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kelyon · 3 years

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Golden Rings 17: A Name

The Storybrooke sequel to Golden Cuffs

Mrs. Gold revisits her past

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Mrs. Gold looked on in mute horror as Hunter Duke dumped more hot sauce on his triple bacon hamburger. He’d asked Ruby to give him three meat patties with no bun and steamed broccoli instead of fries. When Mrs. Gold had questioned that lunch choice, he had explained his new diet to her.

At length.

Hunter had always been the kind of boy who thought meat and spicy food were substitutes for a personality. He’d been the star athlete at Storybrooke High, taking home championships in football and wrestling. He’d been popular with everyone--except for the one girl he’d arbitrarily decided was the hottest girl in school. That girl, the valedictorian, hadn’t given the quarterback the time of day. Not until she lost her scholarship and suddenly dating the son of a lawyer sounded like the way to the best future she would ever get.

“They do the burgers way too overdone here,” Hunter said with his mouth full. “You don’t get enough protein if it isn’t bloody.”

Mrs. Gold shrugged and took a bite of her own burger. It needed more pickles, but it was still amazing. Toasted bun, crisp lettuce, a patty that was juicy but not messy. She hadn’t had a Granny’s burger in forever. When she was a kid, her parents had taken her out for burgers every Friday night after their shop closed. Mom would bring her own supply of extra-zesty mustard and Dad…

She set her bun on her plate. On those idyllic, bygone Friday nights, her father would spend the whole meal grumbling about money and expenses and couldn’t they have eaten at home? Mom had always told him to stop worrying and enjoy the moment. It was the end of another week and they were together, happy and healthy. She’d calmed him down and kept him focused, every time there was a crisis.

Until they faced the biggest crisis of their lives.

Mrs. Gold blinked out of her thoughts. For some reason, Hunter was still talking. Maybe it looked like she was listening. She’d gotten good at that when they had dated. Now that she was listening for real, she tried to catch up.

“I keep telling my dad he needs to just change the sign. ‘Duke & Duke & Duke’ has a great ring to it, right? Or he could for ‘Duke & Sons.’ I don’t mind sharing the spotlight with Steven. Or he could leave the sign as it is and retire! ‘Duke & Duke’ is classic, everyone knows we’re the best bankruptcy lawyers in town. Just let my brother be the first Duke and I’ll be second Duke and we’ll take this firm into the future! But Dad keeps brushing me off for some reason.”

Mrs. Gold took a sip of iced tea and desperately wished it was something stronger. “Did you… go to law school?”

She had the oddest feeling that she couldn’t remember how long they had been out of high school. All she knew for sure was that Hunter had enrolled at Storybrooke Community College--and she hadn’t. It was possible that he had gotten his bachelor’s. As Hunter was fond of saying, “Cs get degrees.” But SCC didn’t have a graduate program. Had he taken more classes on the internet? Or correspondence courses? It boggled her mind to think of Hunter of all people had gotten a law degree during the years she’d been Mr. Gold’s stupid slut.

“Well actually,” he explained, “you don’t need to go to law school to take the bar exam. I’ve got a bachelor’s in poli-sci and I’ve been around lawyers all my life. My dad knows everyone at the state bar. He’ll pull some strings and I’ll be all set.”

Mrs. Gold stabbed her straw at the ice cubes in her glass. It was so fucking unfair. Hunter was an idiot child who had never worked for anything in his life. His father--Richard “Big Dick” Duke--had bought him a Humvee when he turned sixteen, a speedboat when he graduated high school, and a college education just because no son of his wasn’t going to go to college. Now he would give his son the bar exam and a ready job and everything he would need for a future, without Hunter ever having to grow up past the maturity level of a toddler.

She’d lost her virginity to this boy. One summer night after senior year, in the back seat of that gas-guzzling monstrosity. They’d been dating for a while and Hunter had been perfectly content with her amateurish attempts at blowing him. But for her, the novelty had begun to wear off. So she’d suggested that he “put it in” instead. It was mostly a way for him to get his rocks off while she could just lie back and think of something more interesting.

Her memories of that night were dark and cramped and disappointing. She kept her shoes and her bra on the whole time. When Hunter was done, she had been more confused than anything else. This is what people made such a big deal about? Wasn’t sex supposed to be better than that?

It wasn’t until later, with Mr. Gold, that she had understood what people were talking about in romance novels.

But now that things were so strained with her husband, she found herself thinking back to the only other sexual partner she’d ever had. Looking at Hunter now, she had to remind herself of how bad things had been that summer, when he had been a welcome distraction. Hunter hadn’t wanted to talk about doctors’ appointments or shop inventory or arguing with financial aid departments--every fight a losing battle. All he wanted to do was drink, screw around, and have fun, and he welcomed her along for the ride.

I thought he would help us. I was wrong. He wasn’t what I needed.

Mrs. Gold shook the thought out of her head. The thought was true, but she recognized it as not being her own, so she talked over it.

“Have you been hanging out with any of the old gang? Sean or Jesse or anyone?”

It had been exciting to be included with the rich kids, to feel like she belonged in the world of the young and the reckless--people who didn’t have to worry about things because their parents would always be around to bail them out. They could do whatever they wanted because the world belonged to them.

Hunter shrugged. “Jesse’s an idiot, so no change there. But Sean’s been such a pussy ever since Ashley had her baby.”

Ashely Boyd had been in that group with her. Rich boys liked running around with poor girls because they were easier to impress than the rich girls. New Town young ladies also had parents who bought them cars for their sixteenth birthdays. They didn’t need to rely on spoiled boys to pay their way every time they went out, so they didn’t have to go along with whatever stupidity the boys came up with. Mrs. Gold had taken a lot of risks just so Hunter would keep thinking she was interesting.

But Ashley had loved Sean for more than his money and toys. All she ever wanted was for him to love her back and stay with her. Once, Mrs. Gold had thought Ashley was stupid for pining so hard after a boy who would never commit. But now she had a little more sympathy.

“What happened with Sean?”

“Mr. Herman kicked him out, cut him off. Now he’s living at Ashley’s place, working his ass off at the fish factory.”

“The cannery,” Mrs. Gold corrected quietly. Fish King Canned Foods was always hiring. It was always looking for people who could stand waist-deep in ice and fish guts for twelve hour shifts, operating machinery that could cut through a human hand as easily as it did a whole herring. Her cousin Andrew had gotten a job right out of high school. Her Uncle Peter had worked there for twenty years before he died.

“Like I said, he’s a total pussy now. All he does is work and hang out with Ashley, work and take care of the baby, work and sleep. You know he asked her to marry him a couple days ago? Utterly whipped.”

“Wow,” she said.

She had never respected Sean Herman, so it was weird to think of him actually growing up. People didn’t usually change around Storybrooke. But now the spoiled party boy was taking responsibility for his child and the woman who loved him. He had given up his own wealth and family status because he loved a penniless girl from Old Town.

It was impressive.

She finished her burger while Hunter started another monologue, this time about all the fat, lazy, poor people who came to his father’s office to declare bankruptcy. Forget being a lawyer, he should go into talk radio.

“I did ask you to lunch for a reason.” She grabbed her chance to talk while he was taking a breath.

“Oh yeah?” Hunter wiped hot sauce off his face with the back of his hand. “What’s up?”

“You know a lot of people,” Mrs. Gold said. “I was wondering if you might know somebody that I don’t.”

He slurped up the dregs of his diet soda. “Yeah? Who?”

Mrs. Gold gripped the edge of the table and desperately hoped he wouldn’t notice how hard it was for her to say this. The gold of her wedding ring was dull on this cloudy afternoon. “I… just have a name right now. I think it’s a woman named Belle.”

She could see the wheels in his head turning as he thought. “Belle? Hmm. I don’t know.”

“She’s probably young. Maybe our age. Maybe younger. Or older? Maybe she’s one of your mom’s friends or something?”

A woman as old as Karen Duke would still be younger than Mr. Gold. Maybe he was looking for more maturity now. In the days since she found out about Belle, Mrs. Gold had been racking her brain to try to imagine what kind of person she was. She was only moderately sure that Belle even was a woman. If Mr. Gold wanted this Belle person more than he wanted his own wife, she was probably the opposite of her in some crucial way.

Hunter made a face and scratched the back of his head. “Nah, I got nothing. Sorry.”

“Yeah,” Mrs. Gold looked down at her empty plate. “I’m not surprised.”

Seeing that they were both done with their food, Ruby came up to the table. “Now is this gonna be one check or two?”

It was almost funny how quickly Hunter looked to Mrs. Gold. He panicked at the thought of paying for his own lunch. Daddy must not be giving him an allowance anymore.

“You invited me,” he said, almost chiding her with the reminder of how things worked.

“Yeah, that was my first mistake.” Mrs. Gold took the check from Ruby and pulled out her purse.

A fifty would be enough to pay for two hamburgers and Ruby’s discretion. Not that Mrs. Gold was being particularly sneaky, arranging lunch with her ex-boyfriend at the most popular restaurant in town. But that didn’t matter either. She could take Hunter to the pawn shop and bang him in front of the cash register and Mr. Gold wouldn’t give a fuck.

And neither would she.

****

Wandering listlessly up and down Main Street, Mrs. Gold tried to keep warm. The clouds were dark and heavy with more snow. The sidewalks were shoveled, but there was always a residue of dirty slush. It was the time of year when trash kept showing up in the streets, no matter how many anti-littering signs Mayor Mills put up.

Mrs. Gold’s suede boots were more fashionable than sturdy. The same could be said for her coat, scarf, and hat. The cold seeped through her flimsy layers, until she was nothing but numb and damp, until it was hard to breathe, until she was so desperate to be warm again she resolved to go into the next open store, no matter which one it was.

Sugar’n’Spice was always warm and it always smelled good. Mara Trudine burned a different scented candle every day the shop was open. Today the candle was cinnamon and cloves. The whole place smelled like cider.

Mrs. Gold entered as quietly as she could. She hadn’t been in the store since before Christmas. And she had never walked through that door without strutting proudly, loudly announcing her intentions to buy whatever lingerie it would take to drive Mr. Gold wild.

Was Mr. Gold even capable of going wild for her anymore? Or did the sight of her just turn his stomach? He thought she was trash, she disgusted him, he didn’t want her and he never would again.

Ducking behind a rack of silky robes, Mrs. Gold took a breath to calm herself down. It was a bad habit she’d developed lately, thinking of the worst-case scenario just to make herself feel something. Her mind kept poking and prodding at her pain, pulling out her darkest fears and putting them front and center. She could push it away if she concentrated. If she tried to act normal, she could almost feel normal. Sometimes.

“Oh hey.” Mara had spotted her from the sales counter in the back of the shop. “Mrs. Gold, I didn’t see you come in.”

Steeling herself, Mrs. Gold walked out from behind the robes. “That’s me.” She tried to smile.

Mara stayed where she was. Bits of fabric were spread out over the counter. It looked like she was sewing something.

Mrs. Gold’s heart skipped a beat. The fabric was a shiny yellow-gold. Sometimes, when Mr. Gold was really pleased with her, he liked her to wear that color. Without thinking about what she was doing, she began to walk towards the counter.

“What are you working on?”

Mara looked up from her needle. Even after all these years, she had the same face she’d had as a kid--sharp brown eyes, adorably crooked smile, freckles all over her round cheeks. She looked so innocent. You’d never think she made a living off of unmentionables.

“Custom order,” she said proudly. “I’ve been trying to get tailor-made lingerie off the ground for as long as I can remember. Got my first order in October and more have been coming in.” She held up the fabric and Mrs. Gold saw a pair of panties that would go up to a person’s rib cage.

“Somebody wants that?”

Mara’s excitement dimmed in the face of Mrs. Gold’s skepticism, but she did her best to explain. “It’s shapewear,” she said. “See the reinforced panels? The idea is to smooth out tummy rolls and make a more flattering silhouette.”

Mrs. Gold looked over at the rack of Spanx. “Don’t you already sell that?”

“Yeah, but the stuff I make is sturdier than the mass-produced product. Better for people with non-standard bodies. And prettier too. Nothing over there comes in straw yellow.”

It was true. Most of the stuff in that section was nude or black. Mrs. Gold knew a thing or two about wearing corsets, but she had never actually needed one. She had thought Mr. Gold liked her to be skinny.

“That is a pretty color,” she said. “Who’s it for?”

Mara looked at her dubiously. “I can’t talk about a client, it’s confidential.”

“How are you planning on getting more orders without word of mouth?”

“Well, normally word of mouth comes from customers talking about the product, not a creator talking about their customers.”

Falling into old habits, Mrs. Gold tilted her head back as her voice went up an octave. “I know, but it’s just such a pretty shade of gold, I was wondering if someone special might have ordered it...?”

She let the question hang. Mara just frowned and shook her head.

“Come on, you’re smarter than that.” She held up the garment again. “This is for a plus-sized woman. Two of you could fit in here without straining the elastic. Mr. Gold didn’t order this for you.”

Without thinking, she leaned over the counter and got in her friend’s face. “Did he order it for someone else?”

Mara’s eyes went wide. Her mouth transformed into a tiny little O of surprise. Mrs. Gold pulled away and kept her eyes on the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Gold said. “That was out of line.”

“Wow,” Mara said softly. “I, uh, I’d heard that something had happened. But I didn’t know it was that bad. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” She turned around, pretended to look at something lacy until the urge to scream had passed. When she glanced at Mara, her brown eyes were trained on her.

“It’s not from him,” she said simply. “I’ll even tell you that my client paid with a credit card, so it was definitely her own money.”

Or maybe Mr. Gold was just covering his tracks. But at least he hadn’t called in the order himself. At least he wasn’t flaunting his disregard for her.

“Does he… Have you ever heard from him? Is he buying anybody lingerie?”

Mara shook her head. “I only see him on Rent Day.”

With nothing left to lose, she asked her old friend the same question she’d asked her ex-boyfriend. “Do you know anybody named Belle?”

Mara blinked. “I don’t… think so. The name sounds familiar, but I’m probably thinking of a character from a book or a movie. It’s not the sort of name you hear around Storybrooke.”

“No,” Mrs. Gold agreed.

“But I’ll keep my ears open, if you want.”

Mrs. Gold raised her eyebrows. “What about client confidentiality?”

“Well, whoever Belle is, she’s definitely not a client. And until Mr. Gold pays me himself, neither is he.”

You’re a good friend.

This time, Mrs. Gold didn’t swat at the thought that intruded into her head. She let it rest over her brain like a blanket. She let the thought warm her up.

She leaned against the counter and watched Mara work. The shapewear was fully constructed, and she was embroidering stalks of straw in a pattern along the sides. It was really pretty. The sort of thing that would give a girl a boost in confidence and excitement about her own body, her own clothes. Mrs. Gold remembered how fancy she’d felt the first time she wore something as simple as a bra and panties that were the same color. That sort of energy could get people through interviews or contract negotiations, any time you needed to feel powerful. Mara was helping people here, she was good at it, and it seemed to make her happy.

“So, business is good?”

“Yeah, it’s picking up. Valentine’s Day was a madhouse, but you know how that goes.”

Mrs. Gold nodded. Lingerie could be as popular as flowers when it came to last-minute gifts that men always thought would be cheaper than they were.

“Did you spend the day with anyone?”

