Apples and oranges. In your cases there is an environment of crime that is known by the owners of the gas station or apartment complex, the defendant has woefully inadequate security, and you have some POS that comes and murders the plaintiff. In this case we don't even know that the camp ground had notice of the drunk kids on carts. We certainly don't know if there was a long history of it previously. We don't know if , given the typical occupancy and size of the camp/park, they should have had more security. Proximate cause: There's a decent probability that a guard at a small gas station could do something about a criminal. A camp/park is going to have a much larger square footage and thus much less likely that a guard is going to be in the right place at the right time to stop this from occurring.
We don’t know that the camp ground didn’t have notice or that there wasn’t a history of shit like this. Finding/proving that it Nug’s job in discovery. An expert could pretty cheaply and easily tell us whether they should have had more guards and what the guard they had should’ve been doing. What we do know now is that a little girl has a broken hip and $100k+ in medical bills because of somebody’s or somebodies’ negligence. We also know that the park was concerned enough to watch and the video and commit the events to memory, yet conveniently let it get overwritten. If this shit were easy, we’d get hanged for taking 40%.
I agree that with 100k in meds and a fx , it is worth filing suit and doing discovery. I just don't think you'll find what you are lookin for here, I could be wrong.
Three minutes of Westlaw research tells me that Washington’s spoliation law is terrible, but I still think you keep the testimony about what the video showed out.
I was thinking the same thing. I don't think you're going to get an adverse jury instruction. But I think you could get that fact in front of the jury, and it could have an impact. I'd focus group that issue and see if the FG cares. Sometimes as a lawyer we care about stuff like that , and the FG or jury just kinda shrugs and it doesn't move the needle for them. But you'd think it's a bad look for them.
I've been sucked into some bullshit too many times. I have PTSD and now I'm more conservative with case selection and selective than ever. I probably pass on some stuff that might have made $ but I also dodge a lot of bullets.
There’s difference between security protecting innocent bystanders against a third-party interloper and security to protect against one’s own actions, even if you’re dealing with teenagers. I’m not saying you can’t squeeze money out of it, but I’d be surprised if the case is ever evaluated based on what you think the injuries are worth. Seems like a case with a lot of depositions and high chance of going to trial with a significant risk of little to no upside.
Thanks dudes (except forbin and gump aka the non-believers) Random thoughts Spoiler I also think the testimony from the employee's observations will be inadmissible, which creates a problem for them in my opinion. There are written statements from several kids that describe an innocent accident, but they are pretty self-serving. My client will testify the same. But the only evidence of how the crash occurred is these written statements. I think I've posted about this case before and I took Sammy Meatballs advice and called 5-6 families that have camped in the area, no complaints about teenagers or anything worthwhile. In discovery I could get who actually stayed at the campground that weekend and contact them specifically. There are a bunch of rules the campground had in effect that were not enforced. They also "required" every member to carry general liability insurance, but never followed up or ensured the members did this. That isn't proximate cause, but further shows a practice of letting ppl do dangerous stuff. I don't think it's so much a premises case as it is a negligent supervision case -- which I've never litigated outside of a principal-agent relationship. I don't think I could get 100% liability on the campground. But with these sort of damages, there's significant exposure at any liability apportionment.
I will say, the naysayers haven’t been defense lawyers. That’s a payin case, and we like payin cases.
Got to love when the USAA adjuster tells you that your 24 year old client has degenerative disc disease. Me: Every human on this earth has degeneration in their spine. She's 24 years old for God's sake. Do you have any records or evidence that it was symptomatic? Adjuster: This xray shows she had DDD
So my grandma accidently hit (really grazed) a pedestrian a couple weeks back. She got a citation but wasn't charged and no one went to the hospital. I guess my grandma received notification today that she's being sued. Can TMB lawyers offer advice to me to pass along to a nice old lady? She's already dealing with a lot as it is with her house she's lived in for 50 years flooding last month due to hurricane Debby, so I think she's kind of at her wits end. This is in Sarasota, FL if that matters re: laws, procedures, etc. Duval
call her insurance company, tell them she got sued due to a car crash, and tell them that she is requesting a defense. they will hire a lawyer for her and handle everything
Apparently have a run of Allstate cases. Tried to resolve 3 pre-lit, got 3 horrendous offers. 2 in a mediocre venue, and one in a great venue. Didn't even offer 2x meds in the great venue on a clear liability case with a fractured jaw. Love idiot adjusters.
Honestly, most of the time it's not the adjusters. They get marching orders from supervisors. And if they are pre lit , they only have a certain tier of authority. They are just following orders. The supervisors then get marching orders from some manager even higher up. And they are baking in that half the time your client is so poor and desperate they need the $ and don't have time to wait on litigation. Can't blame them for trying. Nonetheless I still get all pissed off half the time .
I filed suit on all. Reminded me of why I used to just go ahead and file on every case. On the one in a great venue, I told her no thanks, I don't consider that a serious offer based on a multitude of reasons including venue and that I'm not making a counter. She then responds back quickly that she's taken venue into consideration and offers $1,000.00 more. Abysmally stupid.
