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http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/fox-29-investigates-career-school

2011-11-22T21:35:00Z

I currently represent 74 former medical assistant students of the Harris School of Business, Linwood, NJ in their consumer fraud claims against the school. Above is a link to a 2 part story recently aired on Fox Philly News where I am interviewed about the case.

Atlantic City Press Article on lawsuit against Harris School of Business for consumer fraud.

2011-04-04T16:16:00Z

Thirty-seven former students sue Harris School of Business in Linwood over accreditations

Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2011 1:15 am | Updated: 8:41 am, Thu Mar 24, 2011.

Thirty-seven former students sue Harris School of Business in Linwood over accreditations By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer pressofAtlanticCity.com | 0 comments

Thirty-seven former medical assistant students filed a lawsuit this month claiming the Harris School of Business in Linwood misrepresented its accreditations.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Atlantic County, alleges the students learned near the end of a 10-month program that they were ineligible to sit for a specific exam given by the American Association of Medical Assistants. Allegations include consumer fraud and that the school misrepresented that students would be eligible to take the AAMA Certified Medical Assistant Examination, a credential that Northfield attorney David Sinderbrand said could have helped them find jobs and earn higher salaries.

Sinderbrand is representing the students, who are predominantly women from Atlantic and Cape May counties who attended in 2006 and 2007. He plans to add five more students to the lawsuit, he said.

Sinderbrand said the school lacked accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Professionals or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, which it would have needed to prepare students to take that exam. The lawsuit alleges students were specifically told they would be eligible to take the examination after completing the program.

The tuition expense was approximately $12,000 per student, according to the lawsuit.

The Harris School of Business, which has campuses in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, is owned by East Haven, Conn.-based Premier Education Group. The company denied wrongdoing in a statement Wednesday.

“It is the policy of Harris School of Business/Premier Education Group not to comment on pending litigation,” William Anjos, senior vice president of operations, said in an email. “Notwithstanding the foregoing, we deny any wrongdoing in connection with this matter.”

The Harris School was the subject of a similar lawsuit in 2007 filed by six different women who attended the Linwood school’s medical assistant program. At the time, school officials said the school had accreditations by other bodies and was approved to offer other exams through the National Center for Competency Testing. Sinderbrand, who was not involved in that matter in 2007, said that case was dismissed on procedural grounds.

Contact Brian Ianieri:

609-272-7253

BIanieri@pressofac.com

Is Expungement For You?

2011-01-25T20:35:00Z

If you've pled guilty or been found guilty of a non-indictable offense, that fact is on your permanent criminal record. In most instances, after awaiting the statutorily prescribed time,you would be eligible to apply for expungement of your criminal record and have that judicial finding erased from your record.

In order to obtain expungement of your record, a Petition for Expungement must be filed with the Court and multiple local and state law enforcement agencies must be alerted to your application. If no objection is received by the Court from any law enforcement agencies, then your expungement application will be approved and, from the point that the expungement order is signed, you will be able to answer "no" to any question asking if you've ever pled guilty or been convicted of a crime.

Expungement is an efficient way to remove a stain on your personal record that likely resulted from the indiscretion of youth or one bone-headed adult brain fart. That blemish doesn't have to stay with you the rest of your life. Expunge your past and plunge forward towards a law-abiding future!

Don't Choose Health Insurance for Auto Accident Related Bills

2010-12-21T19:43:00Z

I had previously done a blog entry entitled auto insurance 101 in which I discussed the basic considerations in selecting the right auto insurance policy for you and your family. Some recent client experiences show me that the average consumer needs even more information when considering auto insurance options.

When purchasing auto insurance, your agent will ask you if you have health insurance and, if so, would you like for your health insurance company to be the primary payer of auto accident related bills. Always answer this question with a firm "No." Why?

If you select your health insurance as primary and your auto insurance as secondary payer of auto accident related medical bills, then your health insurance carrier may be able to assert a lien - a right to be paid back the amount paid on your behalf - on any money it paid for your accident related treatment. Conversely, an auto insurance company has no right to assert a lien for any money paid on your behalf for accident related medical bills.

If you do elect your health insurance as primary and then lose that coverage and don't inform your auto insurance company, then you will incur a $750.00 penalty by your auto insurance company and that amount will be added to your deductible.

