Lawyer thread

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

  1. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    I've been having to file suit on a lot of my soft tissue MVA cases but I'm getting a decent amount of them settled without having to do serious litigation. They usually throw enough additional money on them after I file suit and serve defendant to get it done.
     
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  2. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    This isn’t in-house or anything, so it’s definitely not going to be cheaper. They could settle this case for $10k, but are going to pay to try it? Its possible that I might not get that much at trial, but I will get a verdict. I don’t get the strategy. It doesn’t make sense for either party. I’m about to start racking up expenses that will make it harder for me to settle, and they are paying for their defense the whole time and will have to pay me something eventually.
     
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  3. herb.burdette

    herb.burdette Meet me at the corner of 8th and Worthington
    Donor
    Ohio State Buckeyes

    Do you any sense of whether they are giving different offers to different firms?

    I wonder if they know smaller firms don’t have a deep bench of trial attorneys but still depend upon volume case turnover. Squeeze those firms with too many trials and settlements go down because it skews the business model.

    It was an asbestos strategy for years for nonmalignant cases. You had some dockets with nonmalignant claims running 50-1 to cancers.

    Force all of the minimal injury cases to trial and turn the volume as a defense strategy by stressing the ability of plaintiffs to try them all.

    Treat the real cases much differently.
     
  4. Gallant Knight

    Donor
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    Allstate doesnt care who the plaintiff lawyer is. Went to lunch pre pandemic with a guy who popped them for like $300k on a case he would’ve settled for like $40 and they still aren’t making him any reasonable offers
     
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  5. nexus

    nexus TMB’s TSO
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    The fuck is this shit?
     
  6. Gallant Knight

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    All of ours don’t get sent to in house anymore because we are actually going to go to trial versus some folks who file and then just settle
     
  7. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member

    it doesn't make any sense but the adjuster is running the show and if they get it in their heads that it's only worth 2500, they will go to trial. They see "legal costs" as a different pile of money from "settlement funds". They don't mind spending 50k in legal costs if it saves them 10k from "settlement funds"
     
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  8. Bricktop the white

    Bricktop the white Well-Known Member

    In florida, virtually everything in a city with a staff counsel office goes to staff counsel unless its an obvious excess situation (death/crippling injury) or the limits have been tendered and rejected. Dunno why they would be picking and choosing to send out cases in texas.
     
  9. Gallant Knight

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    100%

    But they’re also starting to pay a bunch of defense lawyers flat fees per case

    to everyone in here who does PI insurance defense y’all need to start saving for a rainy day. MVAs are down SIGNIFICANTLY. And a bunch of dunbass plaintiff lawyers live way above their means and are going to start settling pre lit for 60-70% of a case value just to get cash.
     
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  10. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Have MSJ oral arguments over Zoom this morning, first time putting on a suit since early March.

    My suit shirt is tucked into my gym shorts.
     
  11. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    I think there's going to be a 2-3 year lag until we see it, but I agree that it's coming. Out West a bunch of the SOL are 3 years instead of 2, so I'm seeing a lot of 2017-18 accidents being filed recently. 2022-23 will be a weird year, would expect lawsuits to go down a lot.
     
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  12. Gallant Knight

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    There will definitely be a lag. But it’s going to get ugly.
     
  13. herb.burdette

    herb.burdette Meet me at the corner of 8th and Worthington
    Donor
    Ohio State Buckeyes

    I saw the first Covid-19 premises liability case filed this week. Plaintiff claims they were exposed in a restaurant which was not enforcing capacity, distancing, or mask directives issued by the state board of health and by the city.

    Under state law, an injury arising from the failure of a premises owner to follow building codes is negligent per se.

    Plaintiff is arguing that the Covid-19 requirements are health code regulations entitled to the same presumption.
     
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  14. bwi2

    bwi2 Not affiliated with BWI
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    Did they have to plead anything more on causation than claim exposure was at the restaurant?
     
