By Rob Tucker

​If by chance you happened to read my post about the fishing trip I took to Kodiak Island in Alaska, you may remember that I have a sister-in-law who is a travel agent. Because of her, I learn about off-the-beaten-path travel opportunities I likely wouldn’t hear of otherwise. I took her up on one a year ago and spent nine days in Cuba. 
 
I was intrigued at the prospect of visiting this island that's been sealed off to outsiders since 1961 and just reopened in 2015 to visitors who certify they belong to one of 13 approved entry categories.
 
We flew into Havana — by we, I mean the 23 three of us who signed up for this tour — then boarded our deluxe (de lujo in Spanish) bus to travel to a splendid stretch of white sand called Varadero Beach a couple of hours east of Havana, where we soaked up the sun, took salsa dancing lessons and chillaxed for two days.

Another unique Cuban phenomena are all the mint-condition, classic American automobiles driving around. Miami is only 90 miles away, and before Fidel Castro came to power, Cuba was a popular destination especially during the 1950's. Americans imported as many as 125,000 Detroit-made cars to use on the island, only to abandon them in 1959 when the government nationalized all commerce and closed closed off Cuba to the outside world. ​

As enjoyable and informative as my trip was, the best thing about it was meeting Cuba's energetic, lighthearted, fun-loving citizens. Music and dancing abounded wherever we went, and except perhaps at the large, tourist hotels, everyone was exceedingly warm and welcoming. Gracias a mis amigos Cubanos.

​By Kelly Sargent for Tucker Law Office
 
Rob Tucker founded his law firm in 1992; his daughter Erin joined him as an attorney in the practice in June of 2015. Last month I quizzed Rob about how that’s working out, and he had nothing but good things to say about what his daughter has added to the firm:
 
She’s a genuinely nice person
She’s a hard worker
She respects his knowledge and experience
She’s a creative thinker
She keeps up on the myriad changes in the law
She’s an excellent writer
And she’s fun
 
Not too shabby. But, I wondered, what would Erin have to say about dad? 
 
Since she’s his daughter, obviously Erin would have had ample time to develop opinions anyway, but in Erin's case, she's had more than the usual opportunities to get to know her father. That's because Erin started helping out at Tucker Law when she was just a kid. As soon as she learned to use a computer keyboard, Rob gave her interrogatories to type at home so that she could practice her typing skills. Soon Erin began working in the office part-time and summers doing clerical work. Rob even let her sit in on a trial with him so she could see how a case is developed from beginning to end: case development, discovery, witness preparation, exhibit handling and trial presentation. 
 
With all that experience and exposure, you’d think that Erin would have had being an attorney in her sights from a very early age. You’d be wrong. 
 
Erin didn’t want to follow in her dad’s footsteps. She wanted to strike out on her own path, carve her own niche in the world, so instead Erin studied business management, earning a bachelor's degree while at the same time working full time at Wells Fargo at night. Whew!
 
Erin had no intention of studying the law. No way, no how, not going to do it.
 
As it turned out, though, Erin didn’t find working in a large corporation terribly fulfilling, and so — almost on a flier — she applied to attend law school. She wasn’t taking the prospect very seriously, though, because she figured her chances of getting accepted were slim and none. She hadn’t, as many do, geared her undergraduate education toward law school acceptance, her bachelor’s wasn’t from a prestigious university and she hadn’t concentrated any effort on building a law school application resume.
 
To her great surprise she was accepted into Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville.
 
Despite having decided not to study law, Erin found that it came naturally. No wonder, since she’d been in and around it for as long as she can remember. Erin not only excelled in law school, but graduated eleventh out of a class of 546 students. She passed the Florida Bar Exam in 2013 and worked for a sole practitioner in employment law for about a year. But then she thought, “Hey wait! I could be working with my dad!” 

Thus the father-daughter team at Tucker Law was born. And so what does Erin have to say about working with her dad?
 
Erin can’t imagine herself working with anyone else. She appreciates that her father is willing to embrace new ideas, allowing her to pursue creative strategies based on the latest changes in the law. Erin finds her dad's decades of experience invaluable to her as a new lawyer, and she's grateful that she can seek his support and advice as often as she needs to. Erin's other significant strength, she believes, is her ability to remain calm in virtually any situation, whereas her dad is more demonstrative — a yin to his yang. All in all, she's convinced there isn't anyone else she could work with and make such a good team as the two of them do. 

