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• What If You Are Injured at Work? Can You Sue for Pain and Suffering?

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 18, 2007 9:03 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Generally, but the remedies are very much stacked against you.Arizona workers' compensation laws are your avenue for redress if you have sustained injuries at work as a result of a co-worker or employer. You don't need to show negligence on the part of your employer to make a claim. What you need to show is that you were in the "course and scope" of your employment at the time you were injured...

• Parental Liability for Uninsured Minors That Cause Injury Accidents

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 18, 2007 10:39 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  In Arizona, if you are under 18, your application for an instruction permit or driver's license must be signed by at least one adult. The adult may be responsible for any negligence or willful misconduct when the minor is driving.The statute, A.R.S. 28-3160, provides that "[n]egligence or wilful misconduct of a minor when driving a motor vehicle on a highway is imputed to the person who signs...

• What Happens if I Was Bit or Attacked by Someone's Dog?

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 15, 2007 8:56 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  You can typically recover if you are injured by someone's dog, and generally their homeowner's insurance policy will provide liability coverage for these accidents. In addition, in Arizona we have a dog bite statute creating strict liability for such situations. Therefore, dog owners are liable for such injuries regardless of fault or alleged provacation of the dog.

• The Medical Malpractice Myth: Legal Analysis Finds That Patients Fare Poorly in Court

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 12, 2007 9:23 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  As any medical malpractice attorney worth their salt will tell you, there is absolutely no epidemic of plaintiffs' medical malpractice verdicts. As these attorneys know, very,very few medical malpractice cases are worth pursuing and fewer still result in a monetary award or settlement. Indeed, it is somewhat laughable that so-called tort reformers advance medical malpractice caps of $250,000...

• Court of Appeals Holds That Livestock Owner Did Not Breach the Standard of Care When it Failed to Warn or Fence Land Adjacent to a Roadway Through an Open Range

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 11, 2007 5:12 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  The other day, Division One affirmed the trial court's granting summary judgment to a livestock owner in connection with an accident occurring on a portion of unfenced "open range" land. The case, Brookover v. Roberts Enterprises, Inc., held that the plaintiff failed to show facts evidencing conduct below the applicable standard of "ordinary care."To get there the Court of Appeals seized upon...

• Update: Judge may lose his job after suing cleaners for $65,000,000

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 09, 2007 9:54 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Roy L. Pearson Jr. might regret going after a dry cleaners for a lost pair of pants. A panel of four Washington DC officials is considering whether he should return as an administrative law judge for his bringing and maintaining a $65 million suit agaist the cleaners.

• The Case of the Judge Who Lost His Pants, and Then Lost His Mind

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 08, 2007 12:59 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Rarely do I find it necessary to write about cases that should never be filed, after all, there are enough people who love to blog about the absurdities of the law. That being said, the case of the Hon. Roy Person, Jr. versus Custom Cleaners is the single-worst example of abusive litigation that I recall having ever seen or heard of.It is safe to say, the Hon. Roy Pearson, Jr. demands...

• Court Affirms Award of Attorneys' Fees For Dragging In Unnecessary Third-Party Defendants in a Business/Construction Dispute

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 04, 2007 9:36 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  To be filed in the "gluttons for punishment" folder, the case of Fulton Homes Corporation v. BBP Concrete that was recently published by Division One.The case affirms an award of $12,000, or $6,000 each, to two parties who Fulton dragged into a lawsuit because, well, "they could" under Rule 14.In short, Fulton pulled in two third-party defendants to a lawsuit under the premise that they were...

• Ethical Rules and Their Application in Legal Malpractice Cases

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 02, 2007 9:18 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Lawyers are governed by a comprehensive set of ethical rules which, when violated, often lead to civil liability regardless of the ethical violation (e.g., stealing from clients), but what impact does a rule violation have on legal malpractice or other claims against a lawyer? Arizona's ethical rules contain the following Preamble: Violation of a Rule should not itself give rise to a cause of...

• Girls Gone Wild Founder No Stranger to Controversy, Litigation or Judicial Outrage

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 01, 2007 10:22 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild has been in the press lately, mainly because he is reportedly losing it inside prison without his bottled water and anti-anxiety medication. The reason he is behind bars is a little more complicated, but it is basically because he pissed off a federal judge. Never a good move.Anyway, reading about him refreshed my memory that a respected colleague recently sued...