Recognizing the staggering costs of healthcare associated with traumatic brain injury, a San Jose jury awarded Drew Dakota Bianchi $49,123,375.87 late Monday afternoon. The verdict followed a hotly contested five-week trial involving two truck drivers who collided on State Route 152 (Pacheco Pass), one of whom thereafter struck the car in which plaintiff was a passenger.

Plaintiff, Drew Dakota Bianchi, was a 21-year-old passenger in a Toyota Avalon, when, on May 3, 2007, he was struck by a Peterbilt truck driven by defendant, Samuel Bimbela. Evidence at trial established that Mr. Bimbela, driving his Peterbilt truck, and codefendant Mr. Michael Demma, driving a Gordon Trucking 18-wheel big rig, struck each other at or near the centerline on State Route 152. No pre-impact evasive maneuvers were undertaken by either driver.

Mr. Bianchi, whose injuries necessitate a lifetime of 24/7 care, brought suit against both truck drivers/trucking companies, as well as the State of California.

The jury, recognizing the devastating cost of future care for an individual sustaining traumatic brain injury, awarded $3.4 million in past medical expenses, $27.6 million in future medical expenses, $4.5 million for future lost wages, and $13.5 million in general damages.

The jury attributed fault in the amount of 35% to Gordon Trucking/Michael Demma, 60% to Samuel Bhnbela, and 5% to the State of California.

The verdict is thought to be one of the highest non-punitive verdicts in the State of California for an individual sustaining traumatic brain injury.

Plaintiff was represented by Randall H. Scarlett of San Francisco, California and Thomas Wm. Malone of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Scarlett dedicates his career to individuals sustaining brain injury. He actively serves as a Board Member on the California Brain Injury Association, and dedicates both his professional and personal life to improving the lives of those sustaining traumatic brain injury.

By Ray Henke, Senior Trial Lawyer,
California Mesothelioma Lawyers

Our California mesothelioma lawyers can initially consider a potential mesothelioma lawsuit on the basis of the diagnosis alone, just because mesothelioma is a rare disease occurring almost never in the absence of asbestos exposure. Our mesothelioma attorneys can be almost certain that in any particular individual case we will be able to identify the source of the asbestos exposure, which will often have taken place 20 to 50 years prior to the date of diagnosis. Mesothelioma can result from direct exposure to asbestos or indirect exposure. Direct exposure is most commonly the result of working in professions in which asbestos was used, trades such as were employed in shipyards, and generally, pipe fitters, insulators, plasterers, electricians, bricklayers, carpenters, steel workers, mine workers, auto mechanics, the U.S. military, or at factories or in other industries, professions and trades in which asbestos was used. Direct exposure sometimes also has occurred as the result of asbestos in heating systems in work places, in homes, apartment buildings, and even in schools. Indirect exposure to asbestos has commonly been found to occur, for example, in family members of those who worked in these industries, who came into contact with asbestos fibers from clothing worn by the worker.

Confirming the diagnosis, and then identifying the source of the asbestos exposure are the first steps our mesothelioma lawyers undertake, followed by an exhaustive preparation of the damage evidence. recognizing that mesothelioma is a fatal disease, the statistical mean average being that the patient is likely to pass away within 2 years of the date of diagnosis, although the measurement of life expectancy in the individual case may differ, and our mesothelioma lawyers commonly rely on the prognoses of the client’s treating physicians. The damages include “general damages,” the client’s loss of life expectancy, the loss of all that the client would have enjoyed had his life not been cut short, his emotional distress, pain and suffering. Our mesothelioma lawyers also work up the client’s “special economic damages,” including medical and hospital and related medical expense, past and future for the duration of the client’s life expectancy; as well the loss of earnings the client would have received over the course of his natural work life expectancy if he had not been stricken with the disease. For a more complete discussion of the measure of damages, and our California mesothelioma lawyers methods of preparing the damage evidence, including the array of experts required to properly prepare the damage evidence, you may consider our Catastrophic Injury Attorneys web page. Our California mesothelioma lawyers also represent the families of those who have passed away as the result of asbestos related mesothelioma. Again the diagnosis almost always assures that our mesothelioma attorneys will be able to identify the means of asbestos exposure, and then the damages in a mesothelioma wrongful death case include the family members’ losses of love and affection and society and protection and emotional support, as well as economic support that they would have received from their loved one had he or she not succumbed to this asbestos related disease.

