trying to decide whether to retain an interest in a case where we just got fired. out client literally finished treatment last week and we were starting to order all of her records and bills. the termination letter was obviously written by another lawyer.
Tractor trailer case and the defendants just produced Drivecam footage showing that the defendant driver blew through a red light and a failed post-crash drug screen. Spoiler The demand is now 302 million. Pay up fuckface.
UPDATE So bored I will be contesting my $65 parking ticket for “license plate obstruction.” Will get back to you all after I take the City of New York to court. We will have justice.
drugged out driver in most states is not imputable to defendant trucking company for punitive purposes unless you can find a history of them allowing or ignoring that kind of behavior....if they admit liability then they could file a motion in limine and maybe get his intoxication excluded.
Just wondering what to expect. Never been to court before. Should I expect another call from the DA before I go/testify?
Yes, and you'll probably want a lawyer with you on that call. Send me a $10K retainer and we can get started.
I talked to them about 2 weeks ago. Just wanted to know what happened. Told them what I saw, and she said they hardly ever go to trial and didn't expect it to Was quite surprised to get the subpoena in the mail this morning
Might just be a formality. Is it for trial or for another type of court date or a deposition? And when are you going to tell them that you were also involved in the crime?
Defense deposed my client in a longshore workers comp case earlier today. Guy is being held out of work right now and testified that he hasnt been working and can't tie his shoes. They had surveillance of him working 8 hours heavy labor changing 18 wheeler tires doing road side assistance. It was brutal.
First day of classes tomorrow, but there's still time to pull out and reconsider my life! Spoiler that's what she said
Lol this looks like a fucking disaster. Protocol for resuming trials from a Def attorney that just left a pre-trial conference in King County (Seattle):
Anyone willing to share/help me with some sample medical releases/record req docs? For the life of me, I can't remember what they looked like or how they were worded, and my former secretaries/paralegals always did this stuff for me.
I received an interesting call from a plaintiff's firm who wants to hire me to join their trial team. I know a couple of the guys over there and they all seem to be fairly happy, but the founder of the firm -- only a few years older than me -- is just giving me a bad vibe. Not like being shady or anything, but just kind of control freak and a little too pushy. I've been a defense guy over 20 years now and have developed a decent enough business that if I went Plaintiff I'd really have to hit some bangers to wind up ahead of the curve. But this guy is blowing up my phone wanting my resume, pushing to meet with me ASAP and wanting me to set aside two hours for a Zoom call during business hours and, if he formally offers, wanting me to make a decision like yesterday. I don't really go for the hard sell like that to begin with, and just walking away from a book of business I've been cultivating for 20 years isn't the kid of decision I'm going to make in 10 minutes. I guess I just needed to vent a bit.
That would definitely cause me to hesitate unless the hiring individual had a good reason to want me that bad
Wouldn't work. As a plaintiff firm their entire marketing -- and they advertise heavily -- is geared towards protecting people from insurance companies. Neither the defense clients, nor the firm, would go for that.
I’ve spent a large portion of today researching and analyzing Alabama’s sales tax laws and holy sweet fuck if this isn’t the worst body of tax law I’ve ever had to look at. In a lot of places, the state, county, and city/municipality each have a sales tax (4% state, 2% county, and 4% city, for example) and each legislative body/council control the rate, so piecing together a 10% sales tax rate requires parsing through state, county, and local law. Throw in the fact that “2%” is sometimes two 1% taxes that are uncodified and and it becomes other worldly. Alabama’s constitution and legal system is widely seen as broken and a not insignificant reason the state is so backwards, but this little exercise has been eye opening.
Work for 2 firms? El Tiburn, LLC and Plaintiff FIrm, LLC? Work out of the same office and share resources/profits?
In the big picture, that's not far off from what I want to ultimately do. If things went as I had hoped -- and they were set back significantly by the coronavirus -- I wanted to break off on my own continuing to do defense work. I have a good friend in a similar situation and he'd be down to partner up, but is afraid of making the jump alone. If we did that, I would do defense only work for med mal carriers, and then be very selective about the PI cases we take. I know a couple of guys ho have pulled this off and it's really the best of both worlds as long as you keep getting high quality work.
This is very interesting. Do they do so much advertising that you wouldn't really have to bring in your own clients/business?
I would be very sure you find out who gets to pick the cases you take and how that gets split. You aren’t bringing any plaintiffs in the door with you. Trying great cases is great. Finding great plaintiffs is harder.
A close friend of mine does something like that. Insurance defense pays the bills for him to do environmental litigation (and other select plaintiff’s cases). A couple of successful plaintiff’s cases helped gain notoriety, so other high profile cases come his way. He’s not a solo or small firm, though, so there are other things paying the bills. Best of luck, that sounds a helluva lot better than the billable hour
Don't you hate it when you argue a bunch of motions and then the judge takes forever to rule. The longer this goes on without a ruling the more nervous I'm getting about summary judgment.
Some is one thing working for a firm that advertises that insurance companies are the Devil is quite different
One of the things out of the gate that concerned me was this. Right now there are a few guys on the trial team but they're all carrying too many cases. So from my initial talk with the guy he told me that basically the cased would be divided so that everyone carries a more manageable load. But I'm no dummy, and I realize that the other guys would just give up their lower value cases or the younger cases that aren't going to settle any time soon. So as a result for at least the first year I wouldn't likely be very profitable barring a situation where I brought in a few quick turnaround types of cases. There's a certain percentage you get bonused n for cases they give you, and higher percentage you get for the cases you bring in. Either way, the first year would likely be a pretty bog hit for me financially. That's not a dealbreaker in and of itself because I would expect that with any transition from one side to the other, but two years goes by in the blink of an eye and if all my cases are newly filed that's going to make things tough.
Med mal carriers 100% do. They will pull your work if they find out you're suing doctors. But they don't give a shit if you do plaintiff auto or general liability stuff.
No plaintiff attorney I know gives up his best cases or shares that revenue evenly. It’s always eat what you kill at the end of the day.
“Some,” no. But, in a practice area like med mal there are only so many carriers and negative policy effects to your successes on the plaintiff’s side even when the carrier you represent isn’t involved. It’s just not tenable to do both sides.
One of my partners is set to begin trial next week in state court in WV. The judge will not require masks and trial will proceed as if Covid does not exist—jurors in the box, counsel at tables, only live witnesses. The trial team has decided not to wear masks because they think it will prejudice their client. 2020