The 3 Types of Lawyers You’re Almost Guaranteed to Use at Least Once in Your Life

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One of the most complex areas to try to navigate is the law. Not only are statutes confusing but you also need someone with the right knowledge and experience to help you win your case. There is also some stress involved in finding the right attorney. Do you grab your smartphone and search the internet for “lawyer near me” and hope for the best? Do you visit Yelp and read the post opinions to try to narrow down the choices? There are many attorneys in any one city, and they all specialize in a specific branch of the legal system. While you won’t need them all, here are three types of lawyers you’re very likely to use at least once in your life.

1. Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have ever been injured at work, in a car accident or when using a product, you know how critical a personal injury lawyer is when dealing with corporate attorneys. It is the first person you should call after dialing 911 because companies, insurance agents or drivers are doing the same to reduce their liability and losses. Having a personal injury attorney to communicate on your behalf will help you receive a fair settlement that covers medical and personal injury damages. Lawyers like Simon & Simon are expert negotiators and litigators who handle tort cases due to negligence and liability. Learning about them will be handy as you will need them for legal needs including medical malpractice, auto accidents, defamation, slip and falls, animal bites or intentional torts.

2. Criminal Lawyer

Lots of people love a good courtroom drama until they find themselves sitting behind the defendant’s table. You will appreciate an excellent criminal lawyer after you have experienced an arrest, heard the ever-so-famous lines of the Miranda warning, posed for a mugshot when processed and listened to the criminal charges a district attorney has leveled against you. The job of your defense lawyer is to ensure you get a fair trial and determine the best strategy to overcome a guilty verdict. Criminal lawyers also can have a diverse set of specialties, so they can handle all of your legal issues including crimes like theft, assault and battery, DUIs, traffic accidents or felonies with strict sentencing guidelines.

3. Family Lawyer

Family law is often personal for many people, which is why it is advisable to have a lawyer to help you get through this emotional period in your life. Lawyers specialize in cases that involve marriage, civil unions, divorce, child custody, paternity, adoption or child abuse cases. Family law also involves spousal separation, a division of assets and child custody agreements that often cause stress and hardship, which is challenging to bear alone. So, it is possible you will need to hire the same attorney for multiple family issues. You will appreciate someone who will focus on the legal aspects of your case.

It is essential that you take the time to research each lawyer to ensure he or she has the right experience and specialization as it will make your case more comfortable to navigate and win.

Slip and Fall Injuries Cause Serious Injuries and Fatalities

By

Boone Callaway

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With 161,374 yearly slip and fall injuries and 34,573 related fatalities in the U.S., according to a recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) report, slip and fall injuries are common. Too often, many injuries are serious and life-altering, and some end in fatalities.

Increased awareness about these injuries and understanding of how avoidable they are has resulted in lots of improvements we all can see. But there is still a long way to go, especially when it comes to sidewalks.

Premises Liability and Slip & Fall Injuries

These are what lawyers refer to as premises liability claims. The negligence which forms the basis for the claim is a defect in premises, resulting in harm from a slip and fall accident. California premises liability laws set the legal responsibility of owners and occupiers of property to keep areas safe from potential hazards. If you or a family member was seriously injured due to a slip & fall or other injury on another’s property, contact Callaway & Wolf to schedule a free consultation regarding potential compensation

The basic statute (law) setting forth the premises liability law is Civil Code Section 1714:

“Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself.”

California being the largest state, there are many, many cases interpreting and further stating the law on premises liability. Cases on sidewalk injuries, for example, have defined a “trivial defect rule,” which is generally interpreted as requiring a height differential of one inch or more between adjacent sections of sidewalk pavement before liability will be found against a property owner for a trip and fall. Of course, not all sidewalk cases involve trips on areas of broken pavement, or sections of pavement raised up by tree roots or other causes, but many do. At Callaway & Wolf, we have also had successful sidewalk cases based on slipperiness—failure to maintain a safe surface.

Premises Liability is Not Just Slip & Fall Accidents

Other premises liability cases involve slips on floors inside premises, typically due to a substance on the floor. In this type of case, “notice” of the hazard must be proved. This means that there must be evidence that the store owner or management knew about the condition, such that they had a chance to take care of it. Thus a store won’t be held liable if one customer drops a Coke, and another slips in it 60 seconds later. Notice comes in two types: actual, and constructive. A store proprietor has actual notice when someone tells an employee about a hazard, or an employee sees it. Another way for a store owner to be held to know of a hazard is when you can prove that an employee caused the hazard.

