Gretna Personal Injury Law Attorney Blog

Left turn into path of motorcycle takes life of Louisiana rider

2013-06-12T19:09:01Z

Turning left into oncoming traffic: it's a common and often deadly mistake Louisiana drivers make on a weekly basis. Motorcyclists are especially susceptible to serious injuries in this sort of crash, and unfortunately that was the case recently in Livingston Parish.

The accident took the life of a 36-year-old motorcyclist, and authorities were still investigating the crash at the time of a June 8 report. The family of the deceased man will undoubtedly want to see the results of that investigation.

]]> According to state troopers, the motorcyclist was heading west on Louisiana Highway 63 when the 35-year-old driver of another vehicle coming in the opposite direction tried to turn left. The larger vehicle reportedly crossed into the motorcyclist's lane.

The rider tried to avoid a collision by laying down his bike, but at that point a crash was unavoidable. He ran into the passenger side of the other vehicle.

Police say the motorcyclist was helmeted, but after he was thrown from the bike, his injuries were still severe. He was taken to a hospital, where sadly he died of his injuries.

At this point, police do not suspect that either driver was impaired, though the investigation continues.

As they try to cope with the devastating loss of their loved one, the family of the motorcyclist may be inclined to explore the available legal options for achieving justice through a claim of wrongful death. This kind of civil claim occurs separately from any criminal charges a negligent driver may face, and wrongful death claims can lead to monetary compensation for damages such as funeral costs, lost wages, medical bills and other non-monetary damages such as pain and suffering.

Source: wafb.com, "Motorcyclist killed in Friday evening crash," June 8, 2013

US Government is looking a lot like Cuba, USSR, and East Germany when it comes to privacy

2013-06-07T18:23:35Z

If the government can take anyone's DNA after they're arrested--despite the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven--and collect unlimited data on every American citizen via our cell phones, e-mail messages, and online data storage, then perhaps next the government will dispense with the pretense of offering any expectation of any remaining privacy rights?

It's looking more and more like we must now expect unlimited surveillance and unwarranted intrusions for the sake--the excuse, rather--of security, at the cost of privacy.

This eerily resembles the ways of present-day Cuba, or of past times in the former Soviet Block and in the former nation of East Germany. The same excuse of security was and is paramount in those places, but no one even had the illusion that they had privacy from their governments.

Welcome to the new world order?

Our Founding Fathers must be cringing in their repose, watching as fundamental civil liberties are so diminished and diluted by our elected "leaders" with double-secret laws with names like "Patriot" in the title.

The rest of us should be cringing, too, and speaking out against these overzealous actions by our government. Or is the Cuba model of security over privacy really that attractive? This writer hopes our Congressmen and Congresswomen recall their history, rediscover their backbones and start behaving like the leaders we elect them to be, and to heed the famous words of Benjamin Franklin, never more prescient than now: "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither, and will lose both."

Community in Gretna grieves, raises money after fatal accident

2013-06-03T18:59:03Z

During this past rainy weekend in Gretna, two grieving families and other Dominican community members came together to help raise money for accident-related costs following a fatal collision that took the lives of two women last week. Two young mothers, ages 23 and 20, were on their way home from work when the wreck happened.

The 20-year-old mother was pregnant, and she is survived by her 10-month-old baby. The 23-year-old woman is survived by her three-month-old. Police arrested the driver of the other vehicle, and now she faces criminal charges.

]]> The 40-year-old driver who is said to have caused the crash was driving northbound on US 61 when her vehicle hopped the median and moved into the southbound lanes. Her vehicle crossed into the path of the car driven by the 23-year-old mother, who was unable to avoid a collision.

A passenger in the accused driver's vehicle also died, and the driver has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide.

In support of the grieving families, Dominican community members gathered at a local barber shop in Gretna, offering car washes, massages, haircuts, food and drink to raise money to cover funeral expenses.

One family member said the community just wants to see justice served and to support the grieving families with any financial help that may be necessary in the wake of the accident.

