My Dad Called It “Champerty & Barratry”

But I don’t think he was right about the technical definition. Most trial lawyers work on contingency fees and front costs. It is a noble endeavor that serves our clients who cannot afford the significant court battles to address serious injuries. What he meant was improper solicitation of clients. This sort of thing made him […]

Service of Process Problems Are Real: But I Know Where Shaq Was Last Night.

From Law360 Shaquille O’Neal won four championship rings during his legendary basketball career, and now he’s chasing a legal accomplishment that’s just as elusive: successfully avoiding service long enough to have a civil suit against him dismissed. For months, O’Neal has dodged attempt after attempt by process servers to formally notify him about a proposed […]

Juries Can Figure Out Complex Issues.

Proving causation in the face of complicated medical evidence is difficult but juries are often able to work through the issues fairly. A Florida man’s attorneys announced Thursday that a Broward County jury has awarded their client $7.8 million in what they said is one of the largest slip-and-fall verdicts in the state’s history after […]

“First, Kill All The Lawyers.”

In Billy Shakespeare’s play King Henry VI, Part II, this advice is used as an example of how to destabilize an entire country. And so it goes … Belarusian Lawyer Who Advised Imprisoned Activists Goes On Trial Our Constitution protects the right to jury trials and access to competent counsel. Fight any and all efforts […]

Federal Preeemption: The Cost-Effective Way For Special Interests To Lock You Out of Court

The 11th Circuit (Atlanta) just created conflict with other jurisdictions in ruling that federal law “preempts” or blows up negligence claims against brokers. Preemption is the legal rationale that courts use to block victims of torts from suing rental car companies and other large corporate interests that successfully lobby Congress for special protection. In Aspen Amer., […]

Quality Fraud: The Insurance Industry Gets It All Wrong

After lobbying legislatures for “tort reform” for decades, the number of medical malpractice claims – especially what they used to call “frivolous” claims – has gone down. Has that lowered rates for physicians? Of course not. But instead of accepting responsibility, the insurance industry now blames “nuclear claims” and other imaginary foes to explain their […]

Coal

And we’ll keep on digging ’til the coming of the Lord Gabriel’s trumpet sounds ‘Cause if you ain’t mining for the company, boy There ain’t much in this town Tyler Childers, Coal When my Father was in school at West Virginia University, he made extra cash working mines operated by his family in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. […]

Temporary Like Achilles

Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them. Virgil Like all else, misfortunes are temporary but not fleeting. They are often not necessary or destined. Many are preventable. Those that could have been prevented are often caused by negligence. Rather than submit passively to them like a victim, fight them boldly. […]

The Battle of Evermore: How the Insurance Lobby Rules Florida

The end of the year brings legislative sessions to a close, setting up final face-offs between special interests affected by pending legislation. Back in the Spring, I wrote in separate posts about a long hoped-for consumer win in Florida to change unfair wrongful death laws: Turns out, politics isn’t the only place where misinformation is […]