attorney Archives - The Poliquin Firm

Top Tips from a Dover, Delaware Divorce Lawyer

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 03:39:08 +0000

Dover, Delaware Divorce Attorney, Ron Poliquin, gives his top tips for anyone seeking a Divorce Lawyer in Delaware. Visit www.DoverLawOffice.com or call (302) 702-5501 today!

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

This is Ron Poliquin’s Top Tips before getting a divorce.

Get an attorney and get a plan before telling your spouse you’re going to get a divorce. Consult with an attorney prior to your divorce, before the chaos begins. The person you marry may be vastly different than the person you divorce.
Get organized. Get your financial paperwork together, bank statements, tax forms, W-2’s, pay stubs, 401k, mortgage information, car payments, anything having to do with the marital finances. Okay, in every marriage there is usually somebody that is in charge of the finances and there’s somebody that’s not in charge of the finances. Now if you’re not in charge of the finances, make sure you have access and can get that information before you tell your spouse you’re getting a divorce. Because the chances of getting that information readily afterward are going to be slim. Especially if your spouse is angry at you.
Don’t come to some kind of agreement without knowing your rights. It’s good to be civil. It’s good to compromise. It’s not good to make rash uninformed decisions in a hyper-emotional state. There are people that come to me all the time that say I just want to get this over with. Well, that might be fine now, but what about two years’ down the road when you don’t have your finances in order and when you’re not able to pay your bills? What happens then? So, first, know what you’re entitled to through the advice of an attorney, then work on a compromise that will work for both of you.
There are no winners in a divorce. Okay, it usually doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It doesn’t matter who’s actions caused the divorce, who cheated on who or who is bad toward who. That’s not going to really make a difference in getting a divorce and going through proper division, get over it. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was or who you see if you think your husband or wife was the cause of the divorce.
I’m your attorney, not a therapist. Get an emotional support group together. A network could be friends, could be a priest, could be a therapist. Divorce is a super stressful time in your life. It could be one of the most stressful time in your life. Do not underestimate how this divorce is going to impact your life. Attorneys are not equipped to handle that. So you are going to need to get that support system from another venue.
If you’re in an abusive relationship, all bets are off. Get a protection order right away. Call the police, get a PFA. As an attorney, what I can do if you’re interested in making your spouse pay or dragging your spouse through hell, call another attorney. If you want someone who stands up for you, to help you resolve matters fairly so you can move on with your life, I can do that. But make sure you get an attorney, make sure you get counsel.

This is Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com

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Police Misconduct

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 11:39:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com your Dover Employment and Civil Rights Attorney,

We are here to talk about some hot topics that mainly involve police misconduct. That was a hot video that we released as far as talking about bad cops. Recently there was a decision that came out by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, saying flipping the bird, yes giving a middle finger to the police is protected by the First Amendment. Although I wouldn't recommend it, they decided it was protected by the First Amendment.

In this case, it is a civil lawsuit of an individual suing a police officer individually. Basically, what happened is a police officer in Michigan pulls over a driver, cuts the driver break by not giving him or her a speeding ticket. As the police officer is driving away, the individual gives the officer the middle finger. Okay, the police officer pulls this person over again and actually punishes that person for the middle finger by raising the ticket to a speeding ticket, the harsher speeding ticket.

So, what happened in this case though is that the court said the officer could not do that. That could in fact fringe on the driver so the defendants right to be free from unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment as well as her free speech rights under the First Amendment. The court decided that any reasonable officer would know that a citizen who raises her middle finger engages in speech protected by the First Amendment. So, there was clearly no basis for the officer to arrest this driver a second time just solely based on the middle finger.

I'm going to give you a couple of examples on police misconduct that could be civil lawsuits:

Excessive Force is when officers use of force is unreasonable. Whether the use of force would be unreasonable depends on the surrounding facts and circumstances of the case on whether it's excessive force. If the amount of force was reasonable it doesn't matter what the officer’s intentions were. But the reverse is also true if the officer had good intentions, but the use is unreasonable the excess excessive force claim will not be dismissed. So, excessive force means that an officer cannot use force beyond what is necessary to detain the defendant.

False Arrest is basically to be able to prevail on a false arrest claim the victim must show that the arresting officer lacked probable cause. That is facts sufficient to cause a reasonable person to believe that crime had occurred. It is not enough for the facts to be simply incorrect. Even if the officer relied upon facts which later turns out to be false, the officers not liable if he believed those facts were, in fact, accurate at the time.

