I'm Being Sued

I finally heard from the insurance company this week. Called the claims person back today. While everyone thinks the complaint sounds trumped up, the lawyer is ignoring the agency (a lawyer's trick) and seems bent on going to court.

There seems to be no evidence. The story is she broke her knee. Supposedly, she and her husband were walking when she fell. He is frail and elderly. He easily weighs 1/3rd of her weight. How could he have gotten her to the hospital? We heard no ambulance. Would he have left her on the ground while he went for his car?

I live on a state highway. It is difficult to cross. From their pictures, I would think she is too heavy and he is too frail to cross easily.

It comes down to she said and she said.

I've asked people who would a jury believe? The 300 pound plaintiff or the size 6 defendant? Would my being an adjunct professor work for or against me? Would her taste in clothes help or hinder her? Would mine help or hinder me?

The temperature that day was in the upper 60s. My son opens the window as soon as the outdoor temperature reaches 45. He would have heard any noise.

The more I hear, the more convinced I am that she fell in her own home.

I would love to know if she is a professional plaintiff, if she has done this sort of thing several times in the past.

Obviously, your state has discovery procedures which will begin
after your legal counsel has answered the complaint, appearing
on your behalf, and counsel have exchanged discovery notices.
Your attorney will demand that Plaintiff's counsel particularize
the complaint and depositions will be arranged.

I count it among life 's sweeter blessings,
that I never had YOU for a client.





David

U live in Mass., right?

Do u live near where there were the Salem witch trials ?

Frankly, david, I wouldn't have chosen you as an attorney. However, you should know that another faculty member said to me that I am "obviously well groomed, attractive, intelligent and articulate," which could work against me as a plaintiff but might help as a defendant.

Basically, I did most of the legwork for the attorney. That should make me a good client.

I have said that I live in western MA. You should know where Salem is without consulting a map. It is just one of those famous places all Americans should be able to pinpoint.

my experience with this type of claim tells me that size/wardrobe/profession doesn't matter too much. What matters is who is most likable.

It's fairly unlikely that you will have a role if this goes to trial - it will only matter if the plaintiff is likable/believable/pleasant - a good witness for herself.

the jury will be unlikely to be aware of who you are - the insurer rep and counsel will be at the front - if you're there at all (we discourage defendants from attending) you'll be at the back of the room

Thank u. I woud not have accepted u,
if I knew u as I have come to know u on A2K.
That 's the problem: it can take a while before u find out
whether someone is crazy; sometimes it DOES.





If Mass. is like NY (it probably IS)
then the case will very likely be settled by your carrier before trial,
or (less likely) during trial, and the problem will go away.
Very few tortious cases proceed to plenary trials & fewer proceed to judgment,
unless plaintiffs r grossly unreasonable in their settlement demands.




That is not the operative criterion for being a good client.
What IS important is that u are not crazy.
A decent personal injury lawyer has his own investigators
and does not expect his clients to do that.





David

I disagree; the Salem witch trials are "fun facts"
in the 21st Century, whose geografy is not of helpful import.
I doubt that I 'll go there.

Do u go, in a spirit of nostalgia ?





David

Really? I was a juror on a slip and fall case involving a woman who fell in the lobby of a utility company. A representative of the company testified.

You can't make that judgment. You know too little, not just about psychology, but about life. Furthermore, you have demonstrated anti-social behavior in your gun campaign and I do not believe that I have. Your spelling campaign points toward obsessive compulsive disorder.

that representative probably had nothing directly to do with the incident

the plaintiff is often the only person other than lawyers and experts that the jury will see - if it actually gets to a jury

if the plaintiff makes a good witness for themselves, the insurance company will often be advised to settle before there is a chance for the jury to see the witness and increase the $$$ settlement

david, you continually demonstrate a dangerous level of ignorance.

@ david

I refrained from mentioning my ex-brother-in-law. He still practices personal injury law although he is probably an age peer to you. He was president of the American Association for Justice when it was the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

He joined his father's firm which was memorialized by a based-on-a-case novel that was later made into a motion picture. The case was not handled by my ex-husband's father but by his father's partner who was also his godfather. The bare bones of the case is all that informs the script. The firm itself is not represented and the manner in which the attorney who tries the case is personified in no way resembles my former husband's godfather.

However, I have spoken with people who encountered by outlaw brother-in-law in court, both as attorneys and as defendants. His stock in trade was always to portray the defendant as crazy. In fact, he came close to turning the attorney representing one of my dearest friends against his own client.

Oh horseshit. Just because Salem was once notorious is no good reason to assume that people will know where it is. Anyway, if you were looking for it on a map, you'd find it sooner by looking for Danvers.

Of course, the representative of the gas company had nothing to do with the client. However, he represented the interests of the company just as I represent my interest in having this dismissed.

I had nothing to do with the client in this case. I have only seen her facebook and myspace pages.

But, when I raised the question with the insurance rep, she did not tell me that I would not testify. In fact, she suggested that it depends more upon who the jury is than how the plaintiff presents herself.

My ex once had me sue someone whose truck I hit. the situation was I rounded a corner and his truck was in the road without cones. I won. I don't see how that case is different than this. It was through his testimony that it was revealed that he neglected to put out cones. Without testimony from me, there is no case for my own defense.

I had the right to eliminate two jurors from the pool, but only two, during the impaneling.

Now, I understand that there is a limit of $33,000 awarded to clients in slip and fall cases. It is a small enough amount that I wonder why she would bother. Particularly since the attorney already told the insurance company that there is no permanent injury and that his client has fully healed.

Pre-revolutionary War New England was a very small place.

From the fact that I DID
(based upon your very poor mental organization),
we know that I can.
U r free to dispute its accuracy, if u wish.




Really?? Please describe my education in psychology,
inasmuch as u claim to be informed on that subject.






The US Supreme Court has repeatedly proven that I am right.

Your behavior has been anti-social, by favoring protection on-the-job
of violent criminals to protect them from the defenses of their victims.
I favor the good guys.
U favor the bad guys: anti-social misanthrope.




I suspect that I have a touch of inclination
toward that, tho I have no repetitive sequential ceremonies.





David

How dangerous will it be
if I don 't go to Salem?

I'm not bothering with your first of two messages above this one. It is filled with strawmen and silliness.