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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

FAA Wins Bergen County Charity Classic in Final Appearance

FAA Family,

The FAA Phoenix won the Bergen County Charity Classic 16u Club Division in its final all-time appearance in the tournament.

Thank you to all the people who run this great tournament that raised over 100,000 for charitable causes. As always, it is a ton of fun to play a quality tournament in our home county.

It wasn’t our most impressive offensive effort, but we finished the job with a 2-1 victory over the LIB Expos.

Missing four outstanding players last night, including Joey Parsons and Johnny Apogar, who had big days with a hit and rbi and a save respectively, to help Waldwick reach the state finals for the Group 1 State Championship.

Jordan Issakedes and Travis Byrne combined to give up 1 run over 10 innings and a suicide squeeze by Jordan brought home the winning run in the 10th as Travis scored.

The FAA offense that had been roaring through the tournament was quieted in the 2-1 victory, but we did enough. Truth be told, we threatened in almost every inning but our normally clutch hitters weren’t getting our normal big hits.

In total, the FAA outscored our opponents 59-10 in the tournament over a 6-0 run through the BCCC. In addition to the above named, Chris Liriano scored a ton of runs, Tyler Callagy, Logan Butler, Travis Byrne and Anthony Rota (overall hit leader) led in hits with 29 combined, Andrew Rodriguez had some key hits and made a huge pick in a key spot in the championship at first, Luca Poliandro had big hits in the playoffs and picked off a runner in a huge spot in the championship game, Mike Roll picked up 2 wins in the playoffs, dominating in the semi-final, Ricky Lutz patrolled center field with his usual grace and ease, Brock Lombardi and Luke Lombardi chipped in with offensive and defensive help,

Many of our players have been playing in the BCCC since they were 10 years old. It is bitter sweet to have this one be over. The championship was terrific, but knowing that our boys are getting older and will never again play in the BCCC as it ends at 16u, brings both feelings of nostalgia and a bit of sadness.

The FAA parents were as always, terrific and supportive last night and throughout the tournament. However, we do need to unleash the Faa’s one and only Peter Poliandro who seems to have mellowed a bit in the 2016 campaign. We need a few “legs go, go, go, boys!”

I for one will be cherishing every pitch of every game all summer long. As my dear friend Bob Perry loves to say, “it doesn’t have to be this way.” We are so blessed and fortunate in the crazy cut throat world of club baseball to have built our FAA family, and I am so thankful for it.

This week, we take the FAA traveling road show to LBI. Friday afternoon and Saturday a.m. it will all be about body surfing and the beach. Saturday afternoon we take on the CK Cardinals, who have a typically strong program. We took second in LBI in the Fall, and we will be looking to change that this weekend.

Of course, good luck to Johnny, Joey, and yes, I guess Waldwick (lol, which is tough to say coming from Emerson–who did beat Waldwick for the league title this year guys!). Seriously though, bring it home for your team, your family, yourselves and the FAA program. You’re making incredible lifetime memories, and I hope this one has the perfect happy ending.

See you down the shore, where everything’s all right….

Coach Callagy

FAA Wins Bergen County Charity Classic in Final Appearance

How To Get A Big Jury Verdict from a Guy That Got 60 Million Total in 2 Years

Lie, cheat, steal, swindle, manipulate and spin the facts. Yes, this is the picture most people have of lawyers and our legal system. Sadly, in many cases, those impressions are quite accurate.

However, that isn’t the way to truly win in our legal system. This article will briefly touch on the real keys.

My name is Sean Callagy, the founder and President of Callagy Law, a New Jersey, New York and Arizona law firm.

In 2014 I obtained a 33 million dollar verdict. In 2016 I obtained a 27.5 million dollar verdict. That puts me in a micro percentage group of attorneys who can make that statement.

Matt Damon, in the Rainmaker, makes a profound comment at the end of the movie when he decides to leave the law after an amazing victory of truth over lies. Essentially, Damon’s character muses that to keep doing it, he would likely need to become the evil he just defeated. The same evil he asked if he even remembered when he sold out.

