Spoiler I was speaking with a partner at another office where I worked. Nobody (at least in my old office) understands why she did that. It’s just assumed at this point that she just went crazy.
Have a case where opposing counsel found out about an old wreck that my client was in from an auto insurance exchange. They then sent a subpoena to the exchange which then produced letters from an old lawyer that represented plaintiff in that old car wreck, medical records relating to the wreck, the settlement documents including a release. I wonder if there are any hippa issues involved in that, privilege/confidentiality issues etc that would allow me to keep those materials out.
Defense lawyer today: 62 search terms and multiple email accounts is too burdensome for my company that collects $60mm plus in rent each year. They do not have in-house IT. But I hand picked a few of the terms and a couple accounts, that’s more than sufficient. corporate rep a month ago: we have in-house IT. His name is Edward. We didn’t search for ESI at all. Joint preliminary report: the parties agree to search ESI. He’s got a few more days to respond to my motion to compel but I actually may die from laughter if I get to write the reply to it if he says that in his response.
what is a joint preliminary report? Sounds similar to a Case Management Order in Federal Court. Federal rules basically require you to preserve and produce ESI these days
that’s what it is. Just the rule 26 scheduling conference and resulting joint preliminary scheduling order
I can dig into it at some point but I feel like I heard or read recently that the newest FRCP required preservation of ESI.
HR is requesting vaccination status of all attorneys, lots of emails about returning to normal. The end is nigh. Fuck me.
a little stressed that we only had 1 new case this week. apparently girls signed up three others and i guess waited until today to tell me. 1 of them is a commercial MVA and the other is a dude on a motorcycle where someone pulled out in front of him and he went flying through the other guys windshield and the guy just kept driving for awhile
I may have to retire after today. Nothing can ever top this. someone filed a motion to compel against me saying I didn’t disclose the name of an investigator that had taken statements and then asked their witnesses if they had given statements to that person. it is the defendant’s own investigator.
i am going to respond by copying and pasting their own rog answers and ask for the judge to award me 45 seconds of time at $500 per hour.
The guy who was #1 in my class has apparently started doing PI work. He sent me a rule 37 letter with a 7-day deadline for discovery he never served.
if you ever read a state trial lawyer's listserv you'd realize that about 90% of Plaintiff's lawyers should go do something else it's absolutely insane some of the questions that get posted
an underrated part of the discovery responses I'm having to review in order to respond to this motion in the funniest way possible they all object and say that these questions attempt to "illicit" attorney client privileged information.
Interesting trend as we slowly return to the normal world of jury trials. Seems to me that plaintiffs are not only winning more frequently, but also scoring bigger verdicts that we saw pre-pandemic. This is obviously based on my own subjective observation right now, but I’m seeing more and more plaintiff lawyers posting recent verdicts on social media and there aren’t that many cases bing tried.
in houston it's a fucking bloodbath for plaintiff's lawyers because the only people showing up for jury duty were maga anti-vaxers. i've dealt with the same in house allstate, state farm, geico lawyers for years and they've all told me to get continuances and don't go down there because they're getting no negligence verdicts regularly.
We had a ~$1.5 million jury verdict in the local federal court in March for a slip and fall at a non-Walmart national grocery chain. The Plaintiff lawyers were good lawyers for sure, but the verdict was eye-popping to me based on the fact pattern (pre-trial offer was less than $100k). According to the Plaintiff firm, they claimed it was the highest-ever verdict in business premises liability case in Texas federal court.
After everyone posted in here about Allstate offering more money, I sent a demand. They countered with the same amount they previously offered 6 months ago. Pretty awesome.
This was my assumption, too, about the folks showing up basically being the same ones who still calm it the China virus and think it’s just a regular flu. The flip side though is that most experts we use are university-affiliated “elites,” and I can see that group of people thinking they’re all full of shit deep state actors.
Here, they've just started turning people away once they get to the max number that jury assembly can hold while maintaining appropriate social distancing. So, the jury pool is made up of the people who showed up the earliest. Those typically aren't the people who will be giving out big verdicts.
We're still giving away money and readjusting the equities in my part of the world, but that's no different than pre-pandemic.