Mara scrunched her nose. “I’m working too hard for that. Besides, I don’t meet a lot of single men in this business.”

She was able to snicker at the joke, and she was able to mean it. “Yeah, I guess not.”

They were quiet together for a minute, then Mrs. Gold asked a more personal question: “How’s your mom?”

Mara looked up from her embroidery for a second, but then went back to work. “She’s fine. I think she’s bored, now that the preschool is only open for half-days. She keeps asking me to move in with her.”

“I take it you don’t want to?”

A halfhearted shrug. “I don’t have a good reason not to. It would make sense, we could split the bills and keep each other company. But there is also something really nice about living by yourself. Even if it’s just a one bedroom apartment on top of your store.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Mrs. Gold drummed her fingers against the counter. She had gone from living with her father to living with Mr. Gold. The night after their anniversary had been the first time she had slept in any building by herself.

But she understood what Mara meant. When you lived with your parents, it was hard to feel like an adult. To make matters worse, Irma Trudine--Mara’s mother--had been a preschool teacher for as long as anyone could remember. She tended to treat everyone she talked to like they were a four-year-old whining for more juice and crackers.

Mama’s closest friend.

Now the voice was annoying her again. It was true that Irma and Mom had been good friends. That was why she had grown up with Mara as much as she had grown up with her cousin Janine. The three girls were inseparable, just like their mothers had been.

Until…

Mrs. Gold sighed. She was warmer now. She should probably buy something before she moved along.

“Do you have anything comfy around here?”

“What, like no underwire?”

“No, like pajamas, I guess. Or loungewear? I think I need to get a pair of sweatpants.”

Mara grinned. “The last time I saw you wear sweatpants, they had dinosaurs on them.”

“And they were fucking awesome.”

She had gotten those pants for her eighth birthday and worn them until the knees gave out. Even after that, Mom had cut them up for shorts and she’d worn them for another six months. If she could find sweatpants that had dinosaurs on them now, she wouldn’t think the mere act of wearing sweatpants was a sign of the end of her life.

But Sugar’n’Spice only had pajama sets with flowers on them--or hearts, but Mrs. Gold couldn’t bring herself to buy anything that looked like love. It was enough to buy comfort, something that would make it a little easier to be in her own skin.

Mara rang her up and gracefully accepted the extra fifty Mrs. Gold handed her.

“How about I call this a down payment on a custom order for you?”

Taking her bag, Mrs. Gold shrugged. “I don’t think Mr. Gold will want me in lingerie for a long time.”

“I didn’t say it was for Mr. Gold, I said it was for you.” Mara looked her steadily in the eye. “Come back some time and we can talk about what you need. Okay?”

She opened her mouth, and then closed it. “Yeah,” she said at last. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Good.”

****

The day wasn’t over. Mr. Gold was still in his shop. She could go there for a few hours of awkward silence. Or she could go back to the house, for a few hours of lonely silence. Then he would come home and make dinner. They would eat together and make stilted small talk. And then she would go to her bedroom, and he would go to his.

That was their life now.

He said he wanted her to stay. He said he wanted to take care of her. He said he loved somebody else.

It didn’t make sense. It was wrong. They were supposed to be together. Being near him, but not being with him, trying to act like everything was fine, trying to act like he didn’t matter to her as much as she obviously didn’t matter to him…

It was tearing her apart.

So she walked. Like a circling shark, she kept moving so she wouldn’t drown. She was trapped. Storybrooke was a small town, there were only so many places you could go in one day. And she had lots of days ahead of her. Mrs. Gold had the image of the rest of her life, stretching out to the horizon. She would have to keep walking, she would never be able to rest. She would never have a home again.

She was in Old Town now. The flower shop was behind her. Aunt Teri’s yellow and purple house was on this street. How many times had she walked the route between those two places? Her whole childhood, her whole life until she married Mr. Gold and moved into his house. She used to belong in this neighborhood.

Was there a way she could belong here again?

Turning at the plastic sign that said Hair Today! she went to the side door of the yellow house and knocked. Then she stepped away from the door and waited for an answer. She held herself against the cold.

Janine came up from the basement salon. Her mouth opened when she saw Mrs. Gold.

“Oh hi,” she said. “Mrs. Gold, you don’t… usually knock.”

“Yeah, I’m usually a bitch to you and I’m sorry.” She hadn’t meant to start that way, but she couldn’t avoid the truth anymore.

Janine’s eyebrows raised and her sky-blue eyes--a family trait--went wide. “O...kay,” she said slowly. Stepping outside, she shut the door behind her. The cold made her keep her arms crossed over her chest. “What’s going on?”

“I…” She didn’t know what to say. She had started, but what was the next step? “Things suck, right now, for me. And I kind of suck too. And I realized…”

What had she realized? That no one in her family would help her in an emergency? That she had built her whole identity around one relationship and without that she had nothing? That she had spent years intentionally, maliciously, pushing away all the people that had loved her in exchange for a man who only paid her? That all of those things were really fucking shitty? None of that was a realization. Mrs. Gold had always known what her life was. But she was just now starting to care.

“I realized I’m sorry,” she said. “For as long as I’ve been with Mr. Gold, I’ve been so caught up in him and it made me a worse person. And I want to be better.” She looked at Janine. “You deserve a better cousin.”

Janine sighed, her breath visible in the twilight. “So the honeymoon is finally over, huh? Are you tired of him or is he tired of you?”

Mrs. Gold pressed her lips together. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. At the same time, she didn’t begrudge her cousin the snark.

“He’s tired of me,” she admitted softly. “And I’m kind of tired of me too.”

Now Janine looked more sympathetic. “What happened?”

“You didn’t hear? I thought everyone in Storybrooke knew by now.”

“Yeah, no, I’ve heard a lot of rumors. But I’m asking you what happened. What’s the truth?”

“He loves someone else.” The words slipped from her mouth like a burden off her shoulders. “Some Belle person. And like, like he loves her, Janine. More than he ever loved me.”

“Oof,” Janine let out a long breath. “Oh honey, that’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

Until now, Janine had been standing in the doorway, and Mrs. Gold had been in the driveway, with about five feet between them. Janine stepped out first, one arm open in invitation. The two cousins met in the middle. They didn’t hug, exactly, but they huddled together for warmth and comfort.

“Do you need to stay with us?” Janine asked. “We never did anything with Andrew’s room after--”

“No,” she shook her head. Mr. Gold asked her to stay with him, and even that had to be better than sleeping in her dead cousin’s bedroom. “I’m fine, I… He’s taking care of me.”

“What, like alimony?”

“No, we’re not… I’m not leaving him.”

Janine pulled away. “But you said he loved someone else.”

She nodded. “He does, but he doesn’t want the marriage to be over.”

There was a moment of silence while Janine’s face twisted in anger and disbelief. Then she burst out: “Oh screw him! Does he really get to decide that? That man is cheating on you and you don’t even get the satisfaction of walking away? Come on!”

Mrs. Gold couldn’t look her in the face. “It’s not as simple as that,” she said. “I--I married him, I need him, I…” The next words were small and soft: “I don’t want the marriage to be over either.”

Closing her eyes, Janine pressed the heel of her palm to her forehead. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I mean, the sanctity of marriage is great and all, but Mr. Gold has been nothing but bad to you for so long. And now you have a reason to get out, but you’re not taking it? Why?”

“Because this is different,” she said the words before she knew what they meant. “He’s different than he was when we got married. There’s something… good about him now. Something kind and gentle. Something that wasn’t there before.”

Janine rolled her eyes. “So now you have feelings for the monster?”

“He’s not a monster now. Maybe he was before--I can see that more clearly now. But now the only thing he’s doing wrong is… not wanting me. And it hurts, but it’s not an evil thing.”

He’s my husband and I love him. Can you understand that?

Shifting her weight back and forth, Janine kept her arms over her chest. “And he’s not… hurting you anymore?”

She shook her head. “Not even in a way I like.”

“Gross,” Janine said, matter-of-factly. “I mean, good for you that it used to be something you liked, but it is very gross for me to think about. Too much information is a very real thing.”

Both of them snickered at that. The years of lingering tension eased a little more.

“Can you at least stay for dinner? We’re having Spaghetti-Os a la Chloe.”

“Chloe’s cooking?” How old was she now?

“It was her idea. Under careful supervision, she is going to dump a can of Spaghetti-Os into a pot and warm it up. Mom might even let her into the spice cabinet for some basil.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.” She shuffled her feet. “But I should get going. I still eat with Mr. Gold. It’s… weird.”

“I bet.” Janine put her hands in the pockets of her work smock. “Listen, I… I’m sorry. All this time… I could have been a better cousin too. We--I think the general idea was that… we were waiting for you to meet us halfway.”

“I get that,” she said. “And I never came close to halfway. Not with anybody.”

“Well, you did today. And I’m glad. We missed you.”

Nodding, she tried to keep the tears out of her eyes. All this time, she could have had her family. If she had just eased up on being Mrs. Gold, she could have been the same girl everyone had loved.

“I’m trying to make things better now, you know?”

Janine nodded. “I know.” They were quiet for a minute, then she asked. “Have you talked to your dad lately?”

“Not yet,” she shook her head. “Not him or Uncle Manny. I… I kinda thought I’d start easy.”

Janine half-smiled, half-winced. “Manny will be happy to see you. You’re the only niece he’s got.”

She snorted. “I’m the only daughter my dad has and that didn’t make anything any easier.”

“He loves you, Lacey,” Janine said. It was the first time Mrs. Gold had heard her first name in as long as she could remember. “We all do.”

#golden rings #rumbelle #rumbelle fic #ouat #you like ocs? I've got so many ocs

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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The ‘follow-up appointment’

https://wapo.st/2z4uWXR

The ‘follow-up appointment’

'For many people in medical debt, it leads to a courtroom' (THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING IN AMERICA)

By Eli Saslow | Published August 17 at 5:41 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted August 18, 2019 9:18 AM ET |

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The people being sued arrived at the courthouse carrying their hospital bills, and they followed signs upstairs to a small courtroom labeled “Debt and Collections.” A 68-year-old wheeled her portable oxygen tank toward the first row. A nurse’s aide came in wearing scrubs after working a night shift. A teenager with an injured leg stood near the back wall and leaned against crutches.

By 9 a.m., more than two-dozen people were crowded into the room for what has become the busiest legal docket in rural Butler County.

“Lots of medical cases again today,” the judge said, and then he called court into session for another weekly fight between a hospital and its patients, which neither side appears to be winning.

So far this year, Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center has filed more than 1,100 lawsuits for unpaid bills in a rural corner of Southeast Missouri, where emergency medical care has become a standoff between hospitals and patients who are both going broke. Unpaid medical bills are the leading cause of personal debt and bankruptcy in the United States according to credit reports, and what’s happening in rural areas such as Butler County is a main reason why. Patients who visit rural emergency rooms in record numbers are defaulting on their bills at higher rates than ever before. Meanwhile, many of the nation’s 2,000 rural hospitals have begun to buckle under bad debt, with more than 100 closing in the past decade and hundreds more on the brink of insolvency as they fight to squeeze whatever money they’re owed from patients who don’t have it.

The result each week in Poplar Bluff, a town of 17,000, has become so routine that some people here derisively refer to it as the “follow-up appointment” — 19 lawsuits for unpaid hospital bills scheduled on this particular Wednesday, 34 more the following week, 22 the week after that. Case after case, a hospital that helps sustain its rural community is now also collecting payments that are bankrupting hundreds of its residents.

“Think of me as the referee,” the judge explained, as he called the first case. “It’s my job to be fair. I’m not going to be chugging for either side.”

On one side of the courtroom was a young lawyer representing the hospital, and he carried 19 case files that totaled more than $55,000 in money owed to Poplar Bluff Regional. Three nearby hospitals in Southeast Missouri had already closed for financial reasons in the past few years, leaving Poplar Bluff Regional as the last full-service hospital to care for five rural counties, treating more than 50,000 patients each year. It never turned away patients who needed emergency care, regardless of their ability to pay, and some people without insurance were offered free or discounted treatment. In the past few years, the hospitals’ total cost of uncompensated care had risen from about $60 million to $84 million. Its ownership company Community Health Systems, a struggling conglomerate of more than 100 rural and suburban hospitals, had begun selling off facilities as its stock price tanked from $50 per share in 2015 to less than $3 as the lawyer approached the judge to discuss the first case.

“We’re seeking fair payment for services we’ve provided. Nothing else,” he said.

Behind him in the courtroom were some of Poplar Bluff Regional’s patients — a population that was on average sicker, older, poorer and underinsured compared with the rest of the United States. More than 35 percent of people in Butler County have unpaid medical debt on their credit report, about double the national rate. Most of the 19 people on the morning docket had been treated in the emergency room and then failed to pay their bill for more than 60 days before receiving a summons to court. Many of them had insurance but still owed their co-pay or deductibles, which have tripled on average in the past decade across the United States. One patient owed more than $12,000 after being treated for a heart attack. Another was being sued for $286. If the hospital won a judgment, it had the right to garnish money from a patient’s paycheck or bank account or it could put a lien against a house.

“I’m hoping to negotiate a payment plan, but I can only afford $20 a month,” one patient told the court.

“I’m late for work, so if there’s someplace I can sign, I guess I’ll just sign,” said another patient, who owed more than $3,000 after spending six hours in the emergency room for chest pain.

“How am I supposed to pay $4,000 to see a doctor if I’m barely making $2,000 a month?” asked another.

One by one the patients came up to plead their cases until the judge called Gail Dudley, 31, who was sitting with her mother in the third row. She had gone to the emergency room at Poplar Bluff Regional in 2017 after passing out because of complications from Type 1 diabetes. The hospital had given her medication to stabilize her blood sugar, kept her overnight for observation, and then sent her home with a bill for $8,342, of which she was still responsible for about $3,000 after insurance. She’d tried to appease the hospital’s billing department by sending in an occasional check for $50, but with accumulating interest and penalty fees, the balance on her account had remained essentially the same for two years.

“I’m grateful for what they did for me, and I know I owe it, but I don’t have that kind of money,” she said.

The judge gestured in the direction of the hospital’s attorney and then looked at Dudley. “Would you like a chance to talk to this gentleman for a moment and see if you two can work something out?”

“Okay,” she said. “We might as well try.”

Matthew McCormick, 27, led Dudley into the hallway to begin the same negotiation he’d been having with dozens of hospital patients each week. On Thursdays he was listed as a hospital attorney for the court docket in Doniphan, population 1,997. Mondays it was Kirksville, Tuesdays were Bloomfield, and Wednesdays often brought him here, to a 95-year-old courthouse in Butler County, where he’d represented Poplar Bluff Regional on more than 450 billing cases so far in 2019.

“We’d like to find a way to work with you on this,” he told Dudley as they sat down together in the courtroom lobby. He reached out to shake her hand. He smiled and offered his business card. For the past year, he’d been working on behalf of the hospital as the newest attorney for a law firm called Faber and Brand, which promised to “use the judicial system to recover money owed.” McCormick’s cases hardly ever went to trial. More than 90 percent of the people being sued weren’t represented by an attorney and at least half failed to show up in court, resulting in default judgments in the hospital’s favor. The rest of the patients McCormick met came into court with little to offer in their own defense except for apologies and stories of poverty, poor health, unemployment and bad luck.