In legal terms, drunk driving can be regarded as negligent driving if injuries or death arise out of the drunk driver's actions. Grieving family members sometimes have to pursue wrongful death claims in order to receive compensation for the monetary costs resulting from a fatal accident. A wrongful death lawsuit can also lead to some form of compensation for non-monetary damages such as loss of companionship and pain and suffering.

Source: fox8live.com, "Fundraiser held for victims of fatal crash," Allison Braxton, June 2, 2013

Car lands in lake in 4-car crash on Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

2013-05-29T21:55:05Z

It's undoubtedly something that many New Orleans residents have thought about and hoped would never happen to them: crashing while driving on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. For those out-of-state readers who don't know, the Causeway consists of two bridges that stretch 24 miles over Lake Pontchartrain, bridging the watery gap between St. Tammany Parish and Jefferson Parish. Depending on which way you're going, the road starts in Mandeville and terminates in Metairie.

Unfortunately, some people don't heed the obvious risks of reckless or negligent driving on the Causeway. Serious injuries are a possibility in nearly every driving situation, but the presence of so much water probably makes a good number of us a bit more nervous, and rightfully so.

]]> Several people were lucky not to have been seriously injured in a recent four-car crash on the Causeway. In fact, one of the vehicles flew over the guard wall and landed in the lake. According to officials, that vehicle was occupied by one person, and emergency responders were able to rescue him. His injuries did not appear to be serious, according to a local report.

Of course, physical injuries from a harrowing auto accident such as this one can sometimes crop up after the fact. Neck and back injuries are common, as are head injuries that go untreated, and these types of injuries can worsen significantly over time and even lead to disability.

Even if a slight soreness creeps up in the neck or back, an accident victim should at least get a medical checkup. Head injuries are especially worrisome, and New Orleans residents should be aware of their legal resources if an accident leads to lost wages or other damages. You don't want a bad situation turning worse.

Source: The Advocate, "4 vehicles, 1 in lake in Pontchartrain accident," May 28, 2013

Arabi 17-year-old dies in tragic car-bicycle collision

2013-05-23T19:53:02Z

This blog was established to cover a range of community-related issues that may be relevant to Louisiana residents with legal concerns. The stories posted here range from inspiring to heartbreaking, and unfortunately this post falls into that second category.

A much-admired young man from Arabi died recently after he was struck by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle. The accident happened on May 20 on East Judge Perez Drive in Meraux, and the 17-year-old had to be taken to the trauma center at LSU Public Hospital. He was pronounced dead about seven hours after the collision.

]]> State police believe the young man was riding his mountain bike on the shoulder and against the flow of traffic when a car driven by a 30-year-old Violet woman approached. Investigators say the young man was hit by the car when he entered the oncoming lane of traffic. The driver of the car was reportedly not injured, and further investigation into the accident is ongoing.

Police initially ruled out speeding and impairment on the part of the driver, and as of May 21, she was not facing any charges.

Some community members who commented on an article about the accident expressed sorrow over the young man's death. He will undoubtedly be missed a great deal.

When tragedies happen, their effects ripple throughout the community, and family members and friends sometimes don't know where to turn. In some but certainly not all of these cases, grieving family members may have legal recourse. A full investigation is always necessary, and one can hope that the grieving family in this case gets the answers they need and deserve.

Source: nola.com, "A 17-year-old Arabi boy dies in St. Bernard after car hits his bicycle," Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, May 21, 2013

Redmann Law Applauds N.O. City Council for Demanding Accountability from Sheriff's Office

2013-05-17T14:32:55Z

Hats off! to Councilmen James Gray and LaToya Cantrell of the New Orleans City Council, who sponsored a resolution demanding accountability and transparency from Sheriff Marlin Gusman's office when detaining suspected illegal immigrants in jail longer than necessary. The resolution passed 6-0 and, per Richard Rainey of The Times-Picayune: "...demanded he [Gusman] stop keeping immigrants or suspected immigrants in jail just because federal immigration officials suspect they might be in the country illegally."