Often, I feel that way in this profession. The amount of lies and gamesmanship that exist is enough to make any decent human being want to quit the human race. Then, you find your fair share of judges who let it go on, and even enable it.

So, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?

Wrong.

Integrity, authenticity and incredible hard work are the real secrets to success in our greatest system of lie detection on earth: the jury trial.

I believe that liars only win when they come up against the less skilled or hard working attorney.

The great benefit of dealing with liars in any case is that they don’t know when to stop lying. They lie so much that they begin to believe their own lies. Judges can become quite anesthetized to lying as well.

Juries, however, despise liars and lying. If you tell one lie as a lawyer, and the other guy approaches matters with integrity, then the liar is in huge trouble every time.

You see, juries, like all people, want to believe and find good in our system. They don’t expect to, but are very pleasantly surprised when they do. It restores their faith.

I believe that most attorneys don’t get this. They will try to hide, duck, dodge or flat out lie, to avoid problems in their cases. That may work for awhile, but it doesn’t work before a jury.

In both of these cases where I had the privilege of representing my clients, I believe the truth came shining through to the jury. That truth included acknowledging certain realities about the parties and the issues.

However, it is not enough to acknowledge a problem and gloss over it. Everyone says “draw the sting” from your problems. The real question is whether the jury believes what you believe. Your credibility, as a lawyer, is everything in front of the jury. Try to cheat on reality just a bit, and you are the lying lawyer they expected. Then, you better hope that the other man or woman is also seen as a lying lawyer and hope the jury believes you and your client is the lesser of two evils.

On the contrary, wouldn’t it be easier to be the voice of integrity, and therefore authority, in the court room?

It takes a ton of work to make this type of presentation. Like Matt Damon suggested though, would you want to do it any other way?

If you would ever want to discuss “how” to do this with a person who’s been blessed to do it, then please reach out and contact me.

By the way, the jury awarded 8 and 16 million in punitive damages in these two cases. How do you think the juries perspective on integrity and authenticity factored into those verdicts?

Sean Callagy, Owner / Founder of Callagy Law

“Fundamentally Changing the Way People Feel About Lawyers, One Client at a Time.”

Learn More About Callagy Law Here:

How To Get A Big Jury Verdict from a Guy That Got 60 Million Total in 2 Years

When Do Questions become Contests: Navigating Non – Contestation Clauses in Wills and other Testamentary Documents

The following article was written by Callagy Law’s Legal Team, and will focus on many common questions and concerns surrounding new developments, legal matters, the court system, and other procedures within business and commercial litigation. Our mission is to answer any questions and give knowledge to many different aspects of these matters.

“No-Contest” clauses in wills are, in an ideal world, used by testators with the thought that they will limit post death litigation between the beneficiaries in their wills. These clauses, also called “in terrorem” clauses, provide that if one party or beneficiary in a will “contests” or challenges the will in some way that party will lose their inheritance. While some states do not enforce these clauses, New Jersey still does.

Occasionally, a situation will arise where the intentions of the testator are not clear, and one or more of the parties and beneficiaries will disagree as to how the will should be interpreted. For instance, a will may provide that all of the costs associated with funeral expenses be paid out of the estate before any distribution is made to the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries end up in a situation where one party claims that certain expenses are “funeral costs” under the will, and the other party disagrees. The will has a no –contest clause, which provides that if a party contests any part of the will in court, that party will lose their inheritance. Are both parties now stuck, unable to get the Court’s direction and help in interpreting this provision and risk losing their inheritance? The answer is no.

Obviously, one answer would be for the parties to work it out between themselves, but sometimes it is not possible to come to an agreement. Under New Jersey law, if a term in the will is unclear, a beneficiary who asked court to construe provisions of will which they and trustees interpreted differently does not forfeit their rights to benefit under a no contest clause. Morrison v. Reed, 6 N.J. Super. 598, 604 (Ch. Div. 1950). Fortunately for beneficiaries in New Jersey, no – contest clauses are to be construed strictly against a forfeiture and reasonably in favor of a beneficiary. Girard Trust Co. v. Schmitz, 129 N.J.Eq. 444, 20 A.2d 21 (1941). That beneficiary is not filing a caveat or otherwise challenging the will itself, but merely, as New Jersey Court have held, asking for guidance and interpretation while attempting to get what that beneficiary believes the testator, by their will, intended for them.

