PEACE TALKS

 MEDIATION INSTEAD OF LITIGATION

By Sarah Mallas Wayman

Jury trials involve a long time and can become quite expensive. Negotiating a settlement of your dispute directly with the other party through mediation may be the most painless and efficient way to solve it. Compared to a lawsuit, mediation is private, quick, fair, and inexpensive and can be scheduled within a few weeks from the time of a request. Mediation sessions usually last only a few hours or a day, while lawsuits often take many months, or even years to reach an ending.

The vast majority of lawsuits settle short of final trial often at the proverbial 11th hour after every possible pretrial expense has drained the bank accounts. With the guidance of an experienced mediator, that same resolution or settlement could have been achieved earlier with significantly less expense. Mediation allows the parties to resolve their dispute and get on with their personal and business lives, saving resources of time, money, stress and frustration. Submitting disputes to mediation is clearly more effective, efficient and economical than waiting to go to a trial at sometime in the distant future.
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When your dispute involves another person with whom you wish to remain on good terms, mediation is valuable:  Family members, co-workers, business partners, landlords, neighbors, or others you have a personal or business relationship with are likely to respect a mediation effort over a prolonged court case and trial. Too often, lawsuits ruin relationships while mediation can get a dispute resolved without destruction of personal or business relationships.

Confidentiality is another advantage of mediation: What you say during mediation cannot legally be revealed outside the mediation proceedings or used later in a court of law. In contrast, by going to court, almost everything becomes available to the public.

Mediation will nearly always save you money. The mediator can identify the strengths and weaknesses of each side and open the door to a mutually acceptable settlement. My experience has shown that clients who have freely arrived at their own solutions through mediation are usually pleased and free of all the pain from prolonged litigation.

Mediation is a preferred way to resolve disputes. I am happy to discuss mediation possibilities with you and there is no cost for the initial conference.

Sincerely,


Sarah Mallas Wayman
7600 Hunters Woods Drive
Atlanta, GA 30350
(770) 804.8484
smwlaw@bellsouth.net

WINNING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS-

IT IS A JOURNEY


By Sarah Mallas Wayman

Are you aware that a person who qualifies for Social Security Disability may be awarded up to $2,642.00 per month in steady income, plus a lump sum payment of benefits owed from back-pay, plus health insurance and annual cost of living increases?

None of these benefits are automatic. You have to file a proper application which on its face may seem easy enough. But, after filing, the real work begins. Each applicant must show an entitlement and that will almost always be conditioned on medical, psychological, vocational and other forms of evidence. For most lay people, this is daunting. For hose impaired with disability or lacking in funds, this can be a nightmare.

For these reasons alone, competent legal assistance is desirable.

The facts I obtain to proceed with a Social Security Disability application includes information about doctors, healthcare professionals, hospitals and clinics who treated you, plus the names, addresses, phone numbers, patient ID numbers, and dates of all examinations and treatments, along with the names and dates of medical tests you have had and who sent you for them.

And there is more: The names of medications (prescriptions and non-prescriptions), reasons for medication and who prescribed them along with information about other medical records that may be available from vocational rehabilitation services, workers compensation, public welfare or other places.

Your job history is important. The date your medical condition began to affect your ability to work The type of jobs that you had in the 15 years before you became unable to work because of your medical condition with the dates you worked at those jobs, if available along with the type of duties you did on the longest job you had

To be fully prepared we need to know all about your education and training with the highest grade in school completed or any special job training, trade school or vocational school you finished.

When all this has been colleted and discussed, then the application process should begin. Obviously, this is complicated but necessary. I can help and will discuss this with you initially at no cost, by telephone or in person.

Sincerely,


Sarah Mallas Wayman
Attorney
7600 Hunters Woods Drive
Atlanta, GA 30350-5632
(770) 804-8484
smw

LOSS OF CONSORTIUM

INJURY TO THE MARRIAGE SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED

By Sarah Mallas Wayman, Attorney

Automobile collisions and the injuries to passengers are the basis for so many claims against insurance companies and their insured drivers who face legal consequences from their carelessness and negligence. Obviously, an injured person is entitled to compensation for injuries ranging from physical trauma like broken bones, concussions and whiplash. Also, pain and suffering-past, present and future-are matters of great importance in the process of fair dealing with claims for an injured person.

Marriage is a sacred institution and the possibility that a marriage relationship has been diminished by an injury to the husband or wife must be considered. I always inquire about this when I interview victims and their spouses. Georgia allows damages for any diminution of the joys and comforts of a marriage relationship that originated with a collision or other personal injury.

The claim arises when a physically injured person cannot as a result provide his or her spouse with the services, companionship, love, affection and sexual relations enjoyed before the accident. The loss of consortium claim becomes significant when the physically injured spouse has suffered a devastating, long-lasting injury such as paralysis, incontinence, and loss of sexual function or inability to walk. However, the claim for damages can be significant for other injuries. Professionally, I examine the situation existing in the marriage prior to the injuries and afterward, looking for impairment or diminution of disposition and temperament, their social life, any alteration of services rendered in supervising the household and the all-important matters involving acts of affection, love and sexual intercourse.

Any reduction of these comforts and joys of daily living within the marriage should be determined and where merited, become part of the determined effort to obtain just and fair compensation.

And it is important to note that there are recent cases in other states where loss of consortium has resulted in awards of up to one million dollars.

All right minded people should work to fairly settle claims. But whether by settlement or though a trial by jury, where there is any damage to the marriage connected to the wrongful acts, compensation for loss of consortium is a valid and necessary consideration.

Please contact me with any questions. There is no charge for an initial consultation.

Sincerely yours,


Sarah Mallas Wayman
7600 Hunters Woods Drive
Atlanta, GA 30350
(770) 804-8484
smwlaw@bellsouth.net