Most cases end up being based on allegations of constructive notice. With a constructive notice case, attention turns to how to prove how long a hazard existed on the floor. Often it is impossible to prove this with any certainly. This is where everyone starts looking at the store’s “sweep logs.” To prove that they are meeting their duty to regularly inspect for hazards, store staff keep records. If these records do not show an inspection of the area where an incident occurred within a reasonable time prior to the incident, there is a legal presumption of constructive notice of the hazard. Oftentimes, though, we find that stores are better at keeping logs than they are at actually inspecting and cleaning. Some stores don’t keep the logs. Costco, for example, claims that all employees on the floor are continually inspecting for any hazards, so all of the store is being observed regularly.

When you or a loved one were injured in a slip and fall accident, there are many other factors to consider, including previous complaints about an existing hazard, determining the negligence of a business or property owner and determining negligence, if applicable, of the injured individual. Any history of prior incidents can also be very helpful. In virtually every case, there will be allegations of comparative fault or negligence. Often the owner of the premises claims that the hazard was “open and obvious,” so that it could have been avoided if the claimant had been looking where they were going. In other cases they will allege that there was no notice, or that the defect in the premises was trivial, and thus not legally actionable. They will virtually always make one or more of these defensive claims. They will also frequently fight in pre-trial discovery to avoid giving us information about prior incidents. Often they will try to use specious statistics on the volume of people who have passed through the same area, presumably without falling.

There will also be questions asked about any other factors which could support a defense of comparative fault, such as:

What kind of shoes the injured person was wearing
What the injured person was doing, where they were looking, etc.
What the injured person was carrying at the time of the incident

Generally, common slip and falls occur because of:

Loose and uneven floors and sidewalks
Cluttered stores and homes
Substances and liquids on floors
Elevator and escalator accidents
Inadequate lighting
Unsteady staircases and loose handrails
Unsafe stairs or railings that do not meet building code specs

In general, a property owner or someone running a business open to the public is required to maintain safe conditions for guests, customers, and those allowed by federal and California regulations to be on the property, such as mail delivery persons. If it can be proven in full or part that a property owner was negligent in maintaining a safe property, and you slipped and fell, you are legally entitled to be financially compensated for your injuries.

If the property owner does not use common sense and should have known conditions were dangerous or hazardous and failed to either fix the hazard or give a clear warning, they are liable for injuries to persons legally on their property.

Building a Personal Injury Claim From a Slip & Fall

To build a personal injury slip and fall case, it’s necessary to compile evidence, including any photos of the dangerous scene, witness testimony if someone saw you fall, accident reports, medical records and any evidence you can acquire about what caused your fall. As the claimant, you have what’s called “the burden of proof.” Also, should the property owner or their insurance company question your culpability in your injuries, which they will likely do, if possible, you should collect and safeguard items that caused your slip or trip. Saving the shoes you wore, for example, is important to show that they were reasonable. High heels or very worn shoes with slick bottoms make a case more difficult.

Premises liability slip or fall cases are very tough. We look at reported verdicts and case outcomes for California and see that a majority of these cases which go to trial lose completely. Defendants see the same reports of course, and as a result they often contest these cases strongly. They are much less likely to settle easily than many other types of injury cases. Often expensive experts are involved. The hard-fought nature of this practice area, with its greater burden of work and expense, raises the bar for the size of a feasible case. This is why people who have had relatively minor injuries in a fall often have a harder time getting a lawyer to help, when the same seriousness of injuries could make for a car accident case that many lawyers would be willing to take.

The qualified, skilled personal injury attorneys at Callaway & Wolf Law Firm can help you gather the information needed to pursue your slip and fall injury case, including accident and medical records. And it’s important not to wait. The more time that passes after your injury, the more likely the accident scene will be cleaned or repaired, which will make winning a successful personal injury claim more challenging. However, if some time has passed and evidence is gone, medical records documenting your injuries and witnesses and medical experts can still prove valuable for successfully securing monetary compensation from the property owner.

When you’ve been injured because of a slip and fall on someone else’s property, to successfully pursue a premises liability monetary settlement will almost always require the assistance of an experienced slip and fall attorney team, as these claims are typically denied initially.

