Judicial Difference of Opinion

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I was defending a client in Baltimore County yesterday and ran into a judge that, in my humble opinion, misapplied MD Rule 10-104. His position was that after Plaintiff files the 10-104 that the medical treatment and cost is “presumed” to be fair and reasonable and proximately caused if the doctor so states in the records. And furthermore, that if the Defendant wishes to challenge that, they can enter their own 10-104 of a DME or else bring a doctor to trial to refute.

But as I read and re-read 10-104, the purpose of the statute is an evidentiary shortcut to get the records into evidence without the need for testimony. The statute goes on to say 10-104(d)(2) A finder of fact may attach whatever weight to a writing or record that the finder of fact deems appropriate.

To me, that says there is no presumption and that the finder of fact must consider all the evidence (including the force of impact for instance in a motor vehicle accident case) and THEN give the medical testimony whatever weight the court deems appropriate. When it was pointed out to the judge that presuming their appropriateness a priori shifted the burden to the defendant he indicated that Plaintiff had met her burden in that she presented medical evidence. When asked why he wouldn’t consider all the evidence his response was “I am not going to pick apart the medical records. They are in and I take them as is.”

I do mostly plaintiff’s work so I am on the opposite side of this argument most often. And I have had plenty of judges look at my records and say “I don’t believe that the force of this accident can cause those types of damages” or “I do believe that the costs of this treatment is excessive” and in both situations discounted the medical bills based on that conclusion. And if the judge had gone on record and said he considered all of the evidence and found the medical treatment to be reasonable and proximately caused then I would have little to quibble about. But he went on record and said “I start with a presumption…”

To me, that is incorrect and I believe my client suffered as a result.

Four Times a Charm?

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The fourth opening on the Circuit Court for Montgomery County was created by the announcement that The Honorable William J. Rowan, III will retire effective April 4, 2009. The vacancy is to be filled by appointment of Governor Martin O’Malley. The Governor has the opportunity to go in a different direction from his last three appointments and select a candidate who currently serves on the bench of the District Court for Montgomery County. According to the Judicial Nominating Commission, that would include the Honorable John M. Conroy, the Honorable Barry A. Hamilton, or the Honorable Cheryl A. McCally. On its face, it would seem to be a no brainer decision. Judge Conroy and Judge McCally took the bench in June 2006. Judge Hamilton has been serving the citizens of Montgomery County as a District Court judge since 1966. With 12 years on the bench, and 20 years prior to that as an Assistant States Attorney for Montgomery County, it would appear to be a simple decision. But then again, the Governor has gone in a different direction in each of the last three appointments to the circuit court by selecting a county attorney, a family division master, and an attorney in private practice. Isn’t it about time to acknowledge the contributions of a loyal servant to the county and appoint a judge with nearly 30 years of courtroom experience? Isn’t that what the citizens of Montgomery County deserve?

The Four Pillars of Social Media Legal Marketing

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Anthony Castelli posted the following questions on the LinkedIn Trial Networks Group: How do you use linkedin to get personal injury or workers compensation cases? Especially for your geographica area. I think LinkedIn is a difficult platform to use to drive PI/WC clients to your firm. More appropriately, in my humble opinion, is that it has to be part of your broader social media marketing program. I am in the process of developing my program using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and my blog (blog.tyralawfirm.com). I think you really need to do all four, something akin to the four pillars of online marketing. It is the blog (again – in my humble opinion) that is key to driving clients to your firm because it is there that you can give them the most value and expose them to the breadth of your knowledge in your practice area. So the analogies that I like to think of are these:

  1. Twitter is the equivalent of talking with friends at the bar or over the fence in your backyard. It is here that you get the word out as to what you do and let people know of your practice. But more importantly, it is where you direct them to visit your blog. You do that with hooks regarding your recent blog posts that they may find informative or interesting.
  2. Facebook takes it just a bit further in that you can more directly interact with friends, neighbors, classmates, etc. who may become clients. Here to you can promote your blog posts but you want to be judicious in doing so.
  3. LinkedIn is the larger professional networking experience – something like going to your bar association meeting. Here you connect with others in your industry and use that knowledge to form relationships that hopefully lead to referrals. By the way, it is a great method for finding expert witnesses.
  4. Your blog is what pulls it all together. Here you can teach, inform, inspire, lead, make rain – the possibilities are endless. But you have to have something to say, you have to provide value to your readers, and you have to let people know that your blog exists (see items 1-3).

Can it be time consuming? Absolutely. But I think if you manage it properly the potential far outweighs the risk. And in terms of return on investment, no other form of advertising in my opinion gives you the potential footprint and ability to speak directly to your client base as do these new social media platforms.