“I’m real sorry about this,” Dudley said. “If I’d been thinking straight, I would never have let them take me to the emergency room. I know I can’t afford that. I wish I could pay you all of it right now.”

“Let’s make this as easy as we can,” he told her. “Is there something you can pay? A little each month?”

“I don’t have anything extra,” she said, thinking about the paycheck she earned for a full-time job as a clerk at Goodwill, which totaled $736 every two weeks. After paying for rent and utilities on a subsidized three-bedroom apartment, groceries, and child care for her 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, she sometimes ran out of money by the end of the month.

“How about $15 out of every paycheck?” she offered, even though she doubted she could afford it. When McCormick didn’t immediately respond, she revised her offer. “Thirty? How’s that?”

“Let’s say thirty,” McCormick said.

He had more patients waiting to negotiate, so he thanked Dudley and led her back into the courtroom to sign her judgment. It said she had agreed to a total claim of $3,021, plus $115 in court costs and 9 percent annual interest. She would send the hospital $60 each month until the balance was paid in full, and if she failed to make a payment the hospital could pursue garnishment of her wages.

“I’m glad you worked something out,” the judge said as he signed off on the agreement.

The court clerk handed Dudley a copy of the judgment, and once she was back outside the courtroom she took out her phone to run the math. If everything went right, and she somehow managed to save and pay $60 each month, she’d be sending checks to Poplar Bluff Regional for the next 5½ years.

In order to make 66 monthly payments, she had to somehow come up with the first, but her bank account was almost empty and payday was still a week away. Dudley left the courthouse, got into the car with her mother, then changed into a polo shirt for work. They drove away from the cobblestone streets of downtown and headed toward Goodwill.

“Could’ve been worse,” said her mother, Norma Garcia, 48. “Sixty isn’t so terrible.”

“It is if you don’t have it,” Dudley said. “Who do you know that’s sitting on an extra sixty each month?”

They drove past a dollar store, a payday lender and a fast-food restaurant advertising “full-time career opportunities” starting at $7.80 an hour.

“Maybe you can borrow it?” Garcia suggested.

“I don’t do credit cards or lenders,” Dudley said. “That’d just be another debt I couldn’t pay.”

“I meant from somebody.”

“Who?” Dudley asked. “Everyone we know is paying the hospital already.”

Their family had lived for three generations in Poplar Bluff’s predominantly black neighborhood just north of downtown, where according to credit records more than half of adults had debt in collections for unpaid auto loans, credit cards or medical bills. Dudley’s aunt had been sued twice by Poplar Bluff Regional and was forfeiting 15 percent of her paycheck to a court-ordered hospital garnishment. Her cousin was being sued for $1,200. Her sister owed $280.

But none of them had cycled through the emergency room as often as Dudley during the past several years. Her two pregnancies had complicated her diabetes, and she’d tried to save money by skimping on insulin. Instead of paying $50 every few months for a preventive medication, she had collapsed at work and been rushed to the emergency room, where she was sent home with thousands of dollars in now-unpaid bills. Poplar Bluff Regional was an ambitious rural hospital — a $173 million facility with a cancer center, a cardiac center, dozens of specialists and state-of-the-art surgical suites — and Dudley believed she was alive because of it. But during the past five years, the average amount that rural patients owed for hospital visits nationwide had doubled, and Dudley was earning $11 an hour at Goodwill as new hospital bills kept arriving in her mailbox.

She owed a $100 co-pay from another hospital visit in November 2018 that had already been sent to collections.

She owed $485 from another trip to the ER in April.

She owed $159 for lab tests, $85 for a doctor’s visit and now $60 for her first court-mandated payment, which was due at the end of the month.

“I’m trying to make peace with the fact that this debt could sit on me forever,” she said.

“Maybe I can help,” Garcia offered, even though she was on disability and avoiding her own billing notices from the hospital, seeking $365 in unpaid deductibles.

“It’s my bill to pay,” Dudley said. She’d been saving a little money for back-to-school supplies, and she said it was enough for her first month’s payment. “I’ll handle it,” she said. “There’s no other choice.”

There was one person in town who did believe patients had another choice, and over the past several years Daniel Moore had begun encouraging his clients to make it.

“Don’t pay one cent,” the lawyer had advised dozens of clients. “I don’t care how much the hospital says you owe. Fight them over it.”

Moore had been working for almost five decades as a self-described “old hillbilly lawyer” out of a converted house downtown. He specialized in criminal defense, with more than 400 cases pending all over the state, and he liked to align himself with the underdog. He’d been unable to afford a doctor himself while growing up on a farm with no running water, so when clients began coming to his office with bills from Poplar Bluff Regional that they could neither pay nor understand, he had agreed to take a look.

What Moore found in some of those itemized receipts didn’t make sense to him either: $75 for a surgical mask; $11.10 for each cleaning wipe; $23.62 for two standard ibuprofen pills; $592 for a strep throat culture; $838 for a pregnancy test. He searched through court records and discovered that the hospital was collecting hundreds of monthly garnishments from hourly employees at places like Quickstop, Earl’s Diner, Wendy’s, Instant Pawn and Alan’s Muffler.

He decided to represent several hospital patients free, and went to court against the hospital for a jury trial for the first time late in 2015. Moore’s client was a Poplar Bluff police officer with decent insurance, an Army veteran who went to the emergency room one afternoon because of chronic stomach problems. He’d been given a battery of tests in the ER, then treated with three IV medications before being discharged after three hours with a bill for $6,373. His insurance had paid some, but the hospital was suing him for co-pays totaling about $1,650, plus interest.

“The facts show that he came to the hospital and received treatment that alleviated his symptoms,” the hospital’s lawyer at the time told the jury. “He received three separate bills. He just didn’t pay the balance.”

“These charges are outrageous,” Moore told the jury. “He doesn’t owe the hospital anything.”

A billing manager from the hospital took the stand and said Poplar Bluff’s prices were in line with other hospitals in rural Missouri. She mentioned the high cost of providing care at rural hospitals, which must pay higher salaries in order to recruit doctors, nurses and specialists while also suffering more from federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare compared with urban hospitals.

Moore began to question her about each charge on his client’s itemized receipt. Why, he asked, did it cost $800 to spend approximately 40 seconds with a doctor? Why was the hospital charging $211 for an oxygen sensor that was on sale for $16 at Walmart? Then Moore asked about three identical charges on the bill labeled “IV Push,” which each cost $365.

“An IV push, if I understand it, that’s the act of sticking the needle in that little port and then squeezing it,” Moore said. “Is that right?”

“Yes,” the billing manager said.

“So that takes maybe five seconds, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you, the hospital, think that act alone, not counting the drugs inside the IV, which cost thousands of dollars more — that act alone is worth $365.38?”

“Yes,” she said again.

“It makes me so mad,” Moore told the jury, in his closing argument. “If you’re content to let the hospital just crush people, then go on and give them their measly $1,650. But what you can do today is say, ‘Hey, we’re tired of this.’ How many times are we going to let working people take the shaft?”

“In reality, this is a simple bill,” the hospital’s lawyer countered. “All we’re asking for is his co-pay and his deductible. The hospital provided treatment. He still owes.”

The jury deliberated for less than an hour and then found in favor of Moore’s client, wiping away his hospital debts. But whatever sense of victory Moore felt was mitigated over the next months as Poplar Bluff Regional’s lawsuits continued to spread across the civil courts of Southeast Missouri, and he agreed to take on more free cases. “The hospital circuit,” Moore called it, which meant Mondays in Caruthersville, Tuesdays in West Plains and Wednesdays in Poplar Bluff.

On Thursdays it was Doniphan, a town of fewer than 2,000 people, where Poplar Bluff Regional had filed more than 300 lawsuits during the past several years. Moore drove past horse farms and timber plants, parking near an abandoned hospital. Ripley County Memorial had closed six months earlier, and there were locks on the doors and a sign taped above the ambulance bay.

“For Nearest Emergency Services, go 29 miles to Poplar Bluff Regional,” it said, and now several of those Poplar Bluff patients had been summoned right back to downtown Doniphan, to a red brick courthouse at the center of the town square.

They crowded next to each other on a wooden bench in the lobby, waving their hospital bills as fans against the late July heat while they waited for the courtroom to open and then entered one by one: a husband and wife who went for cancer treatments at Poplar Bluff Regional each week but couldn’t afford the co-pays. A community college student who owed more than $7,000 for treatment of a chronic heart condition. And then the judge, who had presided over hundreds of hospital cases during his career and also recused himself from one case a few years earlier, when the patient being sued was his wife.

“How are we all doing today?” he asked, as he looked down at a docket with 14 more cases between a hospital ownership company that couldn’t afford to keep losing money and patients who couldn’t afford to pay. Both sides were drowning in debt, fighting to stay above water, and pulling each other back down.

“It’s another full docket,” the judge said. “We might as well get started.”

Eli Saslow is a reporter at The

Washington Post. He won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his year-long series about food stamps in America. He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing in 2013, 2016 and 2017

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islamic-finance · 5 years

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10 - The Performance of The Islamic Banks - A Realistic Evaluation

Islamic banking has become today an undeniable reality. The number of Islamic banks and the financial institutions is ever increasing. New Islamic Banks with huge amount of capital are being established. Conventional banks are opening Islamic windows or Islamic subsidiaries for the operations of Islamic banking.

Even the non-Muslim financial institutions are entering the field and trying to compete each other to attract as many Muslim customers as they can. It seems that the size of Islamic banking will be at least multiplied during the next decade and the operation of Islamic banks are expected to cover a large area of financial transactions of the world. But before the Islamic financial institutions expand their business they should evaluate their performance during the last two decades because every new system has to learn from the experience of the past, to revise its activities and to analyze its deficiencies in a realistic manner.

Unless we analyze our merits and demerits we cannot expect to advance towards our total success. It is in this perspective that we should seek to analyze the operation of Islamic banks and financial institutions in the light of Shari‘ah and to highlight what they have achieved and what they have missed.

Once during a press conference in Malaysia, this author was asked the question about the contribution of the Islamic Banks in promoting the Islamic economy. My reply to the question was apparently contradictory, I said it he has contributed a lot and they have contributed nothing. In the present chapter an attempt has been made to elaborate upon this reply. When it was said that they have contributed a lot, what was meant is that it was a remarkable achievement of the Islamic banks that they have made a great break- through in the present banking system by establishing Islamic financial institutions meant to follow Shari‘ah. It was a cherished dream of the Muslim Ummah to have an interest-free economy, but the concept of Islamic banking was merely a theory discussed in research papers, having no practical example. It was the Islamic banks and financial institutions which translated the theory into practice and presented a living and practical example for the theoretical concept in an environment where it was claimed that no financial institution can work without interest. It was indeed a courageous step on the part of the Islamic banks to come forward with a firm resolution that all their transactions will conform to Shari‘ah and all their activities will be free from all transactions involving interest.

Another major contribution of the Islamic banks is that, being under supervision of their respective Shari‘ah Boards they presented a wide spectrum of questions relating to modern business, to the Shari‘ah scholars, thus providing them with an opportunity not only to understand the contemporary practice of business and trade but also to evaluate it in the light of Shari‘ah and to find out other alternatives which may be acceptable according to the Islamic principles.

It must be understood that when we claim that Islam has a satisfactory solution for every problem emerging in any situation in all times to come, we do not mean that the Holy Qur’an or the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or the rulings of the Islamic scholars provide a specific answer to each and every minute detail of our socio-economic life. What we mean is that the Holy Qur’an and the Holy Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم have laid down broad principles in the light of which the scholars of every time have deduced specific answers to the new situation arising in their age.

Therefore, in order to reach a definite answer about a new situation the scholars of Shari‘ah have to play a very important role. They have to analyze every new question in the light of the principles laid down by the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah as well as in the light of the standards set by the earlier jurists, enumerated in the books of Islamic jurisprudence. This exercise is called istinbat or ijtihad. It is this exercise which has enriched the Islamic jurisprudence with a wealth of knowledge and wisdom for which no parallel is found in any other religion. In a society where the Shari‘ah is implemented in its full sway the ongoing process of istinbat keeps injecting new ideas, concepts and rulings into the heritage of Islamic jurisprudence which makes it easier to find out specific answer to almost every situation in the books of Islamic jurisprudence. But during the past few centuries the political decline of the Muslims stopped this process to a considerable extent. Most of the Islamic countries were captured by non-Muslim rulers who by enforcing with power the secular system of government, deprived the socio- economic life from the guidance provided by the Shari‘ah, and the

Islamic teachings were restricted to a limited sphere of worship, religious education and in some countries to the matter of marriage, divorce and inheritance only. So far as the political and economic activities are concerned the governance of Shari‘ah was totally rejected.

Since the evolution of any legal system depends on its practical application, the evolution of Islamic law with regard to business and trade was hindered by this situation. Almost all the transactions in the market being based on secular concepts were seldom brought to the Shari‘ah scholars for their scrutiny in the light of Shari‘ah. It is true that even in these days some practicing Muslims brought some practical questions before the Shari‘ah scholars for which the scholars have been giving their rulings in the forms of fatawas of which a substantial collection is still available. However, all these fatawas related mostly to the individual problems of the relevant persons and addressed their individual needs. It is a major contribution of the Islamic banks that, because of their entry into the field of large scale business, the wheel of evolution of Islamic legal system has re-started. Most of the Islamic banks are working under the supervision of their Shari‘ah Boards. They bring their day to day problems before the Shari‘ah scholars who examine them in the light of Islamic rules and principles and give specific rulings about them. This procedure not only makes Shari‘ah scholars more familiar with the new market situation but also through their exercise of istinbat contributes to the evolution of Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, if a practice is held to be un-Islamic by the Shari‘ah scholars a suitable alternative is also sought by the joint efforts of the Shari‘ah scholars and the management of the Islamic banks. The resolutions of the Shari‘ah Boards have by now produced dozens of volumes—a contribution which can never be under-rated.

Another major contribution of the Islamic banks is that they have now asserted themselves in the international market, and Islamic banking as distinguished from conventional banking is being gradually recognized throughout the world. This is how I explain my comment that they have contributed a lot. On the other hand there are a number of deficiencies in the working of the present Islamic banks which should be analyzed with all seriousness.

First of all, the concept of Islamic banking was based on an economic philosophy underlying the rules and principles of Shari‘ah. In the context of interest-free banking this philosophy aimed at establishing distributive justice free from all sorts of exploitation. As I have explained in a number of articles, the instrument of interest has a constant tendency in favor of the rich and against the interests of the common people. The rich industrialists by borrowing huge amounts from the bank utilize the money of the depositors in their huge profitable projects. After they earn profits, they do not let the depositors share these profits except to the extent of a meager rate of interest and this is also taken by them by adding it to the cost of their products. Therefore, looked at from macro level, they pay nothing to the depositors. While in the extreme cases of losses which lead to their bankruptcy and the consequent bankruptcy of the bank itself, the whole loss is suffered by the depositors. This is how interest creates inequity and imbalance in the distribution of wealth.

Contrary to this is the case of Islamic financing. The ideal instrument of financing according to Shari‘ah is musharakah where the profits and losses both are shared by both the parties according to equitable proportion. Musharakah provides better opportunities for the depositors to share actual profits earned by the business which in normal cases may be much higher than the rate of interest. Since the profits cannot be determined unless the relevant commodities are completely sold, the profits paid to the depositors cannot be added to the cost of production, therefore, unlike the interest-based system the amount paid to the depositors cannot be claimed back through increase in the prices.

