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Connecticut General Statutes Section 42-150bb provides

Whenever any contract or lease entered into on or after October 1, 1979, to which a consumer is a party, provides for the attorney’s fee of the commercial party to be paid by the consumer, an attorney’s fee shall be awarded as a matter of law to the consumer who successfully prosecutes or defends an action or a counterclaim based upon the contract or lease. Except as hereinafter provided, the size of the attorney’s fee awarded to the consumer shall be based as far as practicable upon the terms governing the size of the fee for the commercial party. No attorney’s fee shall be awarded to a commercial party who is represented by its salaried employee. In any action in which the consumer is entitled to an attorney’s fee under this section and in which the commercial party is represented by its salaried employee, the attorney’s fee awarded to the consumer shall be in a reasonable amount regardless of the size of the fee provided in the contract or lease for either party. For the purposes of this section, “commercial party” means the seller, creditor, lessor or assignee of any of them, and “consumer” means the buyer, debtor, lessee or personal representative of any of them. The provisions of this section shall apply only to contracts or leases in which the money, property or service which is the subject of the transaction is primarily for personal, family or household purposes.

The contract must have a provision for attorney’s fees to be awarded to a commercial party. As defined by statute, a commercial party is a “seller, creditor, lessor or assignee of any of them.”

A consumer party is a “buyer, debtor, lessee or personal representative of any of them.”

Furthermore, the statute only applies to contracts or leases in which “the money, property or service which is the subject of the transaction which is primarily for personal, family or household purposes.” There can be situations in which a transaction is for most personal and business purposes, so the issue then becomes when the transaction is primarily for personal purposes.

Common situations in which these occur are debt collection, and household leases.

The provision applies to a situation in which a contract ” provides for the attorney’s fee of the commercial party to be paid by the consumer.” It makes no difference if the commercial party is actually seeking the attorney’s fees.

For an award of attorney’s fees, the consumer must “successfully prosecute(s) or defend(s) an action or a counterclaim based upon the contract or lease.” A withdrawal may be treated like a successful defense, but not in all cases. See Connecticut Housing Finance Authority v. Asdrubal Alfaro 163 Conn. App. 587 (2016). In situations in which a plaintiff files a withdrawal of action , a consumer/defendant should immediately move for attorney’s fees, and claim that a withdrawal should be treated as a successful defense, warranting attorney’s fees.

If you have any questions, concerning a claim for attorney’s fees, in a consumer contract, please feel free to contact

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT 06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

A plaintiff who obtains a court judgment against a defendant will want to place a judgment lien on a defendant’s residence, in the amount of the judgment.

Connecticut has a homestead exemption law, found at Conn. General Statutes 52-352b (t)

The exemption applies to

(t) The homestead of the exemptioner to the value of seventy-five thousand dollars, or, in the case of a money judgment arising out of services provided at a hospital, to the value of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, provided value shall be determined as the fair market value of the real property less the amount of any statutory or consensual lien which encumbers it.

The exemptioner must be a natural person. The homestead must be “owner occupied real property used as a primary residence.” (Presumably, if the residence is owned by a trust, the trust cannot exempt the real property).

Conn. General Statutes 52-352f provides
A money judgment may be enforced against any property of the judgment debtor unless the property is exempt from application to the satisfaction of the judgment under section 52-352a, 52-352b, 52-352d or 52-361a or any other provision of the general statutes or federal law. The money judgment may be enforced, by execution or by foreclosure of a real property lien, to the amount of the money judgment with (1) all statutory costs and fees as provided by the general statutes, (2) interest as provided by chapter 673 on the money judgment and on the costs incurred in obtaining the judgment, and (3) any attorney’s fees allowed pursuant to section 52-400c.

Therefore, the $75,000 exemption effectively protects $75,000 in equity of a residence, from foreclosure, by a judgment lienor.

“Once a foreclosure sale is confirmed and reduced to proceeds, the homeowner’s exemption rights attach to the proceeds of the sale. ” Spears v. Elder, 156 Conn. App. 778 at 787 (2015). Therefore, if a judgment lien holder would seek to foreclose, a judgment debtor would be entitled to $75,000 proceeds from the foreclosure sale, before the judgment lienholder gets paid.