​By Kelly Sargent for Tucker Law Office

​How many father-daughter law firms are there in Iowa, I got to wondering after having lunch with Erin Tucker. Erin practices law with her dad, Rob Tucker, at Tucker Law. 

For fun, I asked the Iowa Bar Association. The answer is not very many. The IBA doesn’t have a firm count; there is definitely at least one other, but their best estimate is, at most, only a handful exist in the state.

I was curious how the dynamics of a father-daughter legal team might work (or not) on a day-to-day basis, so I decided to see what each of them had to say when the other one wasn’t around.

Speaking personally as someone who grew up without a father, I found it especially endearing that they both are so authentically members of a mutual admiration club and so thoroughly respectful of one another.

Here’s what dad Rob had to say about daughter Erin:
 
“First of all Erin is a genuinely nice person. She’s a hard worker who's very detailed-oriented and focused on doing her job with a high degree of proficiency. In addition, she's a creative thinker, full of new ideas, and very much on top on all the changes in the law which occur, it seems, almost daily. She's also fun to work with, bringing life to a middle-aged office. 

Erin's greatest strength is in legal writing. Everything she writes is to the point, and exceptionally well written. Her biggest gift to me personally, however, is providing me with the opportunity to pick her brain and discuss legal strategies, foundations and tactics. Fortunately Erin respects my 26 years of experience, asks for my advice on a regular basis and appreciates my historical wisdom.” 

Rob is also proud of the route Erin took to becoming an attorney, but more about that later. Next up: what Erin has to say about her dad.

By Rob Tucker

​Recently the Iowa Department of Transportation released it's list of the 200 locations in Iowa most in need of safety improvement. The rankings were based on three factors: crash frequency, total number of accidents and severity during the years 2012 to 2016.
 
Of those 200, I live in the city that owns the #1 spot as well as two others in the top ten! How'd I get so lucky?!
 
Where is this infamous demolition derby site, you may wonder: the corner of Ankeny Boulevard and First Street in Ankeny. And indeed, Tucker Law has represented clients injured in wrecks in that very place!
 
But if you think I'm unfortunately situated by being in the same town with the top three accident sites, my friend Kelly, who sometimes writes for this blog, and her husband live . . . wait for it . . . three blocks from the #1 site, one block from #10 and 14 blocks from #8!
 
Here's a list of the top 10 sites in Iowa:

1. Ankeny: Ankeny Boulevard and First Street.
2. Council Bluffs: Interstate Highway 29 and 30th Avenue.
3. Sioux City: West Seventh Street and Hamilton Boulevard.
4. Des Moines: Day Street and Sixth Avenue.
5. Cedar Falls: Iowa Highway 27 and Viking Road.
6. Jasper County: U.S. Highway 65 and Iowa Highways 330 and 117.
7. Des Moines: East University Avenue and East 30th Street.
8. Ankeny: Ankeny Boulevard and Southeast Magazine Road.
9. Burlington: U.S. Highway 61 and West Avenue.
10. Ankeny: Ankeny Boulevard and Third Street.

Below is a live link to a Des Moines Register article with more details. 
 
So be careful out there! But if you are injured in an accident, it's not a bad plan to check with a reputable personal injury attorney to make sure you get compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages and future treatment expenses.
 
Dangerous Iowa intersection? This spot is No. 1 in state's crash rating.

By Erin Tucker

There are roughly 5.5 million car accidents every year in the United States, injuring more than 2.25 million Americans. According to the National Safety Council, car accidents are the leading cause of on- and off-the-job unintentional deaths, killing about 35,000 people every year.

In 2017, however, there were an estimated 40,100 car accident deaths. The cost to society is about $100 billion a year.

One of the leading causes of car wrecks is distracted driving. According to the NSC, at least 27% of those 5.5 million accidents involve cell phone use: 1.2 million from talking on the phone, that’s roughly how many people live in Salt Lake City’s metro area — and a minimum of 341,000 caused by texting, which is about the population of metro Des Moines.

