For those interested in a combination of country music and motorcycle riding, Chris Cagle is performing on June 9 as part of the REACH Foundation and Country 92-5 Benefit Ride and Concert, of which Trantolo & Trantolo is a presenting sponsor.

On that Sunday, the musical event, part of the REACH Concert Series, takes place in the afternoon at the Sun Valley Resort in Stafford Springs. Those looking to ride into the location start at Gengras Harley-Davidson in East Hartford. After registration, riders proceed at noon from East Hartford through Connecticut’s scenic roads to Sun Valley Resort. The concert is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.

Once all arrive, participants and concertgoers have a chance to get food, enter a raffle for prizes, and enjoy live music. Tickets are available online through the REACH Foundation website. $30 tickets ($35 the day of the show) give admission only to the performance; $50 covers one rider and one passenger, lunch, and concert admission. Any riders planning to attend the performance must be present at registration for access. Should the event be canceled, tickets will not be refunded, and instead, the full price will be considered a donation to REACH.

As a nonprofit organization started by Mark and Wendy Wilson in 2000 with the goal of helping children in need, the REACH Foundation has expanded its mission in its 13 years of existence. Originally, it began as an effort for educational scholarships and continued education, with programs for educators and that encourage responsibility in and out of the classroom. From that start, it now strives to help and advocate for children with physical, social, and financial issues.

The REACH Concert Series, which includes this upcoming performance and others throughout the year, aligns with the organization’s efforts. Each event brings individuals to celebrate children and raise awareness for the organization’s mission and various programs.

Recently, Trantolo & Trantolo’s Robert Peragine was awarded nearly $119,000 for a motor vehicle accident case, Richard Ahrens vs. Kathleen Ely. Representing the plaintiff Ahrens, who experienced a sustained back injury from his vehicle being rear-ended on Interstate 84, Atty. Peragine initially asked for $18,765 to cover Ahrens’ medical expenses and $90,000 for pain and suffering. The verdict covered this amount and included an additional $10,000.

In January 2011, a vehicle rear-ended Ahrens’ SUV on the stretch of Interstate 84 passing through East Hartford. Before the accident, he and his girlfriend planned to go shopping but hit traffic. While Ahrens slowed his vehicle down, two others behind behaved erratically: one swerved on the road, unable to stop, and a second kept moving, eventually hitting Ahrens’ vehicle.

After the police arrived at the scene, Ahrens felt pain in his lower back and was then rushed to the hospital. A chiropractor later treated him for lower back pain, the result of a seven-percent disability to his lumbar.

However, in the lawsuit against Kathleen Ely, multiple complications surfaced: Aherns had previously injured his back three times when working around his home, and the chiropractor was unable to testify. Atty. Cynthia Daly, representing Allstate Insurance Co., attempted to spin Ahrens’ injury as a preexisting condition. About this, Atty. Peragine told the Connecticut Law Tribune: “The judges were saying to my client and me, ‘Rob, if you can get $20,000 or $22,000 — take it and run.’?”

While Attys. Peragine and Daly questioned the juror candidates as a “box jury,” Peragine highlighted Ahrens’ injuries on direct examination, had Ahrens show the jury his TENS unit, and got Ahrens’ next-door neighbor to testify about assisting him with tasks around the house, from snow-blowing to cleaning to lawn maintenance.

While the jurors appeared to return with the short document, an indication for the defense verdict, they decided to give Ahrens more than the full amount: $18,765 for medical expenses and $100,000 for pain and suffering.

To residents in central Connecticut, the Hartford Advocate’s annual Best Of poll becomes the definitive guide to where to eat, what to see, and where to go in Connecticut. While seemingly secondary to the dining and entertainment guides, the Professional Services selections are equally distinctive, showing clearly which individuals are the best at what they do in the region.

For the Best of Hartford Readers’ Poll 2013, Trantolo & Trantolo came in at No. 3 for the Best Lawyer or Law Firm, behind Klein & Babbitt, an Avon-based general practice law firm, and Carlson & Dumeer, with an office in Middletown.

Each year, the Hartford Advocate invites readers to submit their votes for the best places and businesses in Connecticut, with categories encompassing restaurants, places to shop and see entertainment, and various businesses. Rounding out the Professional Services category were ranks for the top banks, computer repairs, daycare, dry cleaners, moving, real estate, plumbing, hotels, and other companies, each with the three top-selected businesses.

The Hartford Advocate has been the Connecticut capital’s only alt-weekly newspaper since 1974. Associated with it throughout the state are the New Haven Advocate and Fairfield Weekly. For a number of years, the Valley Advocate in western Massachusetts was part of the group of alternative weekly publications.

Serving clients throughout Connecticut, as well as in other nearby states, Trantolo & Trantolo prides itself on its personalized approach in a wide range of personal injury cases. And, as this 2013 poll clearly shows, Connecticut residents clearly agree with our attorneys’ approaches and mission.