Example – Foreclosure sale by lien holder

Proceeds – $180,000

1st Mortgage – $120,000

Balance due – $60,000 – paid to judgment debtor – as exempt proceeds of sale

Judgment Lienholder gets nothing

Interestingly, it appears that there is no exemption in a situation in which a judgment debtor sells his or her property at a private sale. Assuming the same situation above, the lienholder would seem to be entitled to payment of the $60,000, rather than the judgment debtor.

Similarly, it is not clear if a judgment lienholder would get paid, before a judgment debtor, in the case of a foreclosure by a mortgagee.

Example, Foreclosure by mortgagee/Bank

1st Mortgage $120,000

Balance due $60,000 – since the statute prevents the lienholder from enforcing the lien, and the lienholder is not “enforcing the lien,” it appears that the lienholder should be able to collect the $60,000 balance.

If you have any questions, concerning judgment lien enforcement in Connecticut, please feel free to contact

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT 06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

For people having a problem with a home improvement contractor, you may be able to collect money from the Home Improvement Guaranty Fund.

There are several requirement in order to collect.

1. The contractor must have been registered with the Department of Consumer Protection
2. You must obtain a judgment against the contractor. (an exception applies if the contractor files for bankruptcy).
3. The work must have been done on a residential property – single family, multi-family not more than 6 units, condo, or coop.
4. You must apply to the fund within 2 years of obtaining a court judgment
5. You must attempt to collect the judgment – an exception applies for small claims.
6. The claim must be for work performed, not just materials.

Unfortunately, too many contractors do poor work, and refuse to repair the work after receiving the contractual money.

If you had unsatisfactory work done by a home improvement contractor, please feel free to contact:

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT 06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

Serving New Haven County and all of Connecticut.

It is not only the weight of a train, it is also a train’s speed, which can result in a tragedy.     Train accidents can cause massive amounts of damage to people and property

A train accident can result from both mechanical failure and human error.  The accident can result in serious injury or death to a train passenger, or someone in the way of a moving train.  

For example, a train conductor may be going too fast to negotiate a turn on the track.   As a result of the excessive speed, the train can derail, resulting to death to many passengers. 

Also, a train Grade Crossing Signal may fail.    In these situations, a driver of a motor vehicle may cross a railroad track at the same time that a train is passing, resulting in a horrible collision.  

Another example is a bus ignoring a stop sign at a train crossing resulting in collision.  

Sadly, there are too many examples of train accidents, which cause unnecessary death and destruction.   Wikipedia has a list of these accidents under “List_of_rail_accidents”     

If you or someone who know has been involved in a train accident, please feel free to contact

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT 06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

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Under Connecticut law, in a personal injury case, a fact-finder determines the amount of the total damages, including economic and non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering).

After a determination of total damages, a Judge will usually be asked to determine if there is a collateral source reduction, for economic damages.  The idea of a collateral source reduction is that an injured party should not be allowed to get a double recovery, such as a payment by a health insurance company for medical care, and recovery of the same amount of money as part of a damages award.

Example:

Economic Damages – medical bills of $7,000

Non-Economic Damages – $10,000

Total Damages of $17,000.

If the medical bills are paid by health insurance, in general, the damages awarded is reduced to $10,000.

There are two important exceptions

1.  An ERISA health care plan.
2.  Connecticut General Statutes § 52–225a (c) permits plaintiffs an offset for health insurance premium payments that they or members of their family have made indirectly to obtain health insurance coverage.  See Alvarado v. Black, Supreme Court Case # 16044.

§ 52–225a (c) permits claimants to offset any collateral source benefits paid by the claimant’s health insurance carrier by the amount of premiums paid by the claimant, directly or indirectly to obtain benefits.   Payments made by a claimant’s employer to purchase the claimant’s health insurance constitute  indirect payments on the claimant’s behalf.

Situation #2 – a claimant has medical bills of $7,000 which are covered by insurance.

