Lawyer thread

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Jax Teller, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. Pelican Grove

    Pelican Grove You know me
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    I have a random question:

    How often will PT’s take a motion for nonsuit filed by defendants in a trial? I understand a lot of circumstances are different for each case. Just wondering if it’s common or not.
     
  2. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member

    My boss at my new firm has a farm that his wife rents out as a wedding venue.

    a person scheduled their wedding for march of this year. The government had not shut down any mass gatherings when his wedding was scheduled but he asks to reschedule. Venue says "of course just tell us when". he replies that they will pick a date but they are fine going out until 2021 if they have to.

    2 months later he elopes and now is filing a lawsuit against the venue demanding a full refund citing "impossibility doctrine" and "exigent circumstances (covid)". He rejected our offer to refund half his money.

    of course he's a lawyer. He just assumed he would be able to bully the venue not knowing who owns it.

    cant wait till we get the actual lawsuit and i get to slam dunk his ass with a motion for summary judgement and sanctions.
     
  3. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    The venue should refund him. :twocents:
     
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  4. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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    what sanctions would you file for, and why?
     
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  5. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member

    they absolutely shouldn't. He accepted their offer to reschedule to any date he wanted. Regardless, impossibility doctrine doesn't apply because there was no government prohibition on mass gatherings and there existed a bunch of acceptable substitutes.
     
  6. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    So, you're relying on an oral contract modification with uncertain terms? That's going to be a fact issue.
     
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  7. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member


    it's in writing in an email chain where he accepted the offer to substitute the date.

    Regardless, covid was a known threat all the way back in January. They didn't ask to reschedule until 3 days before the event in march.
     
  8. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    It might not have a legal duty to refund, but no one is going to feel sorry for the venue here. I guess if you're not having to pay an attorney and you want to fight it on principle it's worth it, but paying a refund would be the correct way to handle this.
     
  9. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    And you're not getting fucking sanctions.
     
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  10. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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    Shit was very different in the US in March vs January. especially from a perception and public knowledge stand point
     
  11. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    My boss failed a stress test yesterday and is having heart surgery tomorrow. He’s putting in a full day at the office today.
     
  12. Pelican Grove

    Pelican Grove You know me
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    Sounds about right
     
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  13. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member

    he just called us back to settle it so i guess we won't get to find out.
     
  14. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    How much of a refund are y'all paying? 1/2 or 3/4?
     
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  15. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member


    2/3rds
     
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  16. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    For those of you who primarily do Plaintiff's work, how common is it to offer "emergency financial assistance" to a client? And, if so, what would be a normal limit for that? I don't think that the model rules of professional conduct allow for it, but Alabama's rule 1.8(e)(3) provides:

    Gallant Knight RJF-GUMP Sammy Meatballs colonel_forbin BUstang @z
     
  17. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    Our rules of professional conduct say they have to be a client for 60 days first, you have to write the bar and tell them you're giving it, you can only give $1500, and the client has to pay you back at the end. It is much more common to provide money for medical assistance than "financial assistance". I don't do either of them that often. I have provided money for clients in big cases that were going to get evicted etc and followed all the guidelines from the MRPC. I think some of the big billboard firms are paying for a ton of their client's medical treatment when the client has no health insurance fyi.
     
    #10967 RJF-GUMP, Aug 27, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2020
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  18. Gallant Knight

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    lol at trying to get sanctions against someone asking for a refund on a wedding venue due to covid.

    that could've backfired pretty fucking quickly.
    i never do. I refer them to oasis
     
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  19. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    That makes a lot of sense, and seems totally reasonable. I couldn't find a bar opinion on it here.
     
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  20. Gallant Knight

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    Except for the $10,000 in wal mart gift cards I sent to the guy in port Arthur who was paralyzed by a uhaul
     
  21. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    I periodically buy a shit ton of visa gift cards for staff that secure google reviews from happy clients and the store is always makes me sign some acknowledgement about fraud because of the amount of the gift cards.
     
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  22. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    Had a buddy from a trial lawyer group ask me to be local counsel in a mass tort case with a Mississippi client. Doesn't sound like he's going to ask me to do much. What do you charge for something like that? A flat fee or a tiny percentage? I have no clue.
     
  23. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    They don’t want you sending money to scammers
     
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  24. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    Settled a premises case for $180,000 today. Had $49,000 into the case so was glad to stop the bleeding.
     
  25. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    My old boss did it quite a bit. Mostly with WC clients that couldn't make it on the reduced weekly paycheck.