Callaway & Wolf’s lawyers are highly experienced in premises liability law and slip and fall accidents. As your law firm, our knowledgeable, skilled legal team will determine liability exists in your particular case. If we determine it does, we will vigilantly negotiate and fight for your medical expenses, any lost wages, pain and suffering or a wrongful death when a loved one is injured due to a trip or slip and fall. Callaway & Wolf’s San Francisco personal injury law firm has the ability to uncover the truth and hold those who are responsible financially accountable.

As well known personal injury attorneys who are respected by peers and adversaries, founding partner Boone Callaway and Vadim Nebuchin have successfully handled hundreds of personal injury cases in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. Backed by our well-honed negotiation strategies and litigation savvy, when we represent you, we’ll collect the facts of your case, review your medical records, and assess the property owner’s culpability in your injuries or a loved one’s death.

With over two decades experience handling personal injury cases, our law firm possesses the knowledge, financial capital, resources and support staff necessary to uncover the truth and hold the property owner who caused your injuries, or the death of a loved one, accountable for their dangerous property conditions. Callaway & Wolf’s extensive record of MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR verdicts and settlements for our clients assures that we will aggressively battle on your behalf.

What’s more, though investigating, preparing, negotiating and filing civil lawsuits is highly costly, Callaway & Wolf will never charge you any money up-front. Because we work on a contingency basis, we’ll only get paid when we win and acquire your just monetary settlement.

California Slip & Fall Statute of Limitations

It’s important to act quickly when you’ve been injured because of a slip and fall accident. California statutes of limitations set deadlines within which you can file. A personal injury claim must be filed within two years from the incident, but if the injury was not immediately discovered, a victim has one year from the date the injury was discovered to file a claim.

If a governmental entity such as the State, or a city or county entity such as BART is involved, this time limit shrinks down to just six months for a claim filing deadline. See the California Tort Claims Act.

For expert help investigating a slip and fall injury and filing a claim, contact Callaway & Wolf Law Firm’s respected, skilled personal injury attorneys to schedule a meeting in our San Francisco office. During a free consultation, we’ll attentively listen to what happened and advise you on whether and how you can act against the property owner whose premises caused your injury or the death of a loved one. But if you’re too injured to travel, we’ll come to your home, hospital room or rehabilitation facility.

To begin your fight for monetary compensation, call Callaway & Wolf today at (415) 541-0300 to schedule your personal, compassionate, and respectful consultation.

Amazon – A 21st Century Business With 19th Century Working Conditions

By

Domingo Castillo

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Online marketplace Amazon is in many ways an American success story. Jeff Bezos started the business in a garage in 1994. Its stock valuation approaches $900 million, making Bezos the wealthiest man on the planet (at least before his divorce) worth perhaps $150 billion.

Though Bezos has expanded into everything from computer services, to online video and music distribution, to supermarkets and space travel, the core of his empire is his Amazon online retail business. It runs on underpaid and overworked employees manning a widening network of warehouses (at least until they’re replaced by robots) who are frequently injured due to a blistering pace of work in an atmosphere that prizes efficiency over safety.

Worker Health & Well-being at Amazon Not as Important as Meeting Quotas

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper last year found that Amazon workers frequently suffer workplace injuries and are later forced out of their jobs. This 21st century worldwide business giant is profitable for many reasons, including treating their employees in ways that might remind you of working conditions described in a Charles Dickens novel.

Amazon warehouses made it to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s “dirty dozen” list of most dangerous places to work last year. The company was listed because of unsafe working conditions and making productivity and efficiency priorities over the safety of its workforce.

Examples of allegations made against Amazon include:

Bryan Hill of Florida sued Amazon last year claiming he was fired for injuring his back on the job and their failure to file a workers compensation claim after his injury was reported.
Christina Miano-Wilburn worked at a fulfillment center in Pennsylvania for five weeks. She says she was on a ladder which was struck by another employee, she fell and landed on her left leg and back. Her back is permanently injured from the accident. She claims Amazon refused to give her the forms for a workers’ compensation claim and cut short her short term disability benefits.

Other Amazon employees quit before they can become injured. Lindsai Florence Johnson stated she left work in an ambulance after feeling dehydrated and dizzy while working at an Amazon warehouse in California in 2017. She quit the company last year. She told the Guardian not everyone injured on the job reports it to management for fear they’ll be fired.

