Remembering Scott Norberg

[SeattleUte]

300-400?? Are you serious?

No way. Expert testimony, litigation costs, top-notch attorney's fees? Bare minimum $5MM.

You're drunk. They pay rock bottom insurance defense rates on these tort cop cases. $500,000 tops.

Creek, why are you sticking up for this guy?

[falafel]

It depends on the jurisdiction (I'm not sure with AZ), but I've read cases where the decedent's survivors were actually awarded damages for the decendent's pain and suffering in wrongful death suits. Furthermore, the legal fees alone would likely be in the millions as well. Cost-benefit analysis leads to a settlement.

Pain and suffering damages are available to the survivors as a part of the decedent's estate. They are only available, however, for the (usually) short period of time the decedent suffered. Here, the family would only get damages for the minutes that he suffered before he died.

[Donuthole]

300-400?? Are you serious?

No way. Expert testimony, litigation costs, top-notch attorney's fees? Bare minimum $5MM.

lol

[falafel]

300-400?? Are you serious?

No way. Expert testimony, litigation costs, top-notch attorney's fees? Bare minimum $5MM.

You are incorrect.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

300-400?? Are you serious?

No way. Expert testimony, litigation costs, top-notch attorney's fees? Bare minimum $5MM.

You've only made something like 39 posts on CUF so far. It's not too late to save your credibility, but it's almost gone. Act soon or it's irredeemable.

Cue to about a minute in.

[YOUTUBE]kn481KcjvMo[/YOUTUBE]

[Green Monstah]

You are incorrect.

Okay. Let's see if I'm in the right ballpark here.

They'd likely hire an attorney who bills at something like 5-700 bucks per hour to take this to court. Plus three or four associates at 2-500 per hour, plus litigation costs. You know there would be medical experts, discovery costs (that includes depositions). Let's say that the attorneys each averaged 30 hours per week (that's an average) for 8 months (preparation and trial). I still think I'm in the right neck of the woods.

[Green Monstah]

You've only made something like 39 posts on CUF so far. It's not too late to save your credibility, but it's almost gone. Act soon or it's irredeemable.

Cue to about a minute in.

[YOUTUBE]kn481KcjvMo[/YOUTUBE]

You can disagree with me if you'd like, but I see how quickly attorneys fees and costs add up every single day, esp. when the attorneys take the case on an hourly basis in civil litigation. I don't think I'm that far off.

[falafel]

Okay. Let's see if I'm in the right ballpark here.

They'd likely hire an attorney who bills at something like 5-700 bucks per hour to take this to court. Plus three or four associates at 2-500 per hour, plus litigation costs. You know there would be medical experts, discovery costs (that includes depositions). Let's say that the attorneys each averaged 30 hours per week (that's an average) for 8 months (preparation and trial). I still think I'm in the right neck of the woods.

You are making way too many assumptions.

There are NO associates in AZ billing at $500, especially at a insurance defense shop. $200 is probably too much. And forget about 3-4 associates on the case. 2 max, and that's only when you get a month or two away from trial. For the vast majority of the time you're going to have one associate (billing at $175 probably) and one partner (billing at $300 max for ins. defense, probably more like $250), and the partner is only going to be overseeing things until a few months before trial. That cuts out 75% of your assumed fees right there.

[Green Monstah]

You are making way too many assumptions.

There are NO associates in AZ billing at $500, especially at a insurance defense shop. $200 is probably too much. And forget about 3-4 associates on the case. 2 max, and that's only when you get a month or two away from trial. For the vast majority of the time you're going to have one associate (billing at $175 probably) and one partner (billing at $300 max for ins. defense, probably more like $250), and the partner is only going to be overseeing things until a few months before trial. That cuts out 75% of your assumed fees right there.

You're right. I'll say this. If my firm was handling the case, we'd be getting $5MM minimum. This argument is getting a little silly.

[creekster]

You're drunk. They pay rock bottom insurance defense rates on these tort cop cases. $500,000 tops.

Creek, why are you sticking up for this guy?

Huh? I am not. No way the case costs 5 million. No way at all.

I think there are misstatements of the law in wrongful death cases and I think the assumptions being made about an insurer's behavior in this thread or purely speculative without more info. I am even a bit skeptical that there WAS nay insurance involved. On balance, however, I have no dog in this fight.

(You are getting too excited about the nature of the damages here. it is not purely lost wages etc. Note this means I am agreeing with you. Consider that before you argue about some sort of chart for the value of wrongful death)

[falafel]

You're right. I'll say this. If my firm was handling the case, we'd be getting $5MM minimum. This argument is getting a little silly.

That's why your firm isn't getting cases like this. Its also why you're not handling the litigation budget requests.

[creekster]

Pain and suffering damages are available to the survivors as a part of the decedent's estate. They are only available, however, for the (usually) short period of time the decedent suffered. Here, the family would only get damages for the minutes that he suffered before he died.

In which state?

[falafel]

In which state?

In my state. I know nothing of AZ law.

[Green Monstah]

That's why your firm isn't getting cases like this. Its also why you're not handling the litigation budget requests.

Well...we just took a case all the way to the TX Supreme Court for a wrongful death suit (granted, defendent was a multinational company with extremely deep pockets) and we billed far, far north of $5MM...granted, we handled the trial and the appeal to both the Appellate and Supreme Courts. But, I'm willing to bet we billed north of $10MM during the trial alone.

[happyone]