that is awesome. i had 4-5 where they offered less then the cost of mediation when i got there. was fun
They didn’t bring anyone with authority to court-ordered mediation in that case and got hit with a bog excess at trial. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld $57k of the sanctions.
Day two of this mediation. Been here for 2.5 hours and the mediator hasn't come into our Zoom room once.
And that’s probably a compliment. He’s probably having to spend all his time with those who didn’t tell him shit in their position statement or otherwise have it evaluated wrong.
It's being "held" in California, so it didn't start until 11 am our time. And the mediator just came in and said this isn't going anywhere.
Just got a two page email from an adjuster telling me why my evaluation was wrong, finishing with this: My client has testified under oath that he had been drinking all afternoon and hit a plaintiff head-on while he was stopped at a stop sign. I asked for an additional $5k to get it settled.
Drinking all day and head-on collision and adjuster is talking about punitives being "possible?" Venue? Better pay that $5,000 and get out of there. That is unbelievably stupid.
Not bad, but not great venue. Shockingly, dude didn't get a DUI. But, he testified that he'd had 4-5 beers over about 3 hours of yard work.
You hear about "true believers" on the Pltf side -- where every minor rear-end is a crusade for justice, the type of PI guys you just roll your fucking eyes at -- my partner is the epitome of a "true believer" on the defense side. This is the same guy that calls all Claimants "fucking losers." I have a minor case that some young adjuster is gung-ho about. $15K in medicals, all soft-tissue, and about $10K in lost wages. Two tractor-trailers bumped each other at a truck stop. I asked for like $50K in authority to settle early, and the adjuster was completely offended, went over my head to my partner about such an "exorbitant amount." OK man, this is definitely the case we should go to the mat about. For this very minor admitted liability case, Plaintiff is requesting our driver's deposition. OK whatever, you're entitled to it. Unbeknownst to me, my partner got authority for both of us to prepare our driver, on a case the adjuster does not think is worth $50K. Cool. My asshole partner loves to do "good cop, bad cop," where he just drills the deponent (our client), and I have to defend the depo. So for the past 2.5 hours, I was defending OUR DRIVER against MY BOSS' deposition questions, where he just berates the guy for not remembering an accident that occurred more than 3 years ago. Went through his entire MVA file: you DON'T REMEMBER your 2012 speeding ticket? You DON'T REMEMBER your overweight ticket in 2015? And you think [XYZ Co.] should have hired you? I hate this fucking job.
Jefferson County has a differentiated case management plan where a scheduling order is entered in every case after an initial status conference sometime 2-6 months after service.
It's so crazy that even with insurance companies being multi billion dollar huge conglomerates, they care about saving $1,000 far more than my poor ass plaintiff cares about making another $1,000. It's ass backwards. Will never forget one case I had where policy limits was $250,000 and the adjuster kept nickel and diming me all the way until she was trying to get me to settle for $245,000. Saving any sort of money is a huge deal to them.
Did you know that if you have a FTCA case and your client has Tricare prime or Tricare For Life (and no medicare) that the government is entitled to a complete offset for past incurred medical? Completely didn't think about that in one of my cases where Plaintiff had $80k in past incurred medicals. Was thinking I could board and get $80k. Realizing the government/defendant is going to get a complete offset. Fuck me.
L He’s still a shareholder because he has an associate very profitably grinding billable hours on 300 requests for production he just received in one of those cases. Firm management loves to see billable hours and associate leverage like that.
every case should have a scheduling order. too many Georgia state court cases don’t have them and you get a defense lawyer disclosing an expert 3 days before trial.
I am still dealing with the dumbest lawyer on earth in a negligent security case he removed to federal court because he is the poster child for dunning Kruger effect. the lawyer for the underlying coverage is baffled why they haven’t paid us the remaining $5mm. with any lawyer worth a shit we would have settled already, but instead we have this dipshit associate and an aloof partner who can only be bothered if the case is about to be tried.
There's a big Florida defense firm that is embroiled in one of the batshit craziest things I've ever come across in the practice of law, and is a poster child for what happens when you name everyone a partner after two years just to collect those sweet partner hourly rates, but then don't watch what they're doing: https://www.law.com/dailybusinessre...o-go-chain-settles-suit-over-chairs-collapse/
Can you post the article? I too also guessed CSK. I got one of their associates sanctioned and the judge reported him to the bar for helping perpetrate a fraud on the court. He made partner.