    He did it once for like $45k. He got a verdict and the other side appealed for a new trial, but he went ahead and fronted some of the client's portion. I was like, uh, dude, what if they win on appeal, get a new trial, and you lose or get less??? Thet thought didn't even cross his mind.
     
  26. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Also he didn't tell the other partners he did it until after the fact. So,yeah, that one was an issue.
     
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  27. Gallant Knight

    Donor
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    How did you spend that much
     
  28. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    I had a architect expert for building code, an egineer for coeeficient of friction/accident reconstruction/safety engineer, a life care planner, and an economist. Client was in Arkansas and none of her treating docs would talk to me so got an IME doctor in Little Rock so that was more money. Took a bunch of depositions. It adds up quick.
     
  29. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Holy shit at $45k. That seems to go against the spirit of “emergency financial assistance.”
     
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  30. soulfly

    soulfly Well-Known Member
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    There’s no reason for there to be downtime switching between jurors. Get a bunch of them in on the meeting, explain general rules to them all at once, then place them all in the zoom waiting room and bring them in by the groups of 5. Have a set time frame so that everyone knows when they can expect rhetoric group to be called upon. That way people can dip out and return and they’ll just be placed into the zoom waiting room until admitted.
     
  31. Gallant Knight

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    Why wouldn’t he just send them to a funding company?
     
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  32. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    funding companies won't give someone 45k that i've ever seen and they will charge the fuck out of them in interest. not advocating giving a client 45k. but that would be at least a few reasons why that wouldn't work with oasis or momentum.
     
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  33. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    Oh absolutely.

    We actually put in our contract now that we will not make loans to the client.
     
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  34. Gallant Knight

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    Can buy a decent horse for 45,000
     
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  35. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    I’m truly baffled at $45k. I assumed people were going to say a couple grand at the most.
     
  36. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    I was referred a case from a big advertising firm after they had it for a while, they spent over $10,000 on medical treatment paying providers directly before I ever had the case.
     
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  37. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    What’d the provider claim as their “charges”?
     
  38. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    The billing statement showed that the firm was billed directly I believe . I can't remember. It came up in the depositions. I guess that's a collateral source issue. Not sure if you could keep that from a jury or not.
     
  39. Gallant Knight

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    :)
     
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  40. Sammy Meatballs

    Sammy Meatballs DeBoer on the Floor
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    seems like a great way to open the door to financial discovery into the relationship between the firm and the provider
     
  41. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    That is what happened. During the deposition of my client they were asking about it. I objected to collateral source but I didnt think I had grounds to instruct her not to answer. It also caught me off guard because I had no clue the former firm did that and it surprised me that they would pay for that much shit.

    But I've seen rulings in several states other than MS that a medical funding companies' payment of Plaintiff's medical bills was admissible and the jury was allowed to know that a funding company paid the bills. I'm not aware of a ruling like that in MS but I know some of my colleagues have been fighting it in motion practice.
     
  42. BUstang

    BUstang Lawyer

    Often. Texas ethics rules allow lawyers to loan for living expenses.
     
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  43. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    How much grey area is there to "living expenses?" Is that like paying their utility bills or is it like buying them a car?
     
  44. BUstang

    BUstang Lawyer

    I guess it depends on the lawyer but I am usually pretty stringent. I make them show me what their monthly budget is and we give them the absolute minimum. If you loan a lot it looks bad in depos, especially if they have mediocre injuries.
     
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  45. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    ew
     
  46. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    Very seldom. Too many people try to abuse it.
     
  47. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    Please tell me you have caught a lawyer that is basically paying the client to get his/her case.
     
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  48. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    I'm involved in a couple cases against the same defendant that involve a few overlapping facts. The defendant and his lawyer have apparently failed to look very closely at their different production in the two cases.

    We now know for a fact that the defendant backdated at least one critical document (and probably forged it) in one case, which makes one of the documents produced in the other case completely fraudulent.

    I think things are going to go well in those cases.
     
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  49. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Got a thread I'm going to start pulling.
     
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  50. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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    Have a case (insurance defense) where Plaintiffs are Husband and Wife under a insurance policy.

    Not only did they file the lawsuit, but they've answered written discovery.

    We've been repeatedly pressing for a signed verification from the husband related to the roggs he responded to.

    5-6 months into litigation, they file a Motion to Drop Misjoined Party. They want to drop the husband from the lawsuit because of a recent divorce.

    “[Husband] is not represented by undersigned counsel and did not participate in the filing of this lawsuit.”

    Pretty much go on to say they haven't been representing the husband this whole time. In spite of the Complaint. And Discovery.


    Pretty safe to say the Plaintiff's firm we are dealing with is a shit show.