Abeles & Karle, PLLC

04/26/2020

DON'T cut yourself short on money for essentials. Always pay credit cards last, if you can.
We can help you to have your credit card & unsecured debt payments stopped immediately when you file for bankruptcy. Call us this week to see if you qualify!
📞 386-668-8551

04/10/2020

The echoes of the 2008 financial crisis are growing louder day by day. A stagnant economy, where growth is stopped and jobs are not being created, is one thing. But the COVID-19 pandemic is doing much more than just “pausing” our society.
Each day that “non-essential businesses” have to remain closed, employers struggle with how much longer they can continue to stay afloat before shutting down and letting go employees. In just the past three weeks, 16.8 million Americans have lost their jobs and (successfully) filed for unemployment compensation, which is not much more than a life-preserver of last resort.
In 2008 and the years that followed, I worked with hundreds of Central Floridians to assist with their needs to financially recover and resume life as they once knew it. Representing homeowners in foreclosure and bankruptcy, I saw firsthand the impact of the economic failures and the renewed hope and happiness when we can put those worries and hardships behind them.
Solutions such as bankruptcy have the potential to help folks recover from the current financial turmoil and damage. I recommend contacting us today so that we can review your personal situation to see if bankruptcy or other solutions could help you now. Just give us a phone call at (386) 668-8511 to discuss how we can help with whatever problems you are currently facing.

04/04/2020

We are concerned about how this COVID-19 pandemic will affect the financial economic outlook of those in our community and state. We have received numerous calls from clients telling us that they have been laid off or their business has been forced to close. I can hear the frustration and hopelessness in their voice. People will go through savings (if they have any) in a short period of time. In these rough economic times, people will be forced to use their credit cards as a means for survival. If you find yourself having to decide what you can afford to pay every month, maybe it is time to seek help and find out your options.

Call us for a FREE phone consultation 386-668-8511

04/04/2020

Currently, the COVID-19 situation has our entire nation on edge with uncertainty. In the same way that many things have changed in the past few weeks, we here at Abeles & Karle are making adjustments that are necessitated by the threats posed by COVID-19. We have spent the past week fine tuning the way we handle business in consideration of these uncertainties throughout the community.

Our primary concern is the health and safety of our staff and clients. Therefore, we believe that it is the best protection to temporarily close our physical office. But just because we are not there physically in the office, doesn’t mean that we have stopped working! We are working remotely and will be available for you if you should need us. Depending on your situation, we can do consultations over the telephone or virtually. Please call us at 386-668-8511 or email us at [email protected] to set up a phone consultation.

We can also come in the office and meet with you, while implementing “social distancing” best practices. During these unpredictable times, we encourage you to call us if you have questions about a legal matter. We are currently offering free telephone consultations to discuss your issues and provide information about how we can assist with your legal issues.

At Abeles & Karle, we are prepared to meet the challenges posed by this health threat, immediately and in the long term. If you are dealing with a legal problem and need help, even in this time of crisis, we are still here to help you and to get you the legal representation you need.

Be well and God Bless.

386-668-8511

08/12/2019

August is Back To School Safety Month

Summer is coming to an end an that means the start of a new school year! Volusia County Schools begin on Monday, August 12, 2019 and we want to remind drivers to be extra vigilant during the morning and afternoon school rush.

Please use extreme caution when driving through school zones. The speed limit is reduced for a reason near schools and drivers are required to adjust their speed accordingly.

With the start of the school year there will be an increase in traffic, distracted drivers, foot traffic at pedestrian crosswalks, etc. which increases the likelihood of an accident on our roadway.

Florida law states that if a school bus stops, motorists on either side of the bus must stop as well. It is important that motorists avoid engaging in distracted driving behaviors, such as talking on their cell phones and texting while driving.

CELL PHONE BAN: The ban on cell phone (i.e. - handheld use, which includes talking & texting while driving) in school zones and construction zones will be enforced starting Oct. 1, 2019 in Florida.

09/17/2017

A Personal Message to Our Clients and Community:

Along with everyone in Central Florida, we here at the Law Office of Abeles & Karle, have been busy dealing with the aftermath and recovery of Hurricane Irma. Fortunately, all of our families and staff made it through the storm unharmed. Our office building suffered some damage from the winds, but the impact of Irma was primarily the loss of electricity and telephones for four days.

We have now regained utilities at our office and are in the process of resuming full operations. We will be fully operational at our regular hours on Monday, September 18th. In the meantime, our phones are operating, and we are here for you. Through all of the challenges that life throws at us, we recognize how blessed we are to have the opportunity to serve this community, and we have been working since the storm to ensure that nothing stops the progress in our clients’ cases.

03/16/2017

We are renting office space in Debary's historic Pan American Bank building! $250 per month which includes wifi and utilities. 2 offices available. Please call us for more info! phone # 407-416-1459

06/30/2015

06/30/2015

SOME FACTS ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY:

SSDI pays modest benefits, averaging just $1,140 per month, less than most workers make before they qualify for the program.

For 80% of beneficiaries, SSDI is the primary or only source of income, and it provides a drastic increase in the quality of life of recipients who might otherwise live in poverty.

The eligibility criteria for SSDI are among the strictest in the world and fewer than 40% of applicants are approved.

Nearly 20% of beneficiaries die within five years of first obtaining benefits.

Nearly 9 million workers with disabilities receive SSDI benefits, including more than 1 million veterans. More than 150,000 spouses and nearly 2 million children also receive benefits.

