Posted on January 23, 2018 in Personal Injury

Although the temperatures in DuPage County are not currently conducive to riding a bicycle for everyday transportation to and from work, or to your neighborhood shopping market, a new study published in Accident Analysis & Prevention suggests that getting more cyclists on the roads could help to reduce the rate of overall traffic collisions among motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It may be difficult to consider getting out on a bicycle in the winter months, especially in Illinois, but the study provides helpful information to consider as we slowly look ahead to warmer months and as we consider ways of reducing motor vehicle crashes in the New Year.

Bicycling Yourself Can Lead You to Take More Care Behind the Wheel

How can getting more bicyclists out on the roads in DuPage County and across the country reduce the total rate of motor vehicle collisions with bicyclists? The premise of the study is this: the more that drivers experience what it is like to ride a bicycle and to share the road with other motorists, the more likely those individuals will be to take particular care when they are behind the wheel.

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 Posted on January 18, 2018 in Immigration

Being deported can put a person’s entire life on hold. If it happens to you, you have every right to want to return as quickly as possible. However, depending on your situation, you may not be able to do so without waiting a very long time, if you want to do so legally. Before putting the process in motion to return to the U.S., it is a good idea to learn if it would even be possible, and how long it might take.

Bars and Waivers

If you or a loved one have been deported, it is because you were found to be in violation of some provision of U.S. immigration law, most often the Immigration & Nationality Act. Depending on the nature of the offense, immigrants who are deported are subject to what are called bars, which last either five, ten or twenty years. In rare cases, there is a permanent bar, but that tends to be reserved for those who commit offenses like entering the country without inspection (unlawful entry) after being deported, given the rationale that the consequences of such an act were already spelled out for those people. Normally, a deportee must wait this time out; however, he or she may be eligible for a waiver of the offense in certain circumstances.

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 Posted on January 17, 2018 in Family Law

After a divorce, you may feel like the joys of your life have been put on hold. One of the most effective ways to add some joy into your life following a divorce is to put time and effort into rebuilding your social life. This way, you will have people to turn to during this difficult time and make happy memories that can help you move past this difficult stage in your life. Here are five tips on how to rebuild your social life after a divorce:

1. Volunteer

Find a cause or organization you believe it and volunteer. Volunteering can keep your mind off your divorce and introduce you to people with similar interests and values. Consider volunteering at an animal shelter, soup kitchen, cancer organization, or any other non-profit that you care about.

2. Attend Professional Networking Events

Professional networking events can help your career and social life. By attending them, you can increase your confidence, get noticed as a leader in your industry, learn from like-minded professionals, and land new clients.

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 Posted on January 16, 2018 in Personal Injury

If you regularly ride a motorcycle in Lombard or elsewhere in DuPage County, or even if you regularly share the road with motorcyclists, it is probably obvious that bikers have less protection in the event of a motorcycle accident than do vehicle occupants. Motorcyclists do not have the protection of the automobile’s body, airbags, and other safety features that often come standard in many vehicles.

While numerous studies have analyzed motorcycle collisions and their severity, a recent report from U.S. News & World Report suggests that motorcycle crashes are actually costlier and deadlier than many researchers and safety advocates previously believed.

Significantly Higher Death Rates in Motorcycle Accidents

The report looks at a recent study conducted by researchers in Ontario, which determined that “the death rate from motorcycle crashes was five times greater than from car crashes, and the rate of severe injury was 10 times greater.” In addition to those strikingly high figures for serious injury and fatality rates in motorcycle crashes, the researchers found that the economic costs of motorcycle accidents are much higher than most people believe. Indeed, motorcycle collisions result in “a six times greater cost to the health care system” than other motor vehicle crashes.

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 Posted on January 11, 2018 in Immigration

After the Halloween attack in New York, in which Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people by driving a truck onto a sidewalk, the president had harsh words for the program that brought him to the United States. The diversity visa lottery has existed for only about 30 years, but it has aided immeasurable amounts of immigrants, including many who have come to the United States and opened businesses, thus creating more jobs for U.S. citizens. Still, myths persist about what it is and what it is not.

Is it a Green Light for So-Called Undesirables?

