These days everyone literally lives on and through their smartphones. We take them everywhere, and we are constantly on them checking email, texting, calling, social media, etc. Whether you realize it or not, your cell phone is tracking almost everything you do all day long and storing that information as…
Every aspect of litigation is based on time. Litigants only have a certain number of days to respond to motions, answer discovery, or serve a summons. Perhaps the biggest time-related concern in litigation is the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the due date for a lawsuit. If…
This blog deals with big personal injury lawsuits across the country. These lawsuits typically involve class actions, multidistrict litigation, and mass torts against corporations for their defective products, medications, or their general negligence. But we also talk about motor vehicle accident and malpractice claims, too. For all of these cases, you…
Once a jury hands down their verdict, the case is over, right? Sometimes, but not always. At the close of trial, both sides generally have the ability to appeal certain issues or things that may not have gone their way. Most important to remember here though: parties can only appeal…
If you are a plaintiff in a lawsuit, you are asking the court to do something for you. In most personal injury cases, you are asking the court to award damages in your favor, typically by way of the jury. Throughout the lawsuit, there will be other “lesser” things that…
Jurisdiction and venue often arise in the context of “forum shopping” when filing lawsuit. Unquestionably, it is better to file a lawsuit in some places compared to others and good lawyering requires careful consideration of venue and jurisdiction and the distinction between the two. In many jurisdictions, like Maryland and…
The American civil justice system allows for one type of recovery in personal injury cases: damages. Damages, or compensation, can manifest themselves in a few different forms in personal injury cases. People tend to throw around terms such as “general damages,” “special damages,” “non-economic,” and “economic” damages, so this post…
Discovery is the most important part of civil litigation (apart from the trial.) Discovery also tends to be the most expensive part of civil litigation. This is often a long and exhaustive process that entails most of the legwork in litigation. At the end of the day, though, discovery is…
Big changes are coming to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A few of these changes make some pretty significant amendments to language in the discovery rules. Depending on how they are applied and interpreted, there is real potential for a reduction in the amount of information that can be…
I’ve written a lot about how personal injury lawyers have to and should deal with medical and other liens. When I go back and look at the web traffic generated by these posts, it typically gets low page views, probably from the same 20 lawyers that read all of our…