It’s an increasingly connected world that we live in. An important part of that connection is electronic—most of us interact with others electronically through social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and SnapChat, to name a few. Of course, there are also e-mail messages and text messages. This is how we communicate…
Trial is scary. If you have a trial, and you’ve never been, you probably have some anxiety about the whole thing. Where do I sit? What questions are going to be asked? Can I bring notes? You will have a long conversation with your lawyer to go over all of…
Every case, whether a circuit court or district court, has a phase of discovery. In the district court, this simply involves the exchange of written questions, known as interrogatories. In the circuit court, this involves more interrogatories, plus some document requests, and likely depositions. We’re going to cover what to…
In most cases, there will come a time when your lawyers have negotiated the settlement offer as high as it will go—the insurance adjuster or defense lawyer tells us that there will be no further offers (whether true or untrue—we’ll help you determine whether we believe it or not). The…
Don’t ever buy insurance with a family exclusion. Here’s how it worked for a recent client of mine: Mom was driving, didn’t pay attention to the slippery conditions of a Maryland winter, and her car slid into oncoming traffic. Her vehicle was totaled, and more devastatingly, one of her twins…
Insurance is an interesting thing. You pay regularly (monthly, or semi-annually) to protect your family when they get hurt, and to protect other people that you may accidentally hurt. However, many of our clients are steadfast in their efforts to avoid using their own car insurance at any cost, fearing…
Every now and then we get a call from someone who has been slugging it out with the insurance company on their own in an effort to save legal fees and handle it themselves. These calls often come at the time that negotiation is wrapping up because the callers want…
An Authorization and Assignment (frequently abbreviated as an “A&A,” or called a “letter of protection,”) happens when a medical provider agrees to hold off on collections proceeding until after a personal injury case is resolved (whether by way of settlement or a verdict). Sometimes, this is the only way to…
Frequently, new clients ask me where they should go to the doctor. I give the usual disclaimer—I’m a lawyer, not a doctor (it’s a reverse Leonard McCoy, M.D.). But, I can offer suggestions. My preference is for clients to find their own medical providers, typically through their health insurance. The…
Pre-settlement loans are the scourge of plaintiffs’ lawyers for a couple of reasons. The first is that they take so much time—shepherding an application from beginning to end, working out details of the money transfer, and making it all happen in time to help the client with the financial emergency…