Complex litigation and subrogation cases involving product liability and/or technical issues frequently require opinion testimony in the form of expert witnesses. The role of the expert is to educate lay judges and juries who lack knowledge about a particular issue or technology involved in a case. This includes everything from the design of a complex…
Mediation has become an integral and very effective tool in the arsenal of the subrogation professional. We find that many of our clients have a great deal of mediation experience, and many have attended mediation without the benefit of having subrogation counsel present – with mixed results. Some years ago, while applying for board certification…
On March 23, 2015, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law Senate Bill 411, making substantial changes to Oregon’s Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) and uninsured/underinsured (“UM/UIM”) statutes. The Bill amends several Oregon statutes and doubles the PIP medical benefit period from one year to two years. It also changes Oregon UM policies from a “difference…
The campaign to establish liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in connection with subrogation took an interesting turn recently, but ultimately reached another dead end. The federal judiciary has made it clear, time and again, that the FDCPA does not apply to third-party subrogation claims because they are not “debts” as defined…
It is entitled “An Act to clarify reimbursement of workers’ compensation insurers to prevent double recovery by injured workers in third-party cases”, but, as with most deceptive titles to pieces of legislation, it is more of a license for trial lawyers to destroy a time-honored right of reimbursement promised to small businesses across Massachusetts. In…
Juris Publishing, Inc. has released the latest and most comprehensive edition of Workers’ Compensation Subrogation In All 50 States, the firm’s unique treatise on the subject. The book is carried on the shelves of every law school in the country and is considered the authoritative resource on the subject. There are very few areas in…
Approximately 12% to 14% of all accidents result in a total loss, a number which has been trending upward since 2002. Insurance companies faced with first-party claims on policies are responsible for paying the actual cash value or market value of an insured’s vehicle so the insured can replace it with a similar vehicle. In…
Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich sure doesn’t act like a Republican. When a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court made it relatively simple for states to reject Obamacare’s costly expansion of Medicare on the backs of state taxpayers, many governors took advantage of the opportunity. Not Governor Kasich. Despite emphasizing opposition to Obamacare in…
Oklahoma has seen its share of changes in its workers’ compensation laws of recent. On May 6, 2013, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed S.B. 1062 into law, creating a new Title 85A of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act to operate in parallel with existing Title 85, and once again reform that state’s workers’ compensation laws…
When dealing with photographs taken of other people, prudence requires that we consider the legal rights of the subject and the ethics of publishing the photo without their permission. Since the advent of digital photography, photographs have played a big role on the internet. Click. Upload. Post. Never has it been so easy and inexpensive…