Montgomery County’s Newest Circuit Court Judge

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Governor Martin O’Malley yesterday announced the selection of Richard E. “Rick” Jordan to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, replacing the retiring Honorable S. Michael Pincus. In less than a year,  the Governor has appointed three new judges to the highest level county court. Back in September 2008 he appointed Honorable Steven G. Salant and Sharon V. Burrell to the bench. While all three are excellent lawyers with fine reputations, none of the three have any experience on the bench. True, Mr. Salant was a Family Division Master and as such controlled a docket, handled competing attorney’s arguments, and applied the law. But Ms. Burrell was an attorney for the County and now Mr. Jordan is an attorney in private practice. So the question that is begged is: “why not a District Court judge?” There was a time that the District Court was the natural breeding ground for candidates for the higher court. It seems as if the Governor has turned a deaf ear on that lineage. Which doesn’t seem right for the citizens of Montgomery County. There is a least one District Court judge who is eminently qualified and for whom a variety of the specialty bars of the County have advocated. And beyond that, several more District Court judges would seem to be a good fit for the Circuit Court bench. Are there other considerations that influence the Governor’s decisions? Of course there are – there always are. One can only hope that those “other factors” serve the citizens of the County.

Live Younger – Need Help Now

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So I am reading “Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy Until You’re 80 and Beyond” by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge, MD. Problem is, I need it to work tomorrow, if not sooner. How come I was the only one who received this as a Christmas gift from a family member? So apparently I have to learn to be a bit more selfish and put myself first when it comes to being healthy. I got the selfish and putting myself first part down pat. I thought that was what I was supposed to be trying to correct. So here goes, I guess. One of the points of the book was to jump into the process with much bluster and noise. I suppose to help make sure you don’t backslide. That’s all I need. This is about as much noise and bluster as I can muster for the time being. But the book also made a point of saying shut up, quit whining, be a man, and just do it. Nice… where’s the love here? So the book has about 50 pages of useful stuff (nothing you really didn’t already know – except for that work out hard six days a week for the rest of your life – yikes!), and another 100 pages of repeating the same thing over and over again. Of course, after reading the important 50 pages, I flipped through the book until I found the chapter on sex – or being sexy. Sad to say that the book only devoted a mere eight pages to the subject. What’s up with that? I gotta find another book…

Ten Items to Have in Your Car in Case of an Emergency

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This whole train of thought flowed (no pun intended) from the water main break that flooded River Road in Montgomery County and stranded several drivers. I was wondering what people, particularly attorneys, thought you should keep in your car in case of emergencies. The following list compiles some of the responses I received.

As a personal injury attorney, these are the things I wish my clients would keep in their cars in case of an emergency:

  1. Disposable camera – nothing helps a case more, or kills it, than pictures taken of the scene at the time of the accident. Get a disposable that generates digital pictures and keep it where you can get to it.
  2. First aid kit – they are so easy to get and so useful even in non-emergency situations.
  3. Lifehammer/ResQMe/Window Punch – see my earlier post regarding the flood on River Road that started this whole discussion. One of these are necessary in case you have to break a window in your car from the insode.
  4. Flashlight – I didn’t have one when I got a flat tire on I-270 and I was a major accident waiting to happen on the side of the road. In this case AAA came through like a charm.
  5. ICE – In Case of Emergency (ICE) entry in your cell phone or PDA with the contact information of who to reach in case of emergency. First responders are taught to look for this.
  6. Batteries – my wife has an entire store full of batteries in the car, mostly to drive the kids entertainment platforms, but when the flashlight battery runs out you will want a spare.
  7. Flares & jumper cables – again, one of the best Christmas gifts my mother ever gave her sons was a set of heavy duty, extra long, jumper cables in a case that included instructions (which I needed). The extra long ones are particularly helpful.
  8. Boots – I really need these standing in the mud on the side of the I-270.
  9. Summary of medical information for each family member, to include blood type and any ongoing medical conditions and medications taken (not the meds themselves necessarily). Remember, you might not be the only one in the car.
  10. Copy of your health care power of attorney and/or living will.

But beyond those things, the list of items that people carry in their cars was pretty extensive. My mother has the most well equipped trunk of anyone I know. We joke that she could survive a week or two in her car. She has several items on this list (including a baseball bat which isn’t on the list). Here is the rest of the list, in alphabetical order. Tell me what you think should be on the list.