When purchasing insurance and considering your coverage options, make certain that the coverage choices you indicated to your agent are the coverages that are actually shown in the Coverage Selection Form. One recent client was surprised to discover that the Coverage Selection Form she signed indicated she had chosen her health insurance as primary in spite of the fact that she never had health insurance.

As with any contract, it always pays to read every word before you sign the document.

Don't Make "For-Profit" Schools Your Loss

2010-09-28T15:47:00Z

A Government Accountability Office investigation recently found that many for-profit colleges made deceptive or questionable statements to prospective students, including underestimating the costs of their programs, giving false statistics for employability after graduation and encouraging applicants to lie on their federal financial aid forms.

Everyone wants to improve their lot in life. It is basic human nature to strive for the next rung on the ladder. For-profit schools offer the hope of a promising career or new beginning for people seeking training in vocations such as medical assisting, computerized accounting, massage therapy, pharmacy technician,or legal office technology. However, applicants to these for-profit organizations should be extremely wary of what they are committing to before they sign on the dotted line. Often times, what you don't know at first can come back to bite you later.

CHECK THE SCHOOL'S ACCREDITATION
If the career field you are pursuing requires a certification or license, make sure the school you're considering is properly accredited so as to enable you to sit for the certification or licensing exam you desire. I represent 12 former students of a local for-profit school who were told by admissions representatives and school officials they'd be able to sit for a particular certification exam after they finished their school curriculum. The problem arose as the students were finishing their program and began to apply to take the certification test sought, only to be told by the certifying testing body that the school they attended was not properly accredited so as to enable the students to sit for the test.

Upon hearing the initial representations of school officials, had any of the students thought to check with either of the two accrediting agencies the school could have been accredited by so as to enable students to take the test, that student would have learned the truth about the school's accreditation and understood the extent of the lies they were told by school officials.

ARE YOU JUST A NUMBER?
Most students do not have $10,000+ to lay out for tuition. Attendees of for-profit schools are eligible to receive loans and grants in order to cover their tuition costs. As a result, the school has a big financial motive to make sure that any person who signs up remains enrolled, regardless of that person's intelligence level or aptitude in their chosen field.

For-profit colleges are occupation-specific institutions that offer degrees and certifications in everything from cosmetology to criminal justice. Most of their revenue-sometimes as much as 89%-comes from federal student loans or grants, making high enrollment a priority. If a student fails out of the program, the school loses the state unemployment funding and federal loans and grants received on behalf of the student. So, even if Jane Jones is failing a course, for-profit schools have been known to change grades of the failing student to passing in order to keep the student on the enrollment books and the loans and grant money coming in.

In the consumer fraud claim I am currently handling on behalf of 12 former students of a local for-profit school, former teachers and administrative staff have testified that they were ordered by the school operators to change grades of failing students in order to keep enrollment up and the loan and grant money coming in.

ASK QUESTIONS
At your initial interview and before you sign on the dotted line, ask lots of questions and document what you were told and by whom. If you seek to build on your education and attend another school after the for-profit school, and you hope to transfer credits to the second school, ask the for-profit school admissions representative if the credits earned there are transferrable to another institution. Then check with that other school to see if the credits from the for-profit school will be accepted. Ask school officials about the school's accreditation and about job placement rates for graduates in career-related positions.

The recent Government Accountability Office study was based on an undercover investigation of 15 "colleges", all of whom made deceptive or questionable statements about the accreditation of their school or the transferrability of credits or the costs of the education. The United States Department of Education has previously determined that for-profit school graduates have an 'alarmingly high" rate of student loan debt and default.

My experience suggests there is a direct link between the lies and deceptions schools tell their applicants and the extent to which students rely on the representations and are unsuccessful in the program. To avoid becoming a casualty of the for-profit school scam, be on guard and make sure you do your homework before going to school.

Are You My Lawyer?

2010-07-15T13:18:00Z

As a victim of someone else's negligence, one of the worst fates you can face, other than your injury, is if you have to play "Where's Waldo" to find your lawyer. You hired a lawyer to simplify your life after the crash or fall resulting in your injuries. To have to chase your lawyer or his assistant for information about your case is frustrating for you and shows an improper method of the practice of law by your attorney. To ensure your right to know about your case is always upheld, look for these traits in your lawyer:

1. Return Phone Calls

The most frequent complaint I hear from people is "my lawyer doesn't return my calls." As the client, if this happens to you more than twice, I'd recommend thinking about getting another, more responsive lawyer. As the lawyer receiving the calls, I can tell you from personal experience that nothing is more frightening to the practitioner with a conscience than having a bunch of unreturned message slips on your desk. In that case, what you don't know can hurt you.