However, each Will is unique, and each “no-contest” clause must be carefully reviewed before any litigation is filed to insure that it does not otherwise run afoul of other potential pitfalls contained in the language of the will. Any beneficiary who is seeking to have the Court interpret a provision should have an attorney review the will prior to instituting any action.

See our blog post on CONTESTING A WILL IN NEW JERSEY.

We hope you found the information provided in this article helpful to your everyday life and business. Please free to reach out to Sean Callagy or the Callagy Law team at any time for questions you may have concerning personal and business matters. Callagy Law’s headquarters is located conveniently in Paramus, NJ. Beyond the scope of information, Sean Callagy has developed multiple areas of business legal practice and business coaching, if you need help with anything, please reach out to us by calling 201-261-1700 or by emailing us here. Feel free to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn! Additionally you can subscribe to our daily videos on YouTube by clicking here.

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When Do Questions become Contests: Navigating Non – Contestation Clauses in Wills and other Testamentary Documents

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

DEFAULT JUDGMENTS IN NEW YORK | Callagy Law

Knowledge about particular portions of the legal process are starting or, or already have become, common knowledge. For example, most individuals know a civil suit commences with a Complain and in response a defendant files an Answer. This general knowledge impacts a plaintiff’s expectations when initiating the suit, and most do not anticipate the Defendant not answering. Yet, this happens all too often.

A non-answering Defendant can certainly stymie a plaintiff’s expectations to quickly resolve the dispute between the Parties. However, there exist procedural mechanisms to continue litigating a suit even when a Defendant does not answer. One of these procedural mechanisms is called default judgment.

In New York, the statute governing default judgment is the C.P.L.R. 3215. Since, there exist many possibilities of who is moving for default judgment, why and who they are moving against, a hypothetical plaintiff will demonstrate what to do in a particular scenario. To this effect, I will use John Smith. John Smith is moving for Default Judgment in a contract related case for exactly $10,000.00 and served the Defendant, James Doe, by way of personal service. Importantly, John Smith is moving for Default Judgment in less than one year since James Doe was supposed to answer.

John Smith would draft a motion covering the following points, (1) articulating the exact sum James Doe owes him, (2) stating James Doe defaulted by not answering less than one year ago, (3) attaching and describing the method of proper service of process, (4) a description of the facts of John Smith’s claim and (5) additional notice pursuant to C.P.L.R. 3215(g).

Concerning the additional notice of C.P.L.R. 3215(g), John Smith – moving for default judgment on a contract claim against a real person – would need to mail, at least twenty days before judgment is sought, a copy of the summons by first-class mail at James Doe’s place of residence bearing the legend “personal and confidential and not indicating on the outside of the envelope that the communication is from an attorney or concerns an alleged debt.

It is important to note, that the process of default judgment is subject to change depending on who the defendant is, e.g. a real person or a corporate entity, and whether the plaintiff can articulate sum certain how much they are owed. Additionally, it is imperative the defendant in your action was served properly. A defect in service of process can be fatal to a motion for default judgment.

Regardless, default judgment is a plaintiff friendly procedural mechanism to propel litigation forward when a defendant fails to answer a complaint.

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DEFAULT JUDGMENTS IN NEW YORK | Callagy Law

Friday, June 3, 2016

The Definition of “Payment” When Calculating The Statute of Limitations in PIP Arbitration Matters

The purpose of this post is to help assist those with questions they have concerning their business or medical practice. The Callagy Law team is knowledgeable in many law practice areas and will frequently post topics ranging from Medical Revenue Recovery, PIP, Workers Compensation, and Commercial Insurance. We hope to have this blog shed a light on many common questions.

The question of what constitutes payment for the purpose of calculating the Statute of Limitations in a PIP Claim for Benefits was recently addressed by our office in the Context of a PIP Arbitration filed on behalf of one of our Medical Provider’s.

The issue our Provider faced, as presented by CURE Insurance, was whether the Provider’s Claim was barred by the application of the 2 year statute of limitations period in connection to the filing of a PIP Arbitration Matter.

