Miscellaneous | InjuryBoard Scottsdale

The 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...

Continue article

Two 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...

Continue article

Genrally, 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....

Continue article

New 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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

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...

Continue article

Many people do not understand the difference between legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty.Legal malpractice arises when an attorney owes someone a duty of care and, by an act or omission, the attorney's conduct breaches that duty of care and causes that person cognizable harm. While the "person" harmed is typically a client, an attorney-client relationship is not required and legal...

Continue article

An intoxicated defendant who injures someone is often exposed to punitive damages. Arizona Appellate Courts have unanimously affirmed punitive damage awards against drunk drivers in cases where it is proven that intoxicated driving was a proximate cause of the collision.An intoxicated defendant who injures someone is often exposed to punitive damages. Arizona Appellate Courts have unanimously...

Continue article

Attorneys know that deadlines matter, but in this age of electronic filing and 24-hour drop boxes it was just a matter of time before a court would have to address a filing that was, say, a mere six minutes late. That is what the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit had to deal with and this is what they had to say about it:Six minutes seems trivial and unlikely to cause...

Continue article