Car Accident

Each year, thousands die because of motor vehicle crashes. Caraccidents involving the collision of two cars are the most commontype of crashes, although a large percentage of fatalities in caraccidents involve motorcyclists and pedestrians. Because of theincreasing number of property damage, personal injuries and deathsdue to car accidents, states put in place legal rules to determinewho is responsible for the damages resulting from a collision.

Car accident law consists of the principles of negligence, which isgoverned almost entirely by state law. There are differences instate laws governing claims or suits seeking damages resulting fromcar accidents, but typically victims must prove the following: (1)presence of duty of care, (2) breach of such duty, (3) the breachcaused personal injuries or property damage, and (4) and the victimincurred monetary losses.

In terms of duty, drivers are legally obligated to obey traffic rulesand drive their vehicles with reasonable standard of care, whichmeans maintaining safe speed, exercising awareness and observingtraffic signals. During litigation, the existence of duty isgenerally accepted without argument. The plaintiff, however, willneed to prove that the drive breached his or her duty. Breach of dutyis proven through direct or circumstantial evidence. Direct evidenceinclude eyewitnesses, testimony, video footages, or admission offault. Circumstantial evidence include skid marks, paint smudges, oralcohol tests.

The plaintiff must further prove that the breach of duty causedinjuries by demonstrating that the injuries are consistent with thenature of the crash and they were not pre-existing. Moreover, theplaintiff needs to prove that the injuries resulted to monetary loss.Once a jury, after trial, determines that the plaintiff has provenall four elements, the plaintiff will be entitled to compensation fordamages, which include medical expenses, pain and grief, lost wages,among others.

Car accident cases are not complex, but litigating claims for damagesarising from property damage, personal injury or death related to caraccidents is tricky and tedious, requiring plaintiffs to confer withcounsel prior to initiating any suit. For the most part of thelitigation, any act or omission by the plaintiff or defendant maylead to either a win for the plaintiff and defeat for the defendant,or defeat for the plaintiff or win for the defendant. What this meansis that, both parties to car accident litigation must beknowledgeable of how the system works, and not just what the lawprovides, in order to win the case.

For instance, car accident litigation is factual, which means,everything that happened before, during and after the accident mustput in record, and every detail must be taken note of, for theplaintiff or the defendant to build a strong case in his or herfavor. Being factual, the plaintiff or defendant must produce bothdirect and circumstantial evidence to prove their case. There arenumerous rules of evidence that must be taken into consideration sothat an evidence will not be thrown out as unacceptable, weakeningthe case. In addition to winning a case for damages, there is alsoanother complicated matter on seeking compensation from the losingparty's insurance. One is not prevented from representing himself incar accident cases. An expert attorney, however, can protect a clientfrom the opponent's tactics.

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Trade

Trade laws are enacted to ensure industry competitiveness in the United States. The U.S. Congress, by virtue of its constitutional prerogative of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, enacted several bills, including the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trade Act of 1974, to govern trade. The American Constitution ensures that the country is a free market. American trade law do not just govern interstate trade, but also trade between the United States and foreign countries, to ensure the existence of free trade and prohibit the occurrence of anti-competitive business practices. Trade law has evolved through the years, in reaction of the constantly changing face of trade, both internally and internationally.

Trade law is a complicated area of the legal practice as it touches upon numerous other areas of the law, such as business laws, employment laws, tax laws, and antitrust laws. There are numerous issues accompanying trade and commerce, and each issue often require the assistance of attorneys who are expert in specific niche in law. With respect to intrastate commerce, state law applies. Resolving trade disputes arising from intrastate commerce relationship may not be as difficult as resolving trade disputes arising from interstate commerce relationship as only one set of law governs. Nevertheless, it is imperative for traders and business owners to seek the advice of expert trade law attorney as there are still nuances in state trade law that may not seem very obvious to even the most sophisticated of traders. Disputes arising from interstate commerce becomes increasingly more difficult as state trade law varies and may have little commonalities, except in the promotion of free trade.

Workers, being one of the most crucial element in trade and commerce, are protected by numerous trade laws, especially against job loss or reduced wages. Workers' rights are enshrined by different set of laws that interlink with trade laws. In addition, specific trade laws protect consumers from abusive and conspiratorial business practices. It is the Federal Trade Commission's main job to ensure that consumers are protected from fraudulent and deceptive business practices. While trade laws are in place to ensure a free economy, it cannot be helped that some industries form mergers. The FTC ensures that these mergers do not restrict competition, which harm consumers.

Trade law, when applied to international commerce, becomes even more complicated as international law, in general, or specific treatises, govern. The U.S. has trade agreements with almost all nations in the world, but each trade agreement is different depending on the industry. The U.S. also regularly limits the import and export of certain products with a specific country as a matter of foreign policy. Unprecedented events in the international arena also gives rise to amendment of American trade policy in order to protect the business interest of the United States. In the area of trade law, it is imperative to employ the services of an expert trade law attorney who can examine the law of its legislative intent as this is crucial for the interpretation and adjudication of the law.

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