Our Eugene Oregon Bankruptcy Practice

Since 2005, Erin Uhlemann has helped individuals and families facing financial difficulties file for bankruptcy relief. Erin's compassion and understanding of the law have helped hundreds of Oregonians achieve a financial fresh start. She started Willamette Valley Bankruptcy to focus on helping clients with bankruptcy and debt issues in the Lane County Area. Erin understands that choosing a bankruptcy attorney who makes you feel comfortable and confident can be as difficult as deciding whether to file a bankruptcy case. Because she knows that filing bankruptcy is not something that you planned to do or look forward to doing, Erin strives to make the process as easy as possible.

Because most people facing bankruptcy do not have extra money to pay fees, Willamette Valley Bankruptcy offers low upfront fees and will work with you to set up affordable payment plans to pay attorney fees and court filing fees. Consultations are always free so that you can get the answers you need before making any sort of financial commitment. If you have questions about attorney fees and payment plans, you can call or email today to get these questions answered.

New York Adoption, Foster Care Litigation and Family Law

Rosin Steinhagen Mendel is a law firm dedicated to serving our clients in New York City, the surrounding counties in southern New York State, and in New Jersey, in the areas of adoption, foster care litigation, and family law.

We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights, permanency hearings, custody hearings, guardianship, administrative proceedings, and adoption. Our goal is to provide each of our clients with the best possible representation in all aspects of their cases, and clients appreciate our careful analysis of individual cases, through preparation and attention to detail. For over 35 years, our attorneys have represented adoptive parents, birth parents, foster parents, children, foster care agencies, and adoption agencies. We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights, permanency hearings, custody hearings, guardianship, administrative proceedings, and adoption.

Our goal for our lawyers is to provide each of our clients with the best possible representation in all aspects of their cases, and clients appreciate our careful analysis of individual cases, through our preparation and attention to detail.

Featured Legal News

Legal Resource Links

Legal News

Workers’ Compensation Subrogation of Administrative Fees and Costs

When a worker covered by workers’ compensation makes a claim against a third party, the workers’ compensation insurance retains the right to subrogate against any recovery from that third party for all benefits paid to or on behalf of a claimant injured at work. When subrogating for more than basic medical and indemnity benefits, the Texas workers’ compensation subrogation statute provides that “the net amount recovered by a claimant in a third‑party action shall be used to reimburse the carrier for benefits, including medical benefits that have been paid for the compensable injury.” TX Labor Code § 417.002.

In fact, all 50 states provide for similar subrogation. However, none of them precisely outlines which payments or costs paid by a compensation carrier constitute “compensation” and can be recovered. The result is industry-wide confusion and an ongoing debate and argument with claimants’ attorneys over what can and can’t be included in a carrier’s lien for recovery purposes.

In addition to medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages and loss of earning capacity resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, nurse case worker fees, and other similar fees. They also incur other expenses in conjunction with the handling and adjusting of workers’ compensation claims. Workers’ compensation carriers typically assert, of course, that, they are entitled to reimbursement for such expenditures when it recovers its workers’ compensation lien. Injured workers and their attorneys disagree.

Recent Updates

  • Supreme Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

    Supreme Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

    Bar Associations 07/02/2026

    The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day, a persistent target of President Donald Trump.The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of C...

  • Former Colorado analyst pleads guilty in DNA testing scandal

    Former Colorado analyst pleads guilty in DNA testing scandal

    Law Promo News 06/28/2026

    A former forensic analyst with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation pleaded guilty Tuesday to four felony counts stemming from accusations that she manipulated and omitted data to speed up the DNA testing process, calling into question the validity o...

  • Court strikes down Hawaii law requiring permission to carry guns

    Court strikes down Hawaii law requiring permission to carry guns

    National Legal News 06/25/2026

    The Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii law requiring people to get permission to carry guns into stores and hotels on Thursday, in its latest opinion backing Second Amendment rights.The high court's 6-3 decision means people can carry guns onto priva...

  • Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach found guilty of sexual assault

    Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach found guilty of sexual assault

    Financial 06/22/2026

    Austrian-Canadian billionaire and automotive business founder Frank Stronach was found guilty Friday of sexual assault and indecent assault of two women decades ago.Stronach, who is 93, had been accused of alleged incidents involving seven complainan...

  • Supreme Court will decide whether criminal cases must have 12 jurors, in Florida case

    Supreme Court will decide whether criminal cases must have 12 jurors, in Florida case

    Bar Associations 06/18/2026

    The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether states can use juries made up of only six people in criminal cases, instead of the usual 12. The case puts a Florida chiropractor convicted of practicing with a suspended license in an unlikely lea...

  • Trump's name is gone from the Kennedy Center's facade after court rulings

    Trump's name is gone from the Kennedy Center's facade after court rulings

    Law School News 06/14/2026

    The curtain may have come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center but the tarp stays up for now.Matt Floca, executive director and chief operating officer of the performing arts venue, told a federal court Saturday that the institution ...

  • Texas teen who fatally stabbed track athlete at school meet found guilty

    Texas teen who fatally stabbed track athlete at school meet found guilty

    U.S. Court News 06/11/2026

    A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a high school meet was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison Tuesday in a case that drew wide attention beyond the booming Dallas suburb where...

  • US journalist pleads guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China

    US journalist pleads guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China

    Law School News 06/08/2026

    Linda Sun, a former aide to New York governors, was accused of selling her influence to the Chinese government. Sun pleaded not guilty to charges that she failed to register as an agent of a foreign government, conspired with her husband to launder m...

  • Supreme Court Backs Trump administration on Telecom Regulation

    Supreme Court Backs Trump administration on Telecom Regulation

    Continuing Education 06/05/2026

    The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Thursday in upholding the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.The 8-1 decision preserved one of the Federal Communications Commission's key too...

  • Washington tourist pleads not guilty in Hawaiian monk seal rock case

    Washington tourist pleads not guilty in Hawaiian monk seal rock case

    Law Promo News 06/01/2026

    A tourist from Washington state pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges accusing him of hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal and was ordered to stay away from Hawaii beaches.Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, w...

  • Supreme Court rejects Meta's appeal in Vermont social media addiction case

    Supreme Court rejects Meta's appeal in Vermont social media addiction case

    National Legal News 05/29/2026

    The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies increasingly face legal scrutiny.Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. appealed afte...

  • Court sides with Trump in dispute over immigration judges' speech restrictions

    Court sides with Trump in dispute over immigration judges' speech restrictions

    Law School News 05/27/2026

    The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with President Donald Trump's administration in a lawsuit over speech restrictions for immigration judges that touched on the rights of federal workers.The justices overturned a lower-court ruling that had allowed t...

Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban

Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”

The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.

Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.

Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.