This or a paralegal even? For JV agreements, merger agreements and other similar bigass, bulky documents I try to keep the principles of the book below in mind and reference it often at the outset. But even “shall” is something I admittedly over use because in context it’s unequivocal. Glad I don’t deal with those sorts of pedants on a regular basis.
I’m sure I’ve shared this before but I used to work with a guy that would dictate his emails for his secretary to transcribe and send. She also had to print his emails and put them in a box that he would check every hour or so.
When I came out of law school, my first firm assigned a partner-mentor to each of us. I had a class of 30 in our city’s office in a firm with over 700 attorneys and was assigned the guy who chaired the firm’s appellate practice. Initially, I thought it was a great draw. It was a nightmare. This guy was adamant that I learn to dictate briefs, because that is what he did. I quickly learned this guy did not use a computer for anything except e-mail. 15 drafts of a hand edited brief his Secretary would transcribe from dictation. Otherwise, he hand wrote his briefs.
I am currently arguing with this guy’s long lost cousin in Georgia in a case about the production of ESI. it is going swimmingly. he told me there’s delays in production (already 2 months late) because there’s a lot of printing and copying that has to be done. All my requests have included instructions on how to export from the different software and asked them to produce everything in native format. It’s the awful combination of an old obstructionist lawyer who is also painfully inept with technology.
And herb.burdette you mentioned this awhile back, but I actually just got my first Dec action on a shooting case where they raised the “expected or intended” exclusion. It’s not the main issue, but they did raise it.
I think we picked a 4.5/5 jury. The panel sounded a lot like what we used to hear down in the valley. Harris County has changed a lot in the last 6-8 years. The case involves a rig collapse in the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the rig listing, one of the lifeboats would not deploy. The captain did an "emergency" release of the lifeboat which caused it to drop 30 ft into the ocean. Two people died, 10 people have spines, feet and pelvis's that essentially exploded, one woman had to have an abortion so they could perform emergency spine surgery and 30+ others have PTSD/soft tissue injuries after jumping off the platform. The defendant in the case was involved with the vessel from womb to tomb. Including the lifeboat design, specs, etc. We start 4/19. Opening will be livestreamed if anyone is bored enough to watch.
I personally think “will” should be the go-to for operatic, absolute covenants but “shall” makes more sense for contingent if/then operations, but don’t ask me why. This thread is already cunty enough that we should all spare ourselves further discussion. Brandon Chicken yeah this guy has stories like that as well. When working for him, half of my job is just forwarding attachments because if they aren’t in the set of emails displayed in his Outlook without having to scroll, they’re lost forever. He frequently has associates and his secretary attach documents to emails in drafts so they’re ready for him to type and send. It’s a nightmare but then we get on calls and he starts talking to clients and I try to remind myself I’m lucky to learn from him.
You won or just got it in? I won a couple years ago in Tennessee when plaintiff thought he was brilliant because he established a right to punitive damages by adducing evidence of gross negligence but not intent. Punitives based on intent to harm clearly are excluded. He thought he had the carrier on the hook for the lower standard. Gross negligence was defined in the state as a conscious disregard of a known risk. I argued the the exclusion is disjunctive, applying if damage is expected or intended. A conscious disregard of a known risk was an expectation of harm. We denied coverage and Plaintiff was left to chase defendants with no assets.
I hang out with this really interesting old guy (DOB 1941) just to get his stories... At one point he was the foreman on a jury and the police showed up to trial with a warrant for HIS arrest.
Btw, the old guy in question was the Chief of Staff for the Governor of Florida (Chiles). We're talking old Florida drug stories mixed with government/politics. HBO worthy. I really want to write a longform article on him. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/08/20/foreman-of-lyons-grand-jury-jailed/
A Jones act injury case fell into my lap. Any of you PI guys know good resources for handling these claims outside of statutes/case law, etc? Looking for Practice guides, CLEs, groups/associations. Weighing handling it myself vs. Referral or co-counsel. Already spoke with an expert regarding viability on the negligence issues, and guy has permanent light duty restrictions after release from care. I've been sitting on it for a while, and I'm ready to get it rolling asap.
This is one of my partners. I love him. He's been a great mentor to me and he makes a ton of money, but the guy will not check email. He also refers to texts as emails. Yet, somehow he is capable of trading stocks all day on his computer. P.S. I noticed that Order denying the severance on our case. Guess that carrier is sticking around.
We do them across the United States and have the largest maintenance and cure verdict in the country (last I checked). DM me.
closest i've been to a jones act case was when a vietnamese dude offered to refer them to me for $30k cash for each of them. decided to not take him up on that offer
I know some awesome Louisiana Jones Act guys that do nothing but Jones Act if you don't go with BUstang or someone else. I send all my Louisiana Jones Act stuff to them. There are some firms in New Orleans that are some of the best in the country on Jones Act because tons of claims originate from their waters. Just PM if you are interested.
