Highlights from Your Attorney on Radio’s July 31 Broadcast with Chiropractor Reetu Chatkara as Special Guest

Last Updated on Monday, 16 August 2010 11:56

Insight into injuries resulting from low-speed car accidents, delayed onset of symptoms and the need for treatment.

On July 31, San Francisco-area lawyer Madan Ahluwalia continued his discussion of the health problems associated with car accidents.  Radio guest Reetu Chatkara, a chiropractor with Silicon Valley Spine and Disc Center, discussed the mechanics of injury and the importance of treatment.

San Francisco lawyer Ahluwalia also answered questions relating to accidents involving relatives visiting from India, provided estate planning information and discussed the remedies available to a homebuyer who discovered that the newly acquired property had a termite problem

Visiting Relatives Injured in a Car Accident

A friend’s relatives who were visiting from India were involved in a car accident. One of the questions that arose was who would pay the medical bills related to the auto accident.

In this situation, it doesn’t matter which party is at fault — the auto insurance should cover the visitors’ medical bills. The amount that they will receive depends on the amount of coverage purchased as part of the insurance policy.

When an accident involves an individual who is only in the country temporarily, he or she may want to consider an “attorney in fact” arrangement. An attorney in fact is a dignified legal term meaning that you have granted someone power to act on your behalf, as your agent. It is accomplished through a document called a power of attorney.

A power of attorney may be a broad granting of powers or very narrow, limited to a specific purpose such as dealing with insurance matters related to a car accident.

Estate Planning and Pricing

The cost of estate planning varies from lawyer to lawyer and from case to case. Before a lawyer can give you a quote on the cost, he or she must know more about your needs — for instance, a complex arrangement of assets need more protection than a simple will affords.

Just as you wouldn’t e-mail a doctor and ask about the cost of treatment is before going to the office for a diagnosis, you shouldn’t e-mail a lawyer and ask how much a will costs before a consultation. The lawyer needs to understand your needs, goals and objectives before he or she can recommend the appropriate estate planning tools and provide a fee quote.

What options does a homebuyer who has discovered a $60,000 to $70,000 termite problem have?

It sounds like an issue of disclosure. As part of the real estate contract, transfer disclosure statements, which are pretty extensive, must be made. Real estate contracts also have provisions that specify who will pay for what work. If your real estate agent failed to include provisions regarding termite-related repairs, a lawyer will try to determine whether the agent failed to do his or her professional duty.

You should sit down with your real estate agent and ask two questions:

• Why was the termite inspection not ordered before the contingency was removed?
• Why did the seller fail to disclose this condition?

You should also alert the lender — who may want to reassess the appraisal, taking into account the new information — to the problem.

Dr. Reetu Chatkara

Q. What happens to the muscles and nerves in a whiplash injury?
Your muscles tear just like a piece of paper. These microtears can happen anywhere along the neck, the back of the head, the shoulders, the arms, the upper back and the low back. When muscles tear in an accident, you leak chemicals — in lay terms, we call this swelling. This puts a layer on top of the muscles. This is your body’s mechanism of dealing with the tearing that happens.

Q. Why is the neck or cervical spine so important?
It is so important because that is where your brain and a complex group of nerves that come out from the brain stem, through the neck and into your shoulders are located. Your head weighs between 8 and 10 pounds, so when you have that much weight on top of such a sensitive area and then a sharp whipping movement, it stretches the nerves, thereby causing pain and stretching of the nerves that go into the arms and hands. It can trigger symptoms such as numbness and tingling in your arms and hands, weakness, nausea and blurred vision. For this reason, the cervical spine is a very important area.

Q. We took out visitors’ medical insurance for my parents, and it looks like my dad needs surgery. The policy states that it does not cover preexisting conditions. I’m trying to get a precertification. The insurer won’t say whether it will cover surgery.
(Ahluwalia) It sounds like a factual and legal dispute — factual in whether it is a preexisting condition and legal in whether this should be covered. You need to have the insurer put its response in writing and cite the reasons.

Once you have that in writing, you should go see an attorney who can review their reasons, review the contract, review the records and then help you make some sense out of this.