This philosophy cannot be translated into reality unless the use of the musharakah is expanded by the Islamic banks. It is true that there are practical problems in using the musharakah as a mode of financing especially in the present atmosphere where the Islamic banks are working in isolation and, mostly without the support of their respective governments. The fact, however, remains that the Islamic banks should have gressed towards musharakah in gradual phases and should have increased the size of musharakah financing.

Unfortunately, the Islamic banks have overlooked this basic requirement of Islamic banking and there are no visible efforts to progress towards this transaction even in a gradual manner even on a selective basis. This situation has resulted in a number of adverse factors :

Firstly, the basic philosophy of Islamic banking seems to be totally neglected.

Secondly, by ignoring the instrument of musharakah the Islamic banks are forced to use the instrument of murabahah and ijarah and these too, within the framework of the conventional benchmarks like Libber etc. where the net result is not materially different from the interest based transactions. I do not subscribe to the view of those people who do not find any difference between the transactions of conventional banks and murabahah and ijarah and who blame the instruments of murabahah and ijarah for perpetuating the same business with a different name, because if murabahah and ijarah are implemented with their necessary conditions, they have many points of difference which distinguish them from interest-based transactions. However, one cannot deny that these two transactions are not originally modes of financing in Shari‘ah. The Shari‘ah scholars have allowed their use for financing purposes only in those spheres where musharakah cannot work and that too with certain conditions. This allowance should not be taken as a permanent rule for all sorts of transactions and the entire operations of Islamic Banks should not revolve around it.

Thirdly, when people realize that income from in the transactions undertaken by Islamic banks is dubious akin to the transactions of conventional banks, they become skeptical towards the functioning of Islamic banks.

Fourthly, if all the transactions of Islamic banks are based on the above devices it becomes very difficult to argue for the case of Islamic banking before the masses especially, before the non- Muslims who feel that it is nothing but a matter of twisting of documents only.

It is observed in a number of Islamic banks that even murabahah and ijarah are not effected according to the procedure required by the Shari‘ah. The basic concept of murabahah was that the bank should purchase the commodity and then sell it to the customer on deferred payment basis at a margin of profit. From the Shari‘ah point of view it is necessary that the commodity should come into the ownership and at least in the constructive possession of the bank before it is sold to the customer. The bank should bear the risk of the commodity during the period it is owned and possessed by the bank. It is observed that many Islamic banks and financial institutions commit a number of mistakes with regard to this transaction:

Some financial institutions have presumed that murabahah is the substitute for interest, for all practical purposes. Therefore, they contract a murabahah even when the client wants funds for his overhead expenses like paying salaries or bills for the goods and services already consumed. Obviously murabahah cannot be effected in this case because no commodity is being purchased by the bank.

In some cases the client purchases the commodity on his own prior to any agreement with the Islamic Bank and a murabahah is effected on a buy-back basis. This is again contrary to the Islamic Principles because the buy-back arrangement is unanimously held as prohibited in Shari‘ah.

In some cases the client himself is made an agent for the bank to purchase a commodity and to sell it to himself immediately after acquiring the commodity. This is not in accordance with the basic conditions of the permissibility of murabahah. If the client himself is made an agent to purchase the commodity, his capacity as an agent must be distinguished from his capacity as a buyer which means that after purchasing commodity on behalf of the bank he must inform the bank that he has effected the purchase on its behalf and then the commodity should be sold to him by the bank through a proper offer and acceptance which may be effected through the exchange of telexes or faxes.

As explained earlier murabahah is a kind of sale and it is an established principle of Shari‘ah that the price must be determined at the time of sale. This price can neither be increased nor reduced unilaterally once it is fixed by the parties. It is observed that some financial institutions increase the price of murabahah in the case of late payment which is not allowed in Shari‘ah. Some financial institutions roll-over the murabahah in the case of default by the client. Obviously, this practice is not warranted by Shari‘ah because once the commodity is sold to the customer it cannot be the subject matter of another sale to the same customer.

In transactions of ijarah also some requirements of Shari‘ah are often overlooked. It is a prerequisite for a valid ijarah that the lessor bears the risks related to the ownership of the leased asset and that the usufruct of the leased asset must be made available to the lessee for which he pays rent. It is observed in a number of ijarah agreements that these rules are violated. Even in the case of destruction of the asset due to force majeure, the lessee is required to keep paying the rent which means that the lessor neither assumes the liability for his ownership nor offers any usufruct to the lessee. This type of ijarah is against the basic principles of Shari‘ah. The Islamic banking is based on principles different from those followed in conventional banking system. It is therefore logical that the results of their operations are not necessarily the same in terms of profitability. An Islamic bank may earn more in some cases and may earn less in some others. If our target is always to match the conventional banks in terms of profits, we can hardly develop our own products based on pure Islamic principles. Unless the sponsors of the bank as well as its management and its clientele realize this fact and are ready to accept different - but not necessarily adverse - results, the Islamic banks will keep using artificial devices and a true Islamic system will not come into being.

According to the Islamic principles, business transactions can never be separated from the moral objectives of the society. Therefore, Islamic banks were supposed to adopt new financing policies and to explore new channels of investments which may encourage development and support the small scale traders to lift up their economic level. A very few Islamic banks and financial institutions have paid attention to this aspect. Unlike the conventional financial institutions who strive for nothing but making enormous profits, the Islamic banks should have taken the fulfillment of the needs of the society as one of their major objectives and should have given preference to the products which may help the common people to raise their standard of living. They should have invented new schemes for house-financing, vehicle- financing and rehabilitation-financing for the small traders. This area still awaits attention of the Islamic banks.

The case of Islamic banking cannot be advanced unless a strong system of inter-bank transactions based on Islamic principles is developed. The lack of such a system forces the Islamic banks to turn to the conventional banks for their short term needs of liquidity which the conventional banks do not provide without either an open or camouflaged interest. The creation of an inter- bank relationship based on Islamic principles should no longer be deemed difficult. The number of Islamic financial institutions today has reached around two hundred. They can create a fund with a mixture of murabahah and ijarah instruments the units of which can be used even for overnight transactions. If they develop such a fund it may solve a number of problems.

Lastly, the Islamic banks should develop their own culture. Obviously, Islam is not restricted to the banking transactions. It is a set of rules and principles governing the whole human life. Therefore, for being ‘Islamic’ it is not sufficient to design the transactions on Islamic principles. It is also necessary that the outlook of the institution and its staff reflects the Islamic identity quite distinguished from the conventional institution. This requires a major change in the general attitude of the institution and its management. Islamic obligations of worship as well as the ethical norms must be prominent in the whole atmosphere of an institution which claims to be Islamic. This is an area in which some Islamic institutions in the Middle East have made progress.

However, it should be a distinguishing feature of all the Islamic banks and financial institutions throughout the world. The guidance of Shari‘ah Boards should be sought in this area also. The purpose of this discussion, as clarified at the outset, is by no means to discourage the Islamic Banks or to find faults with them. The only purpose is to persuade them to evaluate their own performance from the Shari‘ah point of view and to adopt a realistic approach while designing their procedure and determining their policies.

#The Performance of the Islamic Banks #Evaluation #Increasing #Middle East #Home Financing #Vehicle Financing #Ethical Norms #Faults #Positives

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crazy4tank · 3 years

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Chris Dreyer: A Lawyers Top Marketer

New Post has been published on https://fashiondesigne.com/chris-dreyer-a-lawyers-top-marketer/

Chris Dreyer: A Lawyers Top Marketer

“It was a fairly big jolt, ” he admits that, but he knew this individual needed to switch gears, and finally landed back on his foot, at a digital agency within Clayton, Missouri.

There, he increased to be their top SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION specialist.

After picking up new abilities, in 2013 he started their own agency, attorneyrankings. org, a complete service digital agency. He or she bootstrapped the company with a $15, 000 loan from their sister, and acquired their first clients strategically by means of LinkedIn, Google+ (now defunct), and YouTube marketing.

After his 10th client, he was therefore successful that he hired their particular first employee.

At the end 2018, not just had they ventured towards the legal space, but also the particular practice area, and kind of law that they could help probably the most –personal injury law. Simply by 2019, they focused specifically on personal injury SEO along with Rankings. io. “And which is the trajectory: Finding the littlest addressable market that we will help, and be remarkable, ” he admits that.

They will followed the motto “riches in the niches, ” along with emphasis on building trust.

“An illustration would be if you have a heart concern, ” he explains.

“No issue how much you knew regarding the individual, and how smart these were, would you go with a general specialist, or with a heart doctor? It’s an obvious answer. Plus naturally you wouldn’t anticipate the heart surgeon to be inexpensive. Expertise brings with it a notion of higher fees. And also believe in. ” By means of that trust, it’s no real surprise that his own clientele reached him because of his own company’s reputation. So in demand, plus their quality top-tier, nowadays their minimum client wedding is $10, 000 monthly.

Niche any thing, but the keys to actually being successful lie in getting intuitive to their needs.

“We try to visualize what information they would end up being searching for, and try to create that will for them, ” he says

So , while one particular firm may be focused on automobile accidents, another might be focused on can fall accidents, mass-torts, defective gadgets or a variety of other areas. One more area of differentiation could be area: it’s more difficult to position a site in Los Angeles, compared to it would be for suburban Chi town.

“The strategies to obtain results for just one, is different than another, despite the fact that they’re both personal injury companies. ”

These people tout as one of their finest success a client that rates first, nation-wide, for car crash lawyers. “The amount of competitors and effort to achieve this, and also to see the worth of the individual, is extremely gratifying, ” Dreyer states

“It’s a new major impact on their business” – and not just in a small amount of cities, but “almost all markets, he rates high, ” in a way that does not have any parallel.

Within latest news, despite COVID, he opened a second company in March of this season, ESQ Marketing.

“ESQ does more than SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, it does CPC and style, so it has a few a lot more offers, and it caters to solitary practitioners, and small in order to medium-size businesses, as well as to personal bankruptcy and family law as well, ” he says.

Dreyer maintains very much of his company’s development – be it other workplaces or popularity – could be attributed to how they interact with the customer, too.

“One of the comments we get the most is that our conversation is excellent, and it’s mainly because there’s a certain level of heat, and confidence, a good recipe pertaining to retention, ” he clarifies, adding that every client moving in wants to know that the relationship is going to be smooth.

Blend that in with a solid number of dedicated individuals, and it is a recipe for success.

“It’s not just me personally behind the wheel, but my really talented team behind me personally as well. When you have a contributed vision, it gets everybody rolling in the right path. ”

#chris dreyer #entrepreneur #featured #lawyers #personal injury seo #Self Made Men #selfmade #seo marketing

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hissizlestirebildiklerinizdenm · 3 years

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Find The Best Legal Representation With These Tips

Lawyers play a huge role in today's society. Lawyers do important work that helps keep the wheels of the societal machine greased. If you need legal help, you need to know how to find it. Use this article advice to find just the right lawyer.

Never select the first lawyer you come across. Research wisely since there may be serious consequences for you if you don't. You should ask people you know if they can recommend a good lawyer.

A lawyer is a must if you're charged with a crime. Try not to do anything by yourself, since this may mean you're breaking the law. Attorneys have the necessary experience to handle any issue that may arise.

You might think about paying a lawyer a retainer just in case something catastrophic happens. This will allow you not to be under too much pressure so you're able to take some time when you're looking for a trustworthy lawyer. Keeping a retained lawyer is also beneficial because you will be able to obtain expert advice whenever you are in need of it.

Find out if the lawyer is experienced with your case type. The fact that an attorney specializes in handling cases like the one you have does not guarantee he will win yours. If it not found on the Internet, ask the attorney for this information.

Keep your financial situation in mind. Can you afford to go forward with your case? Be sure you know just how much any lawyer you are thinking of hiring will charge you. Speak to your potential lawyers what your budget and goals are. Understand what cost overruns are potentially there.

Only hire a lawyer you can trust. This is especially important when retaining an attorney for financial matters. Make sure to protect yourself if there is documentation. If you go along with this, your lawyer has great control over the fate of your finances. Protect yourself as much as you can.

Use an attorney referral service. This type of service can locate a lawyer for you. These particular services vary in what they provide. Some will only list lawyers who contain certain qualifications and contain thorough experience. Other services list favorable lawyers using the state bar's guidelines for liability insurance. Before you use a lawyer referral service, you should do research on a lawyer's qualifications on your own. This will help you find the best service for you.

Above all, you want to have a good feeling about the lawyer you are hiring. Your lawyer should be intelligent but also friendly and communicative. He or she should make you feel welcome in the office. Get a new lawyer if the one you are now using doesn't do this.

If a lawyer says your case is simple or easy to win, you should probably find another lawyer. Check this link here: https://www.degraaffarbeidsrecht.nl. Any lawyer who is that confident is not the best choice. You don't want to use a lawyer who simply looks at cases as cut and dry, rather than realizing than no case is alike and anything could happen during any case. Choose wisely here.

Make use of the Internet in your search for the perfect lawyer. Most businesses have a website, including law firms. Therefore, look at their firm's site. Be sure to check for professionalism. If the site isn't all that great, you may want to think about the possibility that the lawyer's practice isn't great either.

You don't necessarily need to hire the best lawyer that money can buy. Their skills are important, but so is their personality. You need to communicate with them personally for things to work out.

If you feel disappointed in your lawyer, remember that your lawyer wants to win too! They've been through this before and know exactly what it takes to win or at least come out with a positive outcome, and they will do just that.

Lawyers have malpractice insurance to protect themselves in case they vary from the law intentionally or accidentally. They want to keep premiums low, so they want to complete your case in morally responsible and legal way. It is important that you be able to trust your lawyer to have your best interests at heart.

There are very few cheap lawyers. If you do not have a flat fee structure, you must understand how much you might end up paying. You are entitled to be informed about how your attorney is spending your fees.

Discuss the timeline of your case with your lawyer. How long will the case take? You, in turn, need to remain realistic about your future legal needs. In addition to rising legal costs, you may find many aspects of your life impacted throughout the duration of your case.

Keep in mind that lawyers are helpful for all kinds of cases, not just criminal ones. Whether you are going through a divorce or filing for bankruptcy, a good lawyer will make the situation much better. In addition, you could use their services for job contracts or settling issues with contractors.

It is always important that you have questions of your own for the law firms. Ask your questions on the phone or schedule an appointment. Be very clear about your need to know when you are being charged. You don't want any bills coming at you out of the blue.

Even when your need is urgent, interview at least three or four lawyers before hiring one. You will be able to identify your needs better and match them well by interviewing a number of different lawyers. It can also help you see the costs of local law services. See here: https://www.jansenarbeidsrecht.nl

Make sure you are able to communicate effectively with your lawyer. If your lawyer takes a long time to get in touch, then you are either at fault for not explaining things very well, or your lawyer is at fault for being too busy to properly deal with your case. In the former case, you should immediately get in touch with your lawyer and inform them that you would like to be in contact regularly. If it is the latter, it may be time to search for new representation.

Choosing the right lawyer for you and your legal needs is really important. Remember these tips and you can find the best lawyer for your case. If you have a skilled lawyer, you can count on winning consistently.

