George LaMarche Interview

June 08, 2025. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the hidden world of wealth, where secrets of
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(00:22):
President of Prescott Private Wealth and Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor.
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Turn up the volume, lean in closer. Let's navigate the

(00:45):
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(01:06):
Four five Oneho six Street, Troy, New York one two
one eight zero.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
You can show you what you see ology look decill,
be safe as sound, safestud. Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
You're listening to your Money Matters and I'm your host
Drew Prescott, chartered retirement planning counselor and accredited wealth management advisor,
as well as the president of Prescott Private Wealth, located
in Troy, New York. The phone number here is five
one eight two zero three one nine eight three five
one eight two zero three nineteen eighty three. Hey, listen,

(02:02):
I want to get this out to you as soon
as possible. I alluded to this about a month and
a half ago, and I've made my decision. You're I'm
gonna be getting all of my content out through different means. Now,
please follow me on Facebook. We are going live with

(02:24):
our YouTube Bonanza. We are going to be uploading all
of our podcasts as well. You'll be able to find
us on Apple, on Spotify, you name it, We're going
to be there. So anyways, I've got after today, three

(02:45):
more shows, so savor it like a fine glass of wine,
because I'm not going to be here that much longer.
I appreciate all the wonderful compliments. It's been fantastic, But
listen today, I have a great show for you. Before

(03:06):
we get started, I wanted to let you know I
have a wonderful guest for you today. That guest is
a friend of mine, George LaMarsh from LaMarsh and Sofranco
Law Offices. They have offices in Latham, Albany, Lake George,
and Plattsburgh, and George specializes in criminal defense, in personal

(03:31):
injury and DWI defense. So we're gonna get to that,
but beforehand, let me share something with you that I
think you're gonna find very important. When I cover this
information with George, it's incredibly timely because of the season

(03:52):
that we're in. But at the same time, I want
to make sure that I bring you up to speed
on something that happened this week with the s and
P five hundred. Now we've seen at three separate occasions
where it has broken through the six thousand mark and
then it has retreated. So as we sit here right now,

(04:13):
it sits pretty much on the nose of six thousand.
So here's the question that you should be asking, if
you're not already, is what is going on with the
SMP five hundred, specifically at this six thousand level. Well,

(04:35):
you see, here's what you want to pay attention to.
It's like the index gets right up to the edge
of this milestone, it takes a breath, and then it
backs off not once, not twice, but three times now.
So is that just a coincidence or is there something
bigger at play? And I want to help you break

(04:55):
this down, because anytime that the market approaches a major number,
let's say, like six thousand, where we are right now
on the s and P. Five hundred, it becomes more
than just math. It now becomes psychological and big clean
numbers like four thousand, six thousand, and now I'm sorry,

(05:16):
four thousand and five thousand, and now six thousand. They
act like a mental speed bump, and investors tend to
cluster decisions. They start buying, selling, or pausing around these
levels here, Okay, why is that? Well, because it feels
like a finish line, and traders might start to take

(05:36):
profits just under six thousand, and institutions might reduce some
of their exposure and rebalance portfolios. And that hesitation right there,
that creates what we call resistance. And it's a ceiling
that the market bumps into, but it hasn't yet broken through.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Now.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
We did get up to sixty one hundred a little
while back, but as soon as we did, it retreated
back down. So so far in twenty twenty five, like
I said, we've seen the smp A breach six thousand
three times now, and each time this rally ran out
of steam. Now, to be clear, that doesn't mean that

(06:19):
the market is collapsing. It just means that in consolidation
phase that there's a pause that often happens right before
a major breakout. And this isn't a red flag. In fact,
it's normal and it's even healthy market behavior. So think
of it like a rocket getting ready to launch. The

(06:40):
first couple of tries might not ignite liftoff, but pressure
builds and it position the positioning firms up here, and
when the timing is right, boom, you get a breakout
that can really run. So here's here's a really important question.

(07:03):
Once a level like six thousand is finally broken, how
long does it take for that resistance to become support?
And typically we're looking at somewhere between one to eight
week timeframe, So we've already pierced it on two separate occasions.
As being the third, we know that that one week

(07:25):
mark didn't work out last time, so we should be
looking at a little bit of a longer timetable. But
when the market breaks above that big resistance level, it
often comes back down to retest it, and that's not weakness.
It's a critical phase where the market asks is this
the new floor? And if the index bounces off of

(07:49):
that level and it holds now it's confirmed support. But
if it backs below, then the breakout may have been premature.
So when the SMP broke through the four thousand mark
back in twenty and twenty one, it spent about six

(08:10):
weeks retesting it before it moved confidently higher, And the
same thing happened with five thousand in early twenty and
twenty four. We saw multiple pullbacks, but once it held,
the market accelerated upward. Okay, so now we're talking about
it went through five thousand back in two thousand and

(08:33):
twenty four, so we've had a great run quickly up
until this point. So don't expect any fireworks here on
this weekend with breaking through that six thousand level. But
the real confidence comes after it gets retested. So with
that being said, expect to see the SMP five hundred

(08:59):
kind of jump around a little bit again here for
the next couple of weeks. Now, if it stays above
that six thousand level, then we can call it support
and all indications would suggest that we could see some
pretty strong growth. So the timing here could be very beneficial,

