that's a bold move. One thing we do is never take more than the client takes. Sometimes that results in our fee being less than 30%.
That's smart because you aren't even giving them a discount on legal fees. Expenses are a whole other category.
I don’t have a problem taking more than the client takes pre lit if I tell them that we are ready and willing to litigate the case and the client says they don’t want to
Plaintiff sues one diverse and one non-diverse defendant in the same action in state court. Diverse defendant removes to federal court, arguing fraudulent joinder of the non-diverse defendant. To prove a fraudulent joinder, you have to prove it's impossible to make a claim against the non-diverse defendant. The non-diverse defendant then moves in federal court to dismiss for failure to state a claim. It seems to me that the district court does not have jurisdiction to decide the non-diverse defendant's MTD. While the two motions are theoretically arguing the same thing, a district court can only decide the non-diverse defendant's MTD if it has jurisdiction over that party, which it can't have because there's no complete diversity. So even if the district court says it's "impossible" for fraudulent joinder purposes, the most it could do is sever the claims and remand the state court defendant back to state court. Right?
I’d think Plaintiff needs to file a motion to remand. The MTD would be stayed until the remand was ruled on.
We did file that, and a motion to stay briefing on the MTD. The court denied the motion to stay. Which makes no sense
I had this come up a few years ago in NC. This is not my case but this was cited. https://www.ncmd.uscourts.gov/sites/ncmd/files/opinions/14cv690moo.pdf If the fraudulent jointer motion is denied, there is no subject matter. The motion to dismiss is moot. After remand, plaintiff tried to argue that the remand order was collateral estoppel on the motion to dismiss that was mooted. In the 4th circuit, fraudulent joinder is a higher standard than 12(b)(6), so it wasn’t.
Currently at 47 open personal injury files, 40 of those are MVAs. 50 comp files. 24 divorce/custody files. 121 active files. At some point I'm going to need more than just one paralegal helping me. A paralegal and a shared secretary might be the way to go.
interesting. so their theory of negligence is that there is a city ordinance that says scooters not allowed on streets and lime says don't operate on sidewalks. i might look into that in TX. there are a lot of broken bones/non-soft tissue injuries from these things.
Just had scheduling conf in federal court and judge has our trial date first week of July what the fuck
I don't know Texas's premises liability law, but I can tell you that there'd be about a 0% chance that case would try in Federal Court here.
That's because they like their liability position. If it's a good one, they'll win summary judgment and pay 0% of your client's medical bills. If they lose summary judgment, they'll start negotiating with an eye to damages and it'll likely be enough to settle (especially with a 4th of July trial date).
Ha judge told them at the scheduling conference that she wouldn’t consider their summary judgment Defense counsel said might file on on an open and obvious condition and judge said if it was open an obvious you should’ve cleaned it up
A slip and fall with no jury selection on a holiday week sounds like a 5 minute defense verdict And a juror may key your car on the way out
I know I've said it before in this thread, but I remember in law school when I thought all Judges were the best of the best and the smartest in the room. Man was I naive Had oral arguments on an Oregon MSJ a few months back--modified comparative negligence, so if Plaintiff is over 50% she is barred from recovery. She was driving down the interstate, center lane of 3, in rush hour traffic. She sees ducks in the road, slams on brakes--goes from 60 to 0 mph in a matter of seconds. She's a veterinary tech and says she stopped because of her love of animals. Our guy can't stop in time, rear-ends her at about 20-25 mph. Have dashcam footage of the whole thing--he couldn't switch lanes because of cars on either side, just locked up his brakes and slid into her. She admitted to the cops she stopped because of ducks in the roadway. During her deposition, she admitted it. She also admitted that if she doesn't stop for ducks, the accident does not occur. In denying our MSJ, the Judge stated, "Mr. Nug, you're in a bad position because of this particular Plaintiff--she loves animals, you just have the ultimate eggshell skull Plaintiff. Anybody else and I like your position." I almost bit a fucking hole through my lip.
it's amazing to me that there is essentially no training besides job experience, which may be unrelated to that area of law for them.