It is simply outrageous that a law enforcement agency could keep somebody in jail after they have posted bond and should otherwise be allowed to leave, if an outside agency suspects they are in the country illegally. Kudos to the City Council for demanding that Gusman and the Sheriff's Office agree to ignore the legally-perilous wishes of ICE (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency). Gusman said that he would "consider" the resolution.

Let's hope that Sheriff Gusman does more than "consider" it, and heeds it, showing proper respect to the City Council and the susepcted--but NOT charged--immigrants being detained. This is a measure that simply makes sense--Sheriff Gusman must either agree to ignore ICE orders for detaining suspected illegal immigrants without charging them of same, OR spell out exactly under which conditions he will detain suspected illegal immigrants. The Council is asking, in essence, for transparency. And that is something we desperately need from our law enforcement officials. That this resolution would also save a substantial amount of public money by not forcing jails to house these individuals would simply be icing on the cake.

Honoring Our Educators

2013-04-03T19:40:19Z

Please take a few minutes this morning to read John Pope's article in the Times-Picayune about the passing of Mrs. Marie Louie Pierce Jones, a pioneer of education and an advocate for racial justice in New Orleans.

Mrs. Jones died last week at the age of 95. She retired in 1986 after a teaching career that lasted half a century. Per the article:

"She did more than preside over a classroom or school. Because Mrs. Jones was drawn to children with special needs, she earned a master's degree in special education at Wayne State University [in] 1949 and established the first special-education classes for visually impaired and mentally challenged black children at a time when New Orleans' public schools were segregated.

And in the early 1940s, Mrs. Jones was a plaintiff in a suit that successfully challenged the system that paid white teachers more than their black counterparts."

To devote one's life to educating children is a heroic accomplishment in and of itself; but to fight for equality and justice for people of all colors and types is something we should all hold in the highest esteem. Don't neglect when Mrs. Jones was fighting for racial justice-the 1940s, decades before Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the Civil Rights Movement to national attention.

It is for that reason that Mrs. Marie Jones is a shining beacon for teachers everywhere, and somebody to whom educators should look and take pride in their profession.

Warrantless mandatory blood alcohol tests shouldn't be a debate at all

2013-01-10T19:42:04Z

A case that started in Missouri has made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, and their decision on the case will have longterm, potentially devastating consequences for all of us. The case involves the Constitutionality of a police officer forcibly administering a blood test to a driver the officer suspects of being intoxicated without first obtaining a court-issued warrant.

Laws vary from state to state, but generally, a driver suspected of being intoxicated is asked by the police officer to pass a series of tests such as reciting the alphabet and walking a straight line. Failure to pass those tests means the suspect is asked to take a breathalyzer test. If the driver refuses to take the breathalyzer test, the officer can force the driver to take a blood test; however, a court order must first be obtained to take a blood test, and the court order requires the officer to demonstrate probable cause. The argument in this case centers on this court order: Due to the timely nature of blood alcohol content, should police officers be allowed to immediately extract blood from a suspect, forgoing a warrant? Are we comfortable with a police officer performing a medical procedure on a suspected drunk driver against the driver's will?

Absolutely not, I say. It's striking that there's even a debate about whether a warrant should be needed. Our Constitution guarantees our rights against invasion of privacy, against self-incrimination, and against unlawful search and seizure, and our entire justice system is founded upon a prosumption of our innocence. The invasion of a person's body and taking of his or her blood certainly does not merit "presumed innocence."

