On the one hand, personal injury litigation is very similar to any kind of lawsuit: a plaintiff files a complaint, a defendant responds, there’s discovery, and possibly a trial. But the subject matter, business model, and technical rules involved in personal injury disputes make them unique. Since I don’t focus my practice on litigating on
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Summer_Olympics#/media/File:Dancesport_at_the_2018_Summer_Youth_Olympics_–_Mixed_Team_–_Quarterfinal_4_62.jpgPart of my work involves reading court decisions to keep abreast of how judges decide the types of cases I handle. Below, I share some thoughts on recent decisions.Court Permits Plaintiff to Assert Both an Emotional Distress Claim and a Negligence ClaimMany lawsuits arise from allegations that the defendant did something terrible. And,
In an earlier post, I described depositions generally. They are an opportunity for a lawyer to question a witness before trial. And while they are meant to be an informal event compared to examination at trial, they can be pivotal in a litigation. As a result, taking a deposition requires a lot of preparation
One of the first batch of posts I wrote for this blog was about demand letters. A major job of a litigator is to avoid litigation, and so some of the skills involved in the job involve making someone afraid of what would happen in a lawsuit without actually going to court. There are
I’ve been to Ireland a few times now and it’s a wonderful country filled with interesting people, rich history, and, better weather than I expected. But even though I have visited many of the country’s pubs, I have not visited any of its courts (despite visiting many of the country’s pubs). That’s a shame because
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_election#/media/File:Place_de_la_République,_Juillet_7_2024_06.jpgPart of my work involves reading court decisions to keep abreast of how judges decide the types of cases I handle. Below, I share some thoughts on recent decisions.Court Holds Defendant Strictly Liable Even Where Accident Not ForeseeableSome laws allow a plaintiff to recover in litigation against a defendant, even if the defendant
The law that enables the federal government to prosecute organized crime bosses allows regular people to sue people and entities that engage in similar behavior. Many plaintiffs use this law to sue people, seeking large cash payments, a reason to claim federal court jurisdiction, and substantial media attention. These claims need not be limited to
In my very first post on this blog, back in April 2020, I wrote about case law research. I re-read the original post and share some new thoughts below.Why should you continue to read this updated post about case law research?
In an earlier post, I described the work that lawyers must perform to collect money after winning a judgment. Just because a plaintiff obtains a judgment doesn’t mean they automatically get money. Instead, they may even need to go back to court to sue someone else to collect the money. Those lawsuits are called
I have interviewed lawyers about dispute resolution in several religious traditions. These systems, applying Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim practices, are still in use today. But I recently had the amazing opportunity to learn about a system of dispute resolution in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that rose in the Nineteenth Century