The Hartford County Bar Association recently invited Atty. Vincent J. Trantolo to present its
“In Practices” Seminar, which took place at its May 2 meeting at the Hartford Hilton. This presentation dealt with the reality of advertising for law firms in the contemporary market, and members of the HCBA looked forward to sharing in his knowledge and experience.

Atty. Trantolo was an innovator in law firm advertising and still is today. He is a pioneer in groundbreaking media and marketing innovations, which have impacted both state and national legal communities since the mid 1980s. He fought his way to the Connecticut Supreme Court to confront the antiquated rulings and advertising traditions, which forbid the use of television advertising to law firms. In a landmark historic CT Case, (Grievance Committee vs. Trantolo, January 3, l984) Atty. Trantolo brought legal advertising into the 20th century, winning a Supreme Court decision which allowed the use of television in Connecticut law firm advertising for the very first time. Attorney Trantolo was able to create an indelible brand name throughout the state by effectively challenging the traditional status quo of legal marketing.

Trantolo & Trantolo is still on the cutting edge of law firm marketing in its use of all media formats, including social media and internet. Atty. Trantolo was honored to share his insights and his continuing expertise with fellow members of the Hartford County Bar Association, who were honored to listen.

For many, spring is the perfect time to take the motorcycle out of storage for a ride across Connecticut’s many picturesque back roads. However, with warm weather comes an increased accident risk. As bike lawyers serving clients in Connecticut and surrounding states, Trantolo & Trantolo prides ourselves on ensuring the safety of the motorcycle community. Along with our knowledge and legal representation, Trantolo & Trantolo is known for our dedication to riders and experience in such cases.

In line with our passion for fighting on behalf of motorcyclists throughout Connecticut, Trantolo & Trantolo participates in National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, held yearly in May. For those that are unaware, motorcyclists are far more vulnerable to crashes than your average motorists in cars and trucks – particularly as a biker has a greater chance of being hidden in the motorist’s blind spot.

As the National Safety Council points out, fatalities in motorcycle accidents increased 131 percent from 1998 to 2008. Along with this statistic, the death rate in these collisions is 37 times greater for motorcyclists than for passengers in cars.

Both motorcycle riders and motorists are advised to follow the National Safety Council’s suggestions for sharing the road. Alertness from both parties is a must to prevent accidents, but the following suggestions should be taken into consideration:

For motorcyclists:
• Always obey the rules of the road
• Be prepared with the necessary protective gear, including a Department of Transportation-compliant helmet
• Stay off all roads in bad weather
• Be aware when you’re in a motorist’s blind spot and move to a part of the road where you’re more visible
• Always use turn signals for lane changes and making turns

For motorists:
• Drive at a greater distance when you’re behind a motorcyclist
• Be extra-vigilant at intersections
• Never share your lane with a motorcycle

The 18th Annual Connecticut Miracle Ride passed on April 28, with Trantolo & Trantolo as the presenter.

This yearly occasion, the largest motorcycle charity event in Southern New England, has raised more than $500,000 for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center since its beginning in 1996. With the event growing yearly, $30,000 was donated in 2012, and 1,000 motorists were predicted to attend 2013’s ride. All funds support children and their families in the hospital’s NICU units.

This past weekend, the ride started in Hartford’s Bushnell Park and finished at the Sun Valley Resort in Stafford Springs, Conn. Registration started at 10 a.m., with motorists hitting the road by noon. It was a great afternoon for all, particularly with Connecticut’s weather creating ideal riding conditions. Below, see pictures of Sunday’s event:

Over the past week, multiple reports of Connecticut nursing homes being fined for negligence surfaced, with the instances published in local newspapers.

According to the New Haven Register, the state Department of Public Health fined the Golden Hill Health Care Center in Milford, Bishop Wicke Health & Rehabilitation Center, Inc. in Shelton, Pope John Paul II Care and Rehabilitation Center in Danbury, the Portland Care & Rehabilitation Center, and the Chesterfields Health Care Center in Cheshire for several instances of negligence: not providing and monitoring proper patient care; not supervising residents, which resulted in injury or threats of injury to other patients; and using medication designed for a patient.

The Connecticut Post reported similar findings for three nursing homes and care facilities. One, the Candlewood Valley Health & Rehabilitation Center in New Milford, involved a female patient with maggot-infested wounds resulting from a lack of proper care. In this particular case, the patient, who had been refusing medication and treatment, had been given a psychiatric evaluation and was recommended to be transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility. A doctor refused, claiming the patient was in no immediate danger. Because the patient continued to refuse treatment, her sores and wounds worsened.

In two other instances, residents did not receive proper treatment or experienced a neglect-related fall, which was the case at the Orchard Grove Specialty Care Center in Uncasville, or, like at Meriden’s Apple Rehab Coccomo, lost weight because of a lack of oversight from care providers.