It doesn't have the value that most of my cases in that venue have due to demographics and other issues, so it's not worth that much of a fight, but it's worth about 7-8 times what they're offering. I've never seen an offer so low in this county on a clear case of liability.
oh my god i'm about to just tell her to shut up shes just been talking for 20 minutes before we do this opening
yep but will never be using her ever again. she spent 10 minutes trying to explain diversity jurisdiction to my client who was like wtf is going on
You’d have to do 100 mediations at $3k a pop to make $300k in fees. Juice just wouldn’t be worth the squeeze unless you were super low overhead /small shop.
being a mediator would be awesome. almost all are on zoom. the ones who are busy here are probably making 450k a year with absolutely no stress whatsoever.
Absolutely. I'd be the happiest guy in the world if I grind out another 10 years running a firm, build a nest egg that pays off college for the kids, a vacation home somewhere, then "retire" to a 2-300k a year life as a mediator by the time I am 45.
oh god. just got off the phone with that dude who tried to get me to go to trial with him next week. i am pretty sure that he is not going to be able to introduce a single document into evidence or call a single witness. told him to try to beg the defense lawyers to see if they would agree to a last ditch mediation and if that fails he should put his malpractice carrier on notice and send a letter/email to his client about how they have a potential claim against him and they can talk to a lawyer etc. he doesnt have malpractice insurance!!
Just happened for the 4th time in 2 weeks. Me: this is obviously a ($25K or $50K) limits case. Just tender Adjuster: No way, here's a $10K offer *files suit* OC: yea we're tendering before even filing an appearance Like it's a good result, but why do this the hard way?
Yikes. He needs to settle it and waive his fee and expenses. I'm assuming it's a car wreck. They'll pay something even if it is dicked up.
Reading between the lines it sounds like he failed to do disclosures or produce documents/meds. If Defendant produced documents he can use those. If Defendant DWQ'd medical records after taking the client's depo, he can use those subpoenaed records. Depending on the judge he may still be able to call the medical providers named in those records live. If crash report was produced then he can call the investigating officer live. Obviously he needs to get to work on trial subpoenaes but it's not the apocalypse necessarily. It sucks hearing about these kinds of things. That client deserved a referral to a good law firm to handle his/her case. *This only applies if we are talking about Harris. If he's in a conservative county he is totally fucked.
highlights from depo today (1) they had this entire crash on dash cam and never produced it and tried to ambush me with it during the depo which led me to telling the lawyer i had no respect for him as a professional or a lawyer to try to pull something like that (2) he starts pulling out exhibits where my client is on onlyfans which he thinks is relevant because he asked her for sources of income and she didn't mention it -but she's not asking for lost wages from onlyfans so it's irrelevant (3) he has videos from social media where she is on a sex swing swinging around which were posted after the wreck but she says they were taken before the wreck but posted after the wreck . (4) she posted about taking edibles on social media when previously she said the only drugs she ever did was in 2023 but the post about edibles was after the wreck in 2024. I told him none of that shit was coming in , it was irrelevant. What an insane depo
I actually think we might have to get into her account to see what is in there because I’m sure they have
She also sells dildos and sex toys. Forgot to mention that. I admire her hustle. I think the case value is only going up.
I had only fans come up once. Defendant driver, who is a little prick, said that he saw my client promoting her onlyfans on TikTok in a totally non responsive answer. I got him to admit that he went to her page (after he first denied it). I then asked if he’d done any other cyberstalking of her. His SF captive counsel just sat there.
I have a question for anyone who might can help. My brother and I are having to register to work in a few different states. One requires a background check to be subitted. The 3rd party we hired to do this for us found a couple red flags on my brother. He was a little shit when he was younger and got into some trouble. Here is what the lady sent me: ****If a MISDEMEANOR charge was initially a FELONY charge but pleaded to a MISDEMEANOR, records are required.**** With this said, it is very important to confirm that the original charge(s) started as MISDEMEANORS. I paid to get his criminal records and a couple times he was charged by the cops with felonies. But when he went to court all the charges were misdemeanors. My question is. Do I need to fill out all that paperwork saying he does have felonies? Or since it went to court as misdemeanors is there no record of a felony? I wanna do this right cause if we fuck this up we get rejected and cant reapply for 12 months.
due date for first kid is 11/26. we have a trial setting in rural texas in november. we filed a continuance with that being the reason, did not request a new scheduling order, and the judge rejected it 20 minutes after we filed it. no order. just in the memo it says rejected - per judge i called the coordinator and was like i'm trying to figure out what is going on. the judge really wants me to try a case the same month my wife is due? she just said if he rejected it then he rejected it. i said can you please have him read the motion. she was like he read it and if he rejected it then he rejected it. she said you can set it for an in person hearing if you want. so i guess i'm traveling 11 hours to tell a judge that my wife is pregnant. i just straight hung up on the coordinator. what the actual fuck. my wife legit might murder me.