Even before Saipov’s attack, there have been numerous pieces of misinformation circulating about the diversity visa lottery and its recipients. Perhaps the most pernicious is that the lottery is simply another way for low-skilled people to enter the United States. Contrary to popular perception, however, the countries that send the most potential immigrants to the U.S. are actually excluded from the diversity visa lottery. Because their countries almost always exceed their immigration quotas each year, citizens of countries like India, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China are not permitted to apply. The diversity lottery is intended to assist those who hail from a country with low immigration totals that may not otherwise receive a visa—for example, Saipov was an Uzbek citizen, and Uzbekistan’s immigration totals are routinely quite low.

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 Posted on January 09, 2018 in Personal Injury

Whether you commute regularly from your home in DuPage County to your job in downtown Chicago, or if you only use your car for recreational purposes or for getting around your own neighborhood, car accidents can happen quickly and without warning. While there are many steps we all can take in order to prevent accidents from happening in the first place, drivers can additionally purchase vehicles that have well-designed safety features in order to both prevent crashes and limit injuries in the event that a collision does occur.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) newly released its list for “Top Safety Pick” and “Top Safety Pick Plus.” What should you learn about the vehicles that made the list in order to avoid a car accident and serious injuries?

Fewer Automobiles Made the 2018 List

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 Posted on January 04, 2018 in Immigration

In August 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed the Illinois TRUST Act, which is the strongest state-level bulwark against profiling by immigration officials yet passed into law as of this writing. It also codifies limited cooperation with U.S. immigration agencies as state policy, at least in terms of honoring detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While this grants immigrants protection, it also drags the state into a potential fight with the U.S. Justice Department, which could have consequences.

DOJ Objections

The main crux of the Justice Department’s objections is that they believe the Act appears to “restrict the sending of information regarding immigration status.” While states have a reasonable degree of latitude in setting their own immigration rules, they must, of course, comply with federal law. However, the law regarding complying with ICE detainers is not cut and dried. While law enforcement agencies must comply with a warrant or with an in-person request to hand over a person in most circumstances, an ICE detainer is a mere request to law enforcement.

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 Posted on January 03, 2018 in Personal Injury

We often hear about the risks of drowsy driving when it comes to truck accidents in DuPage County and throughout the country. More specifically, given that semi-truck drivers tend to be on the road for long stretches of time, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has specific hours of service regulations designed to ensure that a truck driver is not behind the wheel for more than a certain number of consecutive hours during any single drive. Those regulations require truckers to take rest breaks at certain points in order to prevent truck crashes.

Yet the hours of service regulations do not take into account the hours a truck driver might spend behind the wheel in his or her own vehicle in order to reach the workplace—the location where the truck driver actually picks up the 18-wheeler and begins driving for pay. Can this commute time contribute to drowsy driving accidents?

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 Posted on December 31, 2017 in Family Law

Student loans are common for anyone with a higher education. Since many people have high amounts of student loan debt that takes them decades to pay off, the issue of student loan debt often arises in the divorce process. If you are going through a divorce, you may be wondering how student loan debt will be divided and whether it will remain with the spouse who incurred it.

The truth is student loan debt is treated just like any other debt in a divorce. Therefore, if the debt was incurred before you got married, it is “separate” and becomes the responsibility of the spouse who borrowed the money.

However, if the student loan debt was incurred during your marriage, it is known as marital debt like a mortgage, car loan, credit card debt, and personal loan. In the event your student loan debt is marital debt, you and your spouse will likely both have repay it.

If you are in the situation where your student loan debt was incurred during your marriage, you should know there are certain factors that the courts will use to determine how the debt will be divided and whether it will be divided in the first place. Some of these factors include:

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 Posted on December 28, 2017 in Immigration

The United States has granted an immigration status called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly two decades, beginning in 1990 with the Immigration Act. However, in early 2017, the U.S. State Department sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the program, and advised that certain groups “no longer need[ed] to be shielded from deportation” in the Secretary’s estimation. While this is not an official revocation of status, it paves the way for what will likely become a revocation. This means that some living under TPS will need to quickly depart lest they face future immigration consequences.

Who Has TPS?

Temporary Protected Status is granted at the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security to those nationals who hail from countries where conditions make it impossible to safely return at the time the status is granted—usually due to ongoing war or natural disasters. The status is usually revoked when conditions in the country are deemed to have sufficiently improved. For example, TPS was granted to Rwandans following the 1994 genocide in their country, and was rescinded in 1997 after the country’s political system had stabilized and it was deemed safe to allow nationals to return.

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