Temporary Workers at Amazon Deal With Injuries and Their Uncooperative Temp Agencies

Many workers at Amazon warehouses aren’t technically Amazon employees. They’re hired by temp agencies who may also stonewall workers’ compensation claims. Michael Yevtuck has been involved in a workers compensation claim against Integrity Staffing, who hired him to work in a New Jersey fulfillment center. Yevtuck said he suffered knee injuries while going up and down step ladders trying to fulfill his work quota.

An Amazon company doctor stated he could to work on light duty and he was provided knee braces. He provided documents explaining the situation from Amazon company and private doctors to management. But Yevtuck says those documents were ignored, he was placed back on full duty and reinjured both knees.

Amazon’s Treatment of Employees gets the Attention of the Federal Government

It’s not just Amazon employees who aren’t reporting injuries. It’s also the company. A citation issued by federal safety regulators in 2016 accused the company of failing to report at least 26 work-related illnesses and injuries at a New Jersey warehouse, reports CBS.
After an inspection by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the agency found Amazon failed to,

Report workplace injuries, and,
Provide protective equipment to workers, who risked injuries including possible amputation of limbs.

OSHA also stated,

Workers were exposed to stress from repeated bending at the waist,
They worked shifts of ten or more hours,
Sometimes overtime shifts were mandatory, and,
The on-site medical unit provided medical care beyond what was permitted by their licensing and certification and without the supervision of a board certified, qualified medical professional licensed to practice independently.

A Pennsylvania Amazon warehouse became so hot in 2011 the company had paramedics on standby to help employees who passed out, yet the company didn’t open doors to improve ventilation because they feared employee thefts, according to the Allentown Morning Call. In one part of the warehouse the heat index (a measurement of the heat and humidity) reached 110. Employees could take short breaks but were then told to get back to work.

In June of that year a warehouse employee reported to OSHA,

The heat index hit 102 degrees in the warehouse,
15 workers collapsed, and,
Workers who went home due to heat-related health problems were disciplined.

Eight days later an OSHA complaint hotline received a message from an emergency room doctor at a nearby hospital reporting “an unsafe environment with a[n] Amazon facility in Fogelsville…Several patients have come in the last couple days with heat-related injuries.”

New York Times Article gets Bezos to Talk the Talk, but not Walk the Walk

Amazon was the subject of a 2015 New York Times article which described its workplace as essentially a fast moving machine that crushed employees who couldn’t keep up. While some found the work compelling and the atmosphere addictive, there was high turnover in the high intensity warehouses where workers referred to themselves as “Amabots.”

After this article was published Bezos (who called his company’s culture “friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.”) met with employees and claimed he couldn’t recognize the workplace described as Amazon’s. In a letter to employees he claimed “shockingly callous management practices” wouldn’t be tolerated and urged employees who knew of “stories like those reported” to contact him directly, according to the Times.

It’s been more than three years since that article and if Bezos learned anything about how to treat its employees, especially those injured on the job at Amazon, it doesn’t show. While Amazon plans for warehouses run by robots it treats its current human warehouse employees like machines. Replaceable if damaged and undeserving of much thought or compassion.

Video Evidence in DUI Cases – What You Need to Know!

By

Donald Hammond

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The internet is filled with viral videos showing crude interactions between drivers and police officers. Police abusing their privileges is not uncommon. There is a public outcry demanding that law enforcement agencies should have greater restraint and limit police privileges. For this reason, law enforcement agencies all over the country have incorporated the use of cameras to ensure that police conduct their activities within legal boundaries. These cameras are either placed on the officers’ dashboard as a dash cam or worn on their chests. Video footage captured from either of these cameras can affect the outcome of your case in either direction. It all depends on the circumstances of the interaction between the officer and the driver as well as the driver’s driving conduct.

Types of Video Evidence Available

As aforementioned, police officers typically have a dash cam and a body camera on while on duty. As the name suggests, the dash cam is usually attached to the dashboard of the officer’s car. This camera mainly helps by capturing images of the driver’s driving conduct and the events leading up to the arrest. Most importantly, this camera shows whether the police officer had probable cause to pull you over in the first place. Obvious reasons why an officer can pull over a driver is if he or she is driving erratically or made a moving violation like passing a red light.