  1. aspirin or some other pain reliever
  2. bag of sand in the trunk
  3. batteries
  4. blanket
  5. boots
  6. can opener
  7. candles and a folger’s coffee can to burn them in.
  8. cash – at least $100 or whatever is sufficient for a tow
  9. cell phone charger
  10. disposable camera
  11. dog treats as my puppy is often with me,
  12. extra business cards
  13. extra cell phone
  14. extra mirror & makeup,
  15. extra pair of shoes
  16. extra pantyhose
  17. extra top
  18. first aid kit
  19. flares
  20. flashlight
  21. food
  22. hammer
  23. health care power of attorney
  24. hedge clippers
  25. kleenex.
  26. list of phone numbers for family and friends and roadside rescue services
  27. living will
  28. matches
  29. needle & thread,
  30. one of the most important things someone can do is to place an ICE entry on their mobile phone or PDA. ICE = In Case of Emergency Create an entry titled ICE and insert the contact information for the person who should be contacted if you can’t respond. First responders are now taught to access a persons phone and look for an ICE contact.
  31. paper
  32. pen/pencil/magic marker
  33. pliers.
  34. portable battery operated fan
  35. roll of duct tape
  36. screwdriver
  37. seat-belt cutter
  38. shovel
  39. sleeping bag
  40. something to read while you wait for help
  41. stain remover,
  42. summary of medical information for each family member, to include blood type and any ongoing medical conditions and medications taken (not the meds themselves necessarily)
  43. tea bags
  44. tire repair kit including inflator device,
  45. towels – 6 or 8 of them if you have room
  46. water
  47. wet wipes,
  48. window punch
  49. wire, electrical and binding

Geek Alert

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I finally was able to upgrade to WordPress 2.7. I am sure that it would have been easier to build a rocket capable of flying to the moon. But the whole concept of how the website and the blog subdomain are organized and how to FTP files to that part of the directory structure is like trying to learn a foreign language for me. I can do it, but it takes forever and is very frustrating. And I have a degree in computer science! Looking back it all seem obvious now.

But it sure doesn’t seem Mac like. How come I have to get into the guts of unix structure just to update the blog software. And while I am at it, updating the blog itself doesn’t feel very Mac like. Maybe I am using the wrong products. Maybe TypePress is better. But it has taken me so long to get here, I ain’t changing now.

Now…to figure out how to change the WP theme. I already have a headache…

A River Runs Through It

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So you may have seen the footage of the people being rescued from their cars on River Road in Potomac, MD after a giant water main break on a frigidly cold morning. I travel that road all the time so it hit home just a little too close. One of the issues during the rescue was that the bitter cold, combined with the water and the rotor wash from the rescue helicopter was that the windows could not be rolled down as they were frozen. Someone in the office said “Why didn’t they just break out the windows?” to which another said “It is impossible to do from inside the car. I saw it on Mythbusters”. And it got me thinking… what would you do? Turns out there is a whole set of products for helping you get out of a car that you are trapped in. So as a belated Christmas present, my family are all getting the ResQMe, the keychain version of the LifeHammer. This little baby cuts the seat belt off of you and breaks out the window with little to no effort.Next, I’ll post a list of items, culled from a series of email responses, we all ought to have in our cars in case of an emergency.

Shifting Directions

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This blog has been left kind of dormant for a long time. The last couple of weeks I have been researching what some call Web 2.0 technologies and in particular the concept of using social networking to promote my law firm. As a solo practitioner, I do not have a large marketing budget. The more I read about products like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs, the more I came to understand how powerful they may be to attract clients and drive them to my practice. So I did the easy things first. I opened accounts with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. With them I have been having a lot of fun seeing how they can play together. Now I am dusting off this blog (I hope to update its appearance and then some once I figure out how) and together, the four technologies are going to be my marketing platform. The blog is going to be the hard one to start with because I don’t remember how it was set up initially. So upgrading and adding content is going to be a challenge for awhile. But in the end, it is the blog that appears to be the cornerstone of such a marketing plan. Perhaps that’s why so many people are trying to get onto this bandwagon.So for me, this is fun. It’s a lot better than spending thousands of dollars on print advertising and the like that is not likely to work in today’s world. Besides, I already did that – with the expected results. While on a family vacation this holiday, I wrote down a bunch of ideas for blog posts and I have enough to get me started. I’ll be writing on the ups and downs of starting a solo law practice, using cool technologies (both hardware and software) to enhance that practice, and I’ll add my two cents worth to the chorus building around using social networking and its related tools to promote your practice. Along the way I’ll try and review some of the Mac products I use or would like to use. And since I am in downtown Rockville, perhaps there will be a comment or two regarding what’s going on in the courthouse and the legal community here in Montgomery County.So I would like to invite you to join me here. Leave me a comment. Tell me what I am doing wrong or right. And we’ll see where this goes…