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• Legal Malpractice and Nondelegable Duties -- When Can a Lawyer Be Held Accountable for the Negligence of an Independent Contractor?

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 12, 2007 9:57 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  We recently filed suit in a case where a lawyer himself did nothing wrong, but hired an independent contractor to file a lawsuit -- that is, a process server. The process server negligently failed to file the lawsuit on time and, as a result, the lawsuit was time-barred. Worse, the process server was uninsured.Most people know that employers are generally liable for the negligence of their...

• Pain and Suffering: Getting the Jury to "Feel Your Pain" in a Personal Injury Matter

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 11, 2007 10:06 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Pain and suffering. Two "legal words" that literally roll off your tongue. Words that are easy to say, but are hard to live with, especially when you are injured or disfigured by someone else's carelessness.One of the jobs of trial attorneys is to convey a client's pain and suffering to a jury, and it's not an easy thing to do. In fact, it is one of the hardest things trial lawyers do, and it...

• Legal Malpractice and The One Million Dollar Comma

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 10, 2007 8:45 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  As in many legal malpractice matters, the "devil is in the details," but rarely does a dispute center around the use of a "comma," but that was the case in a recent Canadian contract dispute:The dispute is over this sentence: "This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for...

• How Do You Know What My Case is Worth?

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 09, 2007 3:15 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  One of the things a good personal attorney provides is assistance evaluating a case. After all, when all is said and done, that is really what matters most: what's it worth? The answer to this question is more complicated, since every case is different. If you believe myths about cases being worth "three times medical bills" or the like, you are likely to be way off base 95% of the...

• Do You Know Your Contract Terms?

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 07, 2007 1:32 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  A recent national poll revealed that as many as 34% of homeowners do not even know what type of mortgage they had on their home. So, perhaps not surprisingly, many employees and business owners are unaware of the terms governing their contracts.If you have a business dispute the first thing you need is get to know your written contract -- what's that, you don't have one? Well, then you...

• Arizona Considering Unconstitutional Changes to Compulsory Arbitration Procedure To Benefit Insurers

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 06, 2007 2:26 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  In the past I have written about the compulsory arbitration procedure in Arizona.Currently, there is a bill, SB1054, in the Arizona Legislature amending ARS 12-133, i.e., changing the mandatory arbitration procedure.While I could care less about the bulk of main charge of the amendment (i.e., to raise the permissible arbitration limits to $65,000 and modestly raise arbitrator pay), it also...

• Settlement Reached Where Improper Road Repair Leads to Motorcycle Mishap

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 05, 2007 6:40 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  This month the City of Phoenix approved a $250,000 settlement in a motorcycle injury case with one of our clients. The incident occurred when the City workers improperly repaired a section of the roadway that, within days after the repair, resulted in a large pothole in a through lane of travel. Unfortunately, this pothole was also all but invisible at night and caused our client's motorcycle...

• Application of Comparative Fault to Business Torts

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 03, 2007 10:13 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Most states have adopted a form of comparative fault. The idea behind newer comparative fault laws is to ameliorate some of the harsh results of the common law, but it can have the opposite effect in the business context.In a "pure" comparative fault state, such as Arizona, a defendant is only responsible for the percentage of fault assigned to it by the jury. So, while your damages maybe $1...

• Understanding the Compulsory Arbitration System in Personal Injury Cases From Both Perspectives

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 02, 2007 8:22 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Like many states, Arizona has a compulsory arbitration system in place for "smaller" disputes. Depending upon the County where the action is brought and the amount sought (e.g., less than $50,000 in Maricopa County), these matters are subject to mandatory court-annexed arbitration. Such claims are supposed to be conducted on an accelerated schedule and decided by a court-appointed arbitrator...

• Certificate of Merit Legislation: Arizona's Unconstitutional Barriers to Justice

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 01, 2007 6:09 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Like a number of other states, the Arizona Legislature recently caved to special-interests and adopted a so-called "certificate of merit" procedure for medical malpractice cases, ARS 12-2303. This procedure sets forth a somewhat complicated series of requirements for people filing medical malpractice claims. As a practical matter, however, the statute discriminates against those injured by a...