Proponents of permitting blood tests without warrants argue that after the traffic stop, the evidence (the alcohol in the bloodstream) is being rapidly filtered out of the digestive system, into the blood, and then from the blood to the urinary tract where it is evacuated. Enforcement agencies argue this is akin to a criminal suspect "destroying" evidence and creating an exigent circumstance, thus taking too much critical time to go out and ask a local judge to issue a warrant to force a blood test. The opponent's response to this charge is twofold. First, the amount of time to have a warrant issued is typically so short (within 30 minutes to an hour, generally) that the "disappearing evidence" argument is not a concern (And, in fact, it hasn't even been used as an argument in the case currently facing the Supreme Court.). And secondly, that proponents argue police officers should be allowed to unilaterally dispense with judicial oversight of such major decisions involving search, seizure, invasions of privacy, and injection of needles into somebody's body against that person's will is very scary indeed. The lack of supervision of an officer administering a blood test is very troubling, and that's not to mention questions about how well he or she has been trained to perform such a test.

As such, it should not be a debate about whether a warrant is needed to force a suspect presumed innocent to undergo an unnecessary and medically invasive procedure for state prosecution purposes. I say, convince a judge that it's necessary and get a warrant, if you can.

Note that this is not a plea to try to help suspected drunk drivers. Rather, it's a plea to show respect to the higher ideal of keeping government and law enforcement officials in check and honoring ALL of our Constitutional rights. That a police officer's job may be made easier and more convenient is not justification to violate our inalienable human rights. There are other means of prosecuting drunk driving cases, and, in fact, conviction rates in these cases remain high even when the suspect refuses a blood test, due to the availability of other forms of evidence such as witness testimony and field sobriety tests.

There are consequences to these rights, to be sure; many drunk drivers may go unpunished because of these rights. But our Constitutional mandate of presumed innocence along with a very intricate judicial process comes with those consequences. Benjamin Franklin famously said that those who are willing to give up liberty in the name of security deserve neither. The debate we should be having about this subject is whether or not it's Constitutional for a police officer to take a blood or urine test of a drunk driving suspect even with a warrant. Let's have a real debate.

Clients' Choice Award in Personal Injury, 2012

2012-12-07T15:59:50Z

This week, the Law Office of John Redmann was honored to have received Avvo.com's Clients' Choice Award for Personal Injury. What this means is that our office received five or more four- or five-star reviews on the online legal directory Avvo.com.

We're honored to have received this award, and nothing is more pleasing than being told by former clients that we've done great work for them. Even more, we're always both delighted and humbled that somebody would take time out of their day to post a review of our office online.

Our number-one priority is to great work for our clients; nothing is more fulfilling than doing that. So while knowing that we're doing right by clients is enough, it's still such a pleasure to see that they recognize it too.

Concussion Awareness In Sports

2012-11-30T20:34:52Z

This week on our legal talk show, John Redmann: Power of Attorney, we discussed the growing number of concussions in football. This is a serious issue that affects all of us, whether we're fans of the NFL, college, or high school football, or whether we have sons who are playing or who may want to play football.

The science behind how concussions are linked to long-term brain trauma has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade. The brain is a delicate organ, and collisions with the head cause the brain to crash into the skull that encases it. This is dangerous and can have devastating long-term consequences if it's done repeatedly. In the worst cases, repeated blows to the head over a long period of time can lead to CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a disease of the brain leading to horrific symptoms like dementia, depression, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, migraines, suicidal thoughts, and other serious ailments.

For a long time, concussions were treated as minor injuries. Phrases like, "getting your bell rung" serve to dampen how serious the injury is. Traditionally, a concussion suffered during a football game wasn't even seen as a sufficient reason to leave the game. The tough, team-first mentality of sports influences how athletes think of their bodies, often causing them to want to "play through the pain." However, as we learn more and more about the dangers of brain trauma, our mindset for this type of injury must change.