  15. herb.burdette

    herb.burdette Meet me at the corner of 8th and Worthington
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    I’m not sure. I don’t defend the underling claims.

    Seems like they need to prove the virus was there, either that an employee tested positive or other customers did.

    If they find an employee who was positive at the place, seems like a viable theory to me.
     
  16. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    I dunno. Seems like an impossible causal link to prove.
     
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  17. bwi2

    bwi2 Not affiliated with BWI
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    would think it would be heavily plaintiff dependent. A plaintiff who generally abided by social distancing measures and this was the only place where they removed their mask in public might be able to prove it. But that kind of plaintiff seems unlikely to be someone who would eat at an overcrowded restaurant.
     
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  18. CoastalOrange

    CoastalOrange Well-Known Member
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    Goal- have a draft cover letter by start of business Tuesday.
     
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  19. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Yeah, maybe, but I wouldn't take that case.
     
  20. herb.burdette

    herb.burdette Meet me at the corner of 8th and Worthington
    Donor
    Ohio State Buckeyes

    If they prove that both the virus and themselves were on premises, along with injury from a Covid infection, I think it goes to trial on causation.

    If violation of Covid health regulations by the restaurant is negligence per se, summary judgment is out and again the jury determines causation.

    Typically, assumption of risk is not a valid defense to a safety code violation. If an establishment goes over capacity for occupants and has a fire, the owner does not get to argue plaintiffs assumed that risk. If a restaurant was over restricted Covid capacity with more than 50% dine in, it should be the same result.

    Even an open and obvious defense is tough to win if you factor 2-3 days that a virus can be viable on premises. A plaintiff could be there at 15% capacity when all employees are wearing masks and still catch it from something that occurred yesterday.
     
  21. herb.burdette

    herb.burdette Meet me at the corner of 8th and Worthington
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    Ohio State Buckeyes

    Take cases in which plaintiffs have real and substantial injuries, then figure it out.

    There are a dozen ways to get past summary judgment, but a sympathic plaintiff with lung damage is the real concern for jury.
     
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  22. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Defense and indemnity come from different pots of money.
     
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  23. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    He's in Alabama, which is a contributory negligence state. That case would be a definite turndown here.

    Then there's also this:

    http://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/legal/assets/soe-covid19-liability-protection-050820.pdf
     
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  24. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    You'd have to get an infectious disease doctor to say more likely than not you got it from said restaurant. Then defense would bring in 3 infectious disease doctors to say you couldve gotten it from a billion other places. If you're in a conservative county it would be tough. If the restaurant wasn't following any of the policies then jury could pop them even if the causal link is debatable. If you can get an infectious disease doc to give you causation then you'll at least get past MSJ and make a jury issue of it.
     
  25. DDB

    DDB Some men just want to watch the world burn
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    Can anyone recommend a good malpractice attorney in Bham?
     
  26. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    Alabama Crimson TideBoston Red Sox

    Medical?
     
  27. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    Alabama Crimson TideBoston Red Sox

    Sure, but I’d think that would still factor into the analysis at some point, right? I mean ultimately when you won’t settle a clear liability case where the demand is very reasonable, it would seem to me that money is getting wasted from one of those pots.
     
  28. DDB

    DDB Some men just want to watch the world burn
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    Yes sir.
     
  29. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    Don’t know the situation, but most of good ones won’t take a case unless it’s death or permanent injury.

    If you’ve got that, Marsh, Rickard and Bryan would be my first stop, Belt and Bruner do good work on med mal cases too.
     
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  30. DDB

    DDB Some men just want to watch the world burn
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    Thank you sir.
     
  31. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Not really. Defense costs are pretty consistent and predictable on the macro level for insurance carriers. They aren’t really analyzed on a “per file” basis. Once it gets to litigation, there’s a defense cost. It’s not really correlated to the indemnity reserves. A fatality case doesn’t necessarily cost that much more to defend than a soft-tissue injury.
     