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mcintirelaw · 7 months

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Learn how to qualify for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and regain control of your financial future. Discover the eligibility requirements, benefits, and steps to secure a fresh start through debt reorganization.

#Chapter 7 Bankruptcy In Wheeling #Wheeling Creditor Harassment Attorney #Wheeling Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney #Wheeling Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyer #Wheeling Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorneys #Wheeling Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Lawyers #Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorneys In Wheeling #Wheeling Bankruptcy Attorney #Wheeling Debt Litigation Attorney #Bankruptcy Law Firm In Wheeling #Wheeling Bankruptcy Lawyers #Bankruptcy Attorney In Wheeling #Wheeling West Virginia Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

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derekdickey · 4 years

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Receivership will 'alleviate unsustainable costs' for Mavic, Regent partner says

Mavic's US operations unaffected by troubles in France, CEO says.

PARK CITY, Utah (BRAIN) — Mavic's U.S. operations are continuing as usual despite the brand's French wing being put into receivership, the CEO of MAVIC USA told BRAIN.

"For all intents and purposes, it's business as usual in the U.S. and Canada," said David Steinhafel, the CEO. Steinhafel is a principal in Regent LP, the California-based investment group that acquired Mavic from Amer Sports last year.

Steinhafel said the North American operations are separate legal entities from the French business that is undergoing restructuring. The French company, Mavic SAS, has been under management by a turn-around firm since February.

Steinhafel said the U.S. operations have resumed operations following a shut down due to COVID-19 and that customer service and sales functions are underway at the brand's U.S. center in Utah. He said he expects no product shortfalls here. The company's operations in France remain closed due to the virus response, however.

In a letter to customers and other partners Monday, Steinhafel said the receivership process in France will allow the company "to alleviate unsustainable costs and hopefully access additional capital to secure the future of the business, and emerge a stronger company with the ability to better serve our customers worldwide."

Steinhafel said that despite publicized remarks by a member of the company's labor committee in France, there is no question that Regent acquired Mavic and is its owner. He said Regent set up a separate company, M Sports International LLC, to acquire Mavic. It was a commonplace business practice, he said.

"M Sports is entity we control," he said.

Steinhafel declined to elaborate on the receivership situation in France.

However, sources close to the company tell BRAIN that the separation of Mavic's French operations from its former owner is complicated. Complying with French and EU regulations and negotiating a transition services agreement is one reason why it took almost five months between the time Regent announced it had agreed to purchase Mavic and the completion of the deal in July.

But even after the acquisition, Mavic's headquarters remain in the same building near Annecy as Salomon, the Amer-owned ski brand. Amer also either owns or controls Mavic's carbon wheel production facility in Bulgaria and its wheel building facility in Romania. (Mavic's aluminum rims are made in France).

Like most investment groups acquiring a distressed brand, Regent is likely interested in reducing the number of employees at the Annecy facility and exploring other production options outside the Amer-controlled factories in Bulgariaa and Romania. The French commercial court overseeing the receivership may be able to wind down some operations in accordance with strict French labor laws. In France, receivership is akin to a Chapter 11 filing in the U.S.

Amer is now owned by a China-led investor group, a sale that was completed during the same period that Regent was acquiring Mavic. Besides Salomon, Amer continues to own Enve, Arcteryx, Suunto, Wilson, Louisville Slugger and other sports brands. Amer did not reply to inquiries from BRAIN.

Steinhafel said it's no secret that Regent business is in buying distressed companies and returning them to profitability. But he said bankruptcy is not typically part of the plan, noting that several Regent acquisitions are thriving, including Finestationary.com, Plainville Farms, and Alta Cycling Group. Alta, which owns Diamondback, Redline and iZip, has recently had two of its best fiscal quarters in years, Steinhafel said.

Not all Regent acquisitions have done as well, although there's no indication any have filed for bankruptcy while owned by Regent.

In January a creditors' group filed a petition for an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy against La Senza, a fashion brand that Regent acquired in 2019. Nextag, the price comparison service that Regent acquired in 2015, later shut down. Regent acquired Cinema Now from Best Buy in 2014, and sold it in 2015; it later shut down.

Receivership will 'alleviate unsustainable costs' for Mavic, Regent partner says published first on https://throttlebuff.weebly.com/

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greatawakeningreport · 4 years

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WEEKLY REPORT: 2020 Predictions /// 334 Arrest /// West Coast Foreshocks

Published Date: December 30th, 2019

WEEKLY REPORT

TRUTH///AWAKENING///DISCLOSURE

2020 PREDICTIONS, 334 CALABRIAN ARREST, WEST COAST FORESHOCKS

Yellow Vest Movement Expands, 5G Apocalypse, Orsini Bloodline, Obama Dossier 2019, Giuliani Senate Testimony, Winter Weather Forecast, Close Encounters of the 5th Kind, Earths Disaster Cycle, 12 Universal Laws

What 2020 will look like | Future Forecast Home / Future Timeline / 2020 Read 330 predictions for 2020, a year that will see the world transform in big and small ways; this includes disruptions throughout our culture, technology, science, health and business sectors. It’s your future, discover what you’re in for. People will be astounded as light overtakes darkness. Transparency will uncover all sins, secrets, and undisclosed science & technologies. The White House will undergo a dramatic change as the real reason for all the crimes are revealed. The sins against our children. Thousands will be indicted in Hollywood and Washington DC. Silver and gold will rise dramatically. Trump will win again. The Clintons and high-level Obama Administration officials will be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and treason. All the ugly truths of our nation will surface. The nation will go through a cleansing it has never gone through before. The truth of Ginsberg’s death will be revealed. Declassification of secret documents shall bring down the DEEP STATE. The Central Bankers shall lose control and we will become a Sovereign Nation. There is much more including possible martial law when the big-name politicians are arrested. Everything will change including a financial reset as the President puts us back on the gold standard. Great things will happen as we go from dark to light. These things shall come to pass and Epstein didn’t kill himself; A Year in Review 2019 We try to remind folks every week that there are revolutions taking place all across the globe, people have grown tired of the non-elected leaders (aka the central banking system) and their political pawn cronies (Angela Merkle, Emanuel Macron, Theresa May, Shinzo Abe, Xi Jinping, Justin Trudeau, etc.). We see little to no press on this stateside and when we do it is always downplayed, misrepresented, and the blame is typically relegated to a single issue (think last years yellow vests protesting only a fuel tax, something we reported on HERE.) On that note, things are heating up once again as French union activists cut electricity to nearly 100,000 homes or offices. Eiffel Tower staff walked off the job. Even Paris opera workers joined in Tuesday’s nationwide protests across France as workers rallied against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64. Despite 13 days of crippling train and subway strikes, French President Emmanuel Macron and his government stayed firm. The prime minister declared his “total” determination to reshape a pension system that unions celebrate as a model for the rest of the world but that he calls unfair and destined to collapse into debt. Jeffrey Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself Many are aware of George Soros, as well as his Open Society and One Foundation, but then, of course, many are not. If you are far removed from the worlds of Global finance, Philanthropy or Political Conspiracy, then why would you? He’s been linked to funding things like Antifa, the Caravan to the Border, Drug/Human trafficking, crashing the British stock market in 92 (making roughly 10 billion for his hedge fund), Global racketeering and the Rise of Greta Thurnberg as well as everyone’s favorite horrifically biased “fact-checker” Snopes, the coming Ukraine super scandal, and working as a destabilization agent for people who are far more powerful than even him (People like THIS). Attorney General Bill Barr, who sources from Navy Intelligence claim is one of many tasked with bringing down a “Deep State” in Washington, seems to have recently and publicly set his sights on Soros. Usually, you hear about low-level lackeys and henchmen like James Comey, Joe Bidden or Adam Schiff, but rarely do you see a major player like this openly in the cross-hairs. Perhaps this is confirmation that the quiet war really IS reaching a boiling point. It has been said that this man represents everything that has gone wrong with the Democratic party in recent decades. As with Trump, I try not to form a personal opinion because I’ve obviously never met George Soros, I’m just reporting what I hear and have found, and suggest everyone else do the same when it comes to hearsay. Apparently the “Far left” billionaire has been systematically targeting district attorney races throughout the United States. Many of his backed candidates have won their races and are causing “havoc” across the country. This comes to us from State Department Watch and you can read about these individuals and their associated crimes HERE. This week US Attorney General Bill Barr spoke with Martha MacCallum, calling out George Soros for subverting the legal system in the US and creating more crime and violence. We’ll be keeping an eye on how all these proceeds. Now many will read “Far Left” and instantly think this man is on their side, I would caution these folks to reconsider. Despite his proclaimed affiliations with Democratic candidates he seems to be the opposite, in fact, if he truly belongs to any party it would be the lower rungs of the Global Financial Elite. He’s been described as “A parasite attached to the Democratic party”. In my own words, I’d describe this fellow as a financial powerhouse who understands the growing popularity of Compassion and maintains a certain veneer as the perfect cover for his own agendas. Dr. Sebi: A society that keeps cures a secret so they can continue to sell medication for huge profits is not a real society but a huge mental asylum. In resignation news we have a few doozy’s to mention, firstly (and perhaps most notably) we have Pearson PLC Chief Executive John Fallon announcing his “retirement” and has agreed to sell its 25% stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA for $675 million. An interesting caveat here is that Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create the Common Core text and Pearson, in turn, gave Obama a $65 million dollar book deal (the very definition of quid pro quo, establishment media remains silent). It’s not a huge secret that publishing a book is an effective way to launder money. We see time after time big politicians writing books that nobody reads and are pawned off cheap immediately by the retail stores, we also know non-fiction are slow sellers and it’s hard to make much money at it. You can read up on this type of laundering with a simple google search, and this specific case you can learn more about HERE and HERE. Other high profile “resignations” this past week include President of Iraq Barham Salih (who resigned amid protests), Boeing USA CEO Dennis Muilenburg and senior adviser Mike Luttig, Nissan Motor Co Vice COO Jun Seki, and though they didn’t exactly occur in the last week, an important pair of resignations to watch and remember going forward was that of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Calabrian mafia arrests, International Criminal Court actions against Zionist leaders signal doom for Khazarian mafia By Benjamin Fulford Weekly Reports 109 Comments The arrest of 334 gangsters from the Calabria-based Ndrangheta mob, and International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings against Israel mean the net is closing tighter on the Khazarian mafia. “The wheels of justice grind slowly. The ICC prosecuting Israeli war crimes in Palestine after 5 years may lead to arrest warrants and other war crimes in Syraq , since Israel supports ISIS and steals Syrian and Iraqi oil,” Pentagon sources say. U.S. Special Forces will soon be hunting down Zionist war criminals wherever they may try to hide on this planet, the sources promise. The arrests in Italy, meanwhile, are a direct blow to the Italian/Swiss faction that carried out the Fukushima mass-murder attacks against Japan, according to Japanese military intelligence sources. This means the fraudulently elected criminal regime of Crime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan is going to finally face justice, the sources say. We will have more details on both of these developments below, but first, let’s look at other big moves taking place around the world. The biggest story, as usual, remains the ongoing bankruptcy negotiations of the U.S. corporate government. “The corporate American government exists from hand to mouth, week by week, month by month. This is not sustainable and at some point must be reset,” British intelligence sources say. That’s why U.S. President Donald Trump will be attending the annual gathering of the world elite at Davos on January 21st to try to negotiate funding to keep his regime going past its January 31st payment deadline, European royal family sources say. Remember, early this year Trump skipped Davos before caving in and hiring neocon Zionists after a 35-day partial government shutdown. Let’s see what the Davos elite try to force Trump to do in exchange for more debt this time. Related to this are the bankruptcy negotiations of the United Nations, say European royal family sources. “The UN is a private corporation incorporated in California and owned by the Rothschild family via the Lucis Trust,” the sources say. The Rothschilds are doing everything in their power to keep their entire rickety UN/U.S./IMF/World Bank/BIS structure going with a giant circle jerk. “The Rothschild-owned private central banking monopoly’s ‘quantitative easing’ is another word for ‘buyback,’ artificially sustaining a collapsed market,” the European royals explain. A sign this is unsustainable is the fact that the banks are charging individuals ever-higher interest rates even as the FRB gives the banks ever-cheaper money. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/funny-thing-happened-fed-cut-rates-credit-card-rates-hit-all-time-high However, despite Zionist propaganda media cheerleading, the real economy is getting worse, so more of those expensive loans to real people are going bad. Maybe that’s why the Rothchild’s World Bank subsidiary warned on December 19th of “the worst debt crisis in 50 years.” https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/12/19/debt-surge-in-emerging-and-developing-economies-is-largest-fastest-in-50-years Meanwhile, their U.S. corporation has been caught lying about gold reserves, while its flagship Glencore Commodities Corporation is facing multiple criminal investigations and lawsuits. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-official-gold-reserves-auditor-caught-lying https://www.ft.com/content/9a97256e-19d5-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/glencore-congo-cobalt-mining-lawsuit/45446800 Related to all this was a shoot-out at FSB (former KGB) headquarters last week that left two FSB agents dead. The official Russian news claims the attack was carried out by a lone individual. However, our Russian sources say the real target was Vladimir Putin, and the attack was carried out by “nine … … militants from the Right Sector of Ukraine. Three of them were killed, three were taken to prison, and three managed to escape.” The attack took place while Putin was nearby for an FSB Day celebration. “This is a war inside the FSB,” the source added. In other words, the Zionist Rothschild faction tried and failed to kill Putin. The question now is whether Trump will join Putin in rebelling against his Rothschild masters. Our Pentagon sources seem to think this is exactly what he is doing. Here is their description of what Trump is really up to: “After wishing the federal workforce and military a Merry Christmas, Trump may have given the ICC the green light as a Hanukkah present to Bibi , with Pompeo pretending to defend Israel while U.S. Special Forces working with Russia may arrest Israeli war criminals wherever they may be, to add gravitas to Nuremberg 2.0. “It appears that the UN, EU, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Germany, France, the UK, Japan, Iran, Turkey, and the international community support the ICC and the Hezbollah-backed prime minister in Lebanon, as Israel is implicated in Epstein pedo entrapment, 9/11, 3/11, MH370/MH17, and other anti-goy crimes against humanity. Former Pakistani military ruler Musharraf being sentenced to death for treason is a stern warning to Saudi, Israel, royals, Zionists, and the deep state about the severity of military tribunals.” The arrests of 334 Mafiosi in Calabria were definitely a part of this crackdown. “Those arrested are bad persons, so the people hated them,” a P2 Freemason source said. “I know them and they are stupid fierce people,” he said. “This was only a clean-up against one group—the worst Ndrangheta group. Other Calabrian gangs are in power now,” he continued. The arrests included a police chief, a former member of Parliament close to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as well as lawyers and accountants in Switzerland and Northern Italy involved in the 2009 theft of $134 billion worth of Japanese bonds, P2 Freemason sources add. Very Unusual Seismic Activity On The West Coast Has Some Experts Extremely Concerned About What Could Happen December 26, 2019, by Michael Snyder

