Lawyer thread

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

  1. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    The max benefits you can get in 2021 in MS are 450 weeks at $523.16 so that's $235,422. And as they pay them TTD benefits that number gets smaller. Anything on top of that is medical. My understanding is that you rarely see a case over $200k here , super rare to have cases over $300k and $500k+ is round the clock nursing care quadriplegic
     
  2. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    Yea indemnity isn’t usually our biggest expense on these big cases it’s the 24/7 attendant care.
     
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  3. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
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    I've never had one with 24/7 attendant care.
     
  4. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    You're lucky. The amount of work to get those settled is ridiculous. Normally had MSAs and Medicare involved then reps from at least two companies putting together annuities there.
     
  5. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    I'd be lucky if I had more of them. Yah MSAs are a cluster. They made it where claimant's attorneys couldn't get paid a % on MSAs for a few years recently but have done away with that.
     
  6. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    They would subtract out the MSA from the settlement amount for the total you could claim a fee on?
     
  7. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    yes
     
  8. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    That is some bullshit. As long as there are enough funds after fees and costs to cover the msa it shouldn’t matter.
     
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  9. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    Well especially when you have to do a bunch of work on these MSAs. Some carriers may refuse to settle at the proposed MSA amount and would rather just leave medicals open. There ends up being work that has to be done to make the MSA palatable for the carrier. I have one right now where the MSA was questionable on whether a spinal cord stimulator should be included. The doc raised the issue of one but didn't say for sure. It's a $70k cost. I'm having to coordinate getting the client to go to the doc, get psychological clearance for the stimulator, and get something in writing to a reasonable degree of medical probability. And under the old rules I'd be doing all of that for free.
     
  10. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    Over here, defense attorney usually handles it. We occasionally have an issue where something is being included in the MSA that the claimant does not want and we have to get the claimant in to say I don't want this and never will. Then conference with the doctor and have them fill out a form saying they aren't recommending it any longer. I'll spend 15 hours over 2-3 months getting what we need. Agree it's a huge pain in the ass.
     
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  11. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    I think defense attorney usually handles it here as well, but sometimes the plaintiff's attorney has to help coordinate because they are the only ones that can tell the plaintiff directly what they need to do
     
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  12. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Depositions with translators are always a huge clusterfuck. I always hire my own translator to make sure the other translator is translating word-for-word when my client is being deposed.

    Yesterday, the other lawyer would ask a super long question and the translator would forget it halfway through and ask for the question to be repeated. The lawyer would do so, but then the translator would mess up the translation. So my translator tells me the translation was wrong and I would object. Rinse, wash, and repeat. The lawyer basically just said fuck it and quit after a while.
     
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  13. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    lol
     
  14. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    The lawyer was asking the worst questions too. This type of exchange happened multiple times:

    Lawyer: Do you agree or disagree that X, Y, and Z? Yes or no?
    Translator: (translates)
    Me: Object to the form of the question. Please translate my objection for my client.
    Translator: (translates)
    Client: I don't understand the question.
    Lawyer: It's a simple question. Do you agree or disagree that X, Y, and Z? Yes or no?
    Translator: (halfway translates and then asks for the question to be repeated)
    Lawyer (to court reporter): Can you read that back?
    Court Reporter: Do you agree or disagree that X, Y, and Z? Yes or no?
    Translator: (translates, but not word-for-word)
    Me: Object to the form of the question and the translation as not being word-for-word. Please retranslate the question exactly as it was asked.
    Translator: What was the question again?
    Lawyer: Let's just move on.
     
  15. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    brutal. there was a just a long thread about translations during deposition on the AAJ motor vehicle list serve. I took a truck driver's deposition in Miami a few years back and it was all by translation. He lied through his teeth and I was able to prove it later. It was great. I also got to hang out in Miami for a night and go out and about. I loved it.
     
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  16. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Alabama Crimson TideSeattle MarinersAtlanta BravesNew Orleans Saints

    Probably 50% of my depositions are with a translator, they're the worrrrst. Such a slog
     
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  17. MORBO!

    MORBO! Hello, Tiny Man. I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!
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    Some of y’all need to learn Spanish, and it shows.
     
  18. El Tiburon

    El Tiburon Well-Known Member
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    Florida Gators

    If you guys think depos with a translator suck, imagine being a native Spanish speaker and having to sit through one. You have to hear every fucking question and answer twice.
     
  19. MORBO!

    MORBO! Hello, Tiny Man. I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!
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    I use the down time in the second translation of questions to check my emails and shit.
     
