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Archive for category: Blog

Appeal

Appeal

After a judgment is entered, either side may appeal. Generally, reviewing courts will construe the evidence and procedures at trial in such a way as to uphold a trial court determination. Reversals can occur, however, where a “miscarriage of justice” or prejudicial legal error can be shown. An appeal normally takes about one year to run its course. Trial attorneys generally do not agree to represent a client on appeal, absent an agreement specifically covering that phase of the legal process.

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Verdict After Trial

Verdict After Trial

Once a verdict is returned, a winning party will have a judgment in his or her favor. The prevailing party may also seek costs from the losing party. These can sometimes be substantial. This should be considered in litigation decisions along the way.

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Trials

A trial, should your claim come to this, is a process whereby either a judge (if the jury is waived), or a jury of people from around the area in which the court is situated, decide your case. A trial can last from one day to many weeks or even months. It requires a substantial expenditure of time and money. Normally your appearance will be required or advisable at some of all of the trial. A person in the litigation claims process should consider this in making decisions along the way. There is a substantial amount of uncertainty in the trial process. It is very difficult if not impossible to say with certainty what a judge or a jury will do with a case. Where it may be highly likely that a particular fact or outcome will be decided one way or the other, juries and even judges often surprise parties in litigation.

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The Risks Attorneys Bear

The Risks Attorneys Bear

Many people who have been injured have little or no idea of the cost and risks that attorneys shoulder in taking on insurance companies, large corporations, and governments that have injured people. The costs can be in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in building a case to recover for serious personal injury or loss. An attorney’s investment of time can be hundreds and thousands of hours, sleepless nights, and worry. The stakes are high but the satisfaction great when justice has been achieved for a client.

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Federal Court

Federal Court

From time to time, a lawsuit can be filed in federal court, where either the plaintiff and the defendant are from different states, or there is a federal question involved in the case. Typically the life span of a federal case is somew.hat longer than a state case, but there is substantial variety in all of this which you may discuss with your attorney.

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Miscellaneous Injury Claims

Miscellaneous Injury Claims

There are unusual sorts of claims applicable to special situations. In dog bite cases, for example, there is a statute or a written law that basically states that the owner of the dog is strictly liable for injuries caused by the dog. There are, at least in California, no “free bites.” Defamation and false imprisonment are other unique sorts of claims covering special circumstances: defamation relating to the publication of false statements about individuals, and false imprisonment relating to the imprisonment of someone without proper authority. These have there own particular elements and showings, which an attorney can discuss with you where appropriate.

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Frivolous Lawsuits – a Perspective

Frivolous Lawsuits – a Perspective

Do people sometimes bring frivolous or meritless claims for personal injury or other damages? Yes, of course, they do. The incidence of such claims, however, is relatively rare, notwithstanding media suggestions to the contrary (which not infrequently misreport the facts of individual claims as well). Attorneys are generally not interested in bringing such claims since they will not be paid if they lose. An attorney and/or his client may also be liable for sanctions or costs in bringing frivolous claims. Juries of ordinary people or judges ultimately decide if a claim is frivolous or without merit.

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Products Liability Cases

Products Liability Cases

In products liability cases, the analysis is whether a product is unreasonably dangerous given its intended use: again a sort of negligence or reasonable man standard. Likewise, in trip and fall and other cases involving the dangerous conditions of real property, the question is whether there was an unreasonably dangerous condition on the property and whether the owner knew or should have known of its existence, the analysis again coming down to whether the owner exercised reasonable care, all things considered.

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Understaffing of Judges Hearing Longshore Cases

Understaffing of Judges Hearing Longshore Cases

For 10 or more years, the United States Office of Administrative Law Judges has been chronically understaffed causing serious backlogs in Longshore and similar cases. On the West Coast, it now typically takes two or more years for a decision to issue after a trial. This can result in serious adverse consequences to an injured worker, including a deterioration in physical condition, loss of a worker’s home, bankruptcy, and significant distress. Insurance companies know this to be the case and so engage in bad faith denial of claims. Longshore attorneys and claimants, and their trade groups such as the Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group (“WILG”), have sought assistance from congressional representatives to correct this problem, but still have not received significant help. Injured workers should contact their congressional representative to make their voices heard on this point. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” and this is certainly true in the context of the understaffing of the Office of Administrative Law Judges and it effect on longshoremen and harbor workers

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Vicarious Liability of Car Owners and Employers

Vicarious Liability of Car Owners and Employers

Other claims besides negligence that may be brought in personal injury litigation typically involve some variation on the negligence theory. For example, the liability of owners of automobiles driven by someone else, or the liability of the employer of a person causing injury, still involve the question of whether the driver or employee was negligent. This type of liability is called “vicarious liability” because liability is imposed on individuals or companies who did not actually cause the injury, but the law holds liable anyway as a matter of public policy.

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