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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2014)
in other words Ask a Lawyer By Steven Leskin Q~ I have intolerable pain in my back. I have shooting pain down into my legs. Pain killers do not work. My doctor says that it is not operable. I work with the pain because I have to support myself. Can I apply for Social Security Disability? A~ Social Security’s definition of “disabled” is a medically verifiable im- pairment that prevents you from work- ing for one year or longer. In your case, I presume that you have a herniated disk in your spine. I assume also that you have had an MRI which shows the dam- aged vertebrae. The MRI would consti- tute a medically verifiable impairment. However, the issue in your case is that you continue to work. The impairment must prevent you from working for one year or longer. I assume that the pain is a con- stant distraction and that you are not able to focus or concentrate on your work, that you need to move around to accom- modate the pain, that you have difficult working with co-workers or customers when you are in pain, that there are side effects to your medications, that your ability to stand, sit and lift are all im- paired. Despite these limitations, it is very difficult to obtain Social Security Disability while you are working. You will need to be out of work, or able to prove that you cannot work, for one year. If you are presently working, that is very difficult to do. And, even if you quit your work and apply, there is no guar- antee that you will prevail and receive benefits. There are several things you should do before making a decision about giving up your work and pursing Social Security benefits. You should be- come familiar with the Social Security website. You can find it at www.SSA. gov. Secondly, you should go to your local Social Security office so they can pull up your Social Security account, and discuss your options. And, finally, contact an attorney experienced in this area of law to help with your planning. Q~ Jury? What is the purpose of a Grand A~ The purpose of a Grand Jury is to determine if there is enough evidence june5 2014 to charge a person with a crime. But, it’s not that simple. A person is charged with a crime when the District Attorney files a “Com- plaint” or an “Information.” These are both called “charging instruments.” The District Attorney must have a factual basis for filing the charging instrument. The factual basis can come in the form of a sworn affidavit, a police report, or a grand jury indictment. If a police officer witnesses a crime, the officer will complete a police report. The officer is the witness. His report will (or should) contain all of the necessary elements to prove the crime. The district attorney can sign a charging instrument based on the police officers direct observations. However, suppose the police of- ficer does not witness the actual crime, as in a drug smuggling operation or a crime involving financial fraud. If this is the case, the District Attorney can impanel a grand jury and subpoena witnesses. The various witnesses will testify about what they know. The grand jury can then issue a grand jury indictment. The Grand Jury will only hear evidence to prove that the crime hap- pened. Its concern is whether there is enough evidence to charge the defendant with the crime. The Grand Jury will not hear possible legal defenses to the crime. If there are legal defenses, they can be raised later at trial. Q~ sis”? What is meant by “stare deci- A~ Stare decisis derives from Lat- in and roughly means “do not disturb what has not been disturbed” Well, close enough. I’ve never been good at Latin, but that’s what Wikipedia says. Regardless of the translation, Stare Decisis is the basis for the Ameri- can legal systems in most jurisdictions. It’s the principle that a prior ruling by a court governs the outcome of future court rulings. It’s the principal that is supposed to give rationality and predict- ability to the legal system. When lawyers argue cases, after the facts have been established, they will research past appellate court decisions in their jurisdiction. The appellate courts are courts of record. They do not receive evidence. But, they issue written deci- sions. Those written decisions form the basis of Stare Decisis. TOO BUSY? Call your LOCAL bookkeeper R Y OLL A P PLUS LLC Edi Sheldon 503-429-1819 edisheldon@gmail.com Licensed tax consultant • Full service payroll Personal & small business bookkeeping • QuickBooks assistance CORPS, S-CORPS, LLC, Partnerships • Personal one-on-one service LTC #29629 - Oregon licensed tax consultant RTRP #P00448199 - designated as a registered tax return preparer by the Internal Revenue Service The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information on tax return preparers, go to www.IRS.gov. Lawyers will attempt to find cas- es which most similarly match the facts in their present case, and argue, if its a favorable case, that the appellate court decision should control the current trial court outcome. The opposing attorney will attempt to argue away the differ- ences by finding significant differences in the fact situation in the appellate court decision. If the facts in the prior case match, then the trial court judge is bound to apply the decision of the prior case to the current case. In practice, Stare Decisis works pretty well. However, in certain areas of law, there may be conflicting appeals cases or a lot of appeals cases to choose from. For example, there are many, many cases dealing with the appropriate amount of spousal support to award in a divorce case. While the general prin- 7 ciples are well supported by consistency, how these get applied in specific cases varies significantly. It is the job of the at- torney to find the best case for his client and argue that this is the case which the trial court should follow Steven Leskin is an attorney in North Portland. He has been in practice since 1992. You can submit a question to him through www.ModestMeansLawOffice. com or through the Vernonia’s Voice website. Vernonia’s Voice is published on the 1st and 3rd Thursday. Our next issue will be out June 19th. Next Vernonia Area Chamber of Commerce Meeting will be held at West Oregon Electric 652 Rose Avenue Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30 PM