The west coast never stops shaking, but lately, the shaking has gone to an entirely new level, and this has many people deeply concerned about what may be coming. Last summer, a series of alarming foreshocks immediately preceded the two historic quakes that shook the Ridgecrest area in southern California. But those quakes were nothing compared to “the Big One” that scientists assure us is way overdue. Someday an earthquake that is hundreds of times stronger will absolutely devastate the California coastline, and it may be arriving a lot sooner than many people think. Farther north, the Cascadia subduction zone is a ticking time bomb that could literally unleash an unprecedented disaster at any moment. What I am talking about is an event that will completely wipe out entire cities and that the region will never recover from. As I have detailed repeatedly, authorities have warned us that “everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast” when an absolutely massive seismic event along the Cascadia subduction zone sends a gigantic tsunami sweeping inland. And without a doubt, that day is coming. Because of the extreme damage that a major west coast seismic event would do to our economy and to our Internet infrastructure, all of our lives will dramatically change the moment it happens. So it is understandable why so many people are alarmed by the tremendous shaking that we have witnessed over the past few days. As Americans all over the country were celebrating Christmas, the state of California was shaken by 9 significant earthquakes, and farther north the city of Vancouver was rattled by a magnitude 6.3 quake… A series of earthquakes on Christmas Eve and before dawn Christmas morning hit around California, and a much bigger 6.3 quake shook off Vancouver. At least nine earthquakes in 24 hours reaching up to 3.2 magnitude shook California from the Los Angeles area north to Chico, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The other quakes in the swarm ranged from 2.5 to 3.0 magnitude and stretched the length of the state, according to the USGS. The large earthquake that shook Vancouver was preceded by five other large earthquakes that hit the region on Monday… There were no reports of damage or injuries after five earthquakes struck within seven hours off the northwest end of Vancouver Island on Monday. The tremors began as minor quakes, but grew stronger as the morning turned to afternoon. According to the CBC, those five large earthquakes ranged in size from magnitude 4.8 to magnitude 6.0… 5.1 (8:44 a.m. PT). 5.6 (11:13 a.m.). 5.8 (11:49 a.m.). 6.0 (12:56 p.m.). 4.8 (3:38 p.m.). Hopefully, this earthquake swarm off the coast of Vancouver will turn out to be nothing. But scientists tell us that an enormous rupture of the Cascadia subduction zone has the potential to produce a giant tsunami hundreds of feet tall, and the death and destruction such a tsunami would cause in Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and other coastal communities in the Northwest would be absolutely off the charts. Meanwhile, we have also witnessed more than 30 significant earthquakes over the last 30 days in the vicinity of Mt. Rainier, and anyone that is familiar with my work knows how concerned I am about the potential for a major eruption of that volcano. Because there is always at least a little bit of shaking going on along the west coast, many residents have been lulled into a false sense of security. Yes, a major disaster has not happened in a long time, and as a result, many believe that there is nothing to be concerned about. But someday a major event will strike very suddenly, and the devastation will be unimaginable. Just consider what Steve Quayle recently told Greg Hunter… “The amount of damage, and I am going to choose my words carefully, is going to be precedent setting. It’s going to be the combination of volcanos going off that are inland from the subduction zone where the plates meet, coupled with tsunamis. . . . When this happens, you will lose eight million to twenty million people. When it happens, you will lose all productivity in the electronic field, obviously Silicon Valley, and all food production in all of California, Oregon and Washington. When it happens, you will have a State of Emergency unlike any other. How about the refugees? There will be 3.5 million refugees to take care of. When this happens, what happens to the underground aquifers, and where does everybody go for fresh water? There will be years of drought, years of famine and years of water, water where did it all go? It is a very dire situation painted by computer models. This is not a sensational thing. It is a reality based, scientific study with the application of what happens.” This Week's News At a Glance A columnist for The Washington Post blasted Rachel Maddow for her coverage of the infamous Steele dossier on Thursday, saying that the MSNBC host engaged in “a pattern of misleading and dishonest asymmetry” in her reporting on the salacious document in the nearly three years since its publication. MSM turning on each other? Trying to develop CYA stories? Did WaPo discover Barr/Durham/Etc are looking at the media? Loren “Sensei” Copp, 50, former owner of Dojo Pizza in St. Louis, MO, was sentenced to 65 years in prison for production and attempted production of child pornography; possession of child pornography; and the use of interstate facilities to persuade or coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity. Big Nikola Tesla document dump dropped from the FBI vault. Q: Who at MIT was tasked to make sense of Tesla’s research after his death? A: John G. Trump (Trumps uncle). vault.fbi.gov A Tongan man has reportedly died on an Australian farm while working in that country’s Seasonal Worker Program (modern slavery). Fifteen Pacific islanders have reportedly died in the program since it began 10 years ago. The whistleblower who exposed the relationship between Google and Hillary Clinton before Congress lost his wife in an “accident” tonight. Twitter just suspended two of the accounts POTUS just retweeted, within an hour of him retweeting them. One of them was placed into a limited state by just retweeted literally 13 minutes ago after @potus retweeted it. At least five people were killed when a twin-engine aircraft crashed in Louisiana on Saturday. The plane crashed in an open field not far away from Lafayette Regional Airport near a post office and Walmart. The reactor at the Leibstadt nuclear power station in northern Switzerland shut down automatically because of a technical problem on Saturday. The shutdown at Leibstadt, which was built in 1984 and is one of four nuclear power stations in the country, took place at 7:48 a.m. local time following a technical fault in the non-nuclear part of the plant, a statement by the operator said. Chinese lawmakers voted to abolish the “custody and education” punishment system that allowed police to hold sex workers and their clients without charge for up to two years, state media reported. The arbitrary detention system will cease from Sunday and those held at “education centers” should be released immediately, state news agency Xinhua reported. Anti-government Yellow Vests and anti-pension rallies have simultaneously descended upon the streets of the French capital, promptly escalating into clashes with police who responded with tear gas and baton charges. A huge 190.77-carat diamond was discovered in Russia’s Siberian republic of Yakutia The gem could have laid undisturbed for around 2 billion years, according to preliminary data, but further examination is set to determine the exact age. At least 90 people are reported dead and 125 more wounded after a massive car bomb was detonated at a busy intersection in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Saturday. The apparent suicide attack happened during rush hour traffic at about 8 am. Among the dead are 17 Somali police officers, while most have been described as university students on their way to classes. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Canada’s western province of British Columbia on Monday, following two slightly weaker quakes that hit just hours before. All were centered just offshore in the Pacific Ocean. More than 1,000 protesters, many in surgical masks and balaclavas, filled a harbourside plaza near Hong Kong’s financial district late on Monday to demand greater freedoms and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality. As Hong Kong gears up for Christmas celebrations, the protesters plan wildcat gatherings in prime shopping malls and a ‘silent night’ rally on Tuesday evening. Boeing on Monday replaced its embattled chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, as it attempts to pivot from a protracted crisis surrounding the grounding of its top-selling 737 MAX after two deadly crashes. China has condemned the inauguration of the newest branch of the US military, the Space Force, describing its creation as a threat to peace that endangers global stability. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters on Monday that Beijing was “deeply concerned” and “resolutely opposed” to the Space Force, which received its first funding after US President Donald Trump signed the annual military budget last week. Saudi Arabia on Monday sentenced five people to death and three to jail over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but a U.N. investigator accused it of making a “mockery” of justice by allowing the masterminds of last year’s killing to go free. George Papadopolous responded to the reports that Italian prosecutors in Agrigento, Sicily believe the Maltese Professor Joseph Mifsud is dead. “Lil Joey Mifsud is not sleeping with the fishes,” Tweeted Papadopolous. “More to come.” It is the biggest mystery surrounding the man that allegedly began the FBI’s probe into President Donald Trump’s campaign and the now-debunked theory that campaign officials conspired with Russia in the 2016 election. At least 11 people have been killed and more than 300 treated in the hospital after drinking coconut wine in the Philippines. The poisoning occurred in Laguna and Quezon, two provinces south of Manila, and all had consumed lambanog, a drink popular in provinces and consumed widely during holidays and celebrations. Hundreds of people joined a protest on Monday (Dec 23) against Myanmar’s police after the force broke the law by revealing the name of the child victim of a high profile rape case following the acquittal of a suspect. The case of the three-year-old girl – known to the public by the nickname ‘Victoria’ – has become a focus for accusations of police misconduct in Myanmar, where the force remains under the control of the army under a transition to democracy. A man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for burning an LGBTQ flag that was flying at a church in central Iowa. Adolfo Martinez, 30, of Ames, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years for the hate crime of arson, as well as a year for the reckless use of explosives or fire, and 30 days for harassment. The sentences are to be served consecutively, Story County court records show. Ari Behn, a former member of Norway’s royal family who was one of Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault accusers, died by suicide on Wednesday. So, Spacey threatened someone in the Cult (with exposure?) for abandoning him, so that they would make his “problems” go away? A standard test of Stockholm’s wastewater was carried out under the EMCDDA rules, the European Organisation for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The tests yielded an average of about 675 milligrams of amphetamine per 1,000 inhabitants per day, which places Stockholmers at the top of the European list in terms of total amphetamines consumed. No other cities of Stockholm’s caliber had ever measured higher than an average level of 450 milligrams of amphetamine per 1,000 inhabitants per day since the measurements began in 2011. US space scientists selected a site on the distant asteroid Bennu for the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft to swoop down, grab a sample from the orbit’s boulder-strewn surface and return to Earth. The Bek Air airline’s Fokker 100 plane, heading from Almaty to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan with almost 100 people on board, crashed earlier in the day soon after take-off. It lost altitude, broke through a concrete fence and hit a two-story building. 12 fatalities and 49 injured. In a fascinating find, archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered the ruins of a large palace at a dig on the site of the ancient city of Kulubá in Yucatán state, which they believe dates back to the height of the Mayan civilization 1,000 years ago. According to a statement by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the structure was supposedly used over two periods of Mayan history as far back as 600 AD: the Late Classic (600-900 AD) and the Terminal Classic (850-1050 AD). The building was estimated to have been six meters (20ft) high, 55 meters long and 15 meters wide. Conspiracy theorist and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has been called out by Washington Post columnist Erik Wemple for breathlessly peddling the Steele Dossier – becoming a “clearinghouse” for the largely debunked opposition research funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC in 2016 (and fed to the MSM six weeks before the 2016 US election by the former British spy who wrote it). Former chairman of struggling Chinese lender Hengfeng Bank sentenced to death with a two-year delay by a Chinese court. Jiang Xiyun was convicted for moving 754 million yuan ($108 million) worth of Hangfeng shares to his personal account between 2008 and 2013, according to the Yantai Intermediate People’s Court. He also took bribes of more than 60 million yuan together with another bank executive, according to the Thursday ruling. A reprieved death sentence may be commuted to a life sentence if the person shows good behavior within the allotted period. Notable Resignations Worldwide Dec. 26 2019 Barham Salih President Government of Iraq Resigned Dec. 25 2019 Jun Seki Vice COO Nissan Motor Co. Japan Resigned Dec. 24 2019 Napp Nazworth Editor Christian Post USA Resigned Dec. 24 2019 Mitsuhiko Uehira President Japan Post Insurance Co. Scandal Resigned Dec. 24 2019 Kunio Yokoyama President Japan Post Co. Japan Scandal Resigned Dec. 24 2019 Masatsugu Nagato President President Japan Post Co. Japan Scandal Resigned Dec. 24 2019 Tim Clark President Emirates UAE Retired Dec. 24 2019 Travis Kalanick Board Member Uber Technologies Inc. USA Resigned Dec. 23 2019 Ricardo Valero Ambassador to Argentina Mexico Caught shoplifting Resigned Dec. 23 2019 Bert Bruggeman VP Tesla Inc. USA Resigned

Blind Items Revealed #1 – December 16, 2019 Since the death of the billionaire pedophile, this foreign born permanent A list model has been wearing a unique piece of jewelry. She never wore it before his death that anyone has been able to find. It is a pentagram that she wears as part of a necklace and has done so multiple times. Jeffrey Epstein/Naomi Campbell Img Active Weather Tropical Storm Phanfone 55/80 kts ↓ 998 hPa ↑ E of Vietnam – Moving W 14 kts Tropical Cyclone Sarai 50 kts ↑ 985 hPa ↓ E of Fiji – Moving S 15 kts Tropical Depression Phanfone 35kts ↓ 1002 hPa E of Vietnam Moving WSW 5 kts Tropical Cyclone Sarai 60 kts ↑ 973 hPa ↓ SE of Fiji – Moving ESE 5 kts ↓ Strongest EQ in Europe M4.4 Greece Strongest EQ in US M3.9 California Strongest EQ on the Planet M5.5 Prince Edward Islands Deepest EQ M3.8 400 km Iran Thank you to our readers and subscribers for your continued support. If you would like to further help the Great Awakening Team and our efforts, you can donate, sign up for a paid subscription, or purchase something from the GAR shop. - The Great Awakening Team FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES DOCUMENTARY LIBRARY / 32 UNIQUE CATEGORIES / 300 DOCUMENTARIES Arts /// Photography /// Music /// Videos The Journey of Awakening The Great Awakening Map User Guide Menu User Guide /// Our Positive Outlook /// The Big Picture /// Overview - Summary /// Topic Descriptions /// Great Awakening Map /// Deep State Map /// Programming /// Article Classification

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Impeachment Articles & Barr/Durham Indictments Global Human Trafficking & Corruption https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2019/12/exposing-americas-dark-secret-families-sell-children-for-sex/ Geopolitical & New Q Updates The Deep State Map https://www.neonrevolt.com/2019/12/21/the-enormity-of-the-implications-of-qanon-greatawakening-neonrevolt/ Global Geophysical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMb7vJSRZ1g Global Weather https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KCJkUfc3Tg Health Watch The Healing Web https://amg-news.com/blueberries-increase-the-life-span-by-22-years-study/

