I think I've discussed the case on here before, but for the last 5 years I've been involved in a fairly substantial real property/timber dispute. The other key party is pro se. The case has now been resolved, 2 attempts at appeal have been dismissed. Appeal time has now fully run. I got a 30 page document the other day which was a "Complaint for Criminal Charge" against the sitting Circuit Judge for allegedly committing perjury during the case which they filed with the Alabama Supreme Court. It was also sent to the Governor, Attorney General, and Attorney General of Virginia. At one point they were mailing their filings to SCOTUS.
Teaching at a law school is the ultimate gig. You make like minimum 80-90k to “work” ~20 hours a week during the school year. You can subsidize your income however you want: publishing, writing or research for other attys, hell you could even still try cases if you were so inclined.
It was even better when in the second appeal, which the Supreme Court deflected to the Court of Civil Appeals, they were asking for criminal charges against lawyers and the Judge. Forget the procedural absurdities, the hint is in the name people, Court of CIVIL Appeals. I would probably carry a gun at all times if these people were local.
Ohhhhhhh baby I’m not sure more true words have ever been written or spoken. I wish I could like this post a million times.
That’s why I said minimum. I think that’s what they start associate professors at here but anyone with any kind of time on the job makes 6 figures. My wife has been trying to weasel her way onto the faculty for years. She’s a staff atty with one of the school’s legal clinics now, inching closer by the year.
do you know of ins def guys who have lost clients even though they've written their report saying the value of case is x and if we try it we will prob lose and then lose the trial and the adjuster/company is pissed?
Used to love his I don't take attendance policy, only mark you absent if I call on you and you aren't here. Then when people abused it, he'd start off every class by calling on the same ones that always skipped.
I got a file that was pulled from another firm because they were “scared to try anything,” and the carrier still overpaid at mediation three years later. Not complaining, but I found it pretty funny.
no all cases against political subdivisions are subject to the Mississippi Tort Claim act, total damages cap of $500,000, bench trials and no jury trials, and all sorts of notice provisions.
I find there is a difference in the quality of assignments, too. My former partner is very good at getting business, but is downright cowardly about going to trial. I run into him from time to time as a co-defendant on med mal cases and find that 95% of the time when we’re assigned cases from the same carrier he gets assigned to the client that has very little defense and settles early, whereas we wind up with the guy that requires a complicated defense and/or is earmarked as a defense that will be taken to trial.
The times I have seen that is where they write something extremely stupid in the file that is bound to hang the company on a bad faith claim and then they proceed to get trounced at trial. Sometimes you just have to know when to pick up the phone and not put pen to paper.
when a defense lawyer tells me ....my client has 35 but i think i can get them to 50...does that mean they really have 60 or does it depend on the lawyer? Some lawyers are being honest and really only think they can get $50k. Some are just playing you and have the authority for 60k but not a penny more, but are trying to play games and get you to think they have 50.
Liberty mutual is doing comp defense on a flat fee here. So when you're at mediation and you try to tell them "well trial is going to cost you another x dollar is attorney fees" they are like nope.
Carriers have already budgeted the defense. The “cost of trial” is a much less compelling argument than the risk of a big verdict.
I don't bullshit about the money that's available but I probably should since everyone treats me like I am anyway.
To piggyback on this, from the defense side when I hear a cost of defense argument from the plaintiff it tells me the plaintiff himself thinks the case is weak. Just like I don’t give a shit what the plaintiffs costs are. It’s not my problem. Your better leverage is to say you don’t give a fuck what the offer is, you know what the case is worth and you’re going to get that value at trial unless they give you a good reason to settle.
My offers have definitely gone up since I’ve started telling adjuster and defense lawyers ok fuck it let’s just go try it On the flip side it means I actually have to try a bunch of cases which I don’t particularly enjoy doing
When a carrier is shorting me $30,000 and I know they are going to spend that on trial, I bring it up. It's so dumb to me that they are holding back on that and they are going to end up spending it at trial so might as well give it to me.
From what I've been told the money comes out of different places and had different tax consequences which is why they're often willing to spend 50k trying a 10k policy.
don't they have to hold a certain amount that they could pay out in reserve? and they don't have to hold defense costs? or i could be totally wrong. from what i've been told one of the reasons the adjusters call us every 30 days for treatment updates is so they can fluctuate the number they have to hold in reserve for each case
one of the ways is definitely talking to us to get updates on our clients injuries, medical providers they've seen, and approximate medical bills.
I hear what you’re saying, and I’m explaining to you that from the other side of the table it not only doesn’t matter, but it’s a sign of weakness. Help me help you.
Big difference between fuck it let’s go try it vs well it’s going to cost y’all a lot to try so please pay me Make them pay the defense costs and then a verdict to you on top of it
I'm getting good settlements. I think I work them up well in terms of getting all the medical depositions lined up and getting the right experts etc and working up a good damages case. I want to try more cases. I just think that the way the cases have worked out, it was better for my client to settle. Sometimes you get forced into a trial because of a shit offer or no offer . Or you have a client that refuses to settle. Or you have a case where you have a good combination of sympathetic client, damages, and liability and you think you can hit a home run at trial. I just haven't had those circumstances.
I'm of the opinion that having a sympathetic client is one of the most important factors for going to trial and getting a good result. Sounds like having an unsympathetic defendant is also a huge factor. Most of my trials have had bad plaintiffs and good defendants that were more likeable.
Do you think you can train unsympathetic clients to become better witnesses? It's kinda hard to tell someone, "Stop acting like yourself." I'm sure you can show them a little something here and there. But if you get them thinking too much, it's like a golf swing, you're going to fuck them up if they have too much going through their head. I think you just got to let them be themselves and hope the rest of the case outweighs it.
But that doesn't make any sense. They've budgeted for the defense. They're not in the business of just paying plaintiffs what they ask for.
I have a commercial vehicle wreck case with clear liability (admitted liability), good damages including surgery, but I don't think my client is sympathetic. Not sure if I should risk trial with an unsympathetic client.
You can absolutely make your clients present better. It's a lot of work, but it comes down to just preparing the hell out of them.
The short answer is no. Some people are good witnesses no matter what, and some are terrible witnesses no matter what. You can’t fight your facts, but I’ve seen some really great lawyers basically lean into the fact their client is shitty and unsympathetic and successfully argue that it’s irrelevant to the jury’s consideration.