Q. What are the long-term effects of all these medical problems? If you have a tingling sensation or if you have some sort of numbness, how soon do people need to get to it and what happens if they don’t?
As I was saying earlier, if you have a muscle tear you have swelling, which can cause the formation of scar tissue. That’s how the body is healing itself. But what happens is that it a weak healing process; it is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken bone. You have to cast it first. When you cast it, that’s how the bones can heal — but if you put a bandage on it, it won’t do anything. The scar tissue is like a little bandage, but the integrity of the muscle never really goes back to what it was before the injury.

The nerves get stretched, and when you have numbness or tingling in your hands, what happens is, you’re decreasing the supply of blood flow to those areas. If you have tingling in your hands, you’re going to have weak muscles, because they’re not getting the proper supply of blood that they need, and then you’ll have weak grip strength.

Q. What about the impact of air bags. Is there any difference between front air bags and side air bags?
Air bags save lives. However, they also cause injuries. What happens is that when the front air bag deploys it can put a lot of pressure on your face, and so we see people with facial lacerations, bruising in the face and bloody noses.

Q. Do you see any difference in the type of injuries between passengers in small vehicles and those in big vehicles?
It does make a difference. A lot of people drive small commuter cars. If you’re in a collision with an SUV and you’re in a small sedan, where that bumper of the SUV hits your car is going to be different than where two sedans that hit each other make contact. An SUV will cause more damage to the car and more trauma to the passengers inside.

Q. What should be done from a legal standpoint to preserve your rights after an accident?
(Ahluwalia) Recordkeeping is important:

• Exchange information.
• Take as many pictures as you can.
• Make sure there is a written report.
• Take down witness information.

A good attorney won’t settle until his or client’s condition has hit a plateau and no other care will be provided. The attorney works closely with the medical provider and other healthcare professionals who might be involved.

Q. What do you do if you an officer won’t come to the scene?
(Ahluwahlia) With resources so limited these days, many police departments won’t send an officer to the scene. In that situation, you have to think like a lawyer. You have to think about how to gather evidence. Stick to the basics:

• Take pictures.
• Take videos.
• Exchange information with the other driver.
• Exchange information with witnesses.
• Don’t try to be too nice. You can be courteous, of course, but even if you are sorry that an accident happened don’t say, “I’m sorry,” because that statement can be taken out of context.

Contact Ahluwalia Law

For more information about personal injury law, contact San Francisco Bay-area attorney Madan Ahluwalia at Ahluwalia Law P.C. by calling 650-331-1968 or e-mailing madan.ahluwalia@ahluwalia-law.com.

Based in Redwood, Calif., Ahluwalia Law is a general practice law firm assisting clients with a variety of cases, including immigration law, business services, civil litigation, estate management, loan modification and bankruptcy, family law and personal injury.

To keep up to date with the latest Your Attorney on Radio news and information, visit our Facebook page.

Highlights from Your Attorney on Radio’s July 17 Broadcast with Consul General of India as Special Guest

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 July 2010 11:25

Changes in visa applications and new community programs discussed

On July 17, Susmita Gongulee Thomas, consul general of India in San Francisco, joined attorney Madan Ahluwalia to discuss consular and community matters. Thomas also answered questions from callers regarding subjects ranging from surrender certificates to visa applications to community programs offered by the government of India.

Recent Visa Rules Changes

Thomas noted that there has been a spate of recent changes in visa rules and that the consulate is not a rulemaking agency but an implementing agency.

One of the biggest changes requires Americans of Indian descent who have been naturalized in the United States to produce a surrender certificate before obtaining a visa. To obtain the surrender certificate, the applicant must produce his or her last held Indian passport or the full details of the Indian passport.

The government of India requires the surrender certificate to take such individuals off the passport rolls. The government does not allow the consulate to waive the surrender certificate. The surrender certificate transaction fee was lowered recently to $20.

The second change involves tourist visas. The government will only issue tourist visas to travelers visiting India for recreational purposes, and visitors may not reenter India within 60 days of the most recent exit.

For more information on these changes, visit the consul general’s website. http://www.cgisf.org/.

Q. What happens if you can’t find your passport and you need to obtain a surrender certificate?

A number of people, particularly individuals who obtained their U.S. citizenship before 1980, do not have their last held Indian passports. You can file a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, using form G-639 to request a copy of the entire immigration file, which will include the surrendered passport. The service is free.