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  20. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    We have a lot of people in Florida of Mayan ancestry and getting someone that understands that dialect is always difficult. I've also had a translator that did not understand the concept of repeating what was said and would just give me the gist of it. "Ummmm Mr. Gonzalez said that he was working and fell down and hurt his arm and other body parts."

    Depos with Creole interpreters are the worst.
     
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  21. Lawnole23

    Lawnole23 FSU Seminoles 2020 National Champions
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    Can get a lot of good interneting down during depos. I don't know how plaintiff lawyers sit through so many. I lose my mind listening to other defense attorneys ask questions when there are multiple defendants. I'll conduct an hour and 1/2 direct that covers literally everything. Then defense attorney 2 somehow asks questions for 2 hours just repeating the same questions I already asked.
     
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  22. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    I've had an Arabic and a Punjabi interpreter. Fortunately, they were both really good because I guess there are so few of them who are court certified. I also had a jury trial with a Spanish interpreter. She translated everything said by every person in the courtroom to my client during the whole trial. It was wildly distracting, but impressive as hell.
     
  23. El Tiburon

    El Tiburon Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Florida Gators

    The best Spanish interpreter I ever worked with was actually a young Haitian guy who spoke like 4 languages. His Spanish was better than mine. The dude had a gift.
     
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  24. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
    Donor

    My partner is fluent and we were both at a deposition once and he was objecting like hell to the translation. The other lawyer got so fed up with the whole thing that he basically got my partner to ask the questions and relay the answers.
     
  25. MORBO!

    MORBO! Hello, Tiny Man. I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!
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    I’ve actually done something similar before when I was doing defense work. That translator was horrifically bad.
     
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  26. Sammy Meatballs

    Sammy Meatballs DeBoer on the Floor
    Donor
    Alabama Crimson TideArsenal

    Worst deposition I ever had was through a Bengali translator. The translator and my client knew each other and just kept talking to each other. It didn’t help that my client was maybe doing some light fraud.

    I got up in the middle, terminated the depo and had my staff file a motion to withdraw.
     
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  27. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    that's a power move.
     
  28. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    What are your best fraud stories? I once had opposing counsel reveal at a mediation that my client had a go fund me page saying he had cancer when he in fact did not have cancer. This guy had been a complete dick to my staff for months and we wondered how much we could even keep putting up with him prior to the mediation.
     
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  29. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Got called to a multiple truck fatality scene last night at 11:30. Didn’t get home until almost 6:00.
     
  30. bwi2

    bwi2 Not affiliated with BWI
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    Here is a question that will demonstrate that I don’t work anywhere near this area of the law: why did they need you at the scene? That sucks.
     
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  31. Sammy Meatballs

    Sammy Meatballs DeBoer on the Floor
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    to discretely pass out my business cards obviously
     
  32. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Mostly to avoid future spoliation issues and make sure our driver doesn’t say/do anything to screw himself or the company.
     
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  33. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    The real OG’s already got a call from a trooper.
     
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  34. El Tiburon

    El Tiburon Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Florida Gators

    Thank goodness I don’t do that work or I would have caught a DUI charge.
     
  35. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    dang
     
  36. Gallant Knight

    Donor
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    A little screwed already considering he killed people
     
  37. Sammy Meatballs

    Sammy Meatballs DeBoer on the Floor
    Donor
    Alabama Crimson TideArsenal

    that’s what we call getting business the old fashioned way
     
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  38. RJF-GUMP

    RJF-GUMP Daubert Qualified in Cooler Thermodynamics
    Donor TMB OG

    some good work by the defense lawyers on the front end can save you millions in punitive damages
     
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  39. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Fortunately, our guy didn't. The driver of the other truck, however...
     
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  40. (Z)

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

    Anybody ever sued a credit card company?

    FIL had his credit card and debit card stolen on a Saturday at a football game. Didn't immediately realize that it was stolen, though wife might have misplaced them. Whomever stole them ran up several thousand worth of merchandise charges at a shopping mall an hour or so away. He reports all transactions. His bank pretty much immediately recognized they were fraudulent and refunded. After several months, the credit card company wrote back that they "confirmed" the charges were valid. I wrote a letter asking for everything they relied on to determine this, and all we got back was another boilerplate letter. It's crazy.

    I'm certain there is an arbitration clause in the agreement, and in-laws can more than afford to eat the charges, but the principal of the thing is making me want to file suit in district court just to force Chase to deal with it.
     
  41. DrTomOsbourne

    DrTomOsbourne Fully Husked
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    How do some of you sleep at night?

