A Note from the Webmaster: The Law Offices of Edward F. Wallace, P.C. would like to welcome Jeff Van Dell to our team. Jeff is a paralegal who started here in January 2009. Below is Jeff’s first blog.

What comes to your mind when I mention the biblical Book of Exodus? Iconic images from the movie “The Ten Commandments” of Charlton Heston playing Moses holding up his staff as God parts the Red Sea? Maybe you remember a Sunday school teacher describing the plagues God visited upon the Egyptians; the Nile turning to blood, hailstones wiping out their crops, or the death of every firstborn creature.

Although the Book of Exodus deals with the fledgling nation of Israel’s journey out of slavery and into the Promised Land, there are some very practical principles that allowed this group of former slaves to live together as a community and deal with the inevitable conflict that arises in every culture. Many of these principles transcend time and culture and have been adopted into our system of law. Three specific concepts that we deal with the field of personal injury are negligence, damages, and restitution.

Moses gives an example of how this dynamic plays out in Exodus 22:33-34. “If a man uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit must pay for the loss; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.”

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