If the prosecution is going to make a case against the defense, they would have to show that the officer, indeed, had a strong belief that the driver was breaking a law. The dash cam also helps show how the police officer was interacting with the driver.

Recently, law enforcement agencies also included body cameras to provide more accountability for the actions of police officers. These cameras show the initial interaction with the driver and may help verify whether the officer’s suspicions were warranted. The body cam may also show how the officer was conducting the field sobriety tests appropriately and how the driver behaved towards the officer.

On rare but also possible occasions, surveillance cameras from private businesses can capture DUI incidences without the knowledge of the officer or the driver. To acquire such footage, the defense may need to subpoena the video from the owner if it is not already logged in as evidence during a pending investigation.

Is this Video Admissible as Evidence in Court?

According to California’s PC on Criminal Procedure, the law clearly states that video recordings fall under the category of documented evidence that can be seized when necessary to aid in the process of a case. The defense can only obtain the video evidence after submitting a discovery request. Once the request goes through, the defense can have access to the video during a pretrial hearing for the defense. In a more difficult situation, the prosecution may refuse to hand over the video evidence for assessment. In such a case, the defense will have to petition the court to grant them access to the video by filing a motion for discovery.

How is Video Footage Likely to Influence my DUI Case?

Whether or not video footage will be helpful in your case highly depends on your driving conduct, your interlude with the officer, and your performance during the field sobriety tests (, which we recommend that you NEVER do). If the videos show that your driving was erratic or reckless in any way, chances are that the case will not be an easy battle for you. This would show that the officer had probable cause to pull you over. On the other hand, if the video shows that you were driving responsibly within traffic laws, the prosecution will have less evidence in their case against you. This is why it is important to comply with officer’s requests to an extent (learn more about what to do when pulled over in our article: What You Should Do If You’re Stopped for a DUI). You need to be mindful of how you interact with the police officers as well. Ideally, they are not out to get you. They are only doing their jobs in trying to keep the roads safe for everyone. Whatever your situation is, you’ll need a great DUI lawyer to improve the outcome of your case. Contact Don Hammond as soon as possible if you have a DUI or any criminal trouble.

How Can A DUI Affect my Career?

By

Donald Hammond

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A DUI, felony or misdemeanor, can have long-lasting effects to someone’s life. Having a DUI is a permanent record, which leaves a dark stain on your reputation and limits opportunities that would otherwise be abundant if you had a clean record. In a world where getting or keeping a job is already difficult, a DUI on one’s records makes it even more complicated.

Effect on Current Job

Once you have been convicted for a DUI (driving under the influence) in the State of California, your driving license is automatically suspended. Without this very important piece of plastic, getting around will become a major problem. Since you would probably need to go to work, your only options for moving around would be carpooling with a friend or colleague, calling a taxi, or using other means of public transportation (which are also very unreliable) every single day. Even if you do manage to find reliable transportation, court appointments, mandatory education classes, or jail-time will take up a large portion of your time. Your absenteeism from work will be very evident, which will put you in an awkward position with your employers when you have to explain why you’re always late or missing from work.

The State of California has a zero-tolerance policy for DUI’s, which makes the consequences even tougher. Depending on the terms of your contract or where you work, your employers have the liberty of firing you at will if your conviction comes to their attention. For job applications, most employers ask applicants to note down whether they have any prior convictions. While it is not mandatory to disclose this information, a DUI conviction on your record is a solid ground for firing since this would not constitute as a protected class for discrimination.

If you are convicted of any DUI charges, you may also likely lose your professional license. To learn more about how a DUI can affect people in real estate, see our article: Can a DUI Stop You from Becoming a Real Estate Agent? California also requires that you disclose any arrest to your licensing agency at once. Losing your medical, engineering, or legal license depends on your licensing agency. Some tend to be stricter than others and even mere charges without a solid conviction can still hinder your path to a successful career.

Effects on Future Opportunities

As discussed above, maintaining a job with an arrest record is hard as it is. The chances of you finding a job with a conviction are very slim. This is because employers usually associate a criminal record with people who have trouble following orders or a lack of integrity, which is an important quality. Once again, employers may ask for any prior convictions but applicants are not legally required to disclose such information. This creates a dilemma that could end badly in both situations. On one hand, you may choose a DUI conviction or charge to reveal to potential employers, which will demonstrate that you have trouble with the law. On the other hand, if you lie in your applications and a background check shows the opposite, you are both a liar and have trouble with the law. In any case, the best choice is to consult with an attorney and start on the process of having your records expunged.