    Ive worked in child welfare for a decade, climbing the leadership ladder. One of my case workers had to remove three children from their father after a medical examination and subsequent professional interview found terrible things going on that house like the kids being severely abused and witnessing extreme levels of domestic violence in the home.

    I wrote the probable cause statement with our attorney, an absolute slam dunk, and then I sat in court Friday afternoon for the shelter hearing, which usually lasts about 15 minutes, for three hours while dad's attorney died on a hill for this guy trying to get those kids back home, making an absolute circus of the process defending this guy and wanting those kids to return back to where this was all happening. Never seen anything like it.
     
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  42. dome foam

    dome foam ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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    I sleep just fine on my throne of lies while dreaming about all the people I lie to and fuck over. Thank you.
     
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  43. El Tiburon

    El Tiburon Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Florida Gators

    I represent some child welfare agencies in negligence claims, and they’re always the toughest/saddest cases I handle. Even when my client hasn’t done anything wrong there are no winners. Those cases rarely go to trial, but I actually did try one in Palm Beach County a few years back and it was pretty well reported on in the local news. I got a defense verdict for the client after a several week trial and even though my client was happy and I was happy for them, the underlying story still fucking sucked.
     
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  44. MORBO!

    MORBO! Hello, Tiny Man. I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!
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    I sue insurance companies. I sleep quite well.
     
  45. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Because none of us do that.
     
  46. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    Because I get to raise my fee ask by 3-5k each time.
     
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  47. Pancho

    Pancho Emptyin’ my bladder on a twenty foot ladder
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    Georgia BulldogsAtlanta BravesAtlanta HawksAtlanta Falcons

    Don’t think I’ve ever posted on here before but this shit kills me. I was a clerk for a superior court judge here for about three years and our civil docket was like 80% divorce, custody, and legitimation. Obviously a lot of people were good folks going through tough stuff, but I was shocked at how many just absolute pieces of shit there are out there.

    I recently moved to a firm practicing mostly in commercial real estate and local government. Longer hours and more complex work but I come home feeling more refreshed. I don’t see how people handle mostly/all domestic shit. You gotta be a different breed even if all your clients are good. It just sucks to be around imo
     
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  48. (Z)

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

    I despise domestic work.

    The most "difficult" thing I do is capital murder defense. I guess a lot of people would wonder how I sleep well at night with that, but I'm out as soon as my head hits the pillow.
     
  49. buy_dont_lease

    buy_dont_lease Ha ha ha. What a story, Mark.
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    I actually handle infant removal cases (child removed from parents at the hospital following birth due to presence of drugs in the mother and/or child) pro bono for going on five years now. I get appointed as attorney and guardian ad litem for the infant. Due to various circumstances none of the cases I have handled have resulted in reunification with the parents. Usually the parents just quit cooperating and working services and the child is adopted by family or the foster family after ~2 years.

    That said, my wife handles the cases you've described on a contract basis for the county. She gets appointed to represent kids of all ages and parents, so she sees it from both sides, and has seen a lot of awful stuff. In general, I think it is important when the government intervenes to remove your children and/or seek to terminate your parental rights, that people receive due process; no different than the rights of criminal defendants accused of even heinous crimes. That said, most parents in these circumstances likely deserve the consequences they face in these situations. But there are times when, arguably, the state overreaches, or stretches the evidence, or where parents get their kids taken because they smoked some pot and the kids mention it to their teacher who then reports it to CPS (without any other grounds or allegation for abuse/neglect).

    Since you framed it as "how do you sleep at night" (which I did not take personally, BTW), the answer for those who do this work is that they struggle with these circumstances as much as you do, and sometimes it is difficult to sleep in cases where the facts are heartbreaking, and no solution seems just or fair or appropriate or adequate. But sometimes, there are cases that do seem to be so much of an overreach that my wife feels good about representing a parent to keep their kids from being removed. Without going into detail, at the same time you sat through your hearing on Friday, my wife spent four hours in a hearing representing a mother whose child was removed at the hospital. Not only could the state not put on any evidence to support the claims made in the affidavit for removal, but the medical records from the hospital--which were introduced as the state's evidence--generally contradicted those claims. So she won her hearing, and the child is back with the mother today, and I'm proud of the work she did to achieve that result in that case.
     
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  50. DrTomOsbourne

    DrTomOsbourne Fully Husked
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    Thanks for the reply. I obviously didn't mean that "how do you sleep at night" at anyone directly, it was more of just a general vent at the situation, I just don't know why this woman went so all in on this person specifically, she's been doing this as long as I've been around, and she was taking it so personally.. like how can you put it all on the lin to try and put these kids back in a place they were being seriously harmed?
     
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