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Hidden Truths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuxi7GpNPhA The Event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouGhtFOpaHM Spirituality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9k8pNXVR8 Path of Awakening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvbwe9xhaf0 WATCH LIST 2020 Predictions; Global Economic Crisis beginning with failures of Goldman Sachs/Deutsche's Bank, Global Debt Bubble Crash, US Dollar Currency Gold Standard Reset, Partial Disclosure Fake Alien Invasion / Introduction of AI Cryptocurrency controls, Mega Earthquakes, 2020 US Presidential Election, Global Protest Escalating. Impeachment Articles, Pelosi withholds articles of Impeachment completing a rigged Inquiry moving into the Judiciary Committee and the Hearing Phase. The House Committee Chairmen Adam Schiff having changed the rules regarding whistleblower testimony to include "hearsay" and the exclusion/barring of any Republican Congressional questioning of all witness subpoena to testify before all committees regarding Presidential Impeachment Inquiries. Having now moved into Chairman Nadler's Hearing phase setting up the Full House Vote for Impeachment. Congressmen Adam Schiff and Jerrold Nadler a stone-cold traitor guilty of spearheading a highly organized conspiracy to commit treason and overthrow the POTUS, Schiff is also guilty of lying testimony in front of Congress with regards to Trump's phone call with Ukraine's President and fomenting war with Russia based on a patently false pretext and bogus allegations. The Mueller Report exposes Adam Schiff who "Knowingly" leaked and reported false information to the press. Global Trade Wars are a cover for neutralizing all tariffs in order to usher in new global currencies backed by gold. The Global Reserve Banking System will be dismantled and the SWIFT Global Trading platform will be replaced with GESARA. Internet and Social Media Alternative News Censorship lockdown continues across all platforms. Google, FB, and Twitter. Look for President Trump, the DOJ and 30 plus US State AG's to file class-action and anti-trust lawsuits in Federal Courts. New Earthquake swarms in northern CA increase predictions for the Cascadia Subduction Zone and New Madrid Fault Line. New Government Reports on the increase in midwest earthquakes and oil fracking effects. A Russian scientist has issued a new prediction for the US to experience a 9.0 earthquake in 2019. UFO Disclosure is heating up, as daily sightings are being reported by US Navy and Airforce pilots. There is insider talk of a Fake Alien Invasion set for October? Timing is tied to change the MSM narrative upon negative breaking events; FISA Declass, Clinton Foundation, Comey IG Report, etc. Nick Pope reviews all the evidence. Antarctica continues to reveal anomalies and evidence of advanced civilizations. Disclosure of Pre-adamites going back 55,000 to 65,000 years ago. Testimony suggests well-preserved cities and advanced technologies. China Lake earthquakes to reveal the destruction of a large underground city. Run by the Deep State using the cover story of a secret Navy Weapons Military Base. New testimony will reveal a secret MK-Ultra mind-control training lab for 10s of 1,000s of kids held in cages. Facebook whistleblower blows the lid-off in a newly released Mark Zuckerberg Dossier. Sighting abuse of the child prodigy using MK-Ultra techniques, and a controlled asset of Larry Summers President of Harvard, Financial Advisor to President Clinton, connected to DARPA and CIA programs. Sheryl Sandberg assistant to Summers, COO of FB and Mark's direct handler inside FB. IG Report on James Comey, Comey got a pass from AG Barr on leaking classified information to the press but will be indicted and prosecuted for multiple criminal violations dealing with his signing off on 4 FISA requests. This will begin the process of disclosing Spygate, and all its conspirators. The Structure Change / Alliance Exposure Mass Corruption Now Ready to be Revealed to the General Public, starting with economy crisis looming, closing the Federal Reserve/Central Banking System, voter fraud in key Congressional & Senate seats, FBI & DOJ false Russian collusion, and the release of 300 pages of the Carter Page FISA redactions will lead to the much greater exposure of the Obama Administration's corruption, treason, and evil practices from the Deep State/Shadow Government. As of 4 Quarter 2019, the IG and DOJ Investigations have been completed by John Huber/IG/Horowitz/AG Barr on the Clinton Emails Scandal & Foundation Violations, FISA Abuse, and Spygate/Obama Administration Collusion. FISA Report Presidential Order to release 300 supplemental pages of redactions to AG Barr, said to be released in the Fall of 2019. Mass Arrests total 121,848 + Sealed Indictments, 35 US Judicial Districts (increases in indictments averaging 5,000 a month) Continued Mass Global Resignations 9,334; Government Senators & Congressmen, Fortune 500 CEO's, and Banking Execs. Global Peace Initiatives vs War Threats: North Korea, Venezuela, Ukraine, Iran, Syria, and Israel/Saudi Arabia signs of the total collapse in Deep State controlling influence in 3rd world governments. Exposure & Defeat of The Deep State/Shadow Government/Cabal/Illuminati/Syndicate Global Deflationary Markets Crisis / Global Currency Reset/return to the Gold Backed Standard Currency / RV / Replacement of NESARA/GESARA for SWIFT Trading System / Global Debt Jubilee / Refund of 21 to 71 trillion in confiscated Deep State/Cabal funds Global Trade Agreements Naturalized tariffs with EU, Stalled Talks with China, Russian, Canada, and Mexico agree to neutralize all trade in a new agreement. Trade War with China exposing more than just Trade, global naturalized tariffs, Technology Thefts, Political Tampering with US Elections and US Congressmen and Senator's payoffs. Congress Approves Legislation to release sealed 911 documents, exposing the Deep State inside job. Remaining Sealed CIA Kennedy Assassination Papers to be released, along with 911 Saudi Arabia collusion docs & Pearl Harbor papers from WWII Rouge Planetary System moving through our Solar System, bringing CME's, Planet X Solar System, Nibiru, Meteorite Showers, EMP, Alien SpaceCraft Sighting, Closings of Planetary Observatories, questions regarding New Mexico's Observatory Increasing Global Geophysical Volcanic & Earthquake Activity, Hawaii, Pacific Rim, Latin, and South American, Antarctica (Galactic Energy Waves increasing Sun's activity) Global Geomagnetic Storms increase in larger magnitude CME's from Sun (The 1000x Galactic Flash in the nearest star system Alpha Centauri was recorded by NASA) Global Weather: 2019 escalating Droughts, Hurricanes, Sahara Sand Storm, Heat Waves, Rising Oceans Levels, Flooding, Solar System Planetary Climate Change, Chemtrails / Terraforming, HAARP Weather Wars. Health & Wellness: Truth About Cancer, The Plant Paradox, Truth About Vaccines, Big Pharma Industrial Complex. Earth History: 3,000 Global Pyramids, the cover-up of Ancient Giant skeletons by the Smithsonian Institute, Ancient Civilizations Ruins discovered between 1,000 to 6,000 feet below Sea Level. Disclosure: Secret Space Programs, 10 Programs, DOD $6.5 - $21 trillion missing. Partial vs Full Disclosure, Alliance agreement as to Solar Warden partial disclosure. Science/Technology: Department of Defense suppression of 6,000 patents, reversed technology, antigravity, warp drive, zero-point energy, cures for all diseases, age regression, replicators (all foods/clothing/metals, etc.) NASA: Plasma Energy Cloud, Energy Waves, Galactic Flash, 26,000 Year Grand Cycle The Path of Awakening: Global Mass Meditation, Jared Rand participant count now over 500,000 worldwide. DISCLAIMER: All statements, claims, views and opinions that appear anywhere on this site, whether stated as theories or absolute facts, are always presented by The Great Awakening Report (GAR) as unverified—and should be personally fact checked and discerned by you, the reader. Any opinions or statements herein presented are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, or agreed to by GAR, those who work with GAR, or those who read or subscribe to GAR. Any belief or conclusion gleaned from content on this site is solely the responsibility of you the reader to substantiate. Any actions taken by those who read material on this site are solely the responsibility of the acting party. You are encouraged to think for yourself and do your own research. Nothing on this site is meant to be believed without question or personal appraisal.

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erickkkbe437-blog · 5 years

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By Foot Or Wheels Chula Vistans Must Be Aware of the Risks of the Road

Car accidents are among the leading causes of death in America and on an annual basis, practically 40,000 Americans pass away in vehicle wrecks every year. Vehicle mishap injuries for those who make it through are traumatic. Regrettably, there is a likelihood that practically century law firm debt consolidation everyone will be involved in a crash of some kind a minimum of as soon as in their lives.

Having said that, if you remain in a mishap, you will need a proficient vehicle mishap attorney with a good track record managing cases like this to go to bat for you in getting payment for your injuries. This is not something you might do on your own. It is too complex and there is method too much at danger - like a reasonable and fair settlement. Just an experienced attorney will be able to precisely evaluate the financial settlement possible for your injuries.

Discovering an excellent automobile accident attorney is not always about choosing one out of the telephone directory. It has to do with discovering one that you resonate with and you understand will work hard and ethically to get you justice. If you need an attorney to handle your case, you may wish to believe about "speaking with" a couple of prior to making a final choice.

You will would like to know the length of time they have remained in practice and approximately how lots of car accident cases they manage on an annual basis. You will likewise wish to know the attorney's damage recovery record for others who have been injured in automobile accidents. Since many accident attorneys take cases on a contingency basis, you will wish to inquire about this ideal upfront. Opportunities are you do not have the money you would require to hire a cars and truck accident attorney and for this factor, if they run on a contingency basis, meaning you do not pay them unless they win your case, this would work much better for you.

It is a truth that vehicle accidents (simply check the cars and truck mishap data) are the most common cause of accident claims. Those who have actually suffered in a mishap, whether you were the chauffeur or traveler, the "other" driver or guest or a pedestrian hit by a cars and truck or a biker that hit a car, you are entitled to payment for your pain and suffering as a result of the mishap. Even if you were partially at fault, there is settlement included, although it might be allocated according to the portions assigned for fault in the mishap.

Submitting an accident lawsuit for damages sustained in a cars and truck crash is not practically taking legal action against someone for cash to spend for your medical costs. The lawsuit might be a claim against an uninsured motorist. In reality, cars and truck accident stats these days plainly show that given that the economy went into a nosedive, the number of uninsured motorists has increased significantly.

You may definitely declare for medical expenditures, for lost earnings and for damages sustained to your vehicle. Pedestrians, bicyclists and bike riders might likewise file claims after being included in a car mishap. Generally speaking, the person who is at fault pays the claim. Simply to restate however, if the mishap was brought on by "two" individuals and not just one, that indicates damages may be divvied up in a different way, as in if you are 25% responsible for a mishap and the "other" motorist is 75% responsible, any damage award might be reduced by 25%.

If you have been associated with a crash, the best thing to do is to get advice and counsel from a knowledgeable and extremely proficient vehicle mishap attorney. Once you have decided on who you want to represent you, it is time to collect the details required to create a strong case for court or to work out a settlement. Do not wait too long to ask about submitting a personal injury claim, because, in some circumstances, you might not have that long to file a case.

When you are speaking with your vehicle mishap attorney, he will tell you right up front what payment you might be entitled to as a result of the mishap. Normally, you might get recovery for any expenditures paid out because of the accident. Other http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection&region=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/https://www.legalmatch.com/bankruptcy-lawyers.html items that are classified as recoverable damages are pain and suffering, future and previous medical costs and lost salaries from being off work because of the injuries suffered in the mishap.

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The bottom line is that if you have been in a cars and truck mishap, your entire world gets turned upside down. You will need to deal with things you have actually never had experience with, did not know about, attempt to deal with your injuries and medical concerns and recover - all at the exact same time. This is where the empathy of a skilled cars and truck mishap lawyer will stand you in great stead.

They will help you in handling insurance companies, medical professionals and other circumstances that turn up while you are trying to settle your car accident claim. In the end, you can bet that the car accident lawyer made a substantial difference in the result of your settlement, and you can now get on with living your life.

#debt attorney #debt lawyer #law firm

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indianamesotheliomalawyer · 5 years

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Asbestos Laws in West Virginia

West Virginia Mesothelioma Lawyer

A Goldberg, Persky & White asbestos attorney can help anyone diagnosed with mesothelioma get the compensation they deserve. West Virginia is one of the many states which had heavy mining and industries which exposed thousands of workers to asbestos. The main health risk of being exposed to asbestos is the development of mesothelioma. Exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma. Asbestos-containing products were used in steel mills, railroads, power plants, oil refineries, and other industries throughout West Virginia.

Between the years of 1999 and 2013, West Virginia’s asbestos-related death rate was nine deaths per one hundred thousand people. That number is almost twice the national average, which was reported by the Environmental Working Group Action Fund.

The asbestos-related death rate is more than three times the national average in some West Virginia counties. This does include Kanawha County, which is the state’s center of industry.

Kanawha County was ranked among the top ten counties in the nation for asbestos litigation in 2017, which was reported by a KCIC industry. Even though there was a national descending trend happening, Kanawha County had shown an increase in claims from the years of 2016 to 2017.

How Can A West Virginia Mesothelioma Lawyer Help Me?

A West Virginia mesothelioma attorney at Goldberg, Persky & White PC can help you file a claim for compensation against the companies who exposed you to asbestos. Our law firm specializes in asbestos litigation and we are standing by with a West Virginia asbestos exposure lawyer to help you 24/7.

West Virginia Asbestos Laws and Regulations

The DEP enforces Hazardous Air Pollutant Emission standards in West Virginia’s. There are licensing requirements set for professionals who audit and abolish asbestos-containing materials. Before any renovation or demolition operations can begin, all buildings must be inspected for asbestos. The DEP should be notified in advance when asbestos-containing materials will be placed in a spot where they would be disturbed.

Asbestos-abatement professionals must go through specialized training through the state so that they can effectively remove asbestos-containing materials.

How To File a Mesothelioma Lawsuit in West Virginia

In order to manage the large number of disease cases, specific rules and regulations have been enacted by the West Virginia Legislature and state courts. The attorneys at Goldberg, Persky & White are familiar with regulations and the case process in West Virginia.

Mass Litigation Panel

There is a specialized panel, established by West Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals, which is set in place to help handle large litigation cases such as asbestos self-injury lawsuits. Asbestos cases that are filed in West Virginia are referred to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County.

The Mass Litigation Panel (MLP) Asbestos Case Management Order holds the procedures for filing asbestos cases.

Plaintiff’s in a pending asbestos self-injury case are required by the MLP to submit a “Plaintiff Fact Sheet”. In this fact sheet, the plaintiff’s must report their work history, medical providers, smoking history, and any kind of benefits such as workers’ compensation and/or disability.

Case Consolidation

Case consolidation is a method that the courts use to categorize similar claims for processing. The courts use this as a tool to lessen filings, streamline case scheduling, and expedite trials.

Currently, under the Asbestos Case Management Order, the plaintiff’s attorney designates a “trial group” of twenty cases. After that happens, the court will schedule trials for three of those groups every year.

Medical Severity

The Asbestos cases are divided into different categories based off of the plaintiff’s illnesses. The categories are used to group cases for scheduling.

Category I cases involve living plaintiffs who have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer. This category’s plaintiffs receive first priority in trial groups, and any category I plaintiff who dies before being deposed is automatically moved to category II.

Category II cases involve plaintiffs who are deceased. These plaintiffs were diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer.

Category III cases involve plaintiffs who have been diagnosed with nonmalignant asbestos-related diseases, such as asbestosis.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are used to punish defendants who lose and deter them from causing more avoidable injuries. Since 2015, punitive damage awards in West Virginia have been limited to four times compensatory damages, or $500,000, whichever is higher.

Disclosures

Plaintiffs must disclose any claims that may exist against bankruptcy trusts no later than 120 days before their trial date; the Asbestos Case Management Order requires this.

Defendants have information about trust claims. The courts, however, may require claimants to disclose the amount that they receive or that they expect to receive from bankruptcy trusts. The defendants are entitled to reduce these amounts from verdicts as “set-off’s.”

West Virginia Mesothelioma Lawsuit Statute of Limitations

West Virginia’s statutes of limitations indicate patients with mesothelioma have two years from their time of diagnosis to file a personal injury lawsuit against those responsible for their asbestos exposure; the time limit is the same for filing a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Job Sites in West Virginia With Documented Asbestos Exposure

Beckley

Beckley Mining Academy

Bradley

West Virginia Electric Supply

Charleston Area

Barium Reduction

Cecil Walker Machinery

Dupont Chemical

Fike Chemical

FMC Ordnance

General Electric

Gordon Gasket and Packing Company

Ingersoll Rand

Monsanto

Norfolk Southern Railroad

P&H MinePro Services Appalachia

Union Carbide Mines

Vimasco Corporation

Clarksburg

Allegheny Energy Supply

Brockway Glass

Centurial Products

Fourco Glass

Davis

Dominion Virginia Power

Fairmont

Consolidation Coal Company

FMC Chemical

Monongahela Power Company

Westinghouse

Huntington

American Car Foundry

Ensign Electric

International Nickel Company

Koppers

Novamont

Owens-Illinois

Logan Area

Union Carbide Mines

Milton

Appalachian Power Company

Morgantown Area

Fort Martin Power Plant

Hubbell Incorporated

Union Carbide Mines

Moundsville

Allied Chemical

Analine Chemical

Ben Franklin Coal Company

Newell

Ergon-West Virginia

New Martinsville

Mobay Chemical

PPG Industries

Parkersburg

Ames

Borg Warner

Point Pleasant

West Virginia Ordnance

Ravenswood

Kaiser Aluminum

Spencer

Kellwood Industries

Vienna

Demuth Glass

Washington

Marbon

Weirton

Weirton Steel

Wheeling

Blaw Knox Rolls

Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel

West Virginia Mesothelioma Lawsuits

West Virginia mesothelioma lawsuits are filed against employers who put profit before their workers’ safety by exposing them to asbestos. These companies are held accountable by mesothelioma lawyers when those workers end up being diagnosed with mesothelioma. There are many ways in West Virginia for people with mesothelioma to receive compensation for their suffering as well as expenses.