Beneficiaries pay into SSDI as a portion of their Social Security payroll tax. The current tax rate is 6.2% on the first $117,000 of earnings a worker makes. 5.3% goes to the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI), the rest goes to the SSDI Trust Fund.

Only one-third of private-sector workers has employer-provided long-term disability insurance, and most of those plans often provide less than SSDI. Only 7% of workers who make $12 per hour or less have such insurance. Most private long-term disability insurance plans are too costly for most workers.

Most beneficiaries are in their 50s and 60s, with the average age being 53.

Fewer than 4% of beneficiaries earned more than $10,000 during the year.

The United States ranks 30 out of 34 OECD member countries in terms of replacement benefit payouts for workers with disabilities.

A temporary reallocation of how the 6.2% payroll tax is divided between SSDI and OASI would ensure that both trust funds would be able to remain fully solvent until 2033 and would alleviate the shortage in SSDI funds caused by demographic trends.

Beneficiaries face a wide range of significant disabilities, with many having multiple impairments, which include:

31.8% have a “primary diagnosis” of a mental impairment, including 4.2% with intellectual disabilities and 27.6% with other types of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or severe depression.
29.8% have a musculoskeletal or connective tissue disorder.
8.7% have a cardiovascular condition such as chronic heart failure.
9.3% have a disorder of the nervous system, such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, or a sensory impairment such as deafness or blindness.
20.4% include workers living with cancers; infectious diseases; injuries; genitourinary impairments such as end stage renal disease; congenital disorders; metabolic and endocrine diseases such as diabetes; diseases of the respiratory system; and diseases of other body systems

06/29/2015

Jury awards patient $500K due to doctor's defamatory comments while he was sedated for colonoscopy
POSTED JUN 24, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

BY MARTHA NEIL

A Virginia jury last week awarded an unidentified patient $500,000, including $200,000 in punitive damages, because of defamatory comments made by his anesthesiologist while he was sedated for a colonoscopy.

Intending to capture his doctor’s post-procedure instructions, the patient, referred to as D.B., had left his smartphone in record mode during the colonoscopy, reports the Washington Post (reg. req.). However, it was in his trousers, which were placed under the patient during the procedure, resulting in the inadvertent recording, court records explain.

When he pressed play on his way home from the Reston operating room the patient was stunned to hear Dr. Tiffany Ingham mocking and disparaging him. The patient also sued a gastroenterologist, Soloman Shah, who was present for the procedure but did not directly participate in most of the commentary by Ingham. That portion of the Fairfax County case was dismissed at the beginning of the trial.

Among other comments, referring to a rash on the patient’s p***s, Ingham incorrectly suggested that he had syphilis and tuberculosis, the Post recounts. (The jury awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages for defamation for the doctor’s remarks about each of these diseases, and another $200,000 for overall medical malpractice.) Ingham also allegedly said she was going to note in the man’s chart that he had hemorrhoids, although he didn’t.

“And really, after five minutes of talking to you in pre-op I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit,” she told the unconscious patient. The comment followed earlier discussion about whether he was gay, the suit says.

Attorney Lee Berlik, who apparently is not involved in the case, told the newspaper that a conversation between doctors about a patient’s medical condition would ordinarily be privileged. However, D.B. said in his suit that the comments by his physicians were unnecessary to his colonoscopy.

The presence of others in the room during a conversation between doctors allows adequate publication to establish a potential defamation claim, Berlik explained.

“If one of the doctors said to someone else in the room that this guy had syphilis and tuberculosis and that person believed it, that could be a claim. Then it’s up to the jury to decide: Were the statements literal assertions of fact?”

However, it may well be that the jury “was just so offended at this unprofessional behavior that they’re going to give the plaintiff a win,” Berlik said. “That’s what happens in the real world.”

Ingham, who has moved to Florida, could not be reached for comment and her lawyer did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

At trial, the defense unsuccessfully sought to suppress the smartphone audio (Virginia is a one-party consent state) and argued the patient had suffered no significant damage from comments made to a limited medical group, while he was unconscious.

Abeles & Karle, PLLC is a general practice law firm located in DeBary, Florida. We focus our practic

06/29/2015

Over 100 convictions reversed over faulty jury instructions on manslaughter
POSTED JUN 29, 2015 01:00 PM CDT

BY MARTHA NEIL




Over the course of 15 years, Florida lawyers sometimes wondered about a discrepancy between the state’s legal definition of the crime of manslaughter and what standard form jury instructions said.

But not until 2009 did Richard Summa, a public defender in Tallahassee, argue the issue on appeal. The result was a new trial for his client, Steven Montgomery, when the state supreme court agreed that the jury instructions were a fundamental error, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

By incorrectly requiring the jury to find intent in order to convict defendants of manslaughter, the erroneous instructions made it easier to convict defendants of second-degree murder or attempted second-degree murder. Those crimes do not require intent, either, which the jury instructions made clear, the article explains.

Others soon followed the trail blazed by Summa that led to the reversal of Montgomery’s conviction in 2010, and at least 103 people have won new trials on that basis.

For a significant number of defendants, that has resulted in second convictions but lighter sentences, often because of plea bargaining. However, a few defendants wound up with harsher sentences. Among them is Montgomery, the Times reports: He was convicted again of second-degree murder and sentenced to a life term. His initial sentence for the crime was 45 years.

Abeles & Karle, PLLC is a general practice law firm located in DeBary, Florida. We focus our practic

06/26/2015

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/Quickfacts.html

Main menu to facts, fallacies and frequently asked questions about inmates, community supervision, death row and the Florida Department of Corrections.