Discovered this while practicing in AL--Alabama is the only state in the US that administers its workers' compensation scheme through the civil court system, whereas the other 49 states have specialized ALJs. So you have judges who have no idea about workers' compensation determining disability ratings, PT awards, etc. (and judges can overrule a doctor's opinion on impairment ratings); or the opposite--career work comp attorneys ruling on criminal cases, etc. Makes zero sense. Agree on all counts. It's traditionally been more merit based in Fed Courts, but the past couple years is trending in the wrong direction.
I currently work for a Colorado state court judge. She was doing big firm insurance stuff making a ton but hated it and then was a DA for 17 years. She is quite rich. She was also a National Park Ranger for like 6 years, so she is also a bad ass. At the same time, when new judges begin, they flounder for a long time and I agree that it is wild that they just get thrown in there was no help or guidance besides short convos with seasoned judges,
Sounds to me like the judge is pissed it got removed to his court and set a 6 month trial date to send defendant a message.
I didn’t want it to get removed trust me. Texas state courts are the Wild West Will probably start contributing the max to every judge next election cycle
I think a six month trial date in a premises case is favorable to the defendant. It needs one deposition; plaintiff will need several.
I have an issue with SoL for a PI case. Apparently the case was filed exactly 1 year + 1 day after the fall. I am struggling with how to word my research, limited to casemaker/google. How would ya'll word this? Applicable statute: KRS 413.140. I really hope I don't have to make an equitable tolling argument. Lead attorney seems to think there is a case that says the SoL starts or ends +1 day, but that doesn't sound right to me. edit Was able to find it using "statute of limitation computation of time." Apparently Ky has a statute stating the +1 day rule.
Anyone here have any experience with trying to pierce the corporate veil of a single member LLC to execute on a default judgment against the LLC by going after the house/personal assets of the single member of the LLC? I think I need to file a separate complaint against the llc to pierce the corporate veil based on facts learned in discovery on the second complaint, but it all is so foreign to me, being a defense attorney my entire career.
I have. When you say "separate complaint against the llc," do you mean separate from the one against the individual? If so, I think you'd generally want to operate under the same action. Your goal is more than likely going to be to show that the LLC/individual are one in the same, and that's going to be easier to do when you're in front of one judge on one action number. It's a pretty mushy, fact-driven process.
Also, you may not have to pierce the corporate veil to achieve your goal. If some of that property is held through the LLC, your state may allow you to get a charging order for their membership interest in the LLC (Alabama has a statute that lets you do this). You generally have to couple it with a garnishment.
does a homeowners policy cover assault by the homeowner? have a case where a dude beat the shit out of a uber driver and was charged with elder abuse i had a pi run an asset search and it looks like the guy doesn't have any assets even though he lives in a good part of houston and is c-level at a pretty big real estate investment firm in town. client really wants to sue the guy, and i spent like 1k on a pi and want to get my money back plus some.
I just remembered a case I had a long time ago where we argued that the plaintiff missed the statute by a day because one of the intervening years was a leap year. Haha. The court granted the motion but only because the pro se plaintiff failed to appear the hearing. Easily the most ridiculous (and likely wrong) argument I ever been a part of.
It depends on the policy. Most include some kind of exclusion for intentional acts. But, they'll normally still defend under a reservation of rights, so you'll have some chance at getting something out of the deal. Be careful, though, because you can litigate your way out of coverage by getting too greedy.
We already have a default judgment with liquidated damages against the LLC, which I should have mentioned initially. The whole reason we initiated the complaint against the LLC was because the sole member of the LLC sued my client (in his individual capacity as a former employee). During the investigation we learned that his LLC had a prior distribution agreement / relationship with my client before he became an employee. So I don’t really know where to go other than a separate complaint against LLC to try to pierce the corporate veil, considering all of our claims and allegations are assumed to be true now and we have liquidated damages. I checked the register of deeds in the county in which he lives to see if he llc owned any property and it does not, from what I have gathered.
Got it. It sounds like you're on the right track then. In Alabama, you can execute on personal property, so if your state is the same it might be worth looking to see if there are any vehicles, equipment, etc. belonging to the LLC. That'll probably be where you'll see a lot of comingling of funds, too.