First official day of the new office. Internet is down and we have voice-over-internet, so the phones are also down. We also have AT&T, whose workers are apparently on strike. Classic.
Was doing workers comp plaintiffs work, and going to a different place to do workers comp claimants work. It’s just that I’ll have half the commute and double the pay.
I feel like there has to be more to the story than this. I know they have ~$180k in bills, but were they actually injured?
My new office has been open a week. My former boss's paralegal emails me today and tells me that a brief, which my former boss apparently thinks I'm going to write for him, is due on September 20th. "Hey, [former boss] needs that brief by the 20th. Thanks." I haven't been employed by him since August 15.
it's just allstate in houston. they probably have ~40 in house lawyers and they're all trying 30+ cases a year. i talked with one in june who had already tried 21 this year. it's a 100/300 policy and allstate basically made the decision that if their lawyer can come in under 300k it's a win and if we pop them for a bunch they'll just appeal it.
also had a corolla that was t-boned into a ditch by a f350 hit and run and the police were miraculously able to locate the car 2 days later my 4 clients all have between 30 and 40k in medical bills. their initial offers were all around 25k. i send a nasty letter and then call the guy and was like wtf dude your insured legit t-boned my clients and left them in a ditch with their car overturned and basically fled the scene from what i'm sure he thought was a dead person and your valuing the claim at 25k per person???? file was transferred to someone new the next day thank god.
All State, who is my carrier for auto and homeowners, can be the absolute worst. I have never had any issues with them in my personal insurance, but a few months ago they tried to defraud my church demanding subro on an auto.
Allstate is the worst. I've personally gotten 50+ people between my clients and my family friends to change insurance over the last few years.
Settled a med mal at mediation today for $200k. Also finalized a settlement today in a 18 wheeler collision for $175k and got the comp lien down from 93k to 50k. Thought it was settled last Friday but the comp carrier was stuck on $55k comp lien. Getting them down that last 5k was brutal.
Bench trials with elected judges involving local hospital systems should be outlawed. The powers at be in a county will tell the judges if they render a judgment against a local hospital system they will have them out of office in the next cycle.
Any of y’all ERISA attorneys? As mentioned above, I’m quitting my current firm and I have an issue that appears to be coming down the pipeline with my current (now former) employer.
I just went and spoke for two hours at my law school alma mater. I could get into teaching. It was cool.
Sovereign immunity. It's a weekly seminar class. The professor said he'd definitely have me back next semester. I'm already looking forward to it
There's something to be said about academia. Especially if you're passionate about the subject. I got a minor in history and always thought those professors' jobs would be cool. "Man, this dude just loves WW2 and he basically gets to learn and talk about it every day. That's kinda neat."
Looks like another year is going to come and go without a trial. People have been saying it more and more but trials are happening less and less. There's just too much risk and expense these days. Especially in bad venues like we have. I almost never have a sympathetic plaintiff with good damages either. When someone puts real money in front of a client it's hard to say no and risk it all for trial. You basically need a plaintiff that is doing it just for the principal of the matter. I typically don't get fuck you offers that force me into trial in legit cases. They typically pay good enough money to resolve it. Typically don't have clients that want to take the risk.
I've had two trials so far this year and was supposed to start my third today, but it got pushed back a month because of the threat of Hurricane Dorian. I have three more to go, and possibly a fourth if the case ahead of us settles next week.
I think that's only true for auto cases, and especially for in-house counsel. I'd venture to say I see far more board certified civil trial plaintiff lawyers than I do defense lawyers mostly because most of the defense guys I know are pussies and terrified of trying hard cases so they're not even eligible for the exam.
Allstate lawyers in Houston are trying between 20-30 cases a year. And they have ~35 captive counsel who are just salaried employees of Allstate here. They have outside firms doing the same shut
You do mostly med mal right? Had 2 of them set for trial this year. Both in bad venues. One settled for 500k the other 200k. Too much risk and costs and real money. I set out each year to try cases and it just doesn’t happen.
Wouldn't know. My proposal to teach our out of state students about bbq culture in sc (and serve bbq during the class) has been rejected. TC has been eating the bbq in the interim and promising it will happen for years, but never follows through. Arkadin will attest.
Correct. And while overwhelmingly med mal cases settle, my partner and I try far more than the average defense lawyers around here.
I'm at a 3 lawyer staff counsel operation for 250k population city and we haven't had anything even close to going to trial in the 9.5 months I've been around. Doesn't make sense to spend 30k for cmes and accident reconstruction and all the other shit when you're only 5k apart on settlement.
I would never want to be in legal academia, but there are many days that I regret not getting a doctorate in history and just teaching.