seems about right. their paralegals do all the discovery and the adjusters are the ones negotiating all the cases. in-house car insurance defense lawyers probably have to worry/work about 25% as hard on their files as plaintiff attorneys do on the same file.
There are three firms that handle Allstate work in the relatively small metro area in which I live. One of the lawyers who handles their work used to be a partner at my firm before going off on his own. At the time (3-4 years ago) all of their cases were flat fee, phase billed. I assume that’s still the case. I could never understand the desire to do work for them because of the volume necessary to make that practice worth it.
there is a 10 lawyer firm in houston that handles a lot of allstate work. generally when there is a conflict. some of the cases we had with allstate got sent there after an in-houston allstate lawyer left. i assume they're all flat-fee based, but at the same time they're all easy cases. send out discovery, take the plaintiff's depo, and half the time file some controverting affidavits. a lot of these volume car accident lawyers just take the terrible offers and pay their client like $500 and the medical providers 5 cents on the dollar. i was at a minor settlement hearing this AM, and a few cases before mine they settled a 2013 case with a broken leg for $7,500
what does phase billed mean? Here all state as handled by a few firms. I am hearing more and more about flat fees for insurance defense auto collision work. Yah all state is one of the shiestiest insurance companies to deal with here as well. Colossus shoots a number out at them and they go with it. Basically a few grand over meds most of the time.
Phase billed means the defense firm receives disbursements at triggering events, I.e. a check upon assignment, another check sometime during discovery/mediation, and a final check sometime relative to trial. In my experience, these are all done in a flat fee format, so the amounts paid at these phase events is predetermined.
how much would you estimate all state pays for a case that goes through trial? I would think state farm in my area pays a lawyer at least $10k to go through a MVA trial. Maybe closer to $15
I’m not speaking from experience because I was a pretty young associate when that partner left the firm and I wasn’t privy to that information at that time, but I’d say $10-15k is a good guess. We do commercial lines work for a high volume insurer you’ve heard of, and while this is not their arrangement with us, I hear that they are known to enter into agreement where they pay and upfront flat fee of ~$15k. You make money on matters that resolve quickly, take a bath on most that go to trial, and the rest comes out in the wash. Again, volume and staffing is key. Solo guys would have a hard time with this. I’m also told those firms get a few “free passes” annually to transfer out cases that might otherwise make that arrangement financially untenable. I do believe that is the direction the industry is moving.
Wow Allstate pre lit offers in Houston are 25-40% of billed meds. I have never received an offer for over medical bills My client broke a hip and they didn’t want to pay their $30k limit
I didn't love the job anymore. I despised management and even when I went to try cases, I didn't love that part of the job the way I used to either. Being a trial lawyer is a hard job when you're passionate about it and love getting up every morning to go do it. It's an impossible job when you don't. I don't have any kids, I'm not married yet and I have other opportunities outside of law fortunately, so this was the perfect time to make the move.
Is this the legal advice thread? I got a car repair shop that’s trying to screw me... Basically starts with me taking my undrivable car into them and seeing how much it would be to fix. Quotes me more than my liking ($2500) and the car is a 2013 Kia with over 100,000, so I told him I needed a bit to decide. Meanwhile I get a new car because it would’ve been half the value of my car to fix I come back to tow my car off their lot and he tried to offer me a deal. He emails me with a proposal to fix my car and sell it together for a 60-30 split profit (not sure about that math) I said I’ll think about it. He told me I could leave my car there in the meantime, no rush at all. I even followed up with him a couple of weeks ago to make sure it was still ok to leave it there. So the car sits on their property for about a month and a half total (way too long, I know) and I get an email yesterday saying he has fixed the car for $2900. I tell him I never authorized him to fix the car. I never signed anything and never gave him verbal or written authorization to work on my car. Do I have any leverage here? I assume this will be a matter for small claims court (kbb value of the car is about $5000), but didn’t know if any of you smart gentlemen might have an idea of exactly how much leverage I have here...
two previous felony convictions and admitted to police that he shot dealer with sawed off shotgun. think that probably isn't going to go well for him. maybe 941Gator can get him off.