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  32. Gallant Knight

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    Lol doc is offering opinions on medical records that aren’t in his report and aren’t mentioned by defendants in their disclosures that they gave to him

    also offered input on what the bills should be without reviewing the bills

    I don’t even know if I need to be here this guy is going to get struck
     
  33. Gallant Knight

    Donor
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    Now a second set of medical records that aren’t in the report
     
  34. Gallant Knight

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    Oh my god

    he owns an mri facility and admitted to having different fee schedules for different insurance companies
     
  35. (Z)

    (Z) Well-Known Member
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    Man, colonel_forbin , I didn't realize what a great deal y'all had on BC/BS insurance up there. I'm joining your bar association.
     
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  36. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    The owning his own MRI facility is good fodder for cross, but they all have different fee schedules for different payors.
     
  37. Gallant Knight

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    ....you can’t have more than one fee schedule

    you have definitely have different reimbursement rates
     
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  38. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    I think you can. Medicare sets a maximum fee schedule, but there is nothing stopping you from making your retail charges less than that (or more if you don't accept medicare).
     
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  39. Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all

    Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all Putting big balls in little holes, circa 1995
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    Yay! I can contribute to this thread.

    In Texas Ins Code 552.003 makes it a crime to charge different rates for the same service, only if they are charging the higher rate because they know that specific insurance will pay more based on the higher charge.

    In practice, its not really relevant because nobody works off % of billed charges anymore and its all contractually negotiated on each CPT code. As long as you charge over the contracted reimbursement amount, you are going to get the same payment. So if you charge $2,000 or $2,500 per CPT 70553, BC/BS is still only going to pay their contracted rate (for me it would be ~$300). But in general, you want to have a single fee schedule that covers the highest contracted rate per CPT code (we charge 3x medicare allowable on all procedures) and then have a time of service discount for cash pay patients.
     
  40. Gallant Knight

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    :)
     
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  41. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Yeah I think there was a push to make that the standard in other parts of the state too.
     
  42. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    RJF-GUMP I saw there was a pretty substantial car wreck verdict in Hancock County recently.
     
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  43. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    yep. Read a transcript this morning from our trial lawyer list serve of the plaintiff lawyer crossing the defense medical examiner. Plaintiff lawyer did a good job of showing financial bias. Sounds like it was a good underlying case though. Substantial wreck, substantial injuries including burst fracture in spine, uninsured motorist coverage etc. The UM carrier was identified as an insurance company IIRC. Defense had like 6 lawyers and plaintiff had 2. Hancock County , and really anywhere on the coast , is a tough venue, so that's a great verdict.
     
  44. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    Had a sheriff deputy contact me for a workers comp case earlier today. Got hit head on by some dude on meth. Needs two knee surgeries and fucked up his nose. Had to have surgery on his nose and his nose is still crooked. Back and neck injury as well. Just assumed he already had a lawyer for the MVA case but somehow he didn't. Signing him up for the personal injury case as well. I'm guessing the Sheriff Department has a really nice UM policy with stacking. I bet there is $1M in coverage. This could be a huge case.
     
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  45. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Based on the verdict reporter, the insurance companies were not identified. They just participated in the defense of the tortfeasor.
     
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  46. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    I thought this was particularly funny:

    8ACD9DF0-8A59-4ABC-B1C8-24119D6C3126.png
     
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  47. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    I got my verdict reporter two days ago with this case covered. I need to go read it. I didn't know he got their billing expert struck. That is awesome. I wonder if it was on the grounds of collateral source or what.
     
  48. Sammy Meatballs

    Sammy Meatballs DeBoer on the Floor
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    probably that they’re all lying idiots
     
  49. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Had my first in-person hearing since COVID today in a small federal courthouse. Felt awesome to practice standing up again.
     
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  50. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    So you wore pants?
     
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