| Family
Law Mariani & Reck is
probably best known for its top notch family law
practice. We are now proud to have one of the
largest and most respected matrimonial law practices
in the State of Connecticut. We are frequently
called upon to lecture at seminars to teach other
family lawyers in Connecticut. We are available to
vigorously protect your interests in an adversarial
court setting but also in mediation and through a
collaborative divorce with each side represented by
legal counsel. The firm has represented parties in
connection with complex divorce, child custody, and
property settlements for over twenty years. Our
staff of experienced attorneys and paralegals
promptly return your phone calls and provide you
with the highest level of personal service in all of
our areas of practice. You can be secure in knowing
that your attorney is exceptionally knowledgeable,
attentive to your needs, and holds the highest
ethical standards.
Collaborative Divorce
A growing number of lawyers and counselors have made a
commitment to offering divorcing couples an
alternative to this picture through the introduction
of Collaborative Practice or Collaborative Divorce.
In a collaborative divorce, each spouse has his own
attorney who is trained to work in a non-adversarial
way as part of a collaborative team consisting of
two divorce “coaches”, a neutral financial
specialist and a child specialist. Each party
selects his own collaborative lawyer and divorce
coach and together they choose the financial and
child specialists.
The object of the collaborative model is to permit the
parties to settle each and every aspect of their
divorce through a series of meetings with one or all
members of the team WITHOUT GOING TO COURT. In fact,
a signed Participation Agreement commits the parties
to refrain from any participation in a court process
until the final agreement is put to judgment. All
team members agree to withdraw if the case goes to
court. Parties agree to transparency and open
sharing of information with a willingness to keep
agreements.
Collaborative Divorce puts the focus and time spent on
resolving problems and creating solutions, not more
problems. Communication is civil and respectful. The
expertise of each team member is brought to bear on
creating solutions and these different views offer
surprisingly different and workable options for the
family.
Emotional issues that inhibit the process are addressed by
the coaches, licensed mental health professionals
with specialized training in Collaborative Divorce.
They assist parties to improve communication and
listening skills, to develop problem solving skills,
to manage their feelings and to create and follow
through with parenting goals. The coach helps his
client to prepare for the meeting with his spouse
and with other members of the Collaborative Team.
A neutral financial person saves time, provides focus, frames
financial issues for the parties and assists with
future planning. He or she is a qualified financial
planner or accountant trained in Collaborative
Divorce and will help the parties to understand
their current financial situation and their
financial choices. The financial specialist will
collect and organize the required financial
information and explain the impact of each financial
decision for both the immediate future and for the
long term.
Every divorcing couple is worried about how the divorce will
affect their children. The child specialist is a
licensed mental health professional with specialized
training to help children understand and deal with
divorce. He will provide a safe place for children
to be heard and listen to the children to voice
their needs and concerns. He will help the parents
understand what is happening to their children and
provide them with information to make important
parenting decisions. He will meet with the parents
and their coaches to create the most suitable
parenting plan.
The Collaborative Lawyer is trained to work in a
non-adversarial way with his client as part of the
collaborative team. The Collaborative training is
mandatory because working together does not come
easily especially to one who has been an aggressive
advocate for most of his career. What we learn in
particular is that to work well together, sometimes
we may have to give something up. We may have to
give up always getting exactly what we want or
always getting to do things exactly as we want to do
them. Our focus becomes finding solutions that work
for the entire family while providing legal advice
to our clients about their rights and obligations.
This private, less adversarial model permits divorcing
couples to make well-informed and appropriate
decisions for themselves and their families and to
make long-lasting solutions which result in less
future conflict. They protect themselves and their
children from the hostility and intrusion of the
court process. The security and privacy of the
collaborative process promise reduced anxiety and
more control of the outcome. By using a creative,
respectful approach to reaching a mutually
acceptable agreement, the collaborative process
permits good people to be their best in a bad time.
Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice
Mariani & Reck, LLC is currently
litigating, or has resolved by
settlement or verdict, many personal
injury cases. We are, first and
foremost, trial lawyers. If a case
cannot be settled fairly, we are
ready to present our evidence in the
courtroom and let the judge or jury
render justice for our clients.
This reputation as competent trial
advocates enhances our ability to
achieve full and fair settlements
with insurance companies.
Below are a few examples of cases
tried or otherwise brought to
successful conclusion by our firm.
Car Crash with
Back Injury, $410,000.00
The plaintiff was driving her
vehicle home from work; north in Old
Saybrook; when she was struck, head
on, by the defendant's vehicle. As a
result of this accident, the
plaintiff underwent surgeries on her
lower back and lost her employment.
