Now, I’m happy to announce that the firm is providing legal representation to veterans of our military who have physical or emotional impairments as a result of their service to our country.

I have received accreditation by the Veterans Administration General Counsel to represent veterans and their families before the agency and we are now privileged extend our tradition of quality legal representation to the proud and deserving men and women of our military who have had the misfortune of encountering physical or emotional injuries as a result of their service to and/or defense of our nation.

If you are a veteran who needs help receiving the compensation to which you are rightfully entitled as a consequence of your service, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to the opportunity for us to be of “service” to you.

There’s a wonderful documentary called “Hot Coffee” presently being aired on HBO that is very informative and highly worth watching. It tells the real story of what happened in the McDonalds coffee case, graphically portrays the nature of the physical harm suffered by the woman who felt compelled to sue to recover compensation for her very serious injuries when McDonalds wasn’t willing to hold itself accountable, and it reveals the hundreds of prior complaints that McDonalds had received about the extremely hot temperatures of its coffee by others who had suffered burn injuries and their failure to change their standard operating procedures.

The documentary then goes on to reveal how the United States Chamber of Commerce and other insurance and big business interests capitalized on the case to pursue courses of actions at both the federal and state levels to limit liability for big corporations in similar situations and even the efforts to elect conservative justices to various state courts to make certain that people with serious injuries were denied compensation and, ultimately, denied justice in the name of protecting the corporate coffers.

Finally, the movie portrays other victims of wrongdoing in various scenarios who have suffered at the hands of these repressive laws and practices.

If you think the trial lawyers are to blame, you may see things differently if you take the time to watch the documentary. It’s certainly bad enough when a person is injured as a result of someone else’s fault. What’s worse is when those injury victims are further victimized by the very system of justice that is supposed to protect them. As a plaintiff’s attorney, I’ve known this for years. Now it’s there for all to see.

Take a moment and watch “Hot Coffee“. It may very well open your eyes to what’s really going on out there. Let me know what you think.

Fortunately, Ohio allows the people of the state to decide in an election whether these anti-worker measures will be allowed to become law. In the next several weeks, petitions will be distributed and circulated statewide and if we are successful in securing enough signatures, the issue of SB 5 will be on the ballot in the November, 2011, election.

At a time when some of the country’s biggest corporations are making record profits and paying virtually nothing in taxes, it is simply wrong to put further burdens like SB 5 on the backs of working men and women. Families in Ohio deserve better treatment than this!

While the big corporations certainly have the money and also apparently control of the Republican Party, we must always remember that corporations don’t vote.

PEOPLE VOTE! Can we count on you?

The Chief Justice served in that capacity since January 1, 1987, and was planning on retiring at the expiration of his term later this year. Although this law firm often found itself at odds with many of his decisions and opinions that affected the rights of working and disabled people, we nonetheless respect his many years of service to the Ohio Supreme Court and are saddened by his passing.

Our deepest and most sincere condolences are with the Chief Justice’s family members and all others who are mourning his death.

Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault, and Schaffer Co., L.P.A. is a law firm with fifty-five years of history and a tradition of dedicated service to working men and women, individuals with disabilities, and labor unions. Headquartered in suburban Toledo, Ohio, we also maintain offices in many of the communities surrounding Toledo including Findlay, Fremont, Lima, Defiance, Oregon, Sandusky, Mansfield, and Lorain. But our various practices take us all over the country in protecting the rights of the clients whom we are privileged to represent.

Our mission dedicates us to help those who are not capable of helping themselves and we are certainly proud of our record, our tradition, and our continued commitment to excellence and success.

As AskGallonLaw.com now extends itself into the blogosphere, we will have regular but separate postings from all of Practice Groups in our Firm – Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, Social Security and Disability, Labor, and General Practice.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you again soon! In the meantime, if you need our help, please visit us at www.gallonlaw.com or contact us via phone at 419-843-2001 or 800-352-1976.

William E. Takacs,
President and Managing Partner
Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer Co., L.P.A.