Our California lawyers will consider representing mesothelioma clients in Northern and Southern California, in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Orange County and San Jose, from Sacramento to San Diego, and we will consider representing those who have been diagnosed with the disease throughout the country with the aid of local attorneys in which cases we would generally appear as the primary trial attorneys pro hac vice.

When planning travel in Europe or around the world many travelers overlook the cost of cell phone use abroad. As a business traveler, student abroad, or an occasional traveler, you don’t want to have to worry about staying in touch with the office, family back home, or traveling companions. Using a rental cell phone to stay in touch is convenient and cost effective. Cell phones can be used to confirm or make reservations, call home, or confirm business appointments. They also let you avoid the extraordinary international calling rates charged by hotels and pay phones.

Many travelers don’t realize that the cell phone standards and the equipment that most of us use in the USA are incompatible with the GSM (Global System for worldwide Mobile communication) 900/1800 standards used abroad. If your phone does work overseas, depending on your service, you can wind up paying expensive roaming rates plus other hidden charges like VAT taxes and mobile termination fees (some companies charge as much as fifty cents per minute). Simply put, if your cell phone is not unlocked or your phone does not work overseas, you may want to rent a phone for your travel. There are a lot of companies that rent cell phones to travelers. Be careful, almost all of these cell phone services add extra fees not included in their quoted price.

One company helps to make cellphone use more affordable, http://roberts-rent-a-phone.com .With their new lower rates Roberts Rent-A-Phone provides more affordable travel cell phone rentals at everyday rates lower than their competitions discounted rates. Also, they do not add Vat taxes, connection charges, mobile termination charges etc.

Thankfully, you can rent an international cell phone on the internet before you depart. We think this is a better option than renting a phone on arrival at your destination because local inventories tend to be depleted and phones may not be available at all times and, you won’t be able to disseminate your contact number before you depart. If you rent from one of the companies on the web, remember that not all companies include all charges in their quoted rates (be sure that you read their terms). This can result in your charges being 2 to 3 times more than the quoted minute rates. These companies also rent satellite phones for locations where cell phone coverage is limited such as, on cruises, in undeveloped regions and state parks.

Roberts Rent-A-Phone is one of the online cell phone rental companies. During their 15 years of service to the travel industry they have developed a highly regarded reputation for providing quality equipment and personal customer service.

Roberts has developed a simple one page order/contract form. Unlike their competitors, there are no hidden charges and there is no fine print. They do not add VAT taxes, international connectivity charges, roaming or mobile termination fees to their quoted rates. Their phones work in over 130 countries, with simple order forms designed for different regions of travel worldwide. These regions include: Africa, Asia (including Australia), Caribbean, Europe, East Europe, France only, Italy only, Middle East, South America and the UK.

A recent customer had this to say about Roberts Rent-A-Phone’s commitment to customer satisfaction:

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!

You bailed us out “big-time”

Your service is beyond excellent. I am letting everybody we know about your fine service and kindness.

There are many folks who had kids on the trip to Italy that wished they had used Roberts Rent-A-Phone.

Again many thanks for the last minute delivery with no prior notice from us.

Keep up the great work.

Sincerely,

Meredith B and family

PS Our daughter called every day with no trouble!

With customer feed back like this, it is easy to see why Roberts Rent-A-Phone has been the best choice for international cell phone rental for over fifteen years. Their pricing is lower than ever, they don’t add Vat taxes or any other hidden charges like mobile termination fees.