(09:23):
very interesting for US and P five hundred investors. So
I wanted to get that to you so that you
had that reference point because that's kind of the news
that you should be reading on right now and hearing.
Not sure if anyone else is talking about it, but
I wanted to help you understand this is not a
time to be worried. This is an exciting time. You

(09:46):
want to see how this holds up with the tests,
and I believe that you're going to see that this
will become support. Probably this is my estimation, only an estimation.
I think that within the next two to three weeks
this will solidify itself as support and we're going to
see some continued growth here. So pay attention to that,

(10:10):
be prepared, get yourself in a position to take advantage
of this, because I think it could be a very
good thing for you. So I want to start to
transition into this interview with George LaMarsh, and I think
that you're really going to benefit from this. He's going
to talk about how to protect yourself in not only

(10:33):
slip and fall incidents, car accidents, animal injuries, but also
with DWI defense. Okay, so you might say to yourself,
why this well wealth is not just about building it,
it's about protecting it. It's about protecting your name's sake

(10:54):
as well. So listen up, you're in for a real treat.
This is going to be a good edge occasional program.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Folks.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Today we're diving into a topic that affects all of
us no matter how much money we have in our bank.
Lawsuits and legal protection, whether it's a car accident, a
slip and fall on your property, a dog bite, or
even a DUI one accident can turn your life upside
down financially and legally if you're not prepared. So joining
me now is George LaMarsh, a partner at Lamartia and

(11:25):
Sefranco Law Office, which is a top rated firm specializing
in personal injury, criminal defense and DWI defense. George is
not only one of the best in the business, but
someone who's seen first hand how fast the life can change,
whether you're the person that's being sued or the one
injured and needing justice. George, thank you so much for

(11:46):
being here today and let's just get right into it.
You know, we've known each other for a while. I
always love watching your tiktoks. I think you do a
great job on there. I know before we recorded here,
you told me about a TikTok that you did. They
really just kind of you know, quat traction. Can you
tell me a little bit about that TikTok?

Speaker 4 (12:06):
Yeah, I mean, look, what I try to do with
my tiktoks, with all my social media is provide knowledge,
just provide information to people that's useful to them in
their everyday lives. So the one that I did most
recently involved underage drinking at spack. You know, kids go
to concerts, they're bringing fake IDs, they're having their friends
buy them drinks, or they're attempting to buy drinks, and
what the consequences of that are not picked up. You

(12:28):
know a lot of views, a lot of comments. So
those are the kinds of things like, hey, fyi, folks,
if you choose to do X, Y or Z, there
could be consequences, So think about this before you do such.
You know, whatever it is that you're thinking about doing.
So I try to give that knowledge, that information to people,
whether it's traffic, you know, fake IDs, underage drinking, Social

(12:50):
host liability with you know, people hosting graduation parties, you know,
those kinds of things. I try to give some information
that could be useful and help somebody from getting into trouble.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, and it definitely is useful. So first of all,
I just want to say thanks so much for slowing
down and joining us on the show today. And I
think folks really take the time to listen to this.
If you have a notepad with you, jot down what
he has to share with you. This is just a
wealth and knowledge here, and I think it's important that
people slow down to think about these things because, as

(13:21):
you know, George, when I put together a financial plan
for people, I try to expose weaknesses because you know,
anybody can save money week in and week out. But
the overall strategy, that's really where I come into play.
And some of these areas are on the risk management side,
and when it, you know, kind of couples with someone
like yourself. So what I was thinking is can we

(13:43):
talk a little bit about some things like car accidents?
You know, I'd like to start with that because it
seems to be the most common risk out there, and
in your experience, how often do you see drivers that
are actually sued for damages beyond what their auto insurance covers.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Look It's possible, it's not probable. It's occurring in cases
where people have substantial assets, and it's when people haven't
gotten sufficient insurance coverage. We can talk a little bit
about that and what that might look like, and it
depends on how significant the injuries are, you know, that's

(14:19):
what really drives this liability, damages and ability to recover.
So in most instances, if there's a dispute about liability,
meaning a dispute about who's at fault, that's going to change,
you know, how the case is valued. Then you look
at damages minor injuries versus catastrophic injuries. You know, a
broken finger is much different than you know, quadriplegia. And

(14:44):
then you look at collectibility, what kind of insurance is
there and what kind of assets are there for the
person who's bringing the claim to pursue if they're successful.
In most instances, people don't have substantial assets. They have
home that are mortgaged, they have cars that have leans
on them, they don't have a lot of money in

(15:05):
their bank accounts. But for the people who have substantial
wealth and assets, there is always that risk that you
could be sued above the insurance policy limits. What's key
is you want to maximize your liability coverage. That means,
in most instances, you need to have at least two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars of liability coverage on your automobiles.

(15:28):
Because that maximum amount of liability coverage is going to
allow you to get an umbrella and every single person
who's wealthy, even people who aren't, just to protect themselves,
they should have an umbrella policy. They're relatively inexpensive. They add,
you know, a million dollars or more in additional coverage
to protect you in the event of a significant clean

(15:51):
that's brought against you. But you know, the occasions where
you see the risk that somebody could get a judgment
or of verdict and excess of that policy is when
there's really really catastrophic injuries. That's what would drive that
potential risk.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
That makes sense. Now, have you ever seen a suit
where somebody maybe could have prevented a lot of this
but they were just sloppy at the scene of an accident.
Maybe they just were trying to be a nice person
and say, you know, hey, don't worry about it, you know,
no need to call the cops or get the insurance

(16:31):
involved or whatever, and then that kind of blows up
on them for trying to be a good person and
get out of there quickly.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, Look, anytime there's a property damage accident, it's always
important to have the police involved, to call the police.
You know, whether it's you're at fault or you're the victim,
having it documented is crucial. It's going to protect you
from being accused from something else that may out of occurred.