A settlement was reached out of
court in the amount of $410,000.00
Slip and Fall in Parking Garage,
$350,000.00
The plaintiff parked her car in
the Defendants', ProPark and City of
New London, parking garage. While
exiting the garage, the plaintiff
was caused to fall due to a hole in
the floor of the garage. As a result
of this fall, the plaintiff severely
injured her elbow. A settlement was
reached out of court in the amount
of $350,000.00
Slip and
Fall on Stone in Front Yard,
$290,000.00
The plaintiff, a retired
schoolteacher, was leasing a home in
Niantic. She was severely injured
when she stepped on a loose
stepping-stone in the yard which
caused her to be violently
catapulted forward and strike her
face on a jagged tree stump. Due to
the negligence of the property owner
in maintaining his property, the
plaintiff suffered multiple facial
injuries and difficulty chewing and
swallowing food. A settlement was
reached out of court in the amount
of $290,000.00
Injury to Eye with BB Gun,
$100,000.00
The plaintiff, age 15, was
visiting a friend's house in when he
was tragically shot in the eye with
a BB gun which left him permanently
blind in his left eye. Before the
accident, the plaintiff was an avid
basketball player and due to the
risk of detaching his retina, was
left unable to play any contact
sports. A settlement was reached out
of court for the amount of
$100,000.00
Fall From Deck, $75,000.00
The plaintiff, aged 67, was
visiting a tackle shop in
Connecticut when she leaned on what
she thought was the railing of the
outside deck, but was actually a
makeshift gate. When the defendant
leaned on the gate, it opened and
she violently fell three feet to the
ground below causing her to break
her forearm and fracture her
vertebrae. A settlement was reached
out of court for the amount of
$75,000.00
$750,000 award for fall at EB
A former Navy petty officer
was awarded $750,000 in damages
following a two-week trial in U.S.
District Court in Hartford.
The plaintiff, age 23, who was
discharged from Navy after he fell
from a wooden ladder while on duty
aboard the USS Rhode Island, sued
General Dynamics Corp. He fell off
the ladder on the submarine while it
was under construction at Electric
Boat in Groton.
The ladder, which was constructed
at EB, had an exposed angle iron
that impaled his leg. He was in
surgery for eight hours at Lawrence
& Memorial Hospital and continued to
suffer from "drop foot."
The jury awarded $1,250,000 but
reduced the amount to $750,000 after
finding him 40% responsible for the
injury.
Three car-crash suits settled in
court
Three separate lawsuits
stemming from car accidents were
settled in New London Superior Court
for $100,000 each.
Our plaintiff, aged 36, of New
London received $100,000 for his
injuries in the crash. He was a
passenger in a car, when the car
spun out of control and collided
with a parked vehicle.
He suffered cuts and bruises to the
face, neck, chest and arms, and he
dislocated his right shoulder.
Another Client, aged 24, of Groton
received $105,000 after her claim
was settled. She was a passenger
when the car crashed into a bridge
abutment and a fence.
The plaintiff suffered cuts and
bruises on her face and broke her
nose.
Finally a third client in a
separate collision, aged 30,
received $100,000 for neck, arm and
hand injuries from an accident on
Great Neck Road in Waterford,
where her car was hit from behind.
$300,000 settlement for crash
victim
A $300,000 out-of-court
settlement was achieved for our
client for injuries suffered in a
Norwich accident involving City Cab
Co.
The plaintiff, aged 68, suffered
fractured vertebrae and other
injuries to her back and arms by a
cab which was turning left into a
parking lot and struck her.
The cab driver was charged with
failure to yield right of way to a
pedestrian.
Our client's injuries left her
with permanent partial disability.
Victim of
fall at store is awarded $125,000
We were successful in
resolving a case for a Groton woman
who hurt herself after slipping on
pickle juice at a Groton supermarket
salad bar; against the store for
$125,000.
She broke her wrist when she fell
and filed a law suit claiming the
store was negligent.
Ex-cheerleader settles injury suit
for $75,000
A
former cheerleader at Montville High
School, who sued the school when she
fell and broke her ankle while
practicing a "pyramid" stunt,
received a $75,000 out-of-court
settlement.
Our client fractured her ankle at
an after-school cheerleading
practice session. She was in a cast
for four months, had surgery to
remove bone fragments from the ankle
joint, and used crutches or a cane
to walk for another 4.5 months.
The accident caused the girl to
fall behind in her school work and
forced her to quit her part-time
job. We were able to show that the
school officials were negligent when
they permitted the cheerleaders to
practice a dangerous stunt on a
cement floor with no protective
padding. In addition, the
cheerleaders had been unsupervised
while they practiced.
Our research revealed several
instances in other states where
cheerleaders died or were paralyzed
when they fell doing the stunt.
In a pyramid stunt, the
cheerleaders form a "human pyramid"
by climbing on one another's backs
and shoulders. The top often
completes the stunt by doing a flip
off the the top into the arms of the
others.
Woman hurt
by dog received $275,000
We obtained $275,000 for our
client for injuries she received
when she was knocked to the ground
by a dog.
She was looking at a property to
purchase when she was knocked down
and sustained an injury to the right
side of her face and jaw. An injury
to her left knee also was
aggravated.
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Real Estate
At Mariani & Reck, our real
estate attorneys are qualified and competent to
accommodate all of our client's real estate needs.
We will help you from start to finish with all
commercial and residential real estate matters.
Criminal Defense
We represent clients
zealously, and professionally for all felonies,
misdemeanors, and infractions including drug
offenses, assaults, burglary, robbery, breach of
peace, drunk driving, first offenders and youthful
offenders, probation violations, motor vehicle
cases, and white collar crime.
Small Business
LLC's and corporations;
purchase and sale of businesses, buy and sell
agreements. |
