93.1. Kiss FM – Ask A Lawyer – Part 2 – Oct 23, 2025

(0:00:00) Thanks for starting your day with Iris and Grizz in the morning. 93.1 KISS FM.

(0:00:07) All right, we’re getting back to it. It is Ask a Lawyer with Michael Gopin joining us live in the studio. We got a few more questions to get to. Let’s go straight to Raymond, who wrote in. I was injured while working at Tyson Foods back in 2017. They had workers comp, but the insurance company says they never paid me because they, quote, couldn’t find me, even though I never moved and I still worked at Tyson. Now they’re saying it’s too late to do anything. Do I still have a chance to reopen the claim or get what I’m owed? What can I do? Wow, that’s a long time.

(0:00:36) That’s a long time ago. So the question, Raymond, is did you file a formal notice of injury with the Workers’ Comp Commission? If you did, timely, within I think it’s a year, but I’m not positive on that, but there’s time restraints. But if you filed it timely, you’re good. If you didn’t file a formal notice of injury, and now we’re in 2025, you’re out of luck on that one too. Wow.

(0:01:05) If you file the notice, your rights are preserved so they can not find you, find you. If they owed you money, they’re going to owe you money. If they owed medical bills, they’re going to be able to be responsible for them. So it really depends on that notice. So if you filed it and it’s a form that you have to fill out and file with the commission, it’ll be date stamped and your claim will be good. If not, it’s going to be too late. Wow. Yikes. That’s interesting. They couldn’t find him.

(0:01:34) Yeah, I think, well, you know, typically, you know, the claimant’s going to need to pursue things and be active about it. And apparently he never tried to call or say anything to the insurance company for all these years for whatever reason.

(0:01:49) And so they just ignore the kids. Yeah. If you didn’t, you got to sometimes you got to be persistent. Right. All right. Clarissa writes in my daughter was injured in a car accident while riding with her friend who was driving her parents car and ran into a traffic light. Turns out the friend was an excluded driver on their insurance policy. So the insurance is refusing to cover anything. Not even my daughter’s injuries. Does the exclusion of their daughter mean my daughter isn’t covered either?

(0:02:17) Yes, it does. You need the uninsured driver? Very good, yeah. Look at me, look at me.

(0:02:25) Your friend’s insurance, who is not your friend, is not going to pay because there’s a valid written exclusion. So you have to look to see if you have your own insurance coverage, which would be the uninsured motorist coverage, because technically her friend was uninsured at the time of this accident because it was an excluded driver. So it would kick in. And if you have that coverage, you’ll be good for the injuries and they’ll be responsible.

(0:02:50) If you don’t, then you’re going to be out of luck again. Okay. So if this mom has the uninsured, that’s good for her. Right. At least for her and her daughter. Exactly. Okay. Noted. All right. Gil writes in, I was getting an oil change at a franchise shop and I slipped in the garage while trying to check on my car. I fractured my ankle, split open my shin and needed stitches. Ouch.

(0:03:13) Now they’re saying I shouldn’t have even been in the area and they won’t give me any info to file a claim. I’ve also tried contacting corporate with no luck. Thoughts on this? Do I have a claim?

(0:03:22) Certainly you have a claim, but they do have signs in those areas saying, do not enter. Of course, it’s not typically enforced by the employees. They really don’t care until there’s an accident. Until they need to. Then they’re going to try to use that as an excuse. So the question is, whose fault is it more? Is it the person who fell into the hole for…

(0:03:47) abiding by the rules, or is it not having, they could have had cones out there to warn, they wouldn’t have seen. So they’re going to, it’s going to be a comparative negligence case, basically, comparing the fault of the company versus the person who fell. And if it’s 50-50, then they’ll be able to recover half of their damage, but if it’s 51% at fault for the person who fell, there will be no recovery at all. So it really just depends on

(0:04:16) on that question, that’s a question for the jury to determine. Now, the fact that they didn’t give you, you know, you can go to a lawyer and they’d be able to help you, we’d be able to help you with that. But that’s going to be the issue, comparative fault in this case. Yeah, because, I mean, you’re not supposed to go back there for a reason because the workers probably have special shoes or they won’t slip. Well, they also are very well aware of what’s going on and there’s immediate danger there and, you know,

(0:04:44) The person who fell also knew that, but they are not around the area so much and they just walked in casually and boom, something happened. All right. Okay. It’s Ask a Lawyer with Michael Gopin. We’ve got two more questions. This one’s from Veronica asking, what is the age of my child where my ex is no longer responsible for child support or even providing anything for our daughter? She’s a recent student at UTEP, has great grades and works really hard. We’re having trouble with her tuition and he refuses to help.

(0:05:14) Yeah, my wife and I have actually talked about this question before. But the answer is 18 generally. But then again, if you have a divorce decree, there could be different circumstances in the decree that would say that the spouse, the father in this case, is responsible for college as long as they’re going full time. Or there could be special provisions in the decree. So you have to look to the decree if there was never a marriage and there’s just a child with child support.

(0:05:44) Child support’s going to end at age 18. And if they’re still in high school, it will go until they finish high school. But this is college, so we’re not into that situation. You know, the only thing I could suggest, perhaps, is having the daughter call. Call Dad and say, Dad, I’m going to UTEP. I’m struggling to pay. Can you help? I’m doing great. Please, I need your assistance. Right. And no legal obligation, though.

(0:06:11) Yeah, unfortunately. 18, you set them free, right? Unless, like, you have the divorce papers and you made sure you got something in there. Interesting. All right, our final question comes from Mando, who writes, I was riding with a friend of mine, and we were out having a few drinks. He proceeded to drink while he was driving the vehicle. Long story short, we got pulled over. I was issued a ticket for an open container, even though I was not drinking in the car. Can I fight this? Eekh.

(0:06:38) Well, the law in Texas says that anyone, including a passenger, is going to be guilty. No open container because you don’t know someone. You could have gotten a swig of it. Right. And it doesn’t seem fair, but that’s the rule. That’s the law. And you’re going to be responsible even though you didn’t drink it, didn’t have it in your hand.

(0:06:59) You’re in the car. That’s the rule. No exceptions. Yep. So that friend, quote, friend of yours that decided to drink puts you in danger. Right. And then, you know, maybe not a good idea to be driving with someone who’s drinking. Yes, exactly. If they were drinking before, that was already the first mistake. Second mistake was letting them have the open container. Correct. So the only way to prevent this from happening from the passenger’s perspective is to

(0:07:26) To tell them to throw out the drink. Yeah. Or to get out of the vehicle. Yep. All right. The only way you can protect yourself. Yep. That is true. Ask a lawyer with Michael Gopen. If ever you have a lot of questions that you need answered, download the Kiss Mobile app. Go to our website, kissalpasso.com, and there you can submit them in advance so we can get them sent to Michael Gopen, and he’ll answer them live on air. All right, Michael. Well, thank you so much for bringing in. It was Keeper, right?

(0:07:51) It’s Keeper, yes. Little Keeper. A little husky in the studio. You can leave him if you want. Okay. We can just chill. If he’ll stay. Hang out. He’ll be like, Dad, please take me. This girl’s crazy. Just kidding. Thank you so much. It’s always a pleasure. He wouldn’t. He would love me. Exactly. It’s always a pleasure, and we’ll see you back November. Yes. End of November. We’ll be here. Happy Halloween. Have a good Halloween. Take care now.

Michael J. Gopin

Michael J. Gopin has practiced law in El Paso since 1987. Even after more than 30 years, he still remembers his first jury case. It was two weeks after receiving his license, when he represented a person whose life had been forever changed after being blinded in a work-related incident...