You can read more about expunging criminal DUI records in our article: Getting an Expungement in California – A New Start!

DUI’s are hard to deal with and failure to address these charges in court effectively may lead to numerous setbacks in your life. However, with the help of a capable, competent, and experienced lawyer like Don Hammond, you have a chance of starting over or preventing a looming DUI conviction. If you already have a shadowing DUI conviction, Don Hammond is more than capable of helping you through the process of having your records expunged. Call us today.

If you are immediately worried about whether you will go to jail for a DUI, check out our article: Will I Go to Jail or Prison for a DUI?

How to Defend a Drug DUI (DUID) Case

By

Donald Hammond

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A lot of people in California have the impression that DUI cases only involve drunk driving. While alcohol is a common cause of many DUI incidences on our roads, the majority actually involve other drugs or a combination of alcohol and drugs. Even more unknown to the general public is that DUID (driving under the influence of drugs) may involve either legal drugs such as prescriptions, over the counter drugs, or the more illicit drugs like methamphetamine. For this reason, DUID cases vary considerably due to the complexity and the type of drugs presented before the court.

In a DUID case, Sections (a) through (g) of the California Vehicle Code 23152 provide the guiding principles of what constitutes DUI charges. In general, the section makes it illegal for any person to operate a vehicle under the influence of any alcoholic beverage, drug, or a combination of both. The legislation further quantifies the legal limit for alcohol intoxication for people with different physical characteristics. You can also learn more about your blood alcohol content level from Am I over 0.08% BAC? However, the law does not give the same level of transparency when it comes to the amount of drug intoxication. The burden to prove intoxication, therefore, falls on law enforcement that have to present sufficient evidence that the driver’s driving capabilities were severely affected by the drugs. Regardless of the charges against you, finding a good lawyer is the first step in winning your case as an experienced attorney may have several defenses to your case.

Defenses Related to Your Driving

A court cannot convict you for a DUID if you were not driving a vehicle in the first place. The DUI process starts when an officer pulls you over following observation of your driving behavior. An arrest made simply because the officer was suspicious even when you were stationary does not constitute a DUI. For the prosecution to have a strong standing case, they must prove that you were operating a vehicle at the time of the arrest or that you were in physical control of one. Their main objective is to prove that your driving would have been dangerous to other people on the road.

Defenses Relating to Your Arrest

The America justice system follows rules and procedures. Police are also expected to follow the appropriate procedure. If an officer did not have legal justification in making an arrest or they did not follow proper legal procedures, prosecution risks having the case thrown out by the court. This is why it is important for citizens to know their basic rights while interacting with law enforcement. If an officer did not follow appropriate measures or lacked probable cause to arrest you, any evidence they submit for your case will be inadmissible in court.

Miranda Rights

Another crucial step in making an arrest is reading the Miranda Rights. Police officers should read you your rights diligently and flawlessly. Any mishap in how the rights were stated means that the officer did not follow proper procedures. The prosecution can just as easily lose their case before it even begun. You can read more about the Miranda Rights here.

Challenge the Arresting Officer’s testimony

When video or audio evidence fails to provide sufficient evidence against you, it all boils down your experience versus the arresting officer’s testimony. Part of the prosecution’s strategy relies on the arresting officer’s statement on the observations he made prior to the arrest. The officer will need to recount your driving behavior, whether it was erratic, how you interacted with him or her, how you reacted when you were pulled over, how you looked at the time, and how you performed on the field sobriety tests (, which we recommend that you never do). You can challenge the officer’s testimony based on these claims. For example, field sobriety tests are helpful but not 100% effective for determining intoxication. A positive field sobriety test does not automatically indicate that you are experiencing impairment. In another example, marijuana can be visible in one’s blood tests even after four weeks. Certain medications such as antidepressants and flu medications can also affect your cognitive behavior and response time. Moreover, erratic behavior can be caused by high levels of emotional distress, injury, or even fatigue.

Most of these cases don’t go to trial because many people prefer to have the matter settled through negotiation. Whether the case makes it to a trial or not, it is important to have a competent and experienced attorney by your side to guide you on how you should handle your unique situation. We here at Don Hammond Law provide expert services with an impressive track record with our clients. Do not hesitate to reach out to our firm for help in your case.