Surviving a DUI Checkpoint

by Matthew J. Ruff

When rolling into a sobriety checkpoint a few things can make the difference between coming out in your car versus going out in a police car.  First, understand that most police checkpoints for DUI are structured in an area where there may be only one turnout or place to make a U turn.  The officers know that this is a fertile area to make arrests and will therefore post chase officers to detect and pursue those that use the turnout.  Though arguably illegal, they do it and will find a pretext to justify the stop.  Second, never go thru the check with your window all the way down, they will smell even the smallest or faintest odors of recently consumed booze and order you to the secondary where further evil awaits.  Third, never voluntarily submit to and FST or PAS breath tests in the field, it only gives them more evidence to use against you later in Court.  Keep these three tips in mind and hopefully you will not need a DUI lawyer to come bail you out after the fact.

Personal Injury Law

When someone is physically or emotionally injured, or their private property is damaged, it is considered under the law to be a "personal injury". The laws covering personal injury allow the injured party to receive compensation for damages caused by someone else's carelessness, negligence, recklessness, or intentional actions. Personal injury law is also called "tort" law. States and the federal government have enacted tort laws for the protection of your rights. Tort actions have three elements: there must be a legal duty between the defendant (the one doing the wrong) and the plaintiff (the person injured), there must be a breach of that duty, and damage must occur because of that breach. When all three elements take place, a personal injury, or tort, has occurred.

The laws of our society place demands on all citizens not to harm others. This means that not only should people be safe from harm, but so should their possessions. Whenever someone else harms you or something that belongs to you, they become liable to answer to the tort laws governing the situation. Liability can be caused by intentional acts, or torts, or by negligence. An intentional act is one designed to cause harm or injury. The person committing the act wants to harm you. A negligent act occurs when someone fails to take appropriate action and you are harmed as a result of that failure. For instance, if an angry person throws a brick through your car window, that is an intentional tort (it may also be a criminal action). On the other hand, if a careless driver runs into your car, that is a negligence tort. In the first case, the defendant wanted to cause an injury; in the second case, the defendant did not want to injure you but failed to take the appropriate action to prevent injury. In both cases, the defendant had a duty not to injure you or your property, because our laws and society create that duty. The duty was breached by the intentional or negligent actions of the defendant, and damage to your person or property resulted.

Another form of person injury law covers "strict liability". Strict liability means that there is responsibility whether or not negligence was involved. This is usually applied to situations which in themselves are abnormally or inherently dangerous, and also to the area of product liability. Manufacturers are charged with the responsibility of assuring that their product is safe when used as directed. If someone is injured by a product, under the terms of strict liability they do not have to prove intent or negligence, only that the product was defective through no fault of their own, and that harm was done.

Once a personal injury has occurred, the defendant has a liability to make good the damage done. "Damages" is the term for whatever is owed to you to compensate you for your loss. Damages can be agreed upon by you and the injuring party, through insurance settlements, or by other means. But often, the damages offered to you may not fully compensate you for your loss. This is especially true if you have suffered physical injury and have not been able to work. Personal injury law is the mechanism for determining who is in the wrong, or in other words, who is "liable", and what the liable person should have to pay for the damage caused.

If you are the victim of a personal injury, there are several things you can do to help yourself. First and foremost, make sure that you seek proper medical attention and that you follow up with the proper authorities and your own insurance company.

Anonymous Lawyer

I was on a panel this morning, a breakfast for unemployed lawyers through some organization that sprouted up sometime during the recession to help unemployed lawyers network with other unemployed lawyers so they can all pretend they're accomplishing something by talking to each other about unemployment. I like to go to these panels, collect resumes, and sprinkle them around the firm on the desks of associates slightly less qualified than the people whose resumes I collect, just to make the associates a little nervous. "See, there are people out there who we could hire, with just a little more experience than you, just a little better GPA, just a little higher LSAT score (yes, the LSAT score is on a good number of these resumes)." No, seriously, networking is great, I've seen a lot of my former associates at these events and I'm absolutely thrilled to run into them and find out they've had no success in the job market. Perhaps I shouldn't be happy about it-- perhaps it means our firm isn't respected in the industry, that our former associates aren't valued, and that we need to work on our image. But maybe I shouldn't overthink it. It probably just means there aren't any jobs out there, and it's not anyone's fault that they can't find legal work. Except it's no fun to think about it that way, no fun to believe it's all just about the economy, and the fact that all these specialists we trained to do securitization deals and real estate transactions just don't have much value in a world where those deals aren't happening. No, I choose to blame the individual.

That's what I talked about on the panel this morning. "Blaming yourself for the economy, and what you should have done better." That was the title of my talk. 74 slides, where I itemized out a series of things lawyers should have been doing before they got laid off. Not sleeping. Gaining experience in every other area of the law. Going to school at night for an additional degree. Training to be an expert in social media and search engine optimization. Inventing Facebook. And so forth. There were lots of things lawyers could have done to prevent being laid off, or to set themselves up for a fine career even once the legal industry imploded. Not my fault they didn't win that million-dollar Netflix prize for improving their who-likes-what-movie algorithm. Could have been working on it in their spare time. Not my fault they didn't win the lottery. Not my fault they didn't invest in land that ultimately proved to have oil beneath it. None of these things are my fault, or the firm's fault.

For some reason, no one seemed to like my speech.