It’s usually a terrible exclusion from an insurer’s standpoint because most states require a subjective intent or expectation, which is a jury issue. I just had a Plaintiff who pushed his case too far thinking he was hitting more damages with punitives, and he eliminated the coverage by doing it.
Ive definitely gotten emails informing me of terms and conditions changes or been forced to check the box acknowledging changes. Ive never seen one explicitly say we will change them and its on you to look it up.
Now officially on King County's arbitration panel, so I'm available to be chosen to arbitrate cases up to $100K. Old partner says you get paid about $1,500 for 4-5 hours of work, not too bad. You're eligible if you've been admitted to WA for at least 5 years. Sure as hell doesn't feel like that long.
Guess that means I'll probably have to wear a suit, tho. I haven't put on a jacket or tie in over two years. Will still be gym shorts, if not only boxers, below the waist.
set for trial in an allstate case next month. zero offers because defendant is telling his insurance/attorneys that a third car rear ended him even though there is literally no property damage on his bumper they havent designated any experts or really done anything other than deny liability. my client has $50k in medical bills and the PD to her car was moderate if jury thinks this dude is lying it could be a big one
without bad faith, is there any way to collect on an excess verdict if the tortfeasor isn't personally collectible?
yes you can send a stowers demand but i dont think it would be applicable in this case because allstate will say that liability wasn't clear because their insured was adament about there being some mysterious car he has a 250k policy though so i dont think it will matter
have another case set for first week of may where my client was in a motorized scooter in a crosswalk and some dude in a jeep hit her. she has a dickload of preexisting conditions and because of this she is basically homebound. allstate refused to pay for the damage to her scooter because they said she was getting a new one in two weeks. i cannot wait for voir dire to ask the panel about the times they bought new cars and if they think that if someone totaled their previous car two weeks before they picked up their new one if they think the responsible party shouldve paid for it
just got a referral and the info we got was that the potential client was in a 4 car wreck where he was the last one hit i pull the police report and its a two car wreck and he rear ended someone cool!
Phone just rang when I was in the shower after the gym. Opened shower door and looked at phone and saw it was answering service. Answered it with shower still running. Was MVA PC. Started talking to her with shower still running. Ended up talking to her for 35 minutes. She's an insurance adjuster -her grandma got tboned. Progressive is offering $6k on $20k in meds and shoulder surgery recommended. THey have like $400k in UM. Adjuster Questioning liability and causation. Told her I'd take the case, talked all about the case. Then she said they already had an attorney in mind her dad had used in the past that had a Vietnamese interpreter and she was just basically lawyer shopping. If she doesn't bring me that case when I answered the phone at 6:30PM at night at home in the shower and spoke for 35 minutes, that is piss poor.
I might send her a bill for same if she doesn't sign up. Probably increase billable rate by $50 an hr for discussing matters on phone in shower.
I was supposed to strike a jury yesterday for what would have been about a two week trial. At the pre-trial on Thursday, the judge told us we weren't going to be reached and ordered us to mediation. It's a case that I was really excited to get rid of, so it deflated me. I have a ton of shit I need to be doing this week, but it's tough to get motivated.
Workers comp guys: how many cases do you think you have each year that end up being no fee cases? I.e. claimant gets returned to work full duty without restrictions or impairment rating and there is no settlement value? I am pretty picky about comp cases for this reason and turn down tons of cases but several still slip through the cracks each year. I have one right now where I did a decent amount of work and had a hearing, got the judge to order the carrier to pay back pay benefits etc but the lady is released full duty/no restrictions/no impairment and the case basically has no value. Pretty much did that one pro bono.
I hated workers comp. Was on the defense side though so can’t offer any help on that. Just wanted to state how much I hated workers comp.
I've never done worker's comp but it really seems like the perfect storm of nightmare clients, tons of complicated rules and requirements and low fees. Workers comp and family law are the only 2 practice areas where I've never heard a single person speak positively of them
update from 20 minute sago: The court started a jury trial yesterday that is set for three weeks, through April 29. Apparently, "the parties in that case are confident that they will need all three weeks and based on the number of expert witnesses and the progress of the case so far." Accordingly, the court hereby VACATES the jury trial set to begin in this case on April 18. Court also threw in another reason for vacating saying Plaintiff had not yet contacted the Supervising Interpreter to inform him which witnesses will need an interpreter and when those witnesses will be testifying. This case will be 2.5 years old if it gets set for late Summer. Onto May 9th