Currently, more than 3,000 former NFL players have filed a lawsuit against the National Football League, alleging that the league covered up and debunked scientific arguments that concussions could lead to CTE. Only in the past few years has the NFL taken a serious step toward preventing concussions; if you watch NFL games on Sundays, you've undoubtedly noticed league-produced PSAs that explain the steps the league is taking to make the game safer:

This is to be commended, but it is by no means the end-all solution. If the courts rule in favor of the many former NFL players suffering concussion-related illnesses in their post-playing careers, then the NFL has a responsibility to compensate these men and their families for their suffering. And remember, most NFL players are not stars like Drew Brees and Peyton Manning who earn $20 million a year; rather, the great majority of players in the league play on practice squads or as backups, rarely--if ever--see the field, and have careers that end, on average, after three years. These men suffer concussions and all kinds of other injuries, many of them damaging or eliminating their ability to earn a living after their short careers end. Their mentality, however, encourages them to play through injuries (and often to not disclose the injuries at all to their coaches), because missing time for injury runs the risk of another player taking their job in a market where jobs are scarce. The risks run even for established players, like San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who recently was sidelined with a concussion and ultimately lost his job as the starting quarterback because his backup performed so well; stories like this scare players into playing through concussions.

Football is a great game that most of us love; you need only look at NFL ratings to see that it's far and away America's most popular sport, and it's only growing in popularity every year. But our mentality surrounding it must change, starting, most critically, with our children. If we let our children play football, we must teach them about how serious concussions are, and how to recognize them. Most youth coaches work on a volunteer basis, and while many of them are required by law to take concussion awareness training, they are still not professionals. And if a child does suffer a concussion, medical staff is usually not on hand (particularly in rural, more isolated areas) to treat the child. So we have to understand the risks we're taking, and constantly inform and educate ourselves about proactive health and safety.

You can learn more about concussions in sports by watching this week's episode of Power of Attorney, and to explore all the concussion resources on the show web site.

Keeping Yourself Safe On the Internet

2012-11-21T16:23:12Z

Not a week goes by that we do not hear a story about a computer hacking, a stolen identity, or any number of other cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are a relatively new brand of crime, and they are scary because the criminals always seem to be a few steps ahead of law enforcement, as technology constantly changes and evolves.

As we move more and more toward a digital society, wherein all of our computers, phones, tablets, and even cars are connected via cloud data services, we need to be mindful of safe online practices. The following are just a few of many tips you can implement to protect yourself online.

Use a different password for every account. It's difficult to keep track of your different passwords for e-mail, Facebook, online banking, or any number of other online accounts, but it's important to use different passwords for each one. If your password should ever be stolen, it's better that only one of your accounts is compromised, rather than all. While it's important to create a difficult passsword with a mixture of capital and lowercase letters with numbers, the majority of passwords are no longer stolen through guesswork or by computer programs that enter thousands of combinations per second; rather, they're stolen through elaborate password-recovery schemes. In some cases, your birth date, home address, or the last four digits of your credit card or social security number are all a hacker would need to reset your password; in these cases, a complicated and impossible-to-guess password makes no difference. (Which is a great reason why you shouldn't list your birth year on Facebook; it's okay to share your birthday, of course, but don't make your year of birth publicly available.)

As such, it's critical to keep different passwords for different accounts. There are great applications out there (such as Last Pass) that securely manage your different passwords, while requiring you to only memorize one password.

Enable two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication (also known as two-step verification) is a great tool that can cut off identity thieves even after they've stolen your passwords. It works like this: Say you sign up for a Gmail account, register your phone number along with other personal information, and enable two-factor authentication. From then on, every time you try to log into your Gmail account on a computer (or phone/tablet) for the first time, you'll first have to enter a secure alphanumeric code that's been sent to your phone as a text message. Without that code, you won't be allowed in. This means that, even if your password is stolen, the thief won't be able to access your e-mail because he or she doesn't know the code.

Most online accounts allow for two-factor authentication, including Google/Gmail, Yahoo/Yahoo Mail, Facebook (known as "Login Approval"... see instructions here), Amazon, Last Pass, and many, many others. It only takes a few minutes to ensure that your private information will be safe even if your password is stolen or guessed.

Back up everything. Precious family photos stored only on your computer's hard drive can be lost forever if your computer is hacked, or if it's destroyed by a fire or flood, or even if the computer simply crashes or breaks. You can protect yourself by backing up your data frequently. Experts recommend that you do this two different ways (hopefully together, to get the most security possible): By purchasing an external hard drive (available for under $100) and attaching it to your computer and running backup software; and by signing up for an online backup service such as Crash Plan or Carbonite (available for monthly plans typically under $10), so that your data is safe and secure off-site.