Q. What are the changes that have been made by the Indian government to visa applications?

Naturalized U.S. citizens will only be able to obtain tourist visas if they are visiting India for purely recreational purposes. The recreational purpose must be supported by documentation such as hotel or event bookings.

For all other entries, including family visits, weddings, medical treatment and business trips, you will need to apply for an entry visa, also known as an X visa. With the entry visa, you do not have to wait 60 days to reenter India.

Q. Why does the Indian consulate require a copy of the green card for visas, OCI cards and PIO cards?

In order to obtain a visa, OCI (overseas citizenship of India) card or PIO (person of Indian origin) card, the applicant must meet four requirements:

First, he or she must provide a surrender certificate, which may be obtained by providing the last held Indian passport, a photocopy of the last held Indian passport or details of the last Indian passport held.

Second, the applicant must provide proof of lawful entry into the United States. This may be accomplished by providing a copy of the green card, the first Indian passport held, a copy of the I-130 petition for alien relative or even letters from employers or educational institutions.

Third, the applicant must furnish proof of identity, such as a valid driver’s license.

Fourth, the applicant must provide proof of address, which may be done by submitting utility bills.

Q. What is the big difference between OCI cards and PIO cards? Does India offer dual citizenship?

India does not recognize dual citizenship. Once you acquire foreign citizenship, you surrender your Indian passport.

PIOs and OCIs are basically visas of varying lengths. The applications for these documents, plus standard visas, have been made uniform. The main difference among them is the time that they remain in effect:

A visa is only valid for a fixed period.

A PIO card is valid for as long as 15 years and is used with a U.S. passport. It is not a stand-alone document.

An OCI card is a lifelong certificate. When a U.S. passport expires, the holder must ask that the OCI card be transferred to the new passport.

Neither of these cards confers voting rights in India.

Q. Say I surrender my Indian citizenship and become a U.S. citizen but then and want to revert to my Indian citizenship. Can this be done?

You may apply for an OCI card and then reapply for Indian citizenship after you’ve been in the country between five and seven years. While in India, you are eligible to work for private employers but are not eligible for government jobs.

Know India Program

Know India is a three-week orientation program for diaspora children. The aim of the Know India program is to promote awareness and interaction with India. The Indian government pays 90 percent of the airfare and full cost of hospitality in India. At the end of the program, the participants will have the opportunity to meet either the president or the prime minister of India. To  be eligible, the applicant must be an American youth of Indian descent between the ages of 18 and 26.

Scholarship Program for Diaspora Children

The purpose of the scholarship program is to make higher education in India accessible to the children of overseas Indians and promote India as a center for higher studies. One hundred students are awarded scholarship of up to US$3,600 annually for undergraduate courses in engineering, technology, humanities, liberal arts, commerce, management, journalism, hotel management, agriculture, animal husbandry and other courses of study. The program is open to nonresident Indians/PIOs from more than 40 countries with substantial Indian diaspora populations.

Legal and Financial Assistance to Indian Women Deserted by Their Overseas Indian Spouses

The large number of women in the U.S. and other countries who have been abandoned by their spouses has spurred the Indian government to offer as much as $1,500 in financial assistance for counseling and legal services.

To qualify, a woman must have been deserted by her overseas spouse, regardless of whether he holds an Indian or an American passport. Desertion is defined as having been served with divorce papers within five years of the marriage.

For more information on Know India, the scholarship program for diaspora children or the program to aid women deserted by their overseas Indian spouses, visit the Ministry of Overseas Affairs website. http://moia.gov.in/services.aspx?mainid=73.

Contact Ahluwalia Law

For more information about immigration law, contact Madan Ahluwalia at Ahluwalia Law P.C. by calling 650-331-1968 or e-mailing madan.ahluwalia@ahluwalia-law.com.

Based in Redwood, Calif., Ahluwalia Law is a general practice law firm assisting clients with a variety of cases, including but not limited to immigration law, business services, civil litigation, estate management, loan modification and bankruptcy, family law and personal injury.

To keep up to date with the latest Your Attorney on Radio news and information, visit our Facebook page.