These reports come at the same time assisted living and nursing home care costs are on the rise, nationally and in Connecticut. The Hartford Business Journal found the current national cost of assisted living care is $41,400 annually ($60,000 in Connecticut), after yearly increases of 4.3 percent. As a contrast, costs related to home healthcare remained steady over this period.

Trantolo & Trantolo represents plaintiffs in both nursing home negligence and class action cases in Connecticut. The following Canadian settlement is particularly notable for these fields of personal injury law.

Reported on April 18, families of seniors and people with severe disabilities were awarded an $8.5 million CAD ($8.28 million USD) settlement from a class action lawsuit regarding long-term abuse in a Montreal care facility.

To give you some background, as Huffington Post Canada has, the lawsuit was originally filed in 1999 against the St-Charles of Borromee Hospital. The lawsuit, which did not garner significant attention at the time, detailed hundreds of instances of abuse inside the facility.

Four years later, however, visiting family members of a patient recorded horrid verbal and psychological abuse staff subjected residents to, and at this point, the case began to get attention. The then-current health minister ordered a provincial inquiry, and not long after, the conditions not only of St-Charles Borromee but other Quebec nursing homes and care facilities were exposed. Adding fuel to the fire was the suicide of the home’s hospital director. Around this time, more residents began to come forward with their stories of mistreatment.

To the press about the settlement, patients’ rights advocate Paul Brunet stated this week: “It was a situation of grave negligence, of lack of coordination in service and care, a lack of respect, a lot of problems according to standards of how you treat patients and how you board and feed them.”

The issues residents of St-Charles of Borromee are not isolated to Canada, and that’s why Trantolo & Trantolo’s nursing home negligence attorneys stand by Connecticut patients. This problem, as well, is expected to increase, as the U.S. elderly population is predicted to reach 70 million by 2030, with 19.5 million 80 years of age or older.

In 2012, the dangers of texting behind the wheel came to light, with the habit, unfortunately growing for young adults age 21 to 24, significantly more hazardous than driving drunk. Yet, if you thought a motorist sending a text, email, answering a call, or surfing the web was the highest threat on the road, think again. A recent study now indicates that daydreaming – yes, daydreaming – is an even greater hazard.

According to a report by the Erie Insurance Group, daydreaming is five times more dangerous than texting or talking on the phone. Erie found that 62 percent of all incidents related to distracted driving involved a motorist “lost in thought.” By comparison, just 12 percent came from mobile phone usage.

For the study, Erie examined 65,000 motor vehicle accidents from 2011 and ’12, 10 percent of which stemmed from distracted driving. Encompassing daydreaming and texting, “distracted driving,” for the purpose of the study, was defined as any activity that takes the driver’s eyes away from the road, his hands off the wheel, or his mind off driving.

Back in 2011, the Associated Press reported on the increase in texting behind the wheel for the 21 to 24 year old age bracket. Half of all young adults were found to engage in such activities – an increase of 50 percent from when a similar study was done in 2010.

Compared to drunk driving, texting behind the wheel is six times more dangerous, which essentially makes daydreaming 30 times as much of a hazard. To combat this trend, states like Connecticut enacted stricter laws about distracted driving, with more tickets handed out for such offenses during that time period. But, as studies have shown, stricter laws correlate with more reckless behavior behind the wheel, and as a result, incidents of texting have surged with new legislation.

Presented by Trantolo & Trantolo, the 18th Annual Connecticut Miracle Ride is scheduled for April 28. Last year, the event benefitting the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center raised $30,000 and has donated over $500,000 since its beginning in 1996.

For those unfamiliar, the Miracle Ride is the largest motorcycle charity event in Southern New England and, for 2013, is expected to draw 1,000 motorists. Funds raised support the families and babies in Connecticut Children’s NICU units and, over the years, have gone toward purchasing specialized equipment. The event itself raises money and awareness for the 1,000 premature or sick infants placed annually in Connecticut Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

The region’s only academic medical center solely dedicated to the care of children, Connecticut Children’s offers critical care services to infants at 19 state hospitals, including the only Level III NICU in the region, and is one of the largest neonatal programs in the country, with 72 beds at its Hartford and UConn Health Center campuses. Dedicated to improving the physical and emotional health of children with family-centered care, research, education, and advocacy, Connecticut Children’s offers pediatric services at its Hartford and Waterbury hospitals, NICUs in Hartford and Farmington, and 16 specialty care centers.

For those participating, the 2013 Miracle Ride starts at Elm St. near Bushnell Park in Hartford, with registration open at 10 a.m. Parade lineup begins at 11 a.m., with the ride officially taking off at noon. The route takes riders through Hartford’s streets, with the finishing location at the Sun Valley Resort in Stafford Springs. At 1:30 p.m., riders get treated to a complimentary BBQ lunch and live music from the Arizona Maid Band.

Companies have a chance to invest in the Miracle Ride as a sponsor. Aside from supporting a good cause, being a sponsor exposes a brand to a desired demographic. To get more information, read here.