Also. 3rd case this month I’ve had to dump because the client lied about a prior lawsuit against their homeowners insurance. Ugh. Great claim 2.
Do you Plaintiff counsel guys object on the basis of A/C when defense counsel asks your client in a depo of whether he knew of settlement demands / offers / correspondence between the insurer and the insured's counsel? Got a feeling the young attorney I am dealing with tomorrow is going to be an ass and make me get the judge on the phone.
Doesn't mean it's privileged "Were you aware we offered X?" probably OK "Did you attorney tell you we offered X?" probably not OK It's always a very thin line between the substance of an A-C convo and whether a convo actually occurred. I sometimes went this route as a young and ambitious associate when dealing with chiro's offices/plaintiff's orthos where the client only went there due to attorney steering.
To me, it's no different than when I was a defense attorney and the plaintiff would ask shit like, "Did your attorney tell you to hire personal counsel? Have they explained bad faith to you?" This is shit no client could possibly know the answer to other than hearing it from their attorney.
I think that's a lot different from settlement offers. I also don't think your questions are protected by A-C privilege, but would never be admissible. Obviously just to peeve the other side.
They're objectionable questions. Which is why I don't understand bro acting like he'd be put out if the plaintiff objects. I'd be more than happy to let him try to get a judge on the phone about that.
I think "did your counsel explain the law to you" is much different than " are you aware (insurer) requested additional records / bills / offered to settle for "x" " not only do I think the latter is protected by A/C, it is also clearly relevant when the other side is alleging unreasonable delay.
That's the point. You don't "have to" go to the judge. It's not a difficult argument for the plaintiff. Depo questions have to either be about admissible evidence, or reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Settlement negotiations are not, and can never be, admissible evidence in your case.
What do you gain by talking about whether your offer was communicated? In the history of plaintiffs, there has never been one who would answer that you’d offered enough/too much. If your only goal is to show up the other lawyer or drive a wedge between the A-C relationship, it’s not only objectionable, it’s patently unethical. I still think it’s privileged — how else could the client know about an offer communicated to his counsel?
Even if unreasonable delay is the issue, what do you gain from his testimony that he did or didn’t know about the offer? If you made the offer (or requested additional info/documents), evidence that you made it to his counsel is all to need. Seems like a great way to muddy the issue by getting testimony that he never knew.
Similar vein. OC I have mediated with a few times recently has started putting into his opening statement that if settlement isn’t reached at mediation and the case goes to trial, his client will be appealing the outcome which would delay any payment by years. Imo that’s a clear ethical violation to threaten an appeal to force a settlement. But the question becomes, how do I get him sanctioned. Technically everything said at mediation is confidential.
Agree on all accounts. Don’t understand any upside to that question, or line of questions. I communicate every offer to my clients, but if that gets asked, I’m instructing not to answer 10 out of 10.
You can't get him sanctioned for that. There's a way to send the same message he's conveying without being a dickhead but OC doesn't seem to care for nuance.
I disagree. There’s a difference between saying a potential appeal would delay payment and saying no matter what his client will appeal to delay paying.
I was defending a highly disputed liability death case where a co-defendant was pushing to do an opening which would’ve been 100% telling a widower how it was his own mistake not our clients’ that caused his wife’s death. I told him that if he gave that opening I was going to get up and walk out in the middle of it. The mediator said “yeah, I will too.”
I had one defendant pay me too quickly this month. Had to do some maneuvering to make sure the money doesn't bank until next week.
Now you know the pain. I’ve been negotiating a release for 2 months Defendant wants a $150,000 liquidated damages provision in the confidentiality section.
Lady calls for MVA today that happened on Dec 8th so I was already skeptical as most ppl already have lawyers by now. Was badly injured and bleeding from her head. Asked her what the police report said regarding liability. She said it said she was at fault. Told her to send it to me. Turns out she pulled out across a highway trying to get to the other side , ignoring an oncoming vehicle that was going the speed limit of 60 mph , and got smoked. And she had no car insurance. I mean I get calls all the time from meritless claims but still, people need to do better.
I've gotten responses stating that the settlement offer was not communicated, which allows us to raise a defense that Plaintiff's counsel "set up" bad faith litigation. Which is permissible in CO. Also, I want to know if Plaintiff knew the insurer requested medical bills and whether he made any attempt to track them down. Since they were not provided during the small life of the claim, I think it is relevant as to whether he was aware of my client's request for cooperation in adjusting the claim. this case involves a June 2022 accident, an immediate attorney retention, a demand + 30 day deadline set by Plaintiff's counsel to pay UIM limits, him refusing to give an extension when they did not provide any records / bills (just a back surgery consent form), and then them filing lawsuit 42 days after the accident. 3 days after suit was filed, without knowledge of the lawsuit, the insurer offered to limits despite the absence of medical bills. P's counsel said lawsuit had been instituted and would not entertain the limits payment. after we got the file, we got the insurer to send a check to P's counsel for limits. Breach of K claims are therefore gone. Obviously we have good facts to tee this up for a MSJ to dismiss the bad faith claims given that the insurer adjusted this in 45 days and did so without medical bills. But I'd like to get some depo testimony re: lack of awareness from the Plaintiff. I'll make sure to let you guys know how it goes.
I guess my point was that you already have that defense. What if the client has a perfect canned answer that fucks you?
I think you’d be better off asking him what he understands bad faith to be and what specifically the carrier did. He’ll explain it the way the lawyer explained it to him, which will be a setup. If he doesn’t, you at least get a timeline of events you can later challenge against the paper trail you have documented was done.
a guy i litigated a handful of cases with left being an in house allstate lawyer and started a mediation practice and it looks like hes like 80% booked through february. going from probably like 125k a year at allstate to $650/hr/party has to be a fucking dream
he's like a 25 year lawyer. some of the kids probably on like 75k but yeah theres a reason why all the insurance defenses bros live in fucking kingwood
so what's yalls take on this? got a call about someone who was in a wreck two days ago. progressive got to him and got him to sign a $1,500 release, but he mistakenly dated it for 2/2/23 is the release valid/enforceable?
I also remember there being a proposed bill in 2021 to make these kinds of releases unenforceable but I don’t think it passed
Managing partner of my firm, my old boss, just emailed me asking if I'd be interested in returning to full time work with a pretty nice raise. He has more than 100 MVA injury cases he's defending and is drowning. Dog I'm in a coffee shop in Mexico right now. lolwrongnumber
I'd throw an insane counter at him that is extremely favorable to you and the lifestyle you are currently living and see if he bites. He might be so desperate he gives you everything you want and more money.
I never intend to return to the full time practice of law. I billed 30 hours last week and was in hell.
that's what I'm saying though. Send him something that has you working 20 hour weeks or something and see what he says.
Oh got ya. That's basically what I already do. I've been contracting with that firm since October 2021 at about 20-25/hours week. It's a perfect set-up for me.
awesome lady is threatening to file a grievance because she just wants me to pay her all the money for her portion of the settlement as well as the portion allocated to her medical bills and that she will take care of the medical bills herself
Pay bills that have a statutory or other lien yourself, and then cut each check to her for the others with "for payment of ____" on the memo line. Get her to sign a release and indemnity, an acknowledgment that you've advised her what might happen if she doesn't pay the bills, etc.
pretty sure i'm headed for a grievance but hopefully it wont be that bad. money sitting in the trust account. we've been trying to work with her on paying everyone and shes basically refusing. like yeah i'd rather have a grievance filed that just give you all the money and a bunch of doctors start suing me. fuck that