Employees who are laid off, or terminated through no fault of their own may qualify for unemployment compensation. Unemployment benefits are administered by the Employment Security Commission (ESC). To receive unemployment benefits, a former employee must file a claim with the ESC, and meet eligibility requirements. To be eligible for benefits, you must be unemployed through no fault of your own, be able and available for work and be actively seeking work. You may be disqualified from receiving benefits if you were discharged from work due to work “misconduct,” such as use of alcohol or drugs, fighting, unauthorized absences without good cause or theft of company property. You may also be disqualified if you are terminated for a reason that does not constitute misconduct, but is considered a “substantial fault.” Substantial fault includes acts, over which you have reasonable control, that violate reasonable job requirements.

You must go to your local ESC office to file a claim. To find out the location of your local office, look for the county office of the ESC in your phone book or go online to www.ncesc.com. After you file your claim, your employer will have an opportunity to respond to the claim, including explaining the reason for your discharge. If your employer contests the claim or if your claim raises eligibility issues, the claim will be reviewed by an adjudicator who will make a determination as to whether you have a valid claim. An appeal can be made from the adjudicator’s decision.

Many employers will contest a filing for benefits because if the claim is awarded, the unemployment insurance costs to the employer may increase.

Collins Law Firm has successfully represented employees seeking unemployment, at the initial stages, and through the appeals process. If you need assistance pursuing unemployment compensation, call us at 910-793-9000 to schedule a consultation.

If you are summoned for jury duty, it is important that you comply with the requirements of the summons. Report to the bailiff of the proper court on the date and at the hour stated in your summons. In New Hanover County, there is a phone number listed on the summons to call to find out if you will be needed or not. If you are needed, there is a jury assembly room managed by the clerk’s office where jurors are to report, and the Jury Coordinator will give you further instructions. However, each county in North Carolina may have different procedures for reporting for jury duty.

To be qualified to serve in North Carolina, a juror: (1) must be a citizen of the United States and of the state of North Carolina, (2) must be a resident of the county in which called to serve as a juror, (3) must be at least 18 years of age, (4) must be physically and mentally competent to serve, (5) must be able to hear and understand the English language, (6) must not have been convicted of or pled guilty to a felony unless citizenship has been restored according to law and (7) must not have served as a juror during the preceding two years.

Many people would rather not have to serve as a juror, but it is an important duty we have as United States Citizens. Qualified persons age 72 or older may elect not to serve; otherwise, a person may be excused from jury duty on a particular occasion only after requesting to be excused because of special circumstances that may apply. No excuse is automatic and a judge will decide each request on its own merits and may defer jury service until a later date. If you have questions about your jury service, contact the clerk of court as soon as possible. In New Hanover County, we have a clerk in charge of the jury pool referred to the “Jury Clerk.” In some cases, it may be possible to defer one’s jury duty in advance. The summons should explain the procedure if it is possible in the county in which you are summoned to serve.

If you are called to serve on jury duty, there will likely be a lot of time spent just waiting. So you may want to bring a book to read, or something on which to quietly work while waiting.

The elections are over and we are very excited that all of our friends whom we supported in their races in the Southeastern North Carolina counties surrounding Wilmington NC (Brunswick County and New Hanover County) won their elections! This was an historic election, and for the first time since 1898, the Republicans hold the majority of both houses of the North Carolina legislature.

Jon David will be the new District Attorney in North Carolina’s 13th prosecutorial district, which includes Brunswick County, Columbus County, and Bladen County. Mr. David’s office will prosecute all state crimes including infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies. Jon David has over ten years experience as a prosecutor, and has been prosecuting cases for years with his brother, Ben David, who is the District Attorney in the Fifth Prosecutorial District (which includes New Hanover County and Pender County). We know Mr. David will make an outstanding District Attorney and will work hard to seek justice in all the cases his office will handle.

Thom Goolsby will be New Hanover County’s new State Senator. Mr. Goolsby is a Wilmington, NC lawyer who practices personal injury and criminal defense in Wilmington, North Carolina. He is a conservative and will focus on creating jobs by limiting government in Raleigh. He holds both a Juris Doctor, and Master of Business Administration, and has been managing his law firm for years, so he understands business, and will make an excellent law maker.