(17:00):
For when the police are come and they're going to
document it, and it's going to protect you in the
event that you're the victim. To make sure that you
get all the relevant and important information so that if
you do have a claim, you can bring a claim
against that other party. You're going to want to know
who the owner of the vehicle is, not just the driver.
You're going to want to get insurance information from that

(17:21):
other person. That's going to then open the door to
allow you to pursue a claim for any injuries or
harm or damage that you've suffered, whether that be you know,
personal injuries where you've suffered a fracture or some other
serious injury from a crash or economic loss. I mean,
if you're unable to work, you have medical bills coming in,
you're going to want to seek compensation for that. So

(17:44):
getting the documentation at the very beginning is crucial. And
you know, oftentimes the police are going to take photos.
That's gonna avoid a liability dispute later. If you know
there's a question of who blew the red light, whether
it was you or the other driver, and there's a
dispute you know where the vehicles are positioned in the road.

(18:04):
You know, the photographs that are taken are going to
help to support a liability theory if you're saying, hey,
I was in the right, I was in the right,
and allow you to overcome any liability challenges that may
come around later. So it's always important up front, get
the police involved, get everything document.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
That makes sense. And you're talking about photos, and it
kind of leads into my next question when you think
about another hot topic is what I understand to be
is slips and falls on property and some animal related
injuries on properties and so on. With everybody having ring
doorbells and all these cameras, does that help you in

(18:43):
a defense in these claims.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
Yeah, absolutely. It can help, it can also hurt. So
let's talk about slip and falls as an example. Homeowners
have an obligation to keep their property in reasonably safe condition.
They're not insurers of safety. Sometimes people just slip or
trip and fall because they're clumsy. That's an accident, that's
not negligence. When a homeowner is responsible is if they

(19:06):
have a known defect on their property, or they have
a condition on their property that they should know about
that they ignore all the time. They don't fix it,
and then somebody trips or slips and falls and gets hurt.
Ring doorbell can be very helpful if somebody just trips
because they were clumsy. Ring doorbell can be harmful if
on the ring doorbell history it shows that you've got

(19:27):
to bust it up sidewalk, and it's been that way,
you know for years, you have never taken care of it,
and then someone comes along and steps into this, breaks
an ankle. Well, you're going to be liable because you
either knew about this condition or you should have known
about the condition. But one way or the other, whether
it's ring doorbell cameras or police body cameras these days,
you know there is visual evidence by in terms of

(19:48):
video or photographic evidence everywhere. So it makes cases, you know,
stronger one way or the other, and it eliminates a
lot of the he said, she said, because the video
evidence it.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Is what it is, right, Yeah, the facts stand for themselves,
right exactly. So now what about We've seen tons of
people get in the airbnb business, and have you seen
any like common themes there as far as certain lawsuits.
Is there anything that people should do to kind of
hedge themselves in a little bit better because it seems

(20:22):
as though, you know, there could be ways that they
could be a little bit more proactive with all these
rental properties, and basically you know, it's more transient, right,
I mean, they're not long term rentals. These are people
that are coming in that may not have any knowledge
of each other and they're just coming in quickly. And
have you seen an uptick in situations with like airbnbs?

Speaker 4 (20:46):
I mean with rental properties. With the airbnbs, there's there's
always you know, the risk that you are exposing yourself
to people who are just coming in on a weekend.
There's drinking, there's partying, there's property damage, things that are
going on on your property. But to protect yourself, you
know up front, you need to establish the guidelines. Here

(21:09):
are the rules. If you don't follow these rules, you're out.
You know, if there's anything that happens, you got to
get the police involved right away. But if you are
using your property as a rental property, it ought to
be in an LLC. It's got to be a business.
It shouldn't be in your name personally. You want it

(21:32):
to protect you, in the form of an LLC, from
any liability if somebody, god forbid, gets hurt on your
property because there was something wrong with the property, and
you get a lawsuit brought against you, you don't want
to expose your personal asset. If that property is in
an LLC, it's unlikely that the person who's bringing the

(21:53):
lawsuit is going to be able to reach the LLC
and get to your personal assets. What would be there is,
you know, only the assets of the LC, the rental property.
But you should, again in that instance, always have maximum
liability coverage to protect the asset from any potential judgment
or verdict that might happen, you know, from a lawsuit.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, that's good. That's good information there, because I was
going to ask you about that as far as like,
you know, ways that you can protect yourself because you
talked about an umbrella policy, you've now talked about LLCs
and just a way to shield a small business owner
from some personal financial runs in these cases. And so
if we could just reflect back, you're saying, listen, on

(22:36):
the homeowner side of things, get maximum coverage, double down
with some umbrella coverage as well. And when you're talking
about that as somebody, that is kind of if I
were the injured party and you were representing me, and
you're looking at the case, at the person that injured me,

(22:56):
and you see, hey, you know they've got max coverage
on the insurance, they've got a two million dollar umbrella policy.
And maybe the person is, you know, fairly wealthy. But
it's my understanding that at times and again this is
not my forte as you know, so feel free to

