- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 29, 2007 6:51 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousTwo days ago I posted the 2006 civil jury awards in Arizona. The thing that I found interesting is the Maricopa County median is a paltry $70,879. By the way, the reported figures are all artifically high because they do not include defense verdicts of zero!Among other things, this makes me recall the pending unconstitutional legislation to allow courts to raise the compulsory arbitration...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 28, 2007 3:36 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousIt turns out that an auctioneer's selling things (for a fee) does not make you a "seller" under Arizona product liability law.Last week Division Two handed down Antone v. Greater Arizona Auto Auction, Inc..The Court observed that a "[s]eller" is defined by the Arizona products statute as "a person or entity, including a wholesaler, distributor, retailer or lessor, that is engaged in the business...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 27, 2007 1:56 PM |
Category:
Automobile AccidentsThe numbers are out for civil jury verdicts and they are not pretty. Indeed, they are generally very low and, since they include commercial cases in the average (which can skew the numbers quite a lot), we pay more attention to the median numbers.2006 Reported Arizona VerdictsAverages vs. Medians {mso-displayed-decimal-separator:"\\."; mso-displayed-thousand-separator:"\\,";}@page {margin:1.0in...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 26, 2007 1:41 PM |
Category:
Automobile AccidentsOver three years ago, our client was a passenger in a vehicle driving on U.S. 60 in La Paz County. Unfortunately, a truck driver that had stopped at an intersection on the highway, proceeded to cross the intersection and did not see our client's vehicle approaching.The vehicles collided, resulting in serious injuries to our client and another passenger.As is sometimes the case, even though the...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 25, 2007 1:35 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousWe recently filed suit on behalf of a man who was severely injured as a result of a built-in barbeque explosion.The man, visiting from out of town, was asked to assist in lighting or operating the built-in barbeque. Suddenly the barbeque exploded resulting in 2nd and 3rd degree burns on well over one-half of the man's body.Although the investigation is not yet complete, it appears the built-in...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 24, 2007 10:14 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousThe essence of legal malpractice is to show that a lawyer improperly did, or failed to do, something specific that, had the lawyer done properly, would have resulted in a measurably better outcome. Sounds simple enough, but it gets more complicated in practice.First, consider the specific act or omission. It's not enough to say a lawyer "did not do a good enough job." You need something...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 23, 2007 5:57 PM |
Category:
Automobile AccidentsRecently the Arizona Legislature enacted a new and shorter statute of limitations for UM/UIM claims. The applicable section is ARS 12-555.For uninsured motorist (UM) claims such claims, such claims must be made in writing within three years after the earliest of (i) the date you knew that the tortfeasor was uninsured; or (ii) the date you knows or should have known that coverage was denied by...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 22, 2007 9:44 AM |
Category:
Wrongful DeathArizona law provides for two causes of action when someone dies: a wrongful death claim and a survival action. The purpose of providing both actions is to give the parties damaged a complete remedy and opportunity to recover the loss sustained.The wrongful death action is intended to benefit certain survivors -- called statutory beneficiaries -- such as the decedent's parents, children, and...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 21, 2007 11:13 AM |
Category:
Wrongful DeathArizona's wrongful death statute still has some ambiguity. For example, ARS 12-612 permits a wrongful death claim to be brought "on behalf of the surviving husband or wife, children or parents, or if none of these survive, on behalf of the decedent's estate." What does this last part mean?What damages can the estate recover in a statutory wrongful death action (as opposed to a statutory...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 20, 2007 12:42 PM |
Category:
Motorcycle AccidentsWhile helmet usage should be everyone's priority, not every state requires helmets for every type of rider. In fact, most states still only require helmets for certain age riders and the majority of states still leave helmet usage up to the individual rider.An excellent summary of helmet law requirements can be found at the Law Tigers website, or by clicking here.
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 19, 2007 8:57 AM |
Category:
Medical MalpracticeAs a rule, every medical malpractice claim must have four elements -- duty, breach, causation and damages -- and, at least as a general rule, you need all of them to have a cognizable claim. Sometimes, however, there can be an issue as to when a claim is "mature," i.e., complete or ripe.Take, for example, a person who has an increased risk of disease because he has been exposed to a defective...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 18, 2007 9:33 PM |
Category:
Automobile AccidentsLet me make this clear: there is no such thing as full coverage. It's really that simple.What types of coverage is there? There's first-party coverages, such as comprehensive, collision, medical payments, and underinsured and uninsured motorist. Then there's third-party coverages such as property damage and bodily injury. And then there are other coverages, such as rental and towing.But...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 17, 2007 9:07 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousTwo years ago, rich and powerful Texans said lawsuits were ruining the state's economy and needed to be fairer. Today, thanks to tort reform, they are fairer -- for business. Ordinary people are out of luck.by Mimi SwartzLIKE A LOT OF OLD-FASHIONED TEXANS, Alvin Berry is the kind of man who bears the pain and indignities of life with good grace. At 73, Alvin has never been a rich man, but in his...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 16, 2007 8:15 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousGenrally, personal injury recoveries for bodily injuries are not subject to income tax, but recoveries for lost income are taxable. What, then, about non-physical personal injury (i.e., emotional distress and loss of reputation) unrelated to lost wages or earnings? Believe it or not, the government wanted to tax this recovery pursuant to § 104(a)(2) of the tax code. Thankfully, the D.C....
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 14, 2007 11:09 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousNew decision from Division One entitled Lopez v. Cole. In short, the court held that based upon existing Supreme Court precedent, i.e., Pearson & Dickerson Contractors Inc. v. Harrington, 60 Ariz. 354, 137 P.2d 381 (1943), a claim for medical bills belongs to parents absent a "waiver" (and is, therefore subject to a two year SOL), but that a parent's failure to bring a claim within the two year...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 13, 2007 10:33 AM |
Category:
Wrongful DeathUnlike most injury claims, wrongful death claims are governed by statute. This has some important and surprising consequences.By way of some background, the reason wrongful death statutes were enacted was because, at common law, there was no such cause of action. As a result, it was often cheaper to kill someone than it was to simply injure them (there was a saying that, "if your carriage runs...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 12, 2007 9:57 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousWe 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 11, 2007 10:06 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousPain 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 10, 2007 8:45 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousAs 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 09, 2007 3:15 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousOne 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 07, 2007 1:32 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousA 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 06, 2007 2:26 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousIn 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 05, 2007 6:40 PM |
Category:
Motorcycle AccidentsThis 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 03, 2007 10:13 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousMost 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 02, 2007 8:22 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousLike 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...
- Geoff Trachtenberg | April 01, 2007 6:09 PM |
Category:
Medical MalpracticeLike 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...