Apparently, they need the case more than they fear the repercussions, as they are fighting this on appeal (on their client’s dime).

“Specifically, although Mr. Chiocca had briefly represented the plaintiff with respect to the 2015 motor vehicle accident, the instant lawsuit is related to a wholly separate, unrelated motor vehicle accident, with different factual circumstances,” the response said. “Although the plaintiff made prior complaints which may be relevant to the defense of this matter, the relevancy does not make the matters ‘substantially similar’ within the meaning of [professional conduct rules] such that Cole Scott & Kissane PA, a firm with more than 600 attorneys statewide, should be disqualified from representing the instant defendants.”

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1806479?e_id=c90c211b-a8dd-46c1-85a6-eb8fff567aa2&utm_source=engagement-alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=case_updates?copied=1

The post Insurance Defense Conflicts Update … appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

The primary insurer for a Colorado climbing gear company said an excess insurer’s bid to get out of liability for a climber’s injuries should be heard in a Washington state malpractice suit, arguing in a motion that the policy dispute is “intertwined” with lawyer misconduct in the underlying product liability case.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1787996?e_id=25d2963f-1ea0-460a-a386-3cba85706e60&utm_source=engagement-alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=similar_articles?copied=1

Here are links to just a few of the cases in which I fought through coverage issues to obtain full recoveries for my clients:

Owens v. Nationwide

Signorelli v. Fireman’s Fund

Bethany Morris

The post Insurance Coverage Issues and Fighting Through Delay appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

An insurance company that wanted to avoid defending a company that inspected and certified an amusement park drop tower ride that fatally ejected a 14-year-old boy failed to prove that it had served the defendants with notice of its suit, putting an early end to its case, a Florida federal judge decided Tuesday.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1770639?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-11-29&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=15?copied=1

The post Pitards and Hoisting Come to Mind appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on behalf of the families of two UnitedHealth private Medicare plan enrollees who died, accuses the company, which is based in Minnesota, of using an algorithm to “systematically deny” coverage of elderly patients’ rehabilitation care.

The link to the story from noted health insurance expert Wendell Potter, and meticulously researched and backed up, is

Here

The post United Health Is Using AI to Deny Insurance Claims appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

The Eighth Circuit agreed with a Missouri federal judge that an insurer need not cover a $2.5 million judgment awarded to the victim of a bar shooting, finding that an assault-and-battery exclusion clearly applied to relieve the carrier of its obligations.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1706295?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-08-03&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=6?copied=1

The post Insurance Coverage appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

Here’s the link

Physicians facing prison, fines, for cases involving fraud, prescription drugs, feds say

The post Quality Fraud and Patient Safety appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

The rejection of van Terheyden’s claim was typical for Cigna, one of the country’s largest insurers. The company has built a system that allows its doctors to instantly reject a claim on medical grounds without opening the patient file, leaving people with unexpected bills, according to corporate documents and interviews with former Cigna officials.

Here’s the link:

How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them

The post How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

“The AMA strongly believes patients should have access to reliable information about physicians, and state regulatory agencies are best positioned to offer well-balanced information to help patients make informed decisions about physicians,” an AMA spokesperson said in a statement.

Trial lawyers shouldn’t be the only ones with access to relevant information about the background of your medical doctors and hospitals. Consumers need access to this information in order to protect themselves and their families.

Here is the link.

Most extensive database for doctor misconduct is unviewable to public

The post Researching The Quality of Your Medical Care appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

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 used to ply the soil that grows bad ideas. In the 1980’s, health care providers and insurance carriers deliberately and falsely yelled that the sky was falling due to negligence claims and payouts. Their solution? Caps on damages in the most righteous and significant cases. And as it turns out down the road, the “crisis” was just a public relations ploy to immunize themselves from the costs of medical error. And the con continues.

….

For decades, families of medical malpractice victims in Florida have suffered without a remedy under an unfair law that treats them differently from other grieving families. Florida’s wrongful death act exempts negligent health care providers from righteous claims that would exist if anyone else caused their parent’s death. The pain they experience is no different from the pain suffered by families victimized by a car accident or equipment malfunction. But in Florida’s never-ending quest for “tort reform” and special protections – even immunity – for powerful special interests, their pain is treated as non-existent.

That may be about to change.

Politicians paid by the insurance lobby killed that victims’ rights bill in committee even though versions passed both the House and Senate.

Legislative History and Death of Florida HB 6011

This happens in other states.

The New York Trial Lawyers Association, various law firms and their allies in the Legislature have also been ratcheting up the pressure on Hochul to approve the Grieving Families Act. “This year we passed the Grieving Families Act because we all know that the value of a person’s life is more than their paycheck,” state Sen. Sean M. Ryan, D-Buffalo.

Here is the New York story

New York Wrongful Death Changes Setup Lobbying Battle

In a political environment flush with insurance industry cash where the rules are written by insurance lobbyists, victims of wrongful death have little chance on their own. Justice demands that you choose your lawyer carefully. Or, as the lyrics from the Led Zeppelin song go,

Oh dance in the dark of night
Sing to the mornin’ light.
The magic runes are writ in gold
To bring the balance back
Bring it back

The post The Battle of Evermore: How the Insurance Lobby Rules Florida appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.

“Protecting patient and physician confidentiality must be a paramount concern of medical malpractice carriers. What Coverys has done in refusing to take action violates the confidentiality on which medical decisions are made,” stated Dr. Welter about the case. “I am hopeful the judicial system and the public will demand better from our corporate institutions.”

Here is the link to the Massachusetts case filed by a physician against his insurance carrier for data breach.

Medical Malpractice Carrier Sued for Failure to Protect Confidential Patient and Physician Data

The post Victims of Malpractice Don’t Lose Their Patient Rights. appeared first on The Thompson Law Firm.