Have a hearing at 10AM regarding whether I can have direct contact with former non managerial employees of the defendant company. I'm sure I'll get screwed somehow and about 50% chance I get chewed out by the judge or pooped on.
I think it would depend. if they do it on every single accident, then it is something in usual course of business and would have to be turned over. If this was the rarity and they did it because they actually did anticipate litigation, then it could be withheld. however, at least in GA, once they anticipated litigation, you could argue they have to retain all kinds of evidence as they anticipated litigation very early on.
My understanding is the company has an incident reporting system for all employee collisions and they do a root cause analysis for all collisions. So it sounds like in GA that would be discoverable and they'd have to produce it and an instruction not to answer would be improper.
I would agree. In ga, people have gotten recorded statements given to the insurance company by the insured as they do it in every single accident and they cant say they are doing it in anticipation of litigation.
I would argue that every employee accident on the job triggers an anticipation of litigation, because at a minimum, the company expects a potential workers comp claim. The rationale behind the privilege is to discourage a chilling effect on discovery of facts leading to mental impressions of liability, so allowing this discovery simply forces companies to stop investigations or determine cause.
It’s not work product in my opinion. I’ve got briefing on it somewhere, I’ll see if I can dig it out.
To the point of the last post — I defended a national retailer at trial in a case where we left mediation $2.9mm apart, settled mid-trial below the pre-trial high/low, and they pulled the work from the firm three years later.
Had a case set for trial Monday. OC gave me a call and said he just finished a trial yesterday and didn’t want to do a b2b so he went and got 5k less than my last offer. (We both knew I had more room). I owe that guy a bottle of scotch.
I requested a conference with the judge about the issue but there was no motion filed. The judge was actually on my side. It ended with the other side saying they would try to work it out with me and if we can't get it worked out by Wed then they are filing a motion for a protective order and they would appeal if they had to. I basically told them that is fine, I'm happy to brief it and go through the appellate process. They want me to enter into an order stating that nothing the former employees said could be imputed to the company and nothing they said or did could constitute an admission on the part of the company. In my opinion that would be contrary to Rule 801(d)(2) so I feel I have 0 reason to enter into that order. Rule 801(d)(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that a statement offered against a party which is the party's own statement, either in an individual or representative capacity, as well as a statement made by a party's "servant concerning a matter within the scope of the . . . employment" are admissions of a party-opponent and are not hearsay. " Brooks v. Stringer, CIVIL ACTION No. 2:04CV120KS-MTP, at *8 (S.D. Miss. Apr. 10, 2007). “For a statement made by an employee or agent to be admitted against an employer, the statement must have been made "on a matter within the scope of that relationship ...." Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2).” United States ex rel. Wuestenhoefer v. Jefferson, No. 4:10-CV-00012-DMB-DAS, at *10 n.9 (N.D. Miss. Dec. 16, 2014). “No liability was imputed to the employer because the fellow employee had no authority or duty to the employer which was being discharged when the statements were made.” Rodriguez v. Sarabyn, 129 F.3d 760, 769 (5th Cir. 1997). These are hearsay exceptions within rule 801(d)(2). In order to qualify for said exception, the employee or former employee's statement must concern a matter within the scope of his employment with the defendant company.
Took a trial deposition of my client's wife today because she lives in VA and we've agreed that her deposition is for perpetuation purposes. Defense asks her "So you didn't go into the doctor appointments with your husband, right?" "So you don't know what was said in those appointments, right?" "And you haven't read his medical records, right?" Insurance defense lawyers always asks these questions. Does this ever score points with a jury? Because it always seems so dumb to me.
In a depo. OC just asked which type of trash bags my client used to pick up debris after the storm that damaged the house.