In relation to the calculation of the Statute of Limitations time period when filing a PIP Claim for Benefits, N.J.S.A. 39:6A-13.1(a) states:

Every action for the payment of benefits payable under a standard automobile insurance policy pursuant to sections 4 and 10 of P.L. 1972, c. 70 (c. 39:6A-4 and 39:6A-10), medical expense benefits payable under a basic automobile insurance policy pursuant to section 4 of P.L. 1998, c. 21 (c. 39:6A-3.1) or benefits payable under a special automobile insurance policy pursuant to section 45 of P.L. 2003, c. 89 (c. 39:6A-3.3), except an action by a decedent’s estate, shall be commenced not later than two years after the injured person or survivor suffers a loss or incurs an expense and either knows or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should know that the loss or expense was caused by the accident, or not later than four years after the accident whichever is earlier, provided, however, that if benefits have been paid before then an action for further benefits may be commenced not later than two years after the last payment of benefits.

(emphasis added).

Specifically, the facts of our matter showed that while there were no actual pip benefits paid by CURE, it was undisputed that CURE received the Provider’s Bill and processed the bill, applying the eligible amount (as determined by CURE) to the patient’s policy deductible.

Our office relied on the case of George C. Everett v. State Farm Indemnity Co., 358 N.J. Super. 400 (App. Div. 2002), wherein the Appellate Division found that the term “last payment of benefits” as used in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-13.1(a) is consistent with and includes the adjustment of a bill and application of that bill to the patient’s deductible.

Specifically, our office highlighted that in Everett, 358 N.J. Super. at 379, the Court found:

“since the bill was an expense caused by the accident, we conclude that the process of adjusting the bill to the fee schedule and applying the balance to the deductible constituted a ‘last payment of benefits’ under the Act, making the plaintiff’s complaint, which was filed within two years of that date, timely.”

Our office maintained that based on the determination of the Court in Everett, even though the adjustment/ processing of the Provider’s bill in this matter resulted in no more than a credit against the patient’s deductible, this was considered a benefit to the insured and therefore the date of processing of the bill sets the statute of limitations period once again.

In considering the above arguments, DRP Gary T. Lesser, Esq., in NJ-1644666 determined that based upon the Everett matter, the two-year statute of limitations commenced anew with the processing the bill and application of the payment against the patient’s deductible. As such, the Statute of Limitations period did not expire prior to the Provider’s filing of the PIP Demand for Arbitration. Therefore, as a result, the Provider had standing to Proceed with the underlying PIP Claim for Benefits.

We hope you found the information provided in this article helpful to various questions you may have had concerning the healthcare industry. For information pertaining to our services for medical providers, please click here. Please note, Callagy Law has recovered over $200,000,000 for medical providers, and that number grows daily. Our team of knowledgeable PIP Arbitration attorneys are ready to help you. Please free to reach out to Sean Callagy of Callagy Law at any time for questions you may have concerning personal and business matters. Callagy Law offices are located conveniently in Paramus, NJ. Beyond the scope of information, Sean Callagy has developed multiple areas of our healthcare legal practice and business coaching. Feel free to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn! Additionally you can subscribe to our daily videos on YouTube.

Learn More About Callagy Law Here:

The Definition of “Payment” When Calculating The Statute of Limitations in PIP Arbitration Matters

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Fight against the clock for lawyer losing his eyesight

By Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on May 30, 2016 at 8:15 AM, updated May 30, 2016 at 12:00 PM

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PARAMUS —€” Sean Callagy started to notice his vision problems as center fielder for Emerson High School and later for the Columbia University baseball team.

He was fast, he hit well, and he was normally a good fielder.

But he started to lose fly balls in the light.

Callagy has a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. The 46-year-old has been slowly losing his vision since those days in center field and is now legally blind.

He’s known about the disease his whole life. It’s hereditary: His grandfather and brother both had it.

The loss of his eyesight has accelerated in recent years. He recently stopped being able to play catch with his son, also a baseball player at Emerson High.

“My whole life has been fighting the clock,” Callagy said.