Asbestos Verdicts

The ultimate way to hold a company accountable for causing workplace asbestos exposure is to take that company to a trial. Juries in the state of West Virginia have also held companies responsible for secondhand asbestos exposure.

DuPont was told to pay $6.4 million in expenses to the family of Leonard Cox in 2002. Cox died two years before from mesothelioma. Professionals traced his cancer back to asbestos dust, which was brought home on his father’s work clothes when Cox was still a child. His father was working at the time at the asbestos insulation at DuPont’s Belle chemical plant.

Settlements

Plenty of defendants in asbestos lawsuits will choose to settle their issues outside of the courtroom, rather than risk a jury verdict.

Out-of-court settlements amounts are usually less than verdict awards; out-of-court settlement amounts are kept confidential to keep the defendant from the news. Professional lawyers are known to seal mesothelioma settlements worth more than $1 million for the clients they work with.

Trust Funds

Asbestos trust funds are issued by liable companies so that they avoid going bankrupt because of lawsuits. An attorney that is familiar with asbestos cases can help determine which asbestos trusts individuals may be able to file a claim. For more information on how to file a claim, visit our blog post found here: https://www.gpwlaw-mi.com/how-to-file-a-mesothelioma-claim/

Or our West Virginia Site found here: https://gpwlaw-wv.com/

For those diagnosed with mesothelioma in New York: https://www.gpwlaw-mi.com/new-york-mesothelioma-lawyer/

The post Asbestos Laws in West Virginia appeared first on Goldberg, Persky & White P.C..

from https://www.gpwlaw-mi.com/asbestos-laws-in-west-virginia/

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thewebofslime · 5 years

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A former senior U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official who testified before Congress on the government's efforts to stop the opioid epidemic is now paid to advise one of the largest opioid manufacturers in the country, Purdue Pharma, according to people familiar with the matter. Demetra Ashley, the former acting assistant administrator of the DEA who told a Senate committee in 2017 about the need for a "robust regulatory program" to stop the diversion of opioids and other controlled prescription drugs, left the DEA last spring and started a consulting firm called Dashley Consulting, LLC, according to her LinkedIn page. Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, is one of the opioid companies being sued by more than 1,600 cities and counties for "grossly" misrepresenting "the risks of long-term use of those drugs for persons with chronic pain," according to court documents. The lawsuits have been consolidated into one case in federal court in Cleveland. Purdue vigorously denies allegations that it deceptively marketed OxyContin. Ashley spent three decades at the DEA, specializing in preventing the diversion of prescription drugs like OxyContin. Reached by NBC News on her cellphone in Chicago, Ashley said, "I have been consulting for members of the industry and I began my consulting business in June 2018 after I retired." Ashley said she could not confirm or deny who her clients are unless "they say it's OK." Purdue declined comment to NBC News on its consultants. Purdue Pharma exploring filing for bankruptcy MARCH 4, 201901:14 Ashley confirmed she has been subpoenaed to be deposed in the consolidated opioid lawsuit to discuss her role at the DEA as part of the law enforcement agency's effort to stem the opioid crisis. Purdue has reportedly made more than $35 billion from the sale of OxyContin, a figure the company has not denied. "This should not be allowed," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University. "Former DEA and FDA officials should not be allowed to take money from companies they regulated." Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and an expert in government ethics, said situations like Ashley's "raise a question in the mind of the public — whether the prospect of a payday after leaving government tainted the actions of the regulator while still in government. Did this person act differently in government because they anticipated or wanted to get the payday from these very powerful economic actors who have huge amounts at stake?" There is no indication that Ashley's consulting arrangement with Purdue is illegal. During testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 12, 2017, Ashley said: "The over-prescribing and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) is inextricably linked with the threat the United States faces from the trafficking of heroin, illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues. ... The United States continues to be affected by a national opioid epidemic, which has been spurred, in part, by the rise of abuse of prescription opioids." Ashley said that 3.4 million Americans reported misusing prescription painkillers in 2016, and the scope of the opioid problem "underscores the need for a robust regulatory program that seeks to stop diversion of CPDs." 'WHEELS OF JUSTICE' The avalanche of legal cases against opioid manufacturers and distributors has been likened to the lawsuits the tobacco industry faced, which were settled in 1998 for $206 billion. The difference between opioids and tobacco is that patients were told by their doctors to take opioids. For tobacco users, tobacco was a personal choice. The first opioid trial from the consolidated cases is scheduled for Oct. 21, according to the website for the multidistrict litigation. But that's not the only upcoming trial for Purdue Pharma. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter will have the first crack at a trial May 28, in Cleveland County, Oklahoma. Hunter is suing opioid manufacturers including Purdue Pharma, Allergan, Cephalon and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The judge in the case, District Judge Thad Balkman, recently denied a request by the opioid defendants to delay the trial saying, "the wheels of justice will continue to turn unimpeded." Balkman has ruled that cameras could be allowed in the courtroom during the upcoming trial saying, "Unquestionably, the issues presented in this matter are of great importance to the citizens of Oklahoma." But just a few days ago, Purdue Pharma asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that "a televised trial in this matter will be fundamentally unfair. It will deny Purdue due process." The company's renewed effort to get rid of cameras in the courtroom was first reported by Law360. NBC News previously reported that in the face of more than 1,000 suits, Purdue Pharma is exploring options that include bankruptcy. In a statement, Purdue Pharma told NBC News that the company "continues to have active discussions with attorneys general, and is fully engaged with the multidistrict litigation process ... to help communities address the nation’s opioid crisis." "We will continue to work collaboratively with the various jurisdictions toward bringing meaningful solutions forward to address this public health challenge. We vigorously deny allegations that Purdue acted improperly by communicating with prescribers about scientific and medical information that FDA has expressly considered and continues to approve. We believe it is inappropriate to substitute the judgment of the plaintiffs for the judgment of the regulatory, scientific and medical experts at [the Food and Drug Administration]."

#TheWebOfSlime

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taleshalance4 · 5 years

Text

Mill Valley

Mill Valley Personal Injury Attorneys | Accident Lawyers

vimeo

Millions of people are hospitalized every year due to accidental injuries. If you or a member of your family was seriously hurt due to another person’s negligence, the Mill Valley personal injury attorneys at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers are here to help.

The cost of healthcare and lost income can add up quickly, but if another person was responsible for your accident, you may be entitled to compensation. A lawyer from our firm can review the facts of your case for free to determine if you have grounds for a claim.

We have won hundreds of millions of dollars for clients throughout California. Our attorneys offer free initial consultations and work on a contingency fee basis, which means we don’t charge anything unless we win. To schedule a case assessment, call us today at 1-800-GO-HARRIS.

Types of Injury Cases We Handle in Mill Valley, California

Car Accidents

18-Wheeler Accidents

Scooter Accidents

Turo Vehicle Accidents

Boat Crashes

Motorbike Crashes

Premises Liability

Slip and Falls

Dog Attacks

Airplane, Helicopter, and Other Aircraft Accidents

Train Crashes

Bus Accidents

Pedestrian Accidents

Rideshare Vehicle Accidents

Severe Burn Injuries

Brain Injuries

Spinal Cord Injuries

Bicycle Accidents

Wrongful Death

Other Personal Injuries

Damages That Might Be Recoverable in Mill Valley Personal Injury Cases

It goes without saying that a serious injury or death in the family can lead to financial hardship. Medical bills are the number-one reason for filing bankruptcy in the United States. Even if you have enough savings to stay afloat financially, the expenses can mount quickly and threaten your future financial security.

Fortunately, California law allows victims of personal injury to file a claim for any damages they incur as the result of another person’s negligence or intentional wrongdoing. Depending on the facts of your case, you may be entitled to compensation for:

Loss of income;

Lost future earnings;

Healthcare bills;

Repairs to property damaged in the accident;

Other objectively verifiable losses like child care and alternative transportation;

Emotional distress;

Loss of consortium;

Pain and suffering; and

Loss of enjoyment in life.

If the person who injured you was acting with especially egregious behavior, you may also be able to pursue an exemplary damages award. These damages are only available in cases when the defendant acted with fraud, malice, or oppression.

If the defendant’s misconduct showed an indifference to your safety or rights, your Mill Valley personal injury lawyer might advise you to seek a punitive award. This may be the case, for example, if you were hurt in a violent attack or injured in a crash with a drunk driver or someone who was texting behind the wheel.

We Will Maximize the Potential Value of Your Injury Claim

There are many reasons why hiring a seasoned injury attorney is so important after a serious accident. Your lawyer can help you avoid critical mistakes that would jeopardize your case. Your attorney can also handle the logistics of your claim so you can focus on your health and your family. But perhaps the most important reason to seek legal representation is to maximize the potential value of your claim.

Many claimants overlook certain types of damages they might be owed. For example, it is not uncommon for a personal injury victim to leave future medical bills and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering out of the settlement calculations. Depending on the facts of your case, these damages could account for a significant portion of the final settlement or verdict.

The Mill Valley personal injury attorneys at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers can take the necessary steps to help you pursue the highest possible payout. We will gather all available evidence of liability and damages, and we can apply legal pressure to obtain evidence that is being withheld. Our lawyers also know when to bring in experts to help with the investigation and to provide testimony.

We will make sure your claim accounts for all potentially recoverable losses. If the opposing party decides not to cooperate, we have the litigation experience to take even the most complex cases to trial, but our goal will be to get you fairly compensated without going to court. We will pursue that goal by preparing your case for trial even if a settlement is the most likely outcome. This will show the insurance company what they’re up against if they refuse to pay a fair settlement.

Call 1-800-GO-HARRIS to Discuss Your Claim with a Mill Valley Personal Injury Lawyer

It’s not easy to focus on legal proceedings after a serious injury or death in the family. The attorneys at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers can handle the logistics of your claim while you focus on your health and your loved ones.

With many decades of combined experience, our lawyers have the skills, knowledge, and legal strategies to find success in even the most complicated cases. To schedule a free consultation, call 1-800-GO-HARRIS or use our Contact Form to reach us online.

Our Location

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

San Francisco

650 Delancey Street #105,

San Francisco, CA 94107

United States (US)

Phone: 415-495-0440 Fax: 415-495-0444

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Call Us, We Can Come to You! Se Habla Español

415.495.0440

REQUEST A FREE CONSULTATION

Fill out the form below to receive a free and confidential consultation.

[contact-form-7]

San Francisco

650 Delancey Street #105,

San Francisco, CA 94107

United States (US)

Phone: 415-495-0440 Fax: 415-495-0444 Price range: Free Consultations & No Fees

Monday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMTuesday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMWednesday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMThursday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMFriday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMSaturday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMSunday12:00 AM - 12:00 PM

The post Mill Valley appeared first on Harris Personal Injury Lawyers.

from http://bit.ly/2Rh0EwL from https://eliaandponto1.tumblr.com/post/181925350782

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crazy4tank · 3 years

Text

Chris Dreyer: A Lawyers Top Marketer

New Post has been published on https://fashiondesigne.com/chris-dreyer-a-lawyers-top-marketer/

Chris Dreyer: A Lawyers Top Marketer

“It was a fairly big jolt, ” he admits that, but he knew this individual needed to switch gears, and finally landed back on his foot, at a digital agency within Clayton, Missouri.

There, he increased to be their top SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION specialist.

After his 10th client, he was therefore successful that he hired their particular first employee.

They will followed the motto “riches in the niches, ” along with emphasis on building trust.

“An illustration would be if you have a heart concern, ” he explains.

Niche any thing, but the keys to actually being successful lie in getting intuitive to their needs.

“We try to visualize what information they would end up being searching for, and try to create that will for them, ” he says

“The strategies to obtain results for just one, is different than another, despite the fact that they’re both personal injury companies. ”

“It’s a new major impact on their business” – and not just in a small amount of cities, but “almost all markets, he rates high, ” in a way that does not have any parallel.

Within latest news, despite COVID, he opened a second company in March of this season, ESQ Marketing.

Dreyer maintains very much of his company’s development – be it other workplaces or popularity – could be attributed to how they interact with the customer, too.

Blend that in with a solid number of dedicated individuals, and it is a recipe for success.

“It’s not just me personally behind the wheel, but my really talented team behind me personally as well. When you have a contributed vision, it gets everybody rolling in the right path. ”

#chris dreyer #entrepreneur #featured #lawyers #personal injury seo #Self Made Men #selfmade #seo marketing

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eliaandponto1 · 5 years

Text

Mill Valley

Mill Valley Personal Injury Attorneys | Accident Lawyers

vimeo

Types of Injury Cases We Handle in Mill Valley, California

Car Accidents

18-Wheeler Accidents

Scooter Accidents

Turo Vehicle Accidents

Boat Crashes

Motorbike Crashes

Premises Liability

Slip and Falls

Dog Attacks

Airplane, Helicopter, and Other Aircraft Accidents

Train Crashes

Bus Accidents

Pedestrian Accidents

Rideshare Vehicle Accidents

Severe Burn Injuries

Brain Injuries

Spinal Cord Injuries

Bicycle Accidents

Wrongful Death

Other Personal Injuries

Damages That Might Be Recoverable in Mill Valley Personal Injury Cases

Loss of income;

Lost future earnings;

Healthcare bills;

Repairs to property damaged in the accident;

Other objectively verifiable losses like child care and alternative transportation;

Emotional distress;

Loss of consortium;

Pain and suffering; and

Loss of enjoyment in life.

We Will Maximize the Potential Value of Your Injury Claim

Call 1-800-GO-HARRIS to Discuss Your Claim with a Mill Valley Personal Injury Lawyer

Our Location



San Francisco

650 Delancey Street #105,

San Francisco, CA 94107

United States (US)

Phone: 415-495-0440 Fax: 415-495-0444

Call Us, We Can Come to You! Se Habla Español

415.495.0440

REQUEST A FREE CONSULTATION

Fill out the form below to receive a free and confidential consultation.

[contact-form-7]

San Francisco

650 Delancey Street #105,

San Francisco, CA 94107

United States (US)

Phone: 415-495-0440 Fax: 415-495-0444 Price range: Free Consultations & No Fees

Monday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMTuesday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMWednesday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMThursday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMFriday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMSaturday12:00 AM - 12:00 PMSunday12:00 AM - 12:00 PM

The post Mill Valley appeared first on Harris Personal Injury Lawyers.

from http://bit.ly/2Rh0EwL

0 notes