Defendant admitted he was going to purchase a pound of marijuana from complainants, but decided to rob them of the drugs and cash. Defendant said he pulled the sawed-off shotgun out on the complainants. Defendant said during the physical assault he fired the shotgun at complainant striking him on the side of his body"
i want to know how he was only charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and how his bail is only 125k
He got charged w/agg robbery bc he committed an agg robbery. I'm guessing the dealer 1) didn't die and 2) either has a terrible criminal record, making him a terrible victim/witness, so they couldn't charge more than what they absolutely have in the bag OR he specifically stated he didn't want to push for CA: Murder or manslaughter, etc. EDIT: Also I don't know what the jurisdiction is but here (TN) Agg Robery is a B Felony (8-30 years) w/mandatory 85% sentencing range , cannot be diverted, it's a pretty serious charge.
I don't recall giving you permission to speak with my client (and softball teammate) user Gallant. If you need to file a Notice of Co-counsel feel free. He is a lot to handle, I'd appreciate the help.
typically 10 years for pulling a gun, 20 for firing, and life for killing. With Ag Robbery with a Firearm and also Ag Battery with Firearm for hitting the guy......maybe an offer of 30 and plead down to 15-20. If he has a record, he may be really screwed. If recently released ("re-offender") then he could be up for Life actually. Sentencing is really nuts. I could write pages and pages about the bullshit (some for better, some for worse) sentences I see or hear about.
he has another aggravated assault with a deadly weapon where it looks like he did ten years. i think he got out like 2 years ago on that.
this came across my desk today. no thanks. Edit: police report involving child sex abuse as seen in G. Knights reply/quote below.
Came in here to brag about getting a case dismissed against an attorney I loathe but now I need to go chug bourbon and try to forget what I just read
Looking for some legal advice and some tax advice too... Mrs titties and I are purchasing a second home. Family has outgrown current crib. Our current home has doubled in value and appears to only continue to appreciate given its premium location and area market. Rental comps have it being a good $1k above the mortgage payment. That being said... we have opted to keep 1st home as rental and move to newer bigger home in the burbs. Question is this: what legal hurdles might I be concerned about doing this? Specifically to taxes. Also, any assistance with tax considerations would be appreciated. I understand earned income is taxable but there are also a fuck ton of tax write offs associated with a rental. What are some things I should look out for here or plan for?
You’re asking a fairly broad question that calls for relatively complicated tax advice, so I would recommend you speak with your CPA. In my opinion, Issues such as the passive activity rules are largely beyond the scope of this thread, as they are some of the most complicated provisions in the tax code. If you want to narrow the scope of your question, I’ll take a stab at it and identify some issues you can bring up with your CPA.
Welcome to the addictive drug we call passive income. Your situation is quite common and theres a goldmine of info for you at www.biggerpockets.com Assuming this is a traditional rental (no airbnb) then your income will flow through on your schedule E and not be subject to self employment taxes. You may get hit with a few other things like a 3% Obamacare surcharge. You get to deduct nearly all of your expenses associated with property (similar to a business) and start taking depreciation on your house. I'd strongly suggest you keep a separate bank account for the property and run absolutely every expense and your related income through the bank account. Then you can easily do a profit and loss at the end of the year which makes your tax return easy. Make sure you set up the account in the right name... Incorporate and form a single asset, single member LLC that is called a disregarded entity for tax purposes. Keeps tax return simple. However the incorporation can provide significant legal shielding (depending on state) for risk management purposes. Contract with PMs, tenants, banks, everyone in that LLC name. As an individual you dont exist. The active versus passive debate plays in if you are a high earner. Passive losses cannot offset income (like w2) above a certain threshold. Active it can. Typical rule of thumb is if you use a property management company and it's a side hustle...you are passive. If you are earning 1,000 bucks/mo over your PITI you are going to show income. Active versus passive is less critical in this scenario. Final thought. If you sell your primary residence within 3 years after living there, you can get the proceeds tax free. Hard to beat that return in any long term hold scenario if you have significant gains. Can even hold true with strong market appreciation. I'm not a cpa or lawyer but that should help get you pointed in the right direction.
I’m gonna give them some extra money. I’m thinking more along the lines of something materialistic. Amazon gift card? Bottle of wine? Omaha steaks? New deck of cards?