More information about International Cell Phone Rental is available at http://roberts-rent-a-phone.com or by calling our customer service center Toll Free (800) 964-2468

For those of you that had your loans in the pipeline, your lender may be scrambling to place you.   There is the tick-tock of the appraisal shelf life,  your loan lock rate, your next mortgage payment due date—and now all is up in the air.   Any borrower who has a loan in the works needs to contact his loan officers and not just ask hard and fast questions, but demand them, “Where was my loan being placed?   Do you have a back up source?   When will my appraisal expire?  If you were putting my loan with TB&W, what is your back-up plan?”   If there is any sense of hesitation, any wishy-washy-feel-good responses, any skirting-around-the-issue stall tactic, stop right there!   It is time to take matters into your own hands. 

Will my FHA Streamline Refinance with Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker close? It’s in-process.

No, Taylor Bean is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  Your FHA Streamline Refinance will not close with TBW.  If you want to do an FHA Streamline Refinance on your home, you’ll have to start the refinance process over.

My Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker FHA mortgage was already scheduled for a closing.  Am I still closing?

No, Taylor Bean is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  Consider your FHA mortgage application “dead”.  If you want to close on an FHA mortgage of any type — purchase or refinance — you’ll have to start the refinance process over.   For manufactured home loans, www.mh-lending.com

I am buying a manufactured home and have a FHA approval from Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker. Will it be honored?

No, Taylor Bean is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  If your loan officer hasn’t done it already, notify your real estate agent and every other interested party about what’s going on.  The Taylor Bean shutdown has been widely publicized.  Your seller won’t be happy about the situation, but they won’t be able to say it’s your fault, either.  The next step is to start a new FHA mortgage application with a new FHA lender.  For manufactured home loans, www.mh-lending.com

I am buying a manufactured home and my Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker FHA mortgage was cleared-to-close.  Will my mortgage fund on time?

No, Taylor Bean is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  Even though you were cleared-to-close, the government is forbidding TBW from sending funds to your closing.  If you want to use FHA financing for your purchase of a manufactured home loans, www.mh-lending.com

I closed on a FHA refinance with Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker last week.  The loan was scheduled to fund this week, but then the government shut down TBW.  Will my loan still fund?

No, Taylor Bean is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  Even though your loan was “closed”, it doesn’t fund until the 3-Day Right of Rescission is over.  Therefore, if you signed your refinance paperwork with an escrow agent July 31, August 3, or August 4, 2009, your refinance will not fund with TBW.  If you signed your paperwork on Thursday, July 30, your odds of the loan actually funding were small.  If it didn’t fund and you still want an FHA mortgage, you’ll have to start the FHA mortgage approval process over.

I went to my FHA purchase closing  on Wednesday, right as the Feds were raiding Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker’s offices.  I signed all of my paperwork but my loan didn’t fund.  When will the funds get to my closing so I can finally close on my house?

The funds will not arrive for your closing.  TBW is no longer funding FHA mortgages.  All parties in the transaction should be made aware of your financing situation as soon as possible. For manufactured home loans, www.mh-lending.com

Can’t another lender just “assume” my in-process Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker FHA mortgage approval?

No. FHA mortgage approvals are not assumable.  If you move your FHA home loan to a different lender, expect to restart your mortgage approval from the beginning including the signing of new disclosures and the providing of current income and asset documentation.

If Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker is no longer making FHA manufactured home mortgages, who is?

Contact www.mh-lending.com

I paid for an FHA appraisal as part of my mortgage approval.  Do I have to pay for another appraisal with a new FHA mortgage lender?

It depends.  Some appraisers will charge a small fee to “assign” your FHA appraisal to a new lender and some will do it for free.  Depending on the age of your appraisal, though, you may be required to re-order and start fresh.  This will be the most expensive option, but it’s out of your hands — appraisal requirements are at the lender’s discretion.

Okay, I get it.  I have to start from Square One with a new FHA mortgage application.  Do I get to keep my old mortgage rate?

No. When your mortgage application was canceled with Taylor Bean, your mortgage rate lock was canceled, too.  Your new mortgage rate will be whatever the current rates are for an FHA home loan.