MVA with 5 vehicles involved. I filed suit and sued 2 different defendants. I already have a scheduling order and trial date and I'm trying to get depos lined up. Another plaintiff lawyer has an injured plaintiff and filed suit many months after me. She's now asking for the cases to be consolidated. I said I didn't object to consolidation for discovery purposes i.e. one judge dealing with discovery motions etc. She said she doesn't want to have 2 different juries giving 2 different verdicts. I don't really want a trial where both plaintiffs are forced to put on their case together during one trial. I don't think I've ever heard of that. Also I don't' want to lose my trial date and scheduling order. Other plaintiff lawyer just filed a motion on it. Am I going to lose this motion? Have you heard of 2 plaintiffs having to put on their same case in front of the same jury in a car wreck case?
Any of you fellas do business or IP law that wouldn't mind hearing a question and steering me in the right direction?
Question for you PI guys out there. Have a client that wants her money to be wired instead of a check. Whatever, pretty sure she wants drugs. However, she doesn't have a checking account. She's asked if I can wire the money to her boyfriend's checking account. Would this be OK as long as I get an ironclad release from her to wire these funds to her boyfriend? I'm leaning towards no, but just wondering if anyone has ever encountered this. She's a mess. Same girl that wanted the insurance company to send her the money directly.
never been on the Plaintiff side. But I would not be allowing my client to dictate things like that. you want your money? then you will do it my way, which I have assured is safe, ethical, and protects my firm/office.
I had a client who wanted me to cash app her six figures. She said she didn’t have a bank account. turns out it was all a lie and she had a chase account all along and was just trying to scam.
Just post your question, it’s how this thread works. Whether we know the answer or not, you’ll still get our opinions.
I'm chairing the committee that puts together the speakers and CLE topics for our state TLAs annual convention in NOLA this summer. I'm surprised at "national speakers" that I've reached out to that wouldn't return a phone call and barely gave me a response via email. If you asked me to come be a featured speaker at a state TLA's annual convention, I'd be there in a heatbeat. I aspire to be such a big swinging dick that I tell people like me to fuck off.
PI guys, do yall send out absurd evidence preservation requests for every 18-wheeler accident? Every Commercial MVA, no matter how small, I get this absurd request letter identifying 50+ areas to preserve. It's all just form shit and nobody ever follows up. Because my previous boss is a jamoke, he demands we respond to each request individually -- so I sit here and copy/paste our previous responses and objections to every bullshit point. It's tedious as shit, but an easy way to earn close to $100/hour. Maybe it's because I've never been to trial and have never actually dealt with a spoliation issue, but it's just annoying.
My daughter was involved in a car accident on the way to school yesterday. Cars were stopped in traffic. Another student at fault rear ended a second car. She hit that car hard enough to bump it to rear end my daughters car. Virtually no damage to my car, just a bumper tap. The car that was hit got clobbered though. I have had two calls today from “medical specialists” offering to give my daughter a free medical consult. You plaintiffs are a bunch of blood thirsty heathens.
I send a preservation letter in every commercial case. I have one in 2022 where they never made the vehicle available for download/inspection and I've papered the file with requests and following up on it. I'm definitely going for a spoliation/adverse inference instruction. Also I typically do want to download and inspect in almost every commercial case. So I need to get that letter out to coordinate the download and inspection before the ECM data is gone. In terms of the other areas of inquiry in terms of random crap like satellite communications Qualcom etc etc I haven't had a spoliation issue arise as to those yet but I put it in there anyways as it could happen theoretically.
I've never heard of a "specialist" reaching out to a plaintiff after a MVA in my neck of the woods. That is uber aggressive
These guys were super shady, stating that any injuries could be covered by the at fault drivers insurance and offering a free medical exam. When I asked whether they were retained by the drivers insurance, the guy said no, he was an independent specialist.
What you got? I do both (except patent work, but I may know enough generally to steer you in the right direction there)
Back up a bit. Who do you work for? Is there a nonprofit already set up that you're an employee of? Is it already pursuing its purpose and have other charitable activities with father mentor program just a new idea to be launched? The CEO you referenced, I assume she works for the nonprofit in question? Sorry to answer your question with questions. Just want to make sure I understand the background.