Tag: Litigation
Reserves And How They Reduce an Injury Claim
When new claims are reported insurance companies set something called a reserve in the process of setting up a new file. The reserve establishes the estimated value of the accident claim. Required as an accounting procedure, reserves enable insurance executives to estimate the company’s total potential losses. From an accounting […]
Court Papers – Always Answer Complaints and Other Legal Documents
Court papers, sometimes served by a sheriff or process server, other times arriving by mail, should never be ignored. Failing to respond will result in a default judgment. Always answer a summons within the time limit. When you are served with a law suit, the papers will tell you the […]
Auto Insurance. Understanding Some Basics.
Auto insurance presents a necessary evil. Driving without it is folly. Driving a rolling two-ton metal box, disaster happens in a split second. Cars pose a rolling risk. Excuses for shirking off insurance include “I always drive responsibly … if I get in an accident the other guy’s insurance will […]
Proximate Cause: Personal Injury Claim Causation Requirement
In a famous case, a commuter runs for a train that’s just started rolling. The man sprints across the platform. A conductor on the train reaches out, pulling the man. Another railroad employee on the platform pushes him onto the train. A wrapped package falls out of the man’s hands onto […]
Products Liability: Personal Injuries Caused by Defective Products
Products liability cases present horrifying facts: A power wrench explodes throwing metal pieces into an auto mechanics face, causing partial blindness. The transformer block on a new telephone answering device short circuits, sparking a home fire. A breast implant ruptures, leaking fluid into a woman’s body, causing cancer. These actual […]
Minor Settlements: Why is Court Approval Required?
Minor settlements, personal injury settlements for those under the age of minority, often need court approval before funds are released. Here’s the problem: minors lack legal capacity to make binding decisions. Minors in most cases can’t sign enforceable contracts. So, an insurance release cannot bind a minor. This contradicts the basic […]
Life Expectancy Tables In Personal Injury Cases
Life expectancy tables provide key information in evaluating some personal injury cases. The tables give a statistical perspective, a number, telling us how long any given human being can be expected to live. One of the most often overlooked elements of a personal injury case calculates long term potential damages […]
Cell Phones and Accidents: Is Legal Cell Phone Use Negligence?
Motor vehicle accidents happen more often than not due to driver inattention. Jabbering on the cell phone, texting, eating, drinking, turning to communicate with passengers, daydreaming and many other distractions reduce driver attention. Unfortunate but true, tragedies like this are not uncommon. More people are using phones every day as […]
DISPOSITIVE MOTIONS – MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, Etc.
Many cases go to the legal graveyard due to dispositive motions. Dispositive motions seek to dispose of, get rid of, the entire case or sometimes just certain issues in a case without trial. Dispositive motions include motions for summary judgment, motions to dismiss and motions for judgment on the pleadings. Motion to […]
Independent Medical Examination in Personal Injury: the “IME”
Independent Medical Examination is anything but independent. The exams, also called an “IME” are also not medical examinations in the sense of a physician performing an unbiased examination seeking clinical findings for the purpose of healing. IMEs are set up by insurance companies solely for insurance company purposes. So, the correct […]