Beware of phishing and online scams. Phishing is a popular internet scam that can have devastating consequences on unsuspecting internet users. A popular version of the scam has somebody receiving an e-mail that appears to be from a web service they use--for example, Capital One's online banking service. The e-mail that contains a subject line that says something like, "Your account may have been compromised." Clicking a link in the e-mail will take the recipient to a web site that looks nearly identical to Capital One's web site, and he or she is then prompted to enter his or her login information. The site, however, is a "dummy site," and those running it have set it up as a way to steal people's banking information. It's important to pay attention to where you go online; if you've clicked a link, make sure it's taken you to a domain name that you recognize (CapitalOne.com, and not CapOneBanking.com, for example). Make sure e-mail greetings address you specifically rather than generically (though this is not a foolproof test); if an e-mail looks suspicious to you, copy its text and enter it into a Google search... if it's a scam, chances are you'll find out very quickly because various web communities act as watchdogs for scams and post warnings.

This is also true of many Craigslist ads; be wary of Craigslist ads that promise work from home, and if you are suspicious of any Craigslist ad, do the same method as above and copy the text of the ad into a Google search, and see if other internet users have flagged it as a scam.

Lagniappe: Enable spam filters in your e-mail. E-mail spam can be dangerous, but most of the time, it's simply annoying. Luckily, most popular webmail services have excellent spam filters built in. Gmail, in particular, is strong in this regard. But unwanted e-mail will always find a way through, if only occasionally. In these cases, it may be esaiest to block the unwanted sender. If, for example, you're constantly receiving messages from Papa John's advertising pizza specials, and you wish to no longer receive them, you can set up a filter that automatically deletes any e-mail you receive from the papajohns.com domain name. A Google search for setting up a filter on your webmail service of choice (Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) will quickly explain how to do this simple process.

If you should have any other tips for keeping yourself safe on the internet, please post it in the comments section below, or feel free to contact the Law Office of John Redmann via Twitter @JohnRedmannATTY, Facebook, or by sending us an e-mail. We just received this great tip from a reader, for example: Never announce on Facebook that your family is going out of town, because it could announce to burglars that your house will be empty.

By staying informed about the many clever ways you protect yourself, you can have some peace of mind that you and your family's privacy online is secure.

John Redmann appears on nightly news to discuss distracted driving

2012-10-11T16:12:15Z

I appeared on WVUE-Fox 8 News in New Orleans last night to discuss the dangers of distracted driving. We've discussed distracted driving on this blog before, so you know that I feel it's one of the key issues facing drivers today. Distracted driving has been proven to be as dangerous (if not more so) than impaired or drunk driving.

FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports

All around the country, the law is cracking down on distracted driving. Distracted drivers who cause accidents are being charged criminally. In the cases of fatal accidents caused by distracted drivers, the offending drivers are in many instances being charged with negligent homicide.

So please, if you're behind the wheel, put down your cell phone, your iPod, your GPS system, or anything else that may distract you from the only thing you should be focusing on: driving safely.

by John W. Redmann

Fusion Centers at Center of DHS Controversy

2012-10-10T21:09:57Z

A Senate bipartisan report has scrutinized the Department of Homeland Security's National Network of Fusion Centers. DHS established fusion centers in order to share information across local, state, and federal levels regarding criminal and terrorist activity. The report cites several problems with fusion centers, including their incompetency to produce any specific data on terrorists, the infringement of civil liberties, the infringement of First Amendment rights, and the inability of both the federal and state governments to account for money spent on fusion centers. The federal government estimates, for example, that it allocated anywhere from less than $300 million to $1.4 billion. The report strongly encourages Congress to decrease the amount of money allocated to fusion centers. In its defense, DHS retorts that the report is inaccurate and misleading. Furthermore, DHS purports that the report completely ignores the benefits received by participating officials from the federal government. Despite this report, it seems that Congress will continue its support for this program without sufficient oversight for the quality of reports coming out of the centers or for the amount of money allocated.