(23:18):
stop me immediately. But doesn't that come into play as
far as like, hey, they've got this much insurance and
it's it, this is what we need to settle this
case properly. There's no need to attack someone's personal I mean,
doesn't that make it your job a little bit easier
and settling a little bit easier when someone has a

(23:41):
right insurance versus trying to go after the person individually.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
Yes, yes, I would say that's one hundred percent true.
I mean most lawyers, myself included, I don't want to
pursue a person personally. Look, in most instances, something happens,
somebody gets hurt. It's not intentional, it's not criminal. It's
a civil negligence action. Somebody violate or breached some duty

(24:11):
of care. You know, they weren't reasonable, they sped, or
they drank and drove, which actually that'd be separate, that'd
be more a criminal act. But let's say somebody was
just speeding going faster than the speed limit, didn't stop
fast enough, rear ends somebody. That's not a criminal act.
They didn't mean to do it, they didn't intentionally do it.
They were just driving too fast, which is you know,

(24:34):
negligence or judgment. It's negligence. But you're not looking to
destroy someone's life over that. In most instances, you know,
you want to pursue the insurance policy and for the
maximum amount of the coverage or the coverage that fairly
compensates someone for their injuries. So if a person has

(24:56):
a two million dollar umbrella in a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars policy, you have a total of two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars of insurance coverage. And they
get sued and somebody broken arm, Well, in New York,
a broken arm is not worth two million, two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. The case is going to settle
within the policy limits. If somebody's a quadriplegic, well, you

(25:16):
know we're talking substantially more than two and a half
million dollars. And that's where that's where, you know, you
start exploring some resolution that may not only include the
full amount of the insurance coverage, but also something above
the policy limits.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Right, that makes sense to me? That makes sense. Now,
what is some good practice for the victim? So after
an injury, Let's say someone were to get hit by
a car where they slip on a neighbor's icy sidewalk,
what's the first thing that they should do legally after
getting medical attention in this situation?

Speaker 4 (25:59):
I think you want to I'll take you want to
all that stuff? Say that again? Sorry, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
How important is documentation like photos, medical records, witnesses and
all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, that's crucial, especially in a slip and fall. If
you're a victim of a slip and fall, you want
to demonstrate what the condition was that caused the fall.
If it's a transient condition, like like an ice condition,
you want to be able to get out there and
take photos of it immediately because it can change. So
getting photographs documenting your injuries immediately is crucial. You know,

(26:32):
some people are like, yeah, I hurt myself, but I
don't really know if I'm really that injured, so I'm
not going to go to the doctor. Well, if it
turns out to be something serious and you wait two
weeks or three weeks and it gets worse, or you know,
maybe something else happens in the meantime, there's going to
be a potential out for the defendant or defense lawyer

(26:53):
to argue, well, it's not causally related to this fall,
this was as a result of something else, or hey,
the condition is not what you say it was because
you don't actually have good photos of it. So yeah,
documenting it immediately, and again you go back to the
ring cameras business. Most businesses have cameras. Usually you can
get those videos and those those photographs, so but documented

(27:15):
immediately as quickly as possible. That means in most instances,
contacting a lawyer who does personal injury cases, because then
you know, for instance, my firm, we'll get an investigator
route to take photos. Look, you're in the hospital or
you're recovering from a serious injury. The last thing you
want to worry about is getting somebody out there to
take photos. So we'll get somebody out immediately to take
the photographs. We'll be in touch with the potential defendant,

(27:38):
the landlord that the owner of the plaza, or the
owner of the business or the homeowner about notifying their
own insurance company about this incident. And then you worry
about getting better, We'll worry about pursuing the case.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Absolutely. And folks, for those of you who are just
tuning in, you're listening to your money matters. I'm your host,
Drew Prescott, chartered retirement planning counselor and credited wealth management
advisor at Prescott Private Wealth. And today we have a
guest on, George LaMarsh. George, you've given us some great
information for those of that are listening. You just said

(28:12):
exactly what your team does as soon as you get involved,
how would they contact you? What's the best way to
reach out?

Speaker 4 (28:20):
Well, we have four locations. We're located in our main
branches in Latham, right next to the Sentry House on
Route nine, but we have an Albany office, we have
a Lake George office, we have a Plattsburg office. Best
number to reach me eight four to four recover. Somebody's
involved in a personal injury accident, needs help with their
personal injury case eight four to four. Recover. If somebody's arrested,

(28:43):
charge with a crime or under investigation eight four four accused,
and we have a team of lawyers that can help
with either any personal injury case or any potential criminal
investigation or criminal case.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Awesome, thanks George. Tell me about when the insurance companies
contact you, when that insurance adjuster, they often reach out
pretty quickly after an incident. What people know before speaking.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
With them, they should not speak to them. It's the
same advice that I give when a client, a suspect,
the potentially defending contacts our office and says, hey, the
police want to speak to me. Should I have a
conversation with them? They're trying to get information, but oftentimes
in that sort of acute phase of I was just

(29:29):
involved in an accident. Insurance company adjuster wants to take
a statement from Europe. You know, somebody's accusing me of
something and you police want to talk to me. Quiet,
don't say anything without a lawyer. Let a lawyer get involved,
who can sit with you, guide you, advise you. Maybe
the lawyer says it's not your best interest to give
a statement, and in most instances that's what I say.