Jay Hockenbury will continue one of our Superior Court Judges in New Hanover County and Pender County. Judge Hockenbury was challenged in this election, and soundly defeated his opponent. He also is a Republican, and he is a fair and impartial judge. He hears civil cases as well as all types of criminal cases in including misdemeanors and felonies. We are glad Judge Hockenbury will continue to be one of our excellent Superior Court Judges.

Chad Hogston, also a Wilmington attorney, will be our newest District Court Judge. Mr. Hogston has been practicing law in Wilmington for almost a decade and a half. He has experience in both civil and criminal cases, and we are sure he will be an outstanding fair and impartial District Court Judge.

Jan Kennedy will be our new Clerk of Court in New Hanover County. She has almost two decades experience in the clerk’s office, and we are confident she will make an excellent Clerk of Court, and she will make sure that the courts continue to run smoothly and efficiently. The clerk’s office manages all the files in State court including civil matters as well as all criminal matters – including all infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies.

If you are involved in a car crash or automobile accident through no fault of your own, and you are injured, it is critical that you seek medical attention immediately. If emergency medical services are called to the scene, they can help you determine whether or not you need to be transported by an ambulance or if it would be safe for you to seek alternative transportation to the hospital. Many times, people can sustain injuries which are not immediately apparent and for which the symptoms may not occur until a later time. All reasonably necessary medical expenses for injuries caused by the accident should be covered by the insurance carrier for the person who caused the accident. In addition to paying for medical expenses, they can pay for any other expenses caused by the accident and for pain and suffering for injuries caused by the accident.

If it does not compromise your medical condition or your ability to seek medical attention for your injuries, taking pictures of the property damage at the scene and/or any injuries can help document the facts to help support your claim for monetary or money compensation. Anyone injured in an automobile accident which is not caused by their fault should consult with an attorney experienced in personal injury matters as soon as possible, as long as it does not delay seeking and obtaining reasonable medical attention.

Collins Law Firm regularly represents victims of car wrecks and helps maximize monetary or money damage recoveries for our clients. If you or someone you know and care about has been injured in a car wreck, please call Collins Law Firm at 910-793-9000 for a free consultation.

A newly elected District Attorney will soon be sworn in the 13th prosecutorial district of NC.

The 13th prosecutorial district of North Carolina is comprised of Brunswick County, Columbus County, and Bladen County located in Southeastern NC. The district attorney’s office in Brunswick County is located in Bolivia, NC and is the largest office of the three counties.

The district attorney’s office prosecutes crimes committed within their district including felonies and misdemeanors. Most of the prosecutions in the courtroom are conducted by assistant district attorneys – all of which are lawyers licensed in the State of NC.

Rex Gore, who is the current elected district attorney, was defeated in the democratic primary by Butch Pope out of Whiteville, NC. He is challenged by Jon David, who is currently an assistant district attorney in New Hanover County and has his office located in Wilmington, NC. The result of the upcoming election will decide who will be the new District Attorney, and what, if any, changes will be made with the district attorney’s office in the 13th district.

A possible disposition for a criminal or traffic charge (either an infraction, misdemeanor, or a felony) unique to North Carolina state courts, is a Prayer for Judgment Continued, or PJC.  When requesting a court to grant a request for a PJC, the proper way attorneys ask is to request that the “judgment be continued,” or to request that the court “continue judgment.”  While a PJC is an excellent result in many cases, it may not be the best result for all criminal or traffic cases.

Our experience has been that the effect of a PJC is highly misunderstood by most people, including lawyers or other legal professionals not experienced in traffic or criminal law.

The effect of a PJC for traffic violations is controlled by statutes and varies with the context in which it is considered.  A PJC may or may not avoid points, and the rules are different with respect to driver’s license points (or DMV points) or insurance points.   We have posted an article explaining more details about what a PJC is and how it may affect one’s record on our site, and a brief summary of how a PJC may affect insurance and DMV points for traffic violations.

Any time you are considering requesting a PJC, you should always consult with an experienced criminal or traffic lawyer.  If you have a pending court date for a criminal matter or traffic violation, call Attorney David Collins at Collins Law Firm for a consultation at 910-793-9000.

At Collins Law Firm, we have been practicing criminal and traffic law in Southeastern North Carolina for over a decade and David Collins has been licensed to practice law in both North Carolina and South Carolina since 1993.  The counties we cover for criminal and traffic matters include (County/Seat of Court): Brunswick County/Bolivia, NC; New Hanover County/Wilmington, NC; Pender County/Burgaw, NC; Columbus County/Whiteville, NC; Bladen County/Elizabethtown, NC; Sampson County/Clinton, NC; Duplin County/Kenansville, NC; and Onslow County/Jacksonville, NC.