Malicious Prosecution is basically when a claim asserts that the officer wrongly deprived the victim of the Fourteenth Amendment Right to Liberty. To win on this type of claim you must prove four things.

the defendant police officer commenced a criminal proceeding.
the preceding ended in the victim’s favor, usually, there's no conviction or it gets dismissed.
this is the most important one, that there was no probable cause.
that the proceeding was brought with malice towards the victim.

Usually, what happens in these types of claims, are going to have to show that there's some kind of falsehood. Either that the police officer made up facts for an arrest or that he left out facts in order to arrest and provide prosecution in his case. In any case against a police officer, you must overcome the qualified immunity defense. Meaning in order to win a civil rights claim, an individual bringing a police misconduct claim must prove the actions of the police exceeded reasonable bounds and fringed the victim’s constitutional rights and produce some injury or damages.

These lawsuits can be very expensive, and they can be very hard to prove. In order for you to prove them, you're probably going to need the help of an experienced attorney. So, if you want to get your case evaluated, if you think you've been a victim of police misconduct either excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution or maybe there's something else we're not talking, please see in an experienced attorney. Thank you for your time. Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com

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Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 04:28:17 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney, Ron Poliquin, often gets questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused.

Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. I am your Delaware Employment Attorney.

What we are discussing today is a topic I often get questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused. Here is what I'm doing, I'm trying to answer why experienced employment attorneys charge a consult fee.

First of all, employment law is different than personal injury law. Most of the time when a personal injury client is coming in to see an attorney, that attorney knows they are going to sign on that client. There is a high percentage of success that there will be a settlement of some kind, employment law is different. Employment law is harder law as far as employment lawyers need to be more particular about the type of clients and cases they bring on. It has a much lower rate of converting clients to successful cases. That is simply because if you get hit by a bus on the street, or you get a car accident, there's going to be injuries, there’s going to be a settlement, there is going to be insurance. Employment law whether it be sexual discrimination, unpaid wages, gender, race discrimination, whistle-blower act, a lot of times there's no insurance involved. You are not dealing with an insurance company. So, if I'm suing XYZ dry cleaner for the most part they are not going to have insurance to pay that out. That makes it more difficult for the attorney to get an early and easy settlement for the client.

Secondly employment law is a lot more personal. If you are working at somebody's factory and have a slip and fall or hurt your hand, there is nothing really personal about that. There is nothing where you are really attacking the employer and the employer usually as workers’ compensation insurance. If you are claiming somebody sexually harassed you or racially discriminated against you, you are kind of attacking that person's character and business. People that own small businesses, or medium businesses, they take that very personal. So, they are much more likely to fight and litigate an employment law case then they are a workers’ comp case. That is really out of their hands because workers’ comp insurance is completely a different kind of animal. For employment law I find it takes longer for lawyers get paid. To obtain a settlement, it's a lot more work. There is a whole process and I'll go through that in another video as far as the EEOC, Department of Labor charge process that you have to go through, priority healing and even filing a suit in an employment case.

Attorneys want someone invested in their case, so in a way, they charge consult fees to weed out some bad cases or people that really won't have any skin the game. To a certain extent, I understand it's a little unfair because if you just got fired, do you have money to pay a consult fee? There are sometimes when I will not charge a consult fee, depending on the circumstances. What I will say as far as the benefits to of paying the consult fee to the client, get the right information first even if you pay for it, $300 for peace of mind is worth it, as far as I'm concerned. Most of us can scrounge together $175 bucks to $300 to pay an attorney and get the right information first, whether than going to an attorney that maybe dabbles in employment law.

Let’s put it this way if you’re with an attorney and you are telling him about your case and all the sudden they gotta pause, run up and take a break somewhere, they are probably Googling up with Google what information they are trying to get. Go to an experienced employment lawyer who knows the law and knows how to handle a particular case from A to Z. There are a lot of specific issues that go along with how to handle a case. Get peace of mind, go to an experienced employment lawyer. I know it's a little bit of a bite to pay that consult fee. But I'll tell you what, if you mentioned that you watched the video, I will wave a first time consult fee for you. Okay great talking to you, I hope that helps a little bit. Remember fight for your rights, you have rights, get peace of mind. Ron Poliquin, out. Thanks!

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