Posted by Stoli on 12/10/12 2:28pm
Msg #446035

Request for Auto Insurance - Thank you, Hugh Msg #424146

This from a lawyer
Posted by HisHughness of TX on 6/20/12 5:13pm Msg #424146

1. When someone goes to a lawyer with a tort issue, including the original poster and anybody else who posts in this thread, they expect the attorney to seek recompense against anyone who might reasonably be held liable.

2. If the attorney does not, and it later appears the client could have gotten a recovery from that party, the attorney can be liable.

3. Of all the tort cases I have ever handled, I never had a client tell me not to sue a particular party unless it was a relative, close friend or neighbor. Otherwise, the client wants you to throw the widest net possible.

4. It is not the attorney who determines the liability of a person in tort actions. It is a jury or, sometimes, a judge. Many of the claims such as this that are ridiculed in the press subsequently draw awards from juries which are -- hold on to your hats now -- composed of people just like us who heard ALL the facts.

5. We would all be well advised to take to heart the McDonald's-coffee-in-the-lap case, which was so roundly lampooned in the press and by the public. Evidence presented at trial established that:

The plaintiff suffered third degree burns over 6 percent of her body and lesser burns over 16 percent; spent 8 days in the hospital and required skin grafts; McDonald's refused to settle for more than $800; franchises were required to serve coffee at 180-190 degrees, which will cause third degree burns in two seconds; and <McDonald's had had more than 700 complaints about the temperature of its coffee> and paid out more than $500,000 in settlements.

I am reminded of the lawyer who was being harassed by a doctor at a social function. Finally, the lawyer had had enough. "Doctor," he said, "I think you should keep in mind that when your professional forebears were putting leeches on George Washington's butt, MY professional forebears were writing the Constitution of the United States."

Semper Ambulance Chasers