(29:51):
It's never in your best interest to give a statement.
And then people say, well, if I don't give a statement,
it's going to make me look guilty. I don't really
care if it may how makes you look. I want
to protect you. And sometimes completely inadvertently, somebody says something
that they think is true. They guess about something, or
they give an estimate, but it's not really accurate, and

(30:13):
upon further reflection they say, wasn't really right. But now
you're pinned down to a statement, whether it's to the
police or to an insurance company investigator, that's going to
be used against you potentially, So it's never in their
best interests to give a statement. I use the SFU,
but we're on radio, so we're not going to sayfu hu,
shut the heck up.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Be quiet, that's it.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
Talk to a lawyer first. Let a lawyer look out
for you. And especially if you're look, you've not been
involved in a situation like this before, so you're not sure,
you don't know what to do. Ask for advice from
a lawyer first. And maybe it's okay that you can
talk to them. Maybe lawyer is going to say, sure,
go ahead, it's fine, but my practice is paused. Let's

(30:55):
have a conversation, let's see if it's in your best interest,
then we'll make the decision.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Makes sense. Yeah, I remember reading a thing one time,
just a statistic that said that in most cases, a
recorded statement when the attorney's not present actually ends up
hurting the victims claim down the road more than it's
ever helped them.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
Absolutely, yeah, very true. So and then.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Here's something that I think people don't understand is kind
of the time limit.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
On cases.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
What is the biggest risk that people face when they
wait too long to pursue a claim.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Well, they miss the opportunity to bring a claim. It
doesn't happen often because generally in New York State negligence
cases are three years. Okay, so generally speaking, you know
after an accident, you know the significance of your injuries.
You know when in short order you're going to be
on top of it, in touch with a lawyer and
moving the case forward well within three years. But where
it becomes a problem is if the potential defendant is

(31:54):
a municipal, municipality or the State of New York. Because
in that instance, let's say it's a dot truck that
smashes into your car, well, you got ninety days to
file and notice a claim against the State of New
York or a notice of intention to file a claim
against the State of New York. Same thing against the municipality.
If it's a town, village, a city vehicle that causes

(32:16):
the crash, you got to notify the city within ninety
days of the claim or you could forego any possibility
of bringing a claim. There's things that we could do
after ninety days to try to revive that, but there's
shortened statute limitations periods against the state or against any municipality.
So you know, it's always important to reach out as

(32:36):
soon there after as possible to speak to a lawyer
about your rights and make sure that you know if
a claim does need to be filed timely that it
can be done.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, that's good insight there. And George, could you speak
to the listeners here about you've worked with countless clients
whose lives have been changed by falls, accidents, and injuries.
How is pain and suffering typically even proven in court?

Speaker 4 (33:03):
So it's it's not an easy calculation. It can change
from one juror to the next. Generally speaking, if cases
resolved without trial, then we can look back at well,
you know, for a fractured tibbi or fibular, a fractur
of humors, we can look at how those cases generally settle,

(33:23):
whether by just negotiated resolution or a jury verdict, so
we can gauge what the pain and suffering value is.
And then you know, you're really looking at two things,
the past pain and suffering and the future pain and suffering.
So from the day of the incident until today, there's
been pain and suffering and it's really the most acute
phase of it where surgeries may be happening, physical therapy

(33:46):
and all that recovery. But then you have the future.
So if you've left been left with some permanent defect
or permanent problem on your body because of that, that's
going to be with you for the rest of your life.
So you're looking at past pain and suffering and future
pain and suffering. Those are the two areas that you're
can add to value for a jury for a personal
injury case. But then separing from that, you also have
the economic loss. You know, if this puts you out

(34:07):
of work, you're unable to uh, you know, pay uh
your medical bills because you're out of work, you're not
getting your income. You know, you look at the past
and the future how that's going to impact you. So
those are the four areas that we look at past,
future pain and suffering, past future economic loss, and then
you kind of present that to the jury and the

(34:28):
jury has to take their own background and experience into
play when when they're valuing what they think whatever the
injury is worth.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, that's it seems like a Greek to me. But
I'm glad that you understand it, because it's Yeah, I mean, Oka,
you have to.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
You have to put it in terms of you know,
how people, how a life would be affected, how this person,
my client's life is affected, and the jury's got to
relate to it, you know, it's the things that you're
doing on an everyday basis where people's lives are impacted
that you don't really think much about, whether it's you know,
just getting out of bed or you know, taking a

(35:08):
walk with your dog or whatever. You know, when when
people have those sorts of problems and you can make
it relatable to the lives of the jurors, they understand,
they appreciate it, and they say, you know, I wouldn't
want that to be me, and if somebody did that
to me, then you know I would want to be compensated.
Is taken from you absolutely, so yet you have to

(35:29):
you have to frame it that way and you know,
hopefully the jurors understand it, and the jurors, you know,
help your client.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
Right now, George asked us next question here. It's as
you know, people love to hear about law and they
love to hear about medicine, right, and so this is
kind of educational and entertainment at the same time. This
next question here, which is this obviously no names, not

(35:58):
asking for that, but can you share a case where
somebody followed the right steps and they got a fair
outcome as a result, where if the smallest thing you know,
if there was just one the case hinged on, like
one piece that you thought, oh, thank god that we
did this, because otherwise we would have lost this whole case.

(36:20):
Like how significant are certain you know, like little events
in cases?