My loan officer says that Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker was his only FHA lender. What do I do?

If you are in need of an FHA manufactured home mortgage, contact www.mh-lending.com

However, not to despair. There is some hope on the horizon if your manufactured home (singlewide, doublewide, triplewide and bigger) meets the following criteria:

• The home must be built on June 15, 1976 or newer.
• The home must be greater than 400 square feet.
• The home must be titled as real property which means the home and land must be owned by the same person. If you own the land and the home is still considered personal property, the title must be converted.
• The home cannot be in a 100 year frequency flood area
• The home must be on a permanent foundation that meets the HUD Permanent Foundaiton Guide to Manufactured Homes and a professional engineer must testify to this fact with an engineer’s certification letter. If the foundation does not meet the requirements, then a foundation repair must be done prior to the loan.
• The home must be in its original location and cannot have been moved from any other location other than the factory or the dealer’s lot.

If all the other criteria is met, then contact www.mh-lending.com
If you have questions about whether the foundation will certify, contact www.onthelevelcontractors.com

A recent customer had this to say about Roberts Rent-A-Phone’s commitment to customer satisfaction:

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU! You bailed us out “big-time”

Your service is beyond excellent. I am letting everybody we know about your fine service and kindness.

There are many folks who had kids on the trip to Italy that wished they had used Roberts Rent-A-Phone.

Again many thanks for the last minute delivery with no prior notice from us.

Keep up the great work.

Sincerely,

Meredith B and family

PS Our daughter called every day with no trouble!

With customer feed back like this, it is easy to see why Roberts Rent-A-Phone has been the best choice for international cell phone rental for over fifteen years. Their pricing is lower than ever, they don’t add Vat taxes or any other hidden charges like mobile termination fees.

If you are planning a trip abroad for your student or yourself, whether for business or pleasure make sure you check out Roberts. You can speak to a customer service representative by calling 800-964-2468 or visit their web site for more information http://roberts-rent-a-phone.com.

Fortunately, back in July Congress passed sweeping legislation that removed the condo exclusion, but it wasn’t until May that the Mortgagee Letters were released paving the way for financing opportunities.   However, the hard work has just begun.   Before a single loan can be originated, the park itself must receive approval from Housing and Urban Development.   This is no small feat and even once all the documentation is presented to the local overseeing HUD agency, the wait time for approval is 6-8 weeks.

There are many anxious lenders and homeowners that are excited about the new lending possibilities and the fact this will ultimately add more vibrance to the park community as well as increase the value potential of your home.   Yet, this is still a time to proceed with caution and not make any decisions until your management or HOA has expressly declared that the park has received approval.   The reason this is so critical is that over-anxious lenders are often encouraging a quickstart of the loan process by getting an appraisal.   This can have serious repercussions in a volatile market when the shelf-life of an appraisal is approximately two months.   Since most lenders don’t have an in-house underwriting department and the waiting line for an file evaluation is sometimes 3-6 weeks, your appraisal could be old before you start.

In addition, even once the park receives approval, there is another rigorous checklist for manufactured homes themselves.   First and more importantly your home must be newer than June 15, 1976.   No matter how beautifully renovated your home is or how updated its appearance, there are no exceptions.   The home must also be in its original location—so if the home was moved from another park, FHA will not insure the loan. The home must also be titled as real property and cannot be located in a flood plain.     Additionally, the home must be on a permanent foundation which must not only meet the local jurisdictional guideline but the HUD Permanent Foundation Guide For Manufactured Homes and an engineer must testify to this fact.   However, please don’t run out an install a foundation system prematurely.   This can generally be incorporated within the scope of the loan and should be the very last step of any loan process.   There is no sense spending several thousands of dollars on a foundation only to find out there are other issues that will complicate the loan.

