The
Breaking faith with the insured
Did you know?
You’re invited
My wife calls it the most romantic gesture ever and I didn’t do it
(cont.)
Sinkholes are depressing
To
A c c i d e n t s | N u r s i n g H o m e N e g l e c t | I n s u r a n c e
EVER AND I DIDN’T DO IT
Before we got married, my wife spent the day with my mother learning to make the family recipe for spaghetti sauce. It was an all day affair with meatballs to form, garlic to peel, onions to chop.
My job was to show up later to test the results.
My wife had gone early that Saturday morning to my parent’s home. That same day, the neighbor’s daughter was getting married. In between sauce making, my mother and wife would run to the living room window. They watched the bridesmaids arriving.
And the photographer take pictures of the beautiful bride. That’s when the stories started.
My father had spotted my mother at the Polish
Women’s Hall on Broadway near Fleet. In March of 1955, it was the place for young singles to mingle at the polka dances every Sunday. My
20 year old father asked my 18 year old mother to dance. He asked again and again. She said no every time, week after week. Finally her friend
Virgie urged her – say yes. He’s nice. So she did.
Continues on page 2.
Rem Jackson Law Offices 1002 Lititz Pike #191 | Lititz, Pennsylvania 17543 | (717) 238-3668 | www.TopPractices.com

Insurance is meant to protect you from claims made against you, or to compensate you for losses you suffer – at least that’s the theory. But sometimes, the good faith a person places in their insurance company runs into a brick wall, as the insurance company unreasonably or willfully denies benefits on their perfectly valid claim. This is known as insurance bad faith.
One sign that your insurance company is engaging in bad faith is delay tactics in investigating your claim. Document your every contact with the insurance company: dates, times, when paperwork was filed, and so forth. It may come in handy later.
Sometimes, insurance companies play fast and loose with policy language. They put a new spin on existing policy language, or fabricate language out of thin air.
merous times. The goal is not just to delay, but to frustrate you to the point of giving up.
Some insurance companies aren’t above twisting arms to get their way. They may threaten higher rates or cancellation of your policy.
The bad-faith examples listed above merely scratch the surface of tactics that some insurance companies incorporate into everyday practice. The insurance industry is entitled to make a profit
(they rake in over $1 trillion in premiums annually), but not to take advantage of policyholders with bad-faith practices.
Redundancy is a go-to resource, too. They might claim they never received your paperwork and ask you to resubmit it—nu-
If you believe you’ve been the victim of insurance bad faith, contact an insurance law attorney to protect your rights.
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According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent close to $8 billion on Halloween in 2012, and the average person spent around $80 on decorations, costumes, and candy combined. It’s expected that over 170 million people will take part in celebrating Halloween this year, with over 50 percent choosing to decorate their home or yard and even 15 percent deciding to dress their pets in costumes! Whether you take part or not, please be extra careful this Halloween once the little ghouls and goblins take to our streets.
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“My wife calls it the most romantic gesture ever and I didn’t do it” continued from page 1.
When she finally agreed to go on a date with him, he borrowed his brother’s 1950 red Pontiac convertible. On their first date, as they drove along, a song came on the radio. My mother said – oh, turn it up! I love this song.
She was overcome with emotion all right. But not the one they thought. She hated the ring. She said it was small and it was ugly.
But she didn’t know how to tell my father or his father who was intimating on a good day.
For their second date, my father arrived at her door. And in his hands, he held a gift for her. A brand new record player. And the song she loved, that had played on the radio.
My mother continued to hate her ring for the next 25 years. But their silver anniversary brought a new diamond, a new setting and a trip to Hawaii all of which she loved.
That is what my wife has called the most romantic gesture ever.
And I didn’t do it. She has always been touched by the thought my father put into that gift. When I arrived that afternoon for dinner at my parents, I knew I was in trouble. I just didn’t know why. My wife told me the story of my father’s romantic gesture. And then she asked me if I had been adopted.
My father presented the ring to my mother at his parent’s home.
Surrounded by family, he opened the small velvet box. My mother threw her hand over her mouth, burst into tears and ran out of the room. All the Italian Aunties were charmed by the young bride-tobe who was overcome with emotion.
My parents will celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary on
October 8, 2013. The romantic gestures continue to this day and if they are smaller, they are also sweeter. My father makes my mother her tea and toast every morning. He lays out her medicine. He helps her with her hair.
My parents became engaged a few months later. My father was the youngest of 7 children, 6 boys and one girl. My grandfather offered to pay for the young couple’s engagement ring, as he done with all of his other children. But if grandpa pays, grandpa also picks out.
Now before you go thinking my dad is perfect, my mother will have you know, that’s not true. In all of their married years, she says she has never been allowed to pick what they watch on television. In my father’s defense, he will say this is not true. My father will tell you, she can pick out any old western she wants.
And he’ll happily watch it with her.
If you see my parents at church, in the neighborhood or at the grocery store, will you please wish them happy anniversary?
They’d get a kick out of it. Even now, 58 years later.
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Rem Jackson Law Offices
1002 Lititz Pike #191
Lititz, Pennsylvania 17543 www.RAP-Law.com www.TopPractices.com
This publication is intended to educate the general public and is for information purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. Prior to acting on any information contained distributed as long as the newsletter is copied in its entirety.
Some headline-grabbing sinkholes cover swaths of land hundreds of feet wide and over a hundred feet deep. Most are much smaller, thankfully, but still significant enough to wreak havoc.
But, what makes them happen?
filled with groundwater from below. The groundwater serves as a buoyant support for the cave ceiling, and in turn for the ground above the bedrock. When drought lowers the water table, the support is gone, spurring a cave break and resultant sinkhole. A drought followed by heavy rain magnifies the situation, as the extra weight of the ground above can precipitate a collapse.
Naturally occurring sinkholes are caused by water erosion of soluble limestone or dolomite bedrock below a land surface.
Through natural forces, water that seeps through soil becomes slightly acidic. Over time (sometimes thousands of years), this water eats away at the bedrock, forming pores and cracks, or exploiting already existing ones, which eventually transform into cavities and caves within the bedrock; the larger the cave, the weaker the support for the ground above. Eventually, the cave ceiling collapses and the ground above drops through the gaping hole—a sinkhole.
Predictably, humankind sometimes contributes to sinkholes.
Excessive pumping of groundwater can leave terrain susceptible.
Diverting surface water covering a wide area to a single, concentrated space enhances the chances of sinkhole formation.
In the United States, the most favorable geologic conditions for sinkholes—known as karst topography—have been bestowed upon Florida (which has experienced two terrifying ones this year), Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Pennsylvania, though no state is immune. ■
Drought can play a role, too. Some caves in the bedrock are
Vi s i t u s a t w w w . To p P r a c t i c e s . c o m