A.  The health insurance is provided by an employer who pays the premiums on behalf of the insured.   There is $12,000 in health insurance premium costs to provide the insurance associated with the medical bills.  Therefore, there is no collateral source reduction.

B.  Assuming that the health insurance premiums were $5,000, the $5,000 premiums  would reduce the $7,000 medical bills, so that there is still a $2,000 collateral source reduction.   The total award then becomes $15,000 ($17,000 less $2,000 reduction).

If you have personal injury claim, please feel free to contact

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT  06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

 

 

Public Act 17-114 went into effect on January 1, 2018.

The law increased the amount of minimum coverage for automobile Liability Coverage

Old Law                                                                              New Law

$20,000 per person liability                            $25,000 person liability

$40,000 per accident – liability                    $50,000 per accident – liability

$10,000 property damage coverage            $25,000 property damage

 

The new law does very little to protect a person injured in a serious motor vehicle accident.   In many accidents, medical bills alone can exceed the statewide minimum coverage of $25,000, leaving a balance due for medical bills and nothing for an award of pain and suffering.

In these situations, an injured party would normally seek compensation under his or her own policy, underinsured motorist coverage.  However, there are many situations in which the injured party cannot seek compensation under his or her own policy, because he or she has low underinsured coverage policy limits (such as 25,000 per person, and 50,000 per accident).

If you have been injured in an auto accident and have any questions, please feel free to contact.

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT  06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

The issue sometimes comes up- is there a statute of limitations for student loans, or can a person be sued at any time on a defaulted student loan?

There is no statute of limitations on the collection of student loans.

The law can be found at 20 United States Code, Section 1091a(a) (b) & (c), Public Law Number 102-26.   See also   United States v. Lawrence, 276 F.3d 193 (5th Cir. 2001), United States v. Motley, 238 F.3rd 425 (6th Cir., 2000).

If you have any questions with regard to student loan debt, please feel free to contact:

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT  06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

Chiropractic has been around since 1895.  The basic idea is that a person’s health can improve with spinal manipulation.

Typically, a person goes to see a chiropractor for short term back pain.    It is recommended that people with arthritis, osteoporosis, spinal cord compression, or people who  are taking blood thinners, should not go to a chiropractor for treatment.

There are some risks with chiropractic.  For example, chiropractic manipulation may worsen a herniated or slipped disk.  In addition, there are situations in which chiropractic care has resulted in a stroke, from spinal manipulation of a neck.

In addition, there have been situations in which people have gone to a chiropractor because of unspecified pain.   In these situations, a person may need testing to determine the source of the pain, rather than chiropractic treatment.    The risk is that the chiropractor fails to recognize the cause of the pain (which can be life threatening) and instead recommends long term care.

If you have been injured as a result of the negligence of a chiropractor, please feel free to call

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT  06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com

Serving New Haven County, and all of Connecticut

 

 

Many companies have borrowed to buy back shares, or pay dividends.

Since the financial crisis, there have been a surge in the issuance of junk bond debt.

In addition, there are exchange traded funds which actively buy and trade junk bonds.  Often, the funds have fancy names such as “High Yield Bond Fund” or “High Interest Rate Bond Fund.”    With the higher interest rates on the bonds comes a higher risk.

By definition, junk bonds have a much higher risk of default than treasury bonds, or high quality corporate bonds.

It is 2018 and we are near the end of an expansionary business cycle.  Nobody knows when the cycle will end.   The only thing an investor can do is reduce risk of loss, by reducing or eliminating holdings in below investment grade bonds.

Junk bonds have two risks.   A bonds price can go down as interest rates go up.  In addition, a corporation issuing a bond can default on its debt, causing a partial or total loss of principal.

In you have been lead into a poor investment in junk bonds, and have suffered a loss from an investment advisor or broker’s advice,  please feel free to contact Attorney Singer  Attorney Singer would be happy to discuss with you your rights, including any right to arbitration.

Attorney Robert M. Singer

2572 Whitney Avenue

Hamden, CT  06518

203-248-8278

rsingerct@yahoo.com