When choosing a lender, carefully evaluate your options.   Ask specifically for referrals from other manufactured home owners.    You want a lender who understands that manufactured homes have specialty requirements and knows those requirements backwards and forwards.  And when choosing a foundation specialist or engineer for the certification, make sure you are working with one who will not charge you for a “failed” report and will your interests by not obligating you to a foundation retrofit or repair until the loan has the approval greenlight.

www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com and www.onthelevelcontractors.com

Many mobilehome parks and manufactured home communities began as land lease developments but as residents desired a greater control over their living situation and costs associated with their residences, many parks converted to resident ownership. Most of these used the process of the condominium conversion. Unfortunately, because of the classification, this property type was ineligible for FHA-insured loans including Reverse Mortgages or HECM. Fortunately, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) granted authority to add individual manufactured housing units located in condominium projects to HUD for FHA insurance but the process from Congressional authority to actual loan processing is still unraveling.

Recently with the issuance of Mortgagee Letter 2009-16 Manufactured Housing Policy Guidance http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/, condo parks have now been eventually neglared eligible for FHA-insured financing. Or at least according to HUD they are now eligible! But one shouldn’t jump to fast! First, lenders have not yet announced they are ready to accept the product and thusfar there are no announced guidelines or underwriting procedures for handling these loans. Remember, even though FHA is accepting the product for insurance, FHA is not the actual funding source, only the insurance entity. Until there is clarity from the individual lenders how they will process the loans, everything remains at a standstill. Lenders may impose additional guidelines above and beyond what is required by HUD.

HUD’s announcement states that until they can send out updated condominium project approval guidelines for manufactured condominium projects, that the project approval is subject to the requirements found in HUD Manual 4150.1, Chapter 11. The Mortgagee Letter goes on to specify that their “Spot Loan Approval” process is not available (as outlined in Mortgagee Letter 1996-41) and that all manufactured housing condominium projects must obtain full approval by the applicable Home Ownership Center (HOC) for HUD that has authority over the geographical area where the project is located. Since none of the condo projects are on a HUD approved list, the approval process may take months.

Chapter 11 of the 4150.1 manual is approximately 32 pages long and encompasses everything from owner occupancy requirements, to common facility completion requirements; legal review of the condominium documents to phasing eligibility; review of the insurance of the project to management agreements and operating budgets and much more. Different things are required depending on the age of the project. In addition to the 4150.1 for condominium projects, the property also has to meet HUD’s guidelines for manufactured housing which, per HUD guidelines, includes:

• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet.
• Must be classified and subject to taxation as real estate.
• Must be built on and remains on a permanent chassis.
• Must be above the 100 year return frequency flood elevation.
• Must be built after June 15, 1976
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Additions or structural modifications must not put the home at risk.

This is a time for borrowers to carefully explore their options and to find companies that specialize in the manufactured home loan process and will not move forward with appraisals, engineer’s certifications or other steps until all the stars align in favor of the homeowner and borrower. The Manufactured Home Lending Source website: www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com will be an ongoing resource for update information for homeowners and realtors.

• The manufactured must be a HUD home, which means it must be manufactured after June 15, 1976. If there are metal plates at the rear of the home that begin with a three Alpha letters like CAL, ARZ, ORE, that’s usually a good sign. If the HUD label is missing, usually a label verification letter from the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) www.ibts.org giving the provenance of the home will suffice.
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundation Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer.
• The manufactured home must be classified and taxed as real estate. A long-term lease may also be acceptable in certain instances. States vary on how the real estate classification is accomplished so this is another important aspect to understand.
• The axles and tongues must be removed from the chassis.
• The manufactured home must have an adequate perimeter enclosure with appropriate ventilation.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet.
• Built and remains on a permanent chassis.
• The finished grade elevation beneath the manufactured home shall be at or above the 100-year return frequency flood elevation.

Since manufactured homes are such a special animal, borrowers should deal with specialty performers, lenders www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com that understand and focus on the intricacies of the manufactured home loan process and engineers and contractors www.onthelevelcontractors.com that are knowledgeable about the Permanent Foundation Guide for Manufactured Homes, dated September 1996.