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Yeah, I mean a lot of times it just comes
down to the video and the photographic evidence and the
fact that you preserve that and then you obtain that.
You know, so often you hear clients say that they
remembered one thing happened, or you see witness statements and
they say this happened, and then you see the video

(36:51):
evidence and you're like, well, neither of those things happened.
It was completely different. Or you see the photographic evidence
and you're like, you know, that's imports as the client
or as the witness says this happened, it's not possible
that it happened. It had to happen this way. You know,
putting the putting a legal case together, whether it's a
criminal defense case or a personal injured case, is kind

(37:12):
of like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. You know,
there's so many different perspectives and you got to you
got to gather at all, you got to analyze it
and then you got to put your best foot forward,
whether you're representing the defending or representing the plaintiffs in
the case.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yeah, good, good stuff. Uh, George, let me ask you this.
You know, the weather's finally breaking here. No more rain,
it feels like, at least not today. But with with
all the celebrations going on here, we've got graduations, like
you were saying, underage drinking. Right with graduations, we got
summer cookouts, the track is going to be in full swing.

(37:48):
Let's talk about d w i's for a second. If
somebody has just one or two drinks, you know, everybody
always thinks I'm not buzzing or you know, I've only
had two drinks. What's the legal risk when they get
behind the wheel in a situation like that in New York.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, I mean depending on how much you have to drink. Like,
if you know, drinking and driving is not illegal, it's
illegal if you have a certain blood alcohol content. So
if you are impaired to any degree, it becomes illegal.
And that line, that edge is going to be different
for every single person. But generally speaking, you are going

(38:32):
to be charged with a DWI offense if your blood
alcohol content is a point zero six or point zero seven,
you'll be charged with driving moil ability impaired. That's a violation.
If your blood alcohol content is point zero eight or greater,
you're going to be charged with the driving while intoxicated
the DWI. And if your blood alcohol content is point

(38:53):
one eight or greater, you're going to be charged with
an aggravated DWI. So yeah, certainly this time of year,
you see it a lot around spack around the track.
You know, people think, uh, you know, I had a
drink or two or three, but then I had some food.
I think them good. Uh. But a beer is not

(39:15):
the same as a shot, is not the same as
a glass of wine. Is not the same in a male,
not the same as the female. Not the same if
you had food or you didn't have food. It's always different.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
So versus a Miller Lite, it's still one beer, but
very different.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
But much different. Right. And where I see it a
lot with people is that they they drink during the day.
They say, you know, I had two or three, four
drinks whenever during the day. Uh, And now I haven't
had a drink in an hour. I had some food.
I feel good. Uh. And then they get behind the
wheel of the car and then they blow you know eight,

(39:53):
They were right on the edge. But what happens is,
you know, when you start drinking, this happens to everybody
you've been you're at zero zero. Then you have your
first drink and you're like, or your first two drinks
and you're like, oh, I feel a little something right,
and you're probably like, eah, I probably wouldn't drive. I
feel a little something. Then maybe you have three or four,

(40:14):
but your your third or fourth drink is compared to
your first or second drink, so you can't really tell
the difference at four versus you ken with two like
you can at zero. Zero to two is different than
two to four. And then somebody gets to you know,
four or five, then they stop. Well, let's say you
peak at a point one two blood alcohol content and

(40:34):
then two hours later you're like, I feel really good.
I think it's good to drive. And by that point
your blood alcohol content probably went from a point one
two two, probably let's say a point a week or
maybe you know, point on nine. Whatever, you're still illegal,
but you're now comparing yourself to the point one two.

(40:54):
Now you're really a point on eight. You're still illegal.
You're not as drunk as you were, but you're still drunk.
And a lot of people get themselves in trouble that
way because you know, they're comparing themselves to where they
felt two hours ago, which is they were drunk, but
now they feel better, but they're still in the danger zone.
So you know, if you're drinking, you just got to
be careful. You know, it costs a whole lot less

(41:16):
to take an uber home than it does to hire
me to defend you on a d WI case, and
the consequences, you know, in terms of your license. You know,
even on a DWAI you're facing three month license suspension.
If it's a d w I, your d w AI
is three months, dw I is six months. Aggravated d
w A, you're facing a one year licensification. So the

(41:38):
consequence is what that does to your life are very,
very harsh. So it's always better to spend the extra money,
get a driver, get a take an uber, save yourself
in the long run.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
So George, I was pulling up on a sobriety point
on Oakwood about a week ago, coming from my father's
birthday party, and when I saw the cops up above,
there was just a huge line of cars, and I thought,
you know, I know what they're doing. I don't feel
like going through this. Maybe I'll just turn up feral.
And then I thought, yeah, they got lookouts. They're gonna

(42:12):
pull me over, and then it looks like I'm up
to something. So I just went up to sobriety checkpoint,
hadn't been drinking anyways, and just went right through. But
when somebody is in that situation and they are drinking,
how should they behave themselves?