The Wilmington Star recently ran a story about a report published by the Administrative Office of the Courts which shows that felony criminal charges, on average, have been resolved in the shortest amount of time amongst all of the 43 prosecutorial districts in North Carolina. The statewide median number of days for the resolution of felony cases was 181 days, within the 5th prosecutorial district, the median number days was 106. The district attorney’s office attributed the efficiency to the felony district court program run by Assistant District Attorney Holt Trotman. The program is informally known in the court house as felony Thursday, because the court is held on Thursdays.

The only dispositions which are possible are guilty pleas or dismissals. If cases are not resolved in district court, they are then sent to the Grand Jury for indictment and resolved in Superior Court. If a defendant is charged with a low level felony and has a clean criminal history, it is often possible to have those charges reduced to misdemeanors. In some cases deferred prosecutions can be arranged which would result ultimately in the dismissal of the case. In many cases, charges which were originally felonies which are dismissed through a deferred prosecution or outright dismissed, can be expunged and completely removed from one’s public criminal record, if the defendant has not had an expungement before. Criminal charges which were dismissed but for which there was not an expunction will remain on one’s criminal record. However the record will show that the charges were dismissed. Attorney David Collins of Collins Law Firm regularly appears in the felony district court program for New Hanover County which is located in Wilmington, NC. If you wish to call us for a consultation regarding any legal matters for which you need legal representation, feel free to call us at (910) 793-9000.

The UNCW newspaper, theseahawk.org, recently reported that alcohol violations were up 50% and drug violations were up 23% over the previous year. Students should be aware that if they are convicted of an alcohol or drug offense such as possession of marijuana, underage drinking or possession of an open container, a criminal conviction could remain on their record for the rest of their life. However, there are ways to avoid a conviction and Collins Law Firm has avoided convictions in hundreds if not thousands of cases involving controlled substances or alcohol.

The article also reported that burglaries are down 47% from the previous year which is good news.

Collins Law Firm is located only one mile from the UNCW campus and offers student discounts so UNCW students should feel free to call (910) 793-9000 for a consultation regarding legal matters we handle.

Labor Day is over, school started back and it is almost fall. We hope everybody had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend. There was heavy traffic in most parts of the country and if you happened to get a speeding ticket or traffic citation in Southeast North Carolina, Collins Law Firm can help.

In most cases, so long as you have a clean driving records for speeding tickets at non-excessively high speeds, we can avoid court appearances and points on both your insurance and DMV record. For people with violations already on their record, there are still ways in most cases that points can be avoided. In some cases the defendant may have to go to driving school and in some cases a Prayer for Judgement Continued (PJC) maybe used. However, PJC is a valuable option to dispose of a traffic charge which should only be used when necessary.

For example, if there are multiple members of a household and one person uses a PJC, if another person in the household gets a traffic citation within the next three years and receives a PJC, insurance points will assessed for that violation.

Collins Law Firm has been representing people charged with traffic citations, speeding tickets, and other criminal charges in Southeast North Carolina for over ten years and we will be happy to discuss your situation with you by phone at no charge if you receive a traffic citation. Call the Collins Law Firm at (910) 793-9000.

Hurricane Earl has passed our area, and thankfully without inflicting much serious damage to our area.

Now we are heading into a busy Labor Day weekend. The American Automobile Association (AAA) is predicting a 10% increase in travelers on the road this year over last year. They predict that about 34.4 million people are likely to take trips of at least 50 miles.

That means that everyone needs to take greater precautions and plan for heavier traffic and slower travel paces. Law enforcement is likely to be stepped up this weekend and many people will likely receive speeding tickets or other traffic citations, and there are likely to be more accidents on the road than on non-holiday weekends. There are also likely to be impaired drivers and boaters who will receive DWI/DUI’s and BWI/BUI’s (boating while impaired/under the influence).

Anyone who receives a ticket or other criminal charges, or who is involved in an accident can call Collins Law Firm for a consultation about what we can do to help. We have been serving Southeastern North Carolina around the Wilmington, NC area for over ten years, representing people charged with traffic tickets or other criminal charges and people injured in traffic accidents or crashes.

Please be safe and have a wonderful weekend!

Collins Law Firm