I’ve said all that to say this: DO NOT talk on your cell phone or text while driving!

If you've been injured, and especially if you've lost a loved one because of another driver’s negligence, there’s no amount of money that can return things to the way they were before the accident, but that doesn't mean that a financial settlement is irrelevant. It's money that can be put toward lost wages, medical bills, car repairs or funeral expenses. 

We’re here to help. 

By Rob Tucker

​In July I flew to Alaska to go fishing. I’ve traveled there at least 10 times, roughly every other year since 2000, with an additional trip to testify in a court settlement negotiation. I made that trip in winter. As a word of friendly advice — don’t go there then. Yikes!!

​This year, however, I wanted to experience a different part of Alaska, so my fishing buddy and I flew to Kodiak Island, which BTW is the second-largest island in the United States and famous for the bears that are native to it. 

​And bears there were! We met up with 35 to 40 of them who were fishing Frazer River the same time we were. Remember that coho salmon I caught? A bear stole it off my line. Oh well. He had more right to it than I did. It’s his (or her) island after all.

By Erin Tucker

On July 1, 2017, new workers’ compensation statutes took effect. The statutes have been changed in a number of ways. 

A shoulder injury is no longer classified as “body as a whole” injury where industrial disability is awarded taking into account an injured workers’ age, education, and experience.

Going forward, a shoulder injury will be compensated as a “scheduled member” just like an arm or a leg based only on a percentage of loss of that member, with a maximum loss of 400 weeks of benefits.

​This change has the potential to have a devastating effect on an injured worker who has sustained a shoulder injury and cannot return to physically demanding work.

A new vocational rehabilitation strategy has been put into place by the new law. When a worker sustains a shoulder injury and cannot return to gainful employment, the worker must now be evaluated by Workforce Development regarding career opportunities in specific fields that allow for accommodation for disabilities and vocational training.

Injured workers are no longer entitled to reimbursement for a second-opinion by an "independent medical examination” if the employer denies the case. In other words, an employer of an injured worker whose case has been denied is permitted to require an evaluation be performed by a doctor of the employer’s choice. But, the employee is not allowed a second-opinion at the employer’s expense. Before this change in the law, even when a case was denied, an employee could be reimbursed for a second-opinion evaluation if he or she felt that the employer-retained physician’s rating was too low.
 
Articles on this topic:

Iowa Public Radio: "Does Iowa’s New Workers’ Comp Law Give Shoulder Injuries The Cold Shoulder?​"
http://iowapublicradio.org/post/does-iowa-s-new-workers-comp-law-give-shoulder-injuries-cold-shoulder#stream/0
 
The Des Moines Register: "Branstad signs bills limiting workers' compensation, blocking minimum wage hikes"
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/30/branstad-signs-bills-limiting-workers-compensation-blocking-minimum-wage-hikes/99819450/
 
Link to the bill (HS 518):  https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=87&ba=HF%20518

​I'm proud to be a member of the Rotary Club of Des Moines. In addition to all the other service my club contributes locally, nationally and internationally, every year we award six $8,000 scholarships, one each to a student chosen from each of Des Moines' six high schools. It's been my pleasure to serve on the selection committee for East High for five years. 

East's able school counselors narrow the pool of applicants down to four, and I never fail to be impressed with the calibre of the candidates, not just in academic achievement alone — often while holding down more than part-time jobs, and participating in athletics, music, drama, debate and other specific interest groups — but also their commitment to giving back to the community through volunteer work.

Every year it's an extremely difficult choice, and each year my two co-evaluators and I want to award scholarships to them all. This year was no exception. One applicant's goal is to be a geneticist, and even before reaching graduation, she has interned in a genetics lab at Iowa State University. Two aspire to work in healthcare, one with her eye on becoming a nurse, the other a pediatrician. The fourth dreams of a business career in filmmaking.

But choose we must, and this year our winner was Robbi Boggess. Robbi will be attending the University of Iowa in pre-med with a goal of specializing in pediatric medicine.

Congratulations Robbi — and Isabel, Karen and Anthony. You're all winners!!