floor tile might not be unreasonably dangerous in bright sunshine. But in a dark hallway, a broken floor could reasonably cause a trip and fall since an ordinary person might not see such a condition in advance to avoid an injury. The next step is to show that the landlord refused or failed to fix the dangerous condition (or at least provided some warning or blocked off the hazard). Most landlord-tenant, slip-and-fall accidents are settled through insurance claims. So, you must act quickly to give notice to your landlord and the insurance carrier. Contact A Louisiana Slip-and-Fall Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams; if you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our “Contact Us” page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog and visiting our website. Despite political efforts to change the law, prostitution is still a crime in Louisiana. In layperson sense, prostitution is "sex for money." The crime can be charged against the person offering sex and those offering to pay for it. More specifically, prostitution is criminalized by La. Rev. Stat., §14:82, where prostitution is defined as:
All types of sexual activity are covered by the statute, and prostitution can be charged even if the sexual act has not been consummated. If you have been arrested for prostitution, you might benefit from a legal consultation with the experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. Let's discuss the facts of your case and potential criminal defenses. Use our "Contact Us" page. Penalties Generally, a first-time prostitution charge is a misdemeanor crime which becomes a felony charge for subsequent offenses. The potential penalties are:
Potential penalties are substantially higher if there are any aggravating factors. Examples of aggravating factors include circumstances involving a prostitute under the age of 18, under the age of 14, etc. For soliciting a prostitute under the age of 18 (but not less than 14), the crime is a felony with a potential sentence of 15 to 50 years in prison and a potential fine of $50,000. If the prostitute is under the age of 14, the possible prison term is from 25 to 50 years, and the fine could be as high as $75,000. Related crimes There are a large number of crimes related to the basic crime of prostitution. These include the crime of allowing, aiding, and abetting prostitution on your property, running a house of prostitution, being a "pimp," online prostitution, and more. Potential criminal defenses If you are charged with a crime in Louisiana, the prosecuting attorneys -- that is, the government -- have the burden of proving your guilt. You are innocent until proven guilty. The standard of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt." That is a tough standard to meet. As a consequence, any criminal defense strategy aims to reduce the chances of the prosecuting attorneys meeting that standard. Tactics include seeking to exclude evidence and witnesses for constitutional and procedural violations. There may be specific defenses like alibi, mistake, and sexual activity by mutual consent without payment (that is, no payment was negotiated, requested, or exchanged). Retaliation and/or knowingly false charges might be a defense in some cases. Police entrapment is also a common defense in prostitution cases. As always, while the criminal defense is being prepared, skilled Louisiana criminal defense attorneys are open to negotiating favorable plea bargain arrangements. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. The answer is no (although there can be some exceptions). Injury settlements are generally compensation and, as such, are not deemed income by the IRS and Louisiana taxing authorities. The rare exceptions involve recovery for emotional injuries (where the injuries do not flow from a physical injury) and where punitive damages are obtained (which can occur, for example, in a settlement involving a drunk driver). Trusted and experienced Louisiana car accident attorneys will understand that there might be tax consequences when a Louisiana auto accident claim is settled. Good personal injury lawyers know that there are methods of structuring a settlement that can minimize possible tax consequences. This is one reason it may be wise to schedule a consultation with an experienced Shreveport auto accident attorney like the one at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. Use our Contact Page. Below is some additional information on the taxability of Louisiana car accident settlements.
IRS rules and regulations The question of taxability is determined by the federal Internal Revenue Code and various regulations issued by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). In this respect, the IRS has long held that any sort of settlement (or judgment from a lawsuit) is only taxable if it is income. As noted above, most of the money received via a settlement is to compensate an injured victim. This includes compensation for medical bills, costs to repair a vehicle, etc. Since the monies are paid as compensation, they are not income and, therefore, are not taxable. The IRS has also determined that almost every form of compensation that flows from a physical injury is non-taxable. Thus, recovery for lost wages and pain and suffering is deemed compensation and not income. See the IRS tax implications of settlements and judgements. What are the exceptions? As noted above, there are some exceptions to the general rule that Louisiana auto accident settlements are not taxable. If a part of your settlement includes punitive damages, that part can be taxed. This is the IRS rule and flows from the fact that punitive damages are NOT compensation. Rather, punitive damages are a punishment imposed on the at-fault party. Since the money is not compensation, it is deemed income for purposes of taxation. The other main exception involves emotional and mental injuries. The IRS rules state that settlements related to physical injuries are non-taxable. Thus, emotional and mental injuries are non-taxable ONLY IF those injuries flow from -- are directly related to -- a physical injury. Will I have to report the settlement on my tax returns? In many cases, even though the settlement is not taxable, the settlement must still be reported on your tax returns. However, you should consult qualified tax professionals for a more precise answer, and you should rely on their advice with respect to your individual tax returns. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams; if you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog and visiting our website. |