Areas of Practice
Below you will find a brief summary of each area of law practiced by the Law Office of Jeffrey Schonbrun.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice occurs when a person suffers injury due to the negligent act or omission of a health care provider. Common categories of medical malpractice cases include the failure by a health care provider to follow standard procedures, properly diagnose a medical condition, or the failure to prevent injury at birth.
Matrimonial/Divorce
When a couple decides to terminate their marriage, one of the parties will petition the court for a divorce. Besides seeking a legal termination of the relationship, the couple will also ask the court to divide the marital assets, grant child custody to one or both parents, and impose child and spousal support obligations, if applicable.
Car Accidents/Slip & Falls
The precise legal consequences of automobile collisions depend on the nature and severity of the accident. A driver may face civil liability, criminal liability, or both. If an accident is minor, police may not report to the scene of the crash. Parties are required, however, to immediately exchange insurance and other contact information. The insurance companies may then determine who, if anyone, was at fault for the accident.
If a crash is more serious, law enforcement officers are likely to investigate the cause of the accident by interviewing witnesses and examining the scene of the collision. A driver may also be sued by the other parties involved in the accident, or their insurance companies, for personal injuries or money damages.
Family Law
Family law generally concerns domestic relations and family-related matters such as marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, adoptions, paternity, guardianships, domestic abuse, surrogacy, child custody, child abduction, the dissolution of marriage and associated issues.
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy law allows debtors, who are unable or partially unable to pay outstanding debts, to rid themselves of these debts and obtain a fresh start. As stated by the United States Supreme Court, bankruptcy gives "the honest but unfortunate debtor ... a new opportunity in life and a clear field for the future, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt." (Local Loan Co. v. Hunt, 292 U.S. 234, 244 (1934)).
Personal Injury
Personal Injury occurs when a person has been injured, physically or psychologically, as a result of the negligence or wrongdoing of another person, company, government agency, or other entity.
Areas of Personal Injury law include; work injuries, automobile and other accidents, defective products, medical mistakes, slip and fall accidents, and more.
Our law office provides personal attention and all cases are on a contingency basis. Unless there is a monetary award either through settlement or verdict after trial, there is no legal fee to our clients.
Construction Accidents
If you are injured in a construction accident, you may be eligible to recover a monetary award nto compensate you for your damages. The property owner, may be liable for the injury you suffered depending on the legal duty owed you. Employers are liable for injuries suffered by construction workers working on the employer's construction site. Bystanders injured in construction accidents may recover from the person or persons who are at fault.
Breach of Contract
Breach of Contract is defined as failing to perform any term of a contract, written or oral, without a legitimate legal excuse. This may include not completing a job, not paying in full or on time, failure to deliver all the goods, substituting inferior or significantly different goods, not providing a bond when required, being late without excuse, or any act which shows the party will not complete the work ("anticipatory breach"). Breach of contract is one of the most common causes of law suits for damages.
Criminal Defense
Crimes generally fall into one of four categories: crimes against the person, property crimes, crimes against justice, and inchoate offenses.
Examples of crimes against the person include: assault, battery, robbery, kidnapping, rape, murder, manslaughter, and mayhem.
Property crimes involve: burglary, larceny, arson, embezzlement, false pretenses, extortion, forgery, and computer crime.
Crimes against justice entail acts which impede or corrupt the judicial process, such as: obstruction of justice, bribery, and perjury. Inchoate offenses concern acts which lead to the commission of an additional crime. Thus, solicitation, attempt, conspiracy, and accessory are inchoate offenses.
Immigration Law
In the United States, immigration laws bear political overtones because they touch on the sensitive issues of national sovereignty and homeland defense. These laws dictate who may enter the country, as well as the length and duration of their visit. These laws also allow selected non-citizens to naturalize and become citizens of this country.
U.S. immigration laws treat persons as either U.S. citizens or aliens. The Fourteenth Amendment states that U.S. citizens include "persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to [its] jurisdiction." Therefore, all persons who are not U.S. citizens are aliens. 28 U.S. Code Section 1101.
In terms of aliens, U.S. immigration law further classifies them according to their immigration status, with each group afforded different rights and obligations, such as the right to reside in the United States, the right to sponsor relatives, and the right to work in the United States. Aliens may be lawful permanent residents (i.e., green card holders), immigrant visa holders, temporary lawful visitors or undocumented illegal aliens.
Real Estate - Closings
Real estate refers to land, as well as anything permanently attached to the land, such as buildings and other structures. Both federal and state laws regulate real estate transactions.
For example, the Federal Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3631) protects people involved in real estate transactions from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Supreme Court case of Meyer v. Holley, 537 U.S. 280 (2002), illustrates how a real estate company can be held liable for violating the Federal Fair Housing Act. States also have unique real estate laws which apply only to their jurisdiction.