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Well, you are in a danger zone right there, because
there's no like you said, there's nowhere you're gonna go.
If you try to drive around it, they're gonna follow you,
and then you're a higher suspicion. You should be polite,
you should be cooperative. You know, I never would tell
anybody to lie. But what I will tell you is
if you have been drinking, and if you admit that

(42:51):
you were drinking, then you are at risk now for
escalating the level of concern that they have. They're likely
then gonna pull you over and then you're gonna administer
field sobriety tests. Now, the field sobriety tests are challenging
for sober people. They're divided detention tests, and their goal

(43:14):
is to see if you can follow more than one instruction,
more than one activity. You know, for instance, walk and
turn test. They're gonna tell you, give you all these instructions,
they're going to demonstrate how to do it. You're gonna
have to walk nine steps, heel to toe, hands at

(43:35):
your sides, you're gonna have to do after nine steps
a pivot turn. You're gonna have to come back walk
nine steps. So you have to pay attention to these instructions.
You're gonna have to do exactly what they're telling you.
And if you miss even a couple of things, if
one heel to toe doesn't tell you, if your arms
come up for balance, you've failed. These are challenging tests

(43:55):
to do. So it's if you've been drinking, it's probablyrobably
not in your best interest to take those tests. You're
probably not going to pass. All the pride in the world.
You were an athlete back in the day, you played
college sports, you were you know, it's a standout basketball
player in high school. Don't do it. Don't do it. Listen,
you shouldn't be drinking and driving. And if you're doing
it and you get pulled over. Don't put yourself through

(44:17):
these divided attention field. Sobriety tests is you're probably not
going to fail, or if I'm probably not going to pass,
you're probably gonna fail these. So that's number one. The
second thing they're going to do is they're gonna say,
all right, well we want you to take a portable
breast screening test. Now, those are not calibrated breath test instruments,
and at worst, if you don't take it, you're going
to get a ticket. So it's probably not in your

(44:39):
best interest to take that. If you get arrested, you're
going to go back to the station. Then back at
the station, that's where they give you a certified breath test.
That's where they're the calibrated best breath test instrument. And
if you refuse to take the test back at the station,
your license can be revoked for a year. It's at
that point if you find yourself in that situation, you

(45:02):
need to call a lawyer who can try to get
some details from you during the call and find out
if it's in your best interest or not to take
the breath test back at the station. But a few
simple things cooperate with the police, be polite, avoid making
admissions that are going to be harmful to your case.
Don't take the field sobriety tests if you've been drinking,

(45:24):
and don't take the portable breath screen tests at the
side of the road. That's all things that could potentially
be used in your favor later on down the line,
when a lawyer is saying, hey, there wasn't probable cause
to arrest this person. But if you do get arrested,
the call a lawyer from the police station, get some guide,
some whether you should take the certified breath tests.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
So you say, when you say be polite, you know
I feel like, you know, I'm just putting myself in
the situation. You know, you want to be direct because
you know you're defensive in that situation, right, you know,
maybe you had some drinks and you're like, you know,
I know I'm in trouble. So what does polite look like?
Do you just say, listen, I refuse to take a

(46:07):
field sobriety test and a breathalyzer, and yes, and then
just shut up.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
Yes, yes, And they're going to want to keep talking
to you because they're trying to establish probable costs to
make an arrest. They're looking at all the totality of
the circumstances and say, do I smell an odor of alcohol?
Is there impaired speech? Is there impaired motor coordination? What
is the defendant saying where he's coming from, or what
he was doing or what she was doing, or whether
or not they had anything to drink. Those that all

(46:37):
factors into whether or not there's probable cost to make
the unrest. So if you don't give them the evidence,
I'm not giving you a field sobriety tests, so you're
not going to know if I have impaired motor coordination.
I'm not going to admit that I was drinking anything,
So I'm not going to give you something that you
can use against me. I'm not going to give you
a portable breath screening test because you can use that
for probable costs. Those are all ways to protect yourself

(46:59):
if you've been drinking, from a potential arrest for DWI,
or to save yourself later when they're trying to, you know,
convict you for a lawyer to come in and say, hey,
there wasn't even probable cause to arrest this person at
the very beginning, So you want the less information you
can give them the better, but you do want to know,
you want to be polite and respectful. And you know, look,

(47:20):
I had a client recently. He was involved in a crash.
He gets out of the car, the police show up.
They say, we smell acoho on your breath. He says, nope,
were you drinking? Nope. Well we want to give you
some fields of bridey tests. Will you take him nope?
Okay under arrest. The case was dismissed because they arrested
him within two minutes. There was a crash. Just because
of the crash doesn't mean you're intoxicated. Ultimately, the DWI

(47:42):
charge was dismissed. But that was a guy who just
stuck to the script, didn't give him any evidence. The
police sacked too quickly. They arrested him, and you know,
ultimately there's a good outcome because the police didn't do
enough investigative work to determine whether this guy was in
fact actually drinking.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Right, Yeah, that makes sense, Yeah, because you know, and
like I said, when I went through that, you know,
we just came from having cake at my parents' house,
and you know, there's a whole swarm of sheriff State troopers.
I mean, it was amazing how many cars were there,
you know. But the guy says, where are you coming from?
Where are you going?

Speaker 4 (48:18):
And I mean, what do you?