I have the main filings that someone texted me in a PDF format, but don't know how to post it from my phone. I know the plaintiff's lawyer very well, too, and he's a good dude. Last I heard CSK was filing motions to have all of the pleadings sealed, but don't think it was granted.
With it being a bench trial, your judge is going to understand the setoff and know that your client's dollar one comes after it.
One of the two hands-down dumbest lawyers I’ve ever come across — and I’m not exaggerating when I say flat fucking dumb — is a partner in one of the South Florida offices. I’m talking dangerously dumb. I inherited a case she was handling and my mind was fucking blown at not only the utter incompetence, but the grossly obvious ethical lines she crossed because she didn’t understand basic conflict of interest concepts. I still to this day don’t comprehend how they manage to keep the clients that they do.
Unfortunately I don’t either. I have read some of the public filings that a friend sent me. The gist is that this lawyer represented Rooms to Go in a PI case. She scheduled a mediation, showed up with a TPA and entered into a settlement with the plaintiff for like $325,000. Sounds normal, right? Well, here’s the problem. RTG didn’t pay the settlement within 20 days. Plaintiff lawyer files all kinds of motions as RTG seemingly drags its feet. The defense lawyer then agrees to a consent judgment for $550k to resolve all issues, including attorneys fees. When RTG still doesn’t pay, the plaintiff lawyer proceeds with a writ of execution and starts taking possession of shit from a RTG store to satisfy the judgment. RTG corporate gets contacted and it turns out that they had no earthly idea about any mediation or settlement. While the defense lawyer was getting it set up, she was writing totally separate letters to RTG saying that mediation was going to be coordinated many months later. Lawyer shows up to mediation with a person who was presented as a third party adjuster, except that was fake. The person wasn’t even a TPA. And when they settled the case, the defense lawyer was still telling RTG that she’s working on getting a mediation scheduled.
Is this the follow up? https://www.law.com/dailybusinessre...-allegedly-falsifying-checks-lying-to-client/ And can somebody post it?
If you send me DM with your cell — and some dick pics, too — I can forward you the PDF file that lays out the story.
Had a panic attack last night and went looking through the bills at like 8pm and turns out medicare paid most of them not tricare. Looks like Tricare maybe paid 20% of them. I'll take that all day compared to what I was afraid of. There was a med mal case a few years ago in the Federal Northern District of MS against a VA doc where he really fucked someone up. The damages were in the millions. There was a huge set off for past medical expenses because tricare paid almost all of it. However, future medical expenses were different. The Plaintiff argued, and I think this is brilliant, that there is no gaurantee that the money will even be around in the federal treasury to even pay all these future medical expenses and that was tricare will pay is very speculative and can't be determined with certainty. It's a complex billing process. The government even called a tricare billing specialist live to the stand to try to rebut these arguments. The court in the opinion stated that the tricare specialists testimony wasn't very helpful lol. Even with the tricare specialist's testimony it was pretty unclear what Tricare would pay on future medicals. So the Defendant/Govnt didn't get a setoff for future medical which I think was 7 figures.
Did your theoretical departure might or might not have something to do with your alleged handling of a PI case against Rooms to Go?
I have a case with a fucking $50K policy that's close to settling. Rather than just asking for limits, same boss wants to "push for $48K, we'll look like champs to [the carrier]." I don't understand nickel and dime-ing like this your whole career. Like, how in the hell are you into your third decade of practicing law, and your dick still gets hard from saving a carrier $2,000? Miserable existence.
This is insane. Like, what was the end game? What did she think could possibly happen? Where did she think the money would come from? What's the plaintiff's recourse? The settlement is still good due to apparent authority and tough shit for RTG?
That is absolutely insane. Has to be some serious personal issues because there's no end game there at all. Bizarre.
I feel like insane shit like that happens way more with Plaintiff lawyers and very rarely with insurance defense lawyers.
Cole Scott is literally the biggest bunch of fucking idiots in the state of Florida. some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever had to put up with in practicing law has come from them. Every single one acts like they’re some phenomenal lawyer and plays tough guy on the simplest things.
I’m reading that motion and it is fucking WILD. What the hell was this lady thinking? She had to have been having a breakdown of some sort and was planning on fucking off to Costa Rica or something.