I am a female manufactured home contractor specializing in manufactured home foundation repair. It’s not the most glamorous job in the world and mainly consists of crawling underneath the darkside of people’s homes, often in claustrophobic tight conditions and in poor air circulation environments. Some manufactured homes are set in a pit to give an attractive low profile curb appeal, much like a site built home. Others are installed above ground and some even on full basement. On the subset types, there’s not a lot of room for the configuration of the female form to navigate easily from one end of the home to the other. While trying to do the military crawl underneath, my bottom inevitably pops up and then when I try to balance out, my head often jerks up and whamm—straight into the I-beam. My male co-workers find this particularly funny and when they hear my yelps as my body parts bang and clang against metal, I hear uncontrollable laughter. Fortunately YouTube has yet to find me underneath the dank and dirty world that is the manufactured home contractor’s domain. Believe me, we see it all, spiders, snakes, rats, centipedes, scorpions, dead carcasses (cats, rats, bunnies, and yes even a coyotes) not to mention standing water, sewer leaks, falling insulation, splitting marriage lines, overextended screw jacks, shifting or compromised supports. I have yet to find any buried treasure but we frequently find several cases of empty beer cans which may be the reason many of the homes we work on seem to be set up off kilter right from the beginning.

Having worked in the business for twenty some years, we have striven to maintain our business model as closely associated with the name of our company, On The Level, as possible and have tried to avoid the trampy style of some of our competition who frighten the mobilehome senior market with scare tactics,convincing widows to buy overpriced “earthquake bracing”, locktops, or “marriage rods. In most cases, these products were unnecessary or unpermitted and a waste of homeowner’s money.

And yet necessary upgrades for manufactured home foundations suddenly made an appearance when the lending market (specifically FHA and VA Loans) imposed foundation standards for permanent attachment in order to meet loan criteria. Without an engineer’s certification proving that the manufactured home’s foundation met FHA-insured standards (THE PERMANENT FOUNDATION GUIDE FOR MANUFACTURED HOMES, HUD 1996) , an FHA or VA loan could not move forward. The good news is that there are dozens of state-certified alternate and pre-fabricated systems available in the marketplace so that a home can have foundation repairs without having to renovate the entire understructure.

While the foundation standard is defined in the HUD Permanent Foundation Handbook, the problem is that individual states have divergent installation, titling, and real property provisions so each home must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. But as a company, On The Level does not stop at the evaluation of just the foundation. It is our opinion that a foundation certification is NOT a stand-alone document. Proving that the foundation is compliant should NOT be the first step on the long laundry list of conditions. IT SHOULD BE THE LAST CONDITION! Let me explain, in many cases, we have evaluated the foundation and we know it can certify or it will certify with a retrofit but we refuse to move forward with the actual letter. Why? Our competition takes the attitude that they are only being hired to assess the foundation so that’s what they do: assess the foundation in a vacumn irrespective of other data, then they write a pass or fail certification, and take the money and run. So what if a $3000 retrofit could potentially kill the loan? Who cares if there is evidence that the home was moved from another location? Who cares if the home is located in a flood plain? Who cares if the home doesn’t have HUD tags? That’s not the engineer’s or retrofitter’s job, right? The engineer only needs to write a determination of the foundation itself. End of story.

We disagree. My point is that this is state-by-state tricky wicket. In most cases, I’ll get a demand from an enthusiastic loan officer, “I just need the cert”. When I say, “Not so fast—our research shows issues in other areas”, I think most of them think we are trying to drag our feet. Not true! It is our policy as a company never to charge for a failed foundation inspection report—we only charge the borrower or lender once a foundation report certifies that the foundation meets the PERMANENT FOUNDATION GUIDE FOR MANUFACTURED HOMES, HUD 1996.

We provide a one-stop shop for borrowers, lenders, processors to get nationwide engineer’s certifications quickly and accurately. No charges for failed reports EVER!!!! www.onthelevelcontractors.com

And if you don’t have a lender, a manufactured home loan specialist: www.mh-lending.com