As Linda Ellerbee questions often, "Who's in charge here?" The federal government has the right to tax its people. However, it also has the responsibility to be held accountable on how it spends its revenue. Furthermore, local and state officials share the responsibility of government accountability in how they spend funds. Last, all parties must decide the true mission and objectives of effectively and efficiently dealing with terrorist information and threats. If the Joint Terrorism Task Force led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is used to combat terrorist activities and state and local authorities are used to fight against criminal threats, is there really a need to duplicate programs at the fiscal expense of the American people?

by Thomas Krouse, Contributor

Keeping up with power outages with Entergy alerts

2012-08-27T19:19:53Z

Obviously, hurricanes are never easy to go through, but we're lucky to live in a time where information and technology is abundantly available, and many of us don't even realize it's out there.

]]> Power outages, for example, were in the past a matter of chance. Even a decade ago, evacuees had little idea when the power had been restored to their homes; either they stayed away long enough till they suspected their power was back, they knew a neighbor who was able to contact them, or the news was able to report that power had returned to their neighborhood. Now, however, we have individualized alerts from power companies keeping us constantly informed of the power situations at our homes.

Entergy--the New Orleans area's leading energy provider--makes it very easy to stay on top of the power situation. I recommend signing up for text alerts about power outages at your home. There are several ways of doing this:

1) Visit Entergy's web site, log in to your account, and link your mobile phone number to your account. You can then set your preferences for which alerts you'd like from Entergy. You can choose either a phone call or a text message from Entergy informing you of the power situation at your address; you can also set up billing alerts.

2) Set up alerts directly from your phone by texting the letters 'REG' (short for 'register') to 368374. You'll then be prompted to provide your account number and zip code to link your phone number to your account. Once your phone is registered, there are a number of commands you can send to Entergy, but the one you'll want to use is 'STAT,' for 'status,' to learn the power situation at your home.

You can also visit Entergy Storm Center online for much more information about Isaac and other storms. Remember, your best friend in scary situations is information; always do your best to stay as informed as possible, and you'll be able to handle whatever comes your way that much better.

Be sure to stay tuned to RedmannLaw.com or follow us on Twitter @JohnRedmannATTY in the coming days for more helpful information about hurricanes, safety, and insurance claims.

by Matt Stokes

Civil rights complaint issued against Jefferson Parish school system

2012-08-24T19:28:42Z

Many believe that poor academic performance among children is predominantly correlated with the level of involvement from parents. Sometimes, however, parents who exercise a low level of involvement do so through no fault of their own; there are instances when parents want to participate, but cannot, as is the case in some Jefferson Parish public schools, as reported by The Times-Picayune.

]]> The allegations that have surfaced have the potential to expose severe infractions committed by a number of schools. Specifically, the plaintiffs--16 Latino students and their families--claim that various schools in the Jefferson Parish school system have failed to provide translation and interpretation services to Latino students, in addition to other omissions and abuses. Consequently, parents of limited English proficiency remain uninformed of school rules and procedures, unaware of school closures, and incapable of communicating effectively with teachers.

Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that school staffs have created a hostile learning environment. Some students have even complained about teachers using racial slurs during class and about school administration probing into their immigration statuses by forcing them to submit a social security number. If true, the Jefferson Parish School Board is in direct violation of the judgment rendered in Pyler v. Doe (1982), in which the Supreme Court ruled that entitlement to public education is not contingent upon immigration status.

In fact, the situation in that district has deteriorated so much that the Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a complaint with the US Department of Education and Homeland Security, citing violations of the Civil Rights Act and provisions of the Jefferson Parish School Board Charter. Regardless of the resulting legal action, the Jefferson Parish school system should enact the appropriate measures to eliminate discriminatory practices in schools. Alternatively, parents can partly overcome the issue by committing to learn the English language.

by Michael Oro, Contributor