Do you ever wonder if a claimant should hire an attorney or “go it alone” on an accident case?
Do you ever wonder if a claimant should hire an attorney or “go it alone” on an accident case? Without an attorney, a claimant has no power to force an insurance company to do anything. According to page 5 of Allstate Insurance Company’s own internal document entitled “Unrepresented Segment Training” (which was obtained in a […]
Read MoreGoogle announced that it has formed a new company called Alphabet, which is now the parent company to Google.
In case you missed it, on 8-10-2015 Google announced that it has formed a new company called Alphabet, which is now the parent company to Google. Instead of Google being the parent to all of the company’s endeavors, Google now sits alongside Calico, Nest, Fiber, Google Ventures, Google Capital, and Google X (which includes things […]
Read MoreD.B. v. Ingham
On Jun 24, 2015, the Washington Post reported that a man from Vienna, VA “prepared for his colonoscopy by pressing record on his smartphone, to capture the instructions his doctor would give him after the procedure.” Driving home after the procedure, however, “he found that he had recorded the entire examination and that the surgical […]
Read MoreMuniz v. UPS
In Muniz v. UPS (9th Cir., Dec 2013), a case under a statute awarding attorneys fees and costs to the prevailing party, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a trial court award of attorneys fees and costs which was 26x the damages awarded by the jury. Decisions like this one should help to deter […]
Read MoreDorn v. Burlington N. Santa Fe R.R.
In Dorn v. Burlington N. Santa Fe R.R., No. 03-35071 (9th Cir. Feb. 7, 2005), the the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that hedonic damages testimony by economic experts in personal injury cases is admissible in Federal Court.
Read MoreOrthopedic Associates v. HIG
Our Hawaii doctors and medical providers have prevailed in the case of Orthopedic Associates v. HIG (Haw. Sup. Ct. 12-7-05). In that case the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that many auto insurers have failed to comply with statutory denial and notice requirements when they “down-coded” tens of thousands of medical bills owed to doctors for […]
Read MoreUdac v. Takata Corp
A Hawaii man was awarded $16M in a failed seatbelt case – Friday, December 23, 2005. In the case of Udac v. Takata Corp – a Big Island jury has awarded a 26-year-old Naalehu man, who is now a paraplegic, more than $16 million in connection with a single-car accident in 2000 against the manufacturer […]
Read MoreHubbard v. Hills Materials – Ron Hubbard
A South Dakota court awarded $65,000 in compensatory damages and $ 5,000,000 in punative damages against an employer involved in wrongfully disputing a worker’s compensation claim. In the case of Hubbard v. Hills Materials – Ron Hubbard, a construction laborer, needed $5,998 in medical treatment for carpal tunnel injuries brought on by his work. When […]
Read MoreBurlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company v. United States District Court for the District of Montana
Boilerplate discovery responses may be dangerous in the 9th Circuit. In the case of Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company v. United States District Court for the District of Montana, 408 F.3d 1142 (9th Cir. 2005) the Ninth Circuit held that boilerplate objections for blanket refusals inserted into a response to a Rule 34 […]
Read MoreHangarter v. Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co.
Insurers who insist on using biased medical examiners in an effort to routinely deny insurance benefits to injured people may want to consider Hangarter v. Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co., 373 F.3d 998, 1010-1011 (9th Cir. 2004). In that case the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Provident repeated use of the same […]
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