2. "CC" Me on Everything

The client should get a copy of whatever gets sent to an adjuster, doctor, adversary or expert. The client who reads everything knows all there is to know about an issue and is as fully informed as the attorney and letter recepient. This leads to less phone calls from clients seeking to be informed, which reduces the problem of return phone calls, as noted above.

3. Involve Me In My Case

At certain critical junctures in the personal injury litigation process, the client's participation is mandatory, such as at deposition, arbitration and trial. Oftentimes however, a client's input is not mandatory but is extremely helpful in focusing the lawyer's approach to trying to get the case settled or best prepared for trial. A conscientious lawyer will visit the client's home or work to get a real feel for how the accident related injuries have affected the client's lifestyle.

Communication is a hallmark of the legal profession and the advocate's proficiency in effectively reaching his audience often equates with the degree of success the client obtains. While the client should rightfully expect her attorney to speak strongly on her behalf, the client is also entitled to a lawyer who speaks to her whenever she calls.

CPS = Chronic Pain Sucks

2009-10-09T20:18:00Z

Chronic Pain Syndrome (CPS) is a debilitating condition with effects far beyond the physical. To never be able to get away from the pain of a traumatic injury, at rest or asleep, is a fact of life for chronic pain sufferers. The harsh reality for these victims is often a life of depression and anxiety, riddled with doctors' visits and medications that try to numb your body while effectively altering your consciousness. Depending on your personal constitution and pre-accident attitude toward life, if you are a victim of an accident resulting in CPS, you should know how to tap your inner resources to put up the best possible fight against a condition which will change your life.

As I am not a chronic pain sufferer, I can not offer first-hand knowledge and advice. As an attorney for victims with CPS, I can offer some observations about how some of my clients are coping:

1. Don't Lose Yourself - If you used to be an avid novel reader or hobbyist, keep reading and keep hobbying, even if your tolerance and concentration is a fraction of what it used to be. Stay focused on the activities of daily life that you've always enjoyed and continue to do them, no matter how slow or feeble you may feel your attempts are.

2. Keep a Pain Journal - Maintaining a daily record of your aches and pains is a good way of documenting your plight for your attorney to use to support your litigation. More importantly, the journal is a vehicle for you to vent your mind about all the issues concerning your chronic pain condition. Sometimes, just by seeing your problems outlined on paper, perspective is gained and some level of comfort or acceptance attained.

3. Embrace Your New World - In death, it is said, there are at least 4 stages, the last of which is 'acceptance'. If you've been unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with CPS, the quicker you get to the acceptance stage, the less difficulty you'll have moving forward. While the Internet can be dangerous because too much information may overburden an already overwrought mind, to read about and confer with other people with CPS and compare stories and anecdotes can only help to show you that you're not alone and the path you're on is filled with people who can offer you some measure of perspective and an ear to listen.

Auto Insurance 101

2009-08-26T16:19:02Z

It's the law in New Jersey that you must have insurance on your car. The typical New Jersey policy includes coverage for payment of your accident related medical bills (No-Fault), as well as coverage for liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist's benefits. A few key points are worth knowing if you want to make sure you and your family are adequately insured and not setting yourself up for later problems in the event of an accident.

1st- Do not limit your right to have $250,000.00 in No-Fault coverage. This is the standard coverage in New Jersey. This is the coverage that pays your accident related medical bills. You can get less coverage, and save a few dollars on premiums, but you may live to regret the decision if you or a family member ever gets badly injured by another's negligence and require extensive - and expensive- medical care.

2nd- Purchase liability limits as high as you can afford. At least $300,000.00 in coverage is recommended. Your liability coverage affords you protection, up to your coverage amount, in the event you or a family member injures another as as a result of your negligent operation of a car. If you have low limits and cause an accident where someone gets severely injured or you injure multiple car occupants, after your liability limits are exhausted, you will be personally exposed for the remainder of the value of the injured person's claim.