Went to multiple clients today to get bottom line settlement authority. Both clients had way too high bottom lines. Beating down your client's expectations and trying to get them to be reasonable is exhausting. What they want after attorneys fees are deducted is often way more than the total the carrier is willing to pay.
The part I love is when they're like "I'll take $xxxx.xx....BUT ONLY IF THEY PAY YOUR FEES TOO!" That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.
In the back of my mind I'm wondering if they're going to fire me for telling them the truth or telling them why their case isn't worth X. Through the years ppl have fired their lawyers and called me because they didn't like what their lawyer was telling them regarding settlement.
My next favorite thing is after they lecture me about getting the money quickly when we settle and they don't answer their phone/email to sign the necessary documents to get their money.
Learned a new one today-Plaintiff is hit by an uninsured motorist while driving a motorcycle. Plaintiff's motorcycle did not have UM coverage. Plaintiff has an automobile policy with 2 vehicles on the policy including UM coverage. Researched it. Under MS Law the UM carrier is on the hook even if there is an exclusion in the policy for injuries occurring while driving vehicles not listed on the policy. Signed him up.
Had one of those today. It’s a fair offer so I told him he could hire me but at most he’ll have to wait a month or more for an extra $1,000-$2,500 in the settlement.
I don't know anything about MS law, but wouldn't that be contrary to the public policy underlying the owned auto/vehicle exclusion? Why would you insure the motorcycle with UM in the first place if coverage extends without it. Again, know nothing about MS law.
I agree with you. My first thought was that their would be a valid exclusion. But I researched it and talked to other plaintiff lawyers on a list serve and I think I'm good. So I'm rolling with it. Generally here if you have UM you can be sitting in your living room and get hit by an uninsured driver and your UM kicks in. They lean hard towards inclusion not exclusion for public policy reasons. I.e. in favor of insured not insurer.
We settled a UM case last year where this happened. Multiple UM policies from different carriers, too.
I had a spectator in a drag racing case several years ago. Every week I found out there was another UM policy from a different carrier. Easiest/best case of my life.
Of course, but only if you want to spend enough money to get it reversed on appeal. Contrib isn't an issue in this jurisdiction. Next jury that considers it will be the first.
That would be the opposite of how a carrier would look at it here. If the law is on their side, regardless of spending money and appeals, they will take that position from the outset. The jury issue is a different animal though.
From what I can tell contrib isn't as scary for Plaintiffs in Alabama as it would seem. On its face it would seem to wipe out half of claims.
This is the wild west. If you can settle a case here, you do it. The analysis can be different when you're talking about large policies, but $50,000 or so UM/UIM? Usually that's getting paid out.
Your negligence has to contribute to causing the accident, and it's an affirmative defense on which the defendant carries the burden. So, it's not as much the bar that adjusters seem to think.
I am at the 1 year mark in terms of waiting for a ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment in a major case. I've filed a motion to set it for trial to try and get it moving . I've emailed the admin several times to try to get a phone conference. A former judge that is a practicing attorney was assigned to this case because all the circuit judges recused. I guess my next option is to write the judicial performance board or file some sort of interlocutory appeal. I can't get the judge to rule on the motion , set the case for trial, get on the phone, or even get his admin to call me back. What in the hell do you do in this situation? What's the longest you've waited on a MSJ ruling? This wreck occurred in 2016. I'm worried about losing witnesses and evidence. It's a bench trial and he's the finder of fact too I have $44k in the case so would be nice to get it moving.
I have a federal case on appeal now that was filed in 2005. This is our first appeal. We closed discovery in 2011 and have had seven summary judgment, reconsideration, or bench trial written decisions.
Wait, what? So you've had something like: 1. SJ opinion 2. Overturned on reconsideration 3. SJ opinion or verdict 4. Overturned on reconsideration 5. SJ opinion or verdict 6. Overturned on reconsideration 7. SJ opinion or verdict 8. Appeal?????
We completed over 500 pages of summary judgment briefing which then resulted in four different summary judgment decisions over the course of 18 months after completion. One of the parties moved for reconsideration, which the set in motion another round of substantial briefing and a decision. We submitted trial briefs upon a bench trial, which were another round of briefing and a decision. One of the parties filed post trial motions which were again substantial briefing and resulted in the final decision. We eventually knocked out all 27 claims against my client and we are defending it on appeal.