Speaker 3 (48:23):
I just feel like, you know, they're just when they're
when they're asking that question with someone that drinks, and
like you said, be courteous. I mean just just basically,
I'm going.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
If I'm coming from. If I'm coming from a restaurant, yep,
it's different than I'm coming from the bar, right, right,
exactly right. If I'm heading home, it's different than I'm
heading to the bar or whatever. Right. And what happens
is the police they they're good at their job. They
want to feel more information out of you, and they

(48:53):
know that you're trying to be respectful and you're going
to want to cooperate with them. Stick to the script.
They ask you again, coming from the restaurant, right and
going home? That's right? Okay, they don't like the answer, Well,
that's too bad. That's right. You know, you can be
polite and respectful without you know, giving them everything that
they want.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
That's right, makes sense, George. One more topic that I
just want to make sure that the listeners here is.
It's so important for people to have a true understanding
of what to do when they're hosting these graduation parties.
You know, sometimes they become a little bit awkward. You know,
Like I know that when we had Chloe's graduation party,

(49:35):
we had a situation. We had a family friend that
had one of their kids over and they wanted to
drink and the parents were okay with it, but you know,
I just wasn't at peace with it. So maybe you
could give some insight as to how do you address
a situation like that. Maybe some kids bring alcohol to

(49:56):
your house that you didn't know about, or you've supplied
al for the adults and next thing you know, you
turn your head and one of your kid's friends is,
you know, getting into the sauce on you. What do
you do in those situations?

Speaker 4 (50:09):
Yeah, you look at it from two from the legal standpoint.
You can look at it from two perspectives, the civil
side and the criminal side. So from the criminal side,
if you're serving alcohol to minors, that's a crime. Anybody
who's under twenty one that you're serving to that's unlawfully
dealing with a child. It's a class A misdemeanor and
the host can face up to a year in jail,

(50:32):
three years of probation, thousand dollars fine. And if you're
serving alcohol to somebody who's under seventeen, then that's also
a separate criminal charge endangering the welfare of a child,
knowingly acting in a manner that's likely to be injurious
to the mental, physical, moral welfare of a child. So

(50:54):
a couple crimes that a person can face if they're
purchasing alcohol and serving it to minors. From the civil
side of things, you know, there's always the risk, there's
always the danger that somebody on your property drinks alcohol
and then tries to drive away, gets in a fight.
You know, I certainly I've been involved in cases where

(51:15):
parents aren't paying attention, kids are drinking, smoking marijuana. Next
thing you know, there's a sexual assault, and then you're
potentially on the hook for liability. Like we talked about
in the beginning, you know, now you better notify your
homeowners insurance, you better hope you have liability coverage, you
better get a lawyer to defend you. So those are
really the risks of social host liability, and it's challenging,

(51:39):
you know, as a parent, myself with teenage kids. You know,
you want your kids to to be at your home.
You want your kids to be safe. You know that
they're going somewhere to do what normal kids do, and that's,
you know, have a drink. Even if it's illegal, they're
going to find a way to do it. But you

(52:00):
know there are laws that you know would hold you
accountable criminally or civilly, so you have to really exercise
caution with respect to that. You know, certainly we wouldn't
encourage people to break the law, but if kids are
at your house, you better and they they're drinking alcohol,

(52:20):
or you have any concerns that they're drinking alcohol, you
better make sure that you're taking the keys. You better
make sure nobody's driving away. You better make sure that
there's adequate supervision. You ought to make sure that the
parents of the people who are there, who may or
may not be sneaking into the refrigerator to steal a drink,
know that their children is there, their child is there.
So those are the best ways I think to protect yourself,

(52:43):
the practical ways to protect yourself. But at the end
of the day, if something goes wrong, you're at risk
for being on the hook for either you know, potentially
a criminal charge or a lawsuit.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
Yeah, and you you pointed something out to which I
never even thought of, which I'm glad you did, was
that if they're under the age of seventeen, correct, then it's.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
Yeah, on to the age of seventeen is a superate
criminal charge and dangering the welfare of a child.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
You and I know from my kids growing up. I
know from us growing up, right, we always hung out
with underclassmen and people that were older than us. So
to you know, when you're a senior and you graduate,
some kids are seventeen, right, and they hang out with
other seventeen year olds and sixteen year old So that's
not unlikely if you let things get out of control.

(53:30):
So that's a that's a great point because I think
that that one issue seems the most scary out of
all the.

Speaker 4 (53:37):
Well, and here's the other thing. Sometimes people just think
about the parents being in charge of the crime. What
about a twenty two year old kid who is an
older sibling and has a younger sibling who's seventeen or
sixteen years old, who says, I'm going to do something
for my little sibling. Well, that twenty two year old
could be on the hook, you know, for a criminal
charge as well, because they're serving alcohol to minors, so

(54:00):
it's a dice area. It's dangerous. That's the law, you know.
Look at we all practically speaking know what's going on
out out in the world, but you know it's there
are consequences and risks and if you find yourself in
a situation, the best thing to do is get to
get an attorney and protect yourself well.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Eight four four accused, right.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
Eight four four accused if you charge the crime or
under investigation eight four four recover if you're involved in
a personal injury case.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Great, thanks again, George, I appreciate your time. It's been
great having me.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
Thanks true.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
So that concludes the interview with George LaMarsh from LaMarsh
and so Franco. Hopefully you found this very valuable. I
know it's always a great refresher. It's something that you
have to keep top of mind. So anyways, thank you
so much for listening today. As I said, we've got
three more weeks together. That's it. Make sure you follow

(54:54):
me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and on look for our
podcas Cast Your Money Matters Again. This is Drew Prescott
of Prescott Private Wealth, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and Accredited
Wealth Management Advisor here at Prescott Private Wealth PRESCOTTPW dot
com five point eight two zero three, nineteen eighty three,

(55:18):
and I look forward to talking to you next week.
Until then, may God bless you and God bless your family,