3rd- Lots of people break the law everyday by driving with no insurance at all. If you're unfortuante enough to be hit by one of these scofflaws, you will need to go to your own insurance company for compensation for your injuries under your uninsured motorists(UM) coverage. Your UM coverage should be at least as high as your liability limits, and hopefully higher. After all, it makes sense that you should at least have as much protection for yourself, via your UM coverage, as you do to cover someone else's claim against you(liability coverage).

4th- Even more prevalent than uninsured drivers are the drivers that maintain minimal liability policy limits of $15,000.00. When that person whacks you or your family member and your injuries are worth more then $15,000.00, you will need to go to your own company and claim on your underinsured motorists benefits (UIM). UIM coverage should also be as high-if not higher-than your liability coverage, for the same reasons previously stated about UM coverage.

5th- Avoid the Lawsuit Threshold option on your policy, also known as the Verbal Threshold. This insurance policy endorsement severely limits your right to make a claim unless you sustain a permanent injury as documented by objective medical evidence such as an MRI, EMG or CT scan. A permanent injury is defined as an injury that will not heal to normal function with further medical treatment. In the state legislators' attempt to save New Jersey residents some money on premiums, all New Jersey policy holders automatically get saddled with the limitation on their policy and consequently pay 30-40% less on premiums than if they did not have the limitiation. If you can swing it, opt out of the limitation, pay the extra money and maintain your unfettered right to make a claim for any type of injury caused by another's negligence.

6th- Watch your ass because there are alot of bad drivers out there. By being proactive in creating an insurance policy that best protects you, you're doing all you can to safeguard you and your family from the inequities that often result from being involved in a motor vehicle accident.

Don't Lien On Me

2009-07-30T19:05:00Z

It's a requirement in New Jersey that every driver has auto insurance. Our system of medical bill payment for accident related treatment is called "No-Fault", which means that, regardless of fault, your own insurance company pays your medical expenses for treatment for injuries you get in a car accident. Makes sense, right? Why else do we pay all those high premiums if not to get some benefit when we need it? And, the government doesn't want injured people having to chase a negligent driver's insurance company to get bill paid after an accident.

But, what about when you get hurt when you fall at a commercial property like a movie theatre, store or casino? Who pays the bills then? Sometimes, a property owner may have a "med-pay" provision on their insurance policy whereby a few thousand dollars could be made available for accident related bills. Usually, however, the injured person must go to their own health insurance company, if they have one, to get the bills paid.

If that health insurance is through a federally backed program such as Medicare, or if the insurance is provided by an employer who self-funds their own insurance plan, then they would have a lien (a right to be paid back) on any settlement or jury verdict received, to the extent of the amount of money paid on the insured's behalf for medical bills.

However, New Jersey law also states that if it is not a federally backed or self-funded insurance plan, there is no right to assert a lien on any personal injury recovery. So, if your personal injury lawsuit recovery is being "liened on", make sure your attorney checks to see if the company who wants your money is actually entitled to it.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

2009-07-06T20:05:00Z

When you're injured by someone else's negligence, nothing you may later say about what happened will be as descriptive or as useful as photos showing the dangerous condition of the property that caused your fall or the position or condition of the car immediately after it was hit. Likewise, any evidence that may soon disappear - the spilled liquid in the store aisle, the raised boardwalk nail or the obstructed traffic sign - is best documented by a picture. If you're one of the few whose cellphone doesn't have a camera, invest in a disposable camera to keep in your glove box.

The testimony of any claimant or witness in a lawsuit is always subject to questions about the person's credibility or believability. However, if what you're testifying to is there in full color detail, the credibility questions go out the door.

Your ability to establish the then-existing conditions is often the vital evidential link necessary to successfully pursue your personal injury claim.

Who Pays the Bill$ for Your Fall?

2009-06-30T20:38:00Z

If you fall on someone else’s property, the property owner is not automatically

responsible to pay your medical bills or compensate you for your injury.

