Apex had a 15 year old roofer fall off a roof and sue not too long ago. OSHA hit them with like $200k in fines.
Also having to travel for a deposition is just the worst. People who insist on doing an in person depostion now should be launched into the sun.
Some depositions have to be done in person, document intensive depos or a witness that you need to question live to see how they will play at trial. My bigger problem is judges having attorneys attend status conferences or most oral arguments live.
I get the part about needing to see a trial witness. I do not get the documents part. How are documents not easier to share for a video depo on zoom?
I have had a lot of depositions with witnesses who pretend not to understand the document platforms or have computer issues. It wastes a ton of time, particularly if you are in federal court and pushing up against 7 hours in a complex case.
A cashier's check is made payable to "John Doe and Jane Smith." The parties have no agreement as to what will ultimately happen with the funds, or how to split them. Nevertheless, both John and Jane endorse the back of the check without qualification, and -- with John's knowledge and consent -- Jane deposits it into her individual bank account. If the funds are still in the account, does John have an ownership interest in them? If the funds have been spent, does John have a claim against Jane for money-had-and-received or something?
that bottles my mind. Lots of hours tho! I haven't stepped foot in a courtroom or an office in three years now. But have taken and defended numerous depositions and attended a ton of mediations. Handful of court hearings, too, but those aren't nearly as prevalent in OR and WA as they are in the South. Really only for MSJs, most motions are without oral argument.
Oh c'mon! IIRC, the endorsement by both without qualification turned it into "bearer paper" so that the "owner" is whoever "bears" it. But IDK. I'm trying to turn down a case and send the guy packing with some explanation of why.
I hear you. Normally, I’d be handling this remote, but these are 30(b)(6) and apex witnesses in a decent exposure class action. It warrants special treatment, and it’s what the client expects.
Tried a case in Galveston last week with Tony. Arose from a $15k first party insurance claim as a result of Harvey. Ins. Co. fucked with my guy from the beginning; demanding documents, receipts, etc. He had nothing. They sued him to "force compliance" with the policy. The appraisal ultimately went in his favor to the tune of $7k. But, they wouldn't drop their dec action for atty fees because "he took too long to comply." So they turned his $7k award into a $70k demand for their fees. Jury popped the ins. co. for $863k~ in bad faith. Smug bastards.
Today shall be a good day. Just settled an MVA for $190,000. Health insurance subro at a whopping $365.00.
Nice! Meanwhile, I just got the lien info on a delayed cancer diagnosis case and the client’s ERISA policy paid close to $1 million that they’ll be claiming a lien on. Ugh.
He spent the entire weekend drafting a 23 page behemoth of a response that essentially repeated the same two points again and again. Unfortunately the case wasn't called to trial.
It's really hard to get cases set for trial with the court's calendar and OC's calendar. I managed to only get 2 jury trials set for 2023. Another 5 or 6 got mucked up for the aforementioned reason. Trying my hardest to get some jury trials in here.
There’s a mandate to get cases moving in Florida, so once the defendant answers the complaint the court issues an immediate trial order whether you noticed the case for trial or not.
It’s great for med mal or any other more complex type case because by the time I’ve filed a complaint I’m all but ready for trial. Really forces defendants to mediation early.
Depends on the county. But in Palm Beach for example, I filed a case in December and was put on a July docket. In Miami it was about 11 months and Ft. Lauderdale was 10 months.
Just saw a $1M jury verdict, all general damages, come through Kentucky in a botched IV case where the IV fluid extravasated causing compartment sydrome. I have a very similar case with extravasation of IV following botched IV placement with pain, then compartment syndrome with swelling, then a carpel tunnel release and permanent nerve damage.
It actually wasn’t him. It was the higher ups at PN that were problems. It is amazing what an actual really good mediator can do.
Most of the state Is like that. In (Z) ‘s venue they call the docket twice a year and I just say it’s ready and hope the defense lawyer is too scared to disagree.
I’ve never mediated a case with him that didn’t settle. Always my first choice. The upper management came in today saying they would not pay $1 over X, and X was nowhere close to settling. Said he didn’t want to talk to mediator. Talks to him for 30 min and we’re settled.
He’s great at identifying the outlier and either going around him/her (if it’s the lawyer) or appropriately pressuring him/her (the client). I love using him unless I have a case where I/we may be the outlier.
Your client is going to find out how big of an idiot he is in about 30 minutes. He is so brutally to the point. The one I had with him immediately prior to this one. He is talking to one Defendant who tells him, I have X but I want to save some of it. He immediately told them, you’re not saving anything today buddy.
OC refused to agree to dates to set my Motion for Sanctions for hearing. I uniset it for two weeks from now. He immediately files a notice of unavailability for that entire week. Nevermind that he works for a massive company that has a ton of attorneys who can cover hearings on a moments notice. edit: at 5:00 on Friday he filed another motion to continue the case because he will be on vacation for 4 days of the 4 week trial calendar.
I love when state court litigators find themselves in federal court and try to file notices of unavailability. The clerk reading that:
Without divulging too many details, I finally have a client that I outright dislike. To begin with, it’s a fucking dental case and I don’t typically even take those at all. My hand was forced on this one because the person who referred the case is a local dentist who contacted a higher up at the firm and told us about how egregious the malpractice was and how the patient had a potentially life threatening injury given the size of the defect in his face. The client is a tremendous asshole who believes getting paid is a formality and calls weekly demanding to know where his money is. Against my advice, he took a litigation advance from a loan company who only gave him about 10% of what he wanted to borrow because this “devastating injury” we were told about isn’t actually that big a deal. Come to find out the referring dentist has a personal vendetta against the defendant, and this was probably what drove the referral to us. Now the client wants to borrow even more money — which nobody is going to lend him. I’ve covered my ass extensively with contemporaneous emails and notes in the file, but now that the guy has borrowed money in at least trying to get something for him and get rid of him ASAP.
Is the client still obligated to pay back a litigation loan if he doesn't recover? I'd imagine so but it seems pretty risky.
Not if they just lose the case. But if they fire me (I sure hope he does) or I fire him, they might be able to go after him.
I wonder if on the average the defense/carrier is doing this more (trying to save a little under the authority they have) or the plaintiff (trying to hold out and get a little more than the plaintiff gave them authority for). I hate to admit this , but I'm guessing in my cases I'm the one that's giving something up more often than not and the other side is probably saving a little. But ultimately the carrier has less skin in the game every time. Your plaintiff has a lot more to lose.
My partner handed me a case a while back that's a wreck in a drive through at McDonalds with basically no property damage. Shockingly the offer was super low. I filed suit. Process server can't find defendant. Turns out defendant is dead. Defendant lives in Louisiana. Did some research this morning and I don't think we'd have grounds to open an estate in MS to even have a personal representative appointed to serve. I think you'd have to open an estate in LA and pay some lawyer in the Parish to do all of that. I just told the clients they could have all the money currently being offered and I'd waive my fee. These days if the juice isn't worth the squeeze, I'm gtfo.