Preferentially set on 2/3 and have three trial settings starting Monday on two week trial dockets. We are 4th in one of them so it will likely go
I'm special set for a one-week trial on 1/27. Looks like 2020 is going to be a lot like 2019 from a trial schedule perspective.
I have 8 cases set for jury trial in 2020 and 1 set for a bench trial (tort claim act case-police pursuit wreck). Last year I had similar numbers and not one of them went to trial. All settled. And I can't think of any of them that would've benefited more by going to trial.
Been an interesting week so far with clients. Had a telephonic conference in a comp case where we were looking to get client to a certain doc. Judge denied my motion. Client was sitting in my office listening. She's still going to get to see a specialist, just not the one she wanted. When judge said we couldn't have our choice the client burst out wailing crying and her husband had to get her out of my office. Was so dramatic. Had a comp client come in yesterday to discuss settlement. This guy comes in so bombed out I guess on weed or pain killers every time. He was having a hard time talking but he got mad when his wife tried to discuss his medical situation and tried to explain it himself. Everyone in my office that saw him was like "that guy was really high." I typed up a long explanation of my settlement recommendation that morning that probably took at least an hour because comp settlements are much more difficult to explain to clients. They didn't read it at all.
Getting married in march so I’ve got continuances on all my May trial settings and in TX you have 4 weeks in the summer you can designate as vacation and then court will basically not call you under any circumstances
So, I’ve never hired a life care planner. What is yalls take on this lady was in a motorized scooter in a crosswalk and a guy in an f150 hit her. She had an assload of pre existing stuff but she was generally able to get around. She didn’t really have use of her left hand and arm before the wreck but has full use of her right. Now she basically can’t use her right arm, can’t grip with her left hand, and is oretty much bedridden. she is on Medicaid so her meds are pretty low. Allstate refused to pay for a new scooter because I guess she was approved to get a new one in a week. Very much looking forward to hammering their client on the stand about how we are asking him to pay for my clients scooter after smoking her in a crosswalk
Probably worth getting a life care planner involved. Things to take into account are whether your client has any equipment needs (she does), whether she'll need home modifications (she likely will), and whether she will need assistance (she does), whether she'll need future medication/treatment/therapy (?). Obviously, there's not as much the planner can do for you if we're talking about somebody who is elderly. But, late fifties still puts them at a ~20 year period of needs.
There's a guy in San Antonio that does a pretty good job from what I've heard. I use someone in Florida but he is $$$. Probably not worth it on your case because Allstate.
or maybe more worth it. defense lawyer is out of law school for like 18 months. they're stowerized so they're on the hook for whatever verdict we get. can't believe they haven't paid for my client's motorized scooter. it's a medicaid lien so i mean they can't argue cost or anything. isn't my first question to that guy do you think you're responsible to pay for my clients scooter when you smoke her with your f150 when she is in a crosswalk?
Also I'm not sure how it works in TX, but here, if you brought up the fact that you asked him to pay for the scooter but he wouldn't or the insurance company wouldn't, that could be grounds for a mistrial. That's a collateral source issue and/or insurance issue and the jury isn't allowed to hear that the other side has insurance.
I know but I can certainly ask him if he thinks he is responsible for paying for her scooter after smoking her in a crosswalk
As defense counsel I'd object and say calls for legal conclusion. Whether someone is responsible for paying for something goes to duty, breach, and the jury making a determination of fault and whether she is entitled to that equipment being replaced. What he thinks is irrelevant. I think a judge will sustain the objection and tell you to move on.
Having one of those days where all my clients are just totally mentally incapable of understanding the slightest thing and I want to just rip their arms off and beat them with them.
we are leaving early today. seems like all the insurance companies and most of their law firms are closed today. had a depo scheduled today that we had been working on scheduling for like 7 weeks and on friday the progressive lawyers assistants was like oh we are closed so we are canceling that. cool?
The final trigger might be this dude thinking he can declare he’s no longer pursuing workers comp like he’s Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy so he can pursue a direct claim for negligence against the company he insists was not his employer because he’s an independent contractor and WC benefits aren’t enough. The claim was accepted already through WC, he’s incurred well over 100k in medical costs. The claim is easily worth six figures even after they’ve paid for all medicals. So I’m getting fired for suggesting we keep going through WC while we investigate if a direct claim is even remotely feasible. Narrator: “It’s not.” Guarantee he hired some slapdick attorney who does WC but just told him “hell yea let’s go hard for that direct claim!” My penalty for being honest. Whatever.
productive day with random tasks. also a lot of witnesses/people off work today which is helping with communication.
Knowing that a mediator has another mediation booked after me regardless would turn me away. Many times I've expected one to be short, but we end up there til late in the afternoon. I don't need time constraints on it. One of the last successful ones we had didn't end until about 9:00 p.m., not a run of the mill case though either.
they give you the option of a half day or a full day. if you do a full day then you don't need to worry about it. if you paid for a half day and expected them to not have anyone after you then you would be using a lot of shitty mediators here.
the mediator i used last week told me that a few months ago she had one where the parties booked for 3 days - friday to sunday - for a big subrogation refinery explosion deal. by the third day the insurance still hadn't figured out the waterfall structure. she made like 10k+
I’m not a fan of half day mediations anyway. I don’t think I’ve ever booked one. If case can get settled in a 3-4 hour mediation, I usually figure I could’ve settled that lawyer to lawyer.
Probably do about 3-5 half day mediations a year with maybe 2 or 3 being comp cases. Probably only 1-2 half day MVA mediations. But at any given time I only have 40-50 PI cases and Gallant Knight has hundreds.
Y’all ready for this one. Just got fired because I told one of my workers comp clients that, no, I cannot get him a congressional inquiry into why his doctor is giving him no work restrictions after a completely normal MRI. Then the fucking guy leaves us a 2-star review and I’m getting questions as to why.
I hear you on that. I've only received one negative google review ever. But it pissed me off to no end and was a similar situation.