Premises liability law involves the legal responsibility of property owners or

occupiers to prevent injuries to persons on their property. A typical cause of injury is

a slip or trip and fall on an icy sidewalk or raised nail or uneven stair tread. If a

foreign substance is on the floor, such as a spilled liquid or foodstuff, to hold the

property owner responsible for your injury, it must be shown that they knew about the

dangerous condition or, through due diligence and inspection, should have discovered

its presence. If the hazard which caused the fall is a natural result of how the property

owner does business – such as a loose string bean on the floor of the supermarket’s

produce aisle – then notice on the property owner’s part of the existing dangerous

condition need not be shown.

Infrequently, commercial establishments will have a “med-pay” provision on their

premises liability insurance policy whereby a nominal amount is available for

medical bills to someone injured on the property. If you have health insurance, your

bills for injury-related treatment must be submitted to your health care provider.

Doctors Make Mistakes

2009-06-25T16:14:19Z

While doctors know alot about medicine, they don't know any more about the law than the average Joe or Jane. This fact became painfully obvious to my client, Carol, (not her real name) yesterday when she appeared for her "Independent Medical Examination" scheduled by her auto insurance company.

First, it should be noted that nothing about the scheduled neurosurgical examination was to be "independent." A doctor hired by an insurance company, whether your own or the company of the negligent driver who hit you, is beholden to the company hiring him or her and, if the doctor wants to continue to get examination business, the doctor will usually find a way to flavor their opinions to best suit the financial interests of their client.

Carol, a car accident victim with a closed head injury and herniated discs, was freaked about going to this neurosurgical examination from the moment she received the notice 2 months before. I advised her that she should, as the law allows, take a witness into the exam room with her for moral support and to later attest to, if necessary, the nature of the exam and the conduct of the doctor. So, when the doctor's staff told Carol that her husband "absolutely" could not go into the room as a witness because"that is the doctor's 20 year old policy," Carol's anxiety spiked and she called me in a tizzy, ready to leave the appointment and thereby jeopardize her entitlement to continued medical benefits.

I told her to stand-by and I then called the doctor's office manager to inform her of the status of the law in this area. In spite of me faxing the relevant case law and the doctor being told by the insurance representative that he had to allow a witness into the examination room, the doctor would not relent. To the credit of the insurance company, the examination will be re-set with a different doctor and the company will no longer be using that neurosurgeon for examinations.

The lesson? At every stage of your litigation, you must know your rights and act accordingly and with conviction. Persons in positions of power and influence are not always right. Carol was aware, because I told her, that she was entitled to bring a witness into the exam room. The doctor, not caring enough to follow the applicable rule of law, would not agree.

Guess this doc, if he ever gets any more exam business, will think twice next time before he banishes an examinee's witness to the waiting room.

Oliver & Caiola Testimonial

2009-06-15T14:40:00Z

Slip And Fall Testimonial

2009-06-15T14:27:00Z

Knowing Where You're Going

2009-06-12T16:24:13Z

Other than depressed people, who walks with their head down? Not you or me. Yet, that is usually the first line of attack the attorney defending the premises liability claim will use to try to prove it was your carelessness that caused you to trip and fall and not the dangerous condition of the property that was the culprit.

In spite of my experience gained over decades of sunrise runs on the Ventnor and Atlantic City Boardwalk, I still forget to look down sometimes so that I catch my toe on a nail and stumble forward, barely catching myself before I splat onto the wood. I should know better but I often forget to think like a lawyer when I'm spacing out as a runner with The Dead on the ipod.

My point? We are our own best and last line of defense to ensure our safety and well-being. Other than being 5 miles up in a metal tube hurtling through the air at 500 mile per hour, where we have no say to what the fates may hold, while on the ground, take care, be aware and take it slow. Always assume the guy in the other lane is going to swerve into your lane. Always believe that marble floor in the casino is as slippery as it looks. Always know that the next board has the raised nail with your name on it.
By always expecting the unexpected, you'll be prepared to deal with any negligence that gets in your way.

Obermeyer Testimonial

2009-06-11T19:22:00Z

Welcome to the Law Office of David I. Sinderbrand, LLC

2009-06-08T15:38:00Z

It is with great pleasure and honor that I post my first blog.
After 21 years experience in the field of personal injury, I recently opened up my own practice where I continue to serve as a voice for the people in a system of litigation and claims that is often prohibitively difficult to navigate for the average person. I'm here to help you alleviate the pressure of dealing with all the hassle that accompanies being injured as a result of someone else's negligence.

If you need help or just want to talk, give a call.

Be well and be safe.