Callagy has fast-tracked his life as a result. The River Vale resident formed his own law firm in 1999, when he was 29, winning two verdicts of more than $27 million each in the past two years.

Callagy still has some vision: He can walk around his office in Paramus with little trouble. But he can’t drive, and he can only see a letter at a time while reading, in a profession that requires him to parse through piles of documents.

While trying a case in Arizona representing a Phoenix businessman who claimed his former business partner assaulted him, committed fraud and stole his company, Callagy relied on law partner Michael Smikun to read documents for him in court. Outside of court, Callagy uses iPad apps to read documents out loud and listens to the audio of videotaped depositions. His assistant, Taylor Gallo, takes care of driving.

Smikun said Callagy’s vision has slipped significantly over the past two years. In that time, he’s come to rely more on Smikun.

“We have a form of mind-meld where I just understand what he wants to accomplish,” he said.

While Callagy can’t always read people’s body language when he’s cross-examining them, and sometimes misses seeing an extended handshake, he “still has a great legal mind,” Smikun said.

“He’s found a way to be extraordinarily effective as a litigator despite the fact that he can’t read documents or emails,” he said.

Callagy has a Blackberry because he can feel the keys and uses it to take copious notes. He said he’s honed his memory and speaking ability to compensate for his loss of vision.

It’s clear Callagy loves talking about law: He goes into animated explanations when describing the case in Arizona.

Since he started his firm, his office has grown to employ 100 people and opened a satellite location in Arizona. His goal is to keep growing.

“I would love to have offices all over the country,” he said.

He has moments of fear and frustration at the prospect of losing his vision. He gets emotional speaking about losing sight of his daughter at her soccer games.

But Callagy, who is Christian, said he believes he won’t lose his sight completely. He believes science, whether through gene therapy or retinal cameras or some other advancement, will restore his vision.

“I believe whole-heartedly that this is not going to happen,” he said. “I remain 100 percent in my belief that I will be seeing better when I am 50 or 60 than I do today.”

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Fight against the clock for lawyer losing his eyesight

Friday, May 27, 2016

Keeping Insurance Payments Flowing | Callagy Law

Billing insurance companies and collecting what you are entitled to collect can be a difficult process for medical providers. There are inevitably coverage issues, difficulties with navigating the ambiguities of policies, correct coding problems, and carriers will look for any discrepancy as a way to avoid payment. Below are a few tips to help overcome or at least alleviate some of these issues.

Let’s begin with coding. Employing a certified coder is a start. It is best these days to hire a professional, who will stay educated on the latest coding practices and information, rather than simply someone who has general knowledge. Coding has grown and continues to grow more and more complicated. A certified coder reviewing the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) tables will ensure that bundling errors do not hold up payments. A professional coder can navigate the labyrinth of codes so as to limit the carriers’ ability to delay payments for coding deficiencies.

Insurance policies too can be problematic. Whenever possible a medical provider should obtain as much information about the insurance policy relevant to the treatment as possible. This might mean the declaration page of an automobile policy or the health benefit plan description for a commercial insurance patient. Knowledge of the policies and plans will help reduce, if not, eliminate unknown coverage pitfalls, and provide a better knowledge base of likely reimbursement levels. Too often providers render services having little or no real knowledge as to what the reimbursement levels will be or whether or not they are even likely to be reimbursed.

The medical documentation also can raise issues. A medical provider must make sure the supporting documentation matches the diagnosis codes, and should be very specific. It is self defeating to be cavalier about explaining the need for and the medical necessity of all aspects of the treatment. It is important to be aware of codes that need specific explanations for payment and ensure your documentation has the necessary explanations.

Finally, confronting denials as and when they happen, as well as having a competent and aggressive legal time at your disposal, will pay big dividends. You need collection personnel with tenacity and organization skills to pursue relentlessly the frequent follow up calls that are necessary. Knowing payer systems and rules and asking the right questions of claims adjusters is also important.

These are some simple suggestions to combat the revenue roller coaster many providers face. As a liaison for Callagy Law, I have seen some of my providers struggle with insurance payments, and these basic steps can help alleviate that struggle.

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Keeping Insurance Payments Flowing | Callagy Law