Happy 4th of July to all. Whether you are a Nazi-Republican or a Commie-Democrat, your freedom is worth celebrating.
As for me, I plan on watching reenactments of Paul Revere warning the British that they couldn’t take away our automatic rifles and Abraham Lincoln’s victory over the French at Lexington and Concord.
Yesterday Judge Primeaux provided words of wisdom to lawyers on the issue of stress in this post. Here is what he said:
Lawyer, meet stress. It’s your bane, your motivator, your constant companion, your all-too-familiar demon. It comes from clients, deadlines, judges, finances, family and ethics. It visits you on the day the bills are due, the day after those requests for admissions were unansweredly due, at 2:00 a.m., and when you walk in the court room door. It can make you sick, grumpy, sad, drunk, ineffective, inattentive, erratic and even violent. It’s part of the job. Learn to live with it or die.
Translation: rub some dirt on it.
Stress is definitely my constant companion. I was telling someone the other day that I can’t relax and don’t even try anymore. And I like practicing law more than anyone I know.
I don’t know how long that I would have to be on vacation to get to the point where I could relax. But I know that a week is not long enough. If I ever retire it will probably be because I want to try to end the 24–7 stress rather than that I stopped liking the practice of law.
Want to improve your legal writing? If so, you may want to consider reading: Point Made, How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates, by Ross Guberman.
The book’s product description on Amazon states in part:
With Point Made, legal writing expert Ross Guberman throws a life preserver to attorneys, who are under more pressure than ever to produce compelling prose. What is the strongest opening for a motion or brief? How to draft winning headings? How to tell a persuasive story when the record is dry and dense? The answers are “more science than art,” says Guberman, who has analyzed stellar arguments by distinguished attorneys to develop step-by-step instructions for achieving the results you want.
The author takes an empirical approach, drawing heavily on the writings of the nation’s 50 most influential lawyers, including Barack Obama, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Ted Olson, and David Boies. Their strategies, demystified and broken down into specific, learnable techniques, become a detailed writing guide full of practical models.
I found this book interesting. The examples from briefs written by legal heavyweights like John Roberts show that not only is it ok to depart from traditional, wordy “legalese” writing, it is preferred. For instance, the book encourages lawyers to consider streamlining information with tables and bullet point lists.
I have been using tables in my briefs for the last few months since reading this suggestion. I find it helpful for compressing a lot of information onto one page. I think lawyers will see a lot more of this and other similar techniques in the coming years with heavy use of the internet making everyone—including judges—speed skimmers.
Books on legal writing are a bit like eating spinach. Or in Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson’s case, peas. They may not be that exciting, but they are good for us. Point Made has a list price of under $20 and sell for much less on Amazon. The book is a real bargain and worth reading for litigators who are always looking to improve their game.
You Can’t Teach Hungry is John Morgan’s self-described how-to guide for building the multi-million dollar law firm. Morgan is the founder of the Morgan & Morgan personal injury law firm that has developed a national footprint. The firm lists eleven lawyers in its Jackson office, which makes it one of the largest plaintiff firms in the state.
Morgan’s book is part nuts and bolts suggestions and part business philosophy. The latter is what I enjoyed the most. 
Morgan definitely understands lawyers. He recognizes that many lawyers are poor businessmen and simply hope for the best for their practice. His descriptions of some lawyers are funny, such as the big-talking lawyers who always tell war stories about the same trial that was years ago. Incidentally, I think that I am speaking for many lawyers when I say that the only war stories that we are interested in hearing are the ones with a punch-line at the end.
Morgan attributes a fear of failure as a common characteristic of successful lawyers. That is something I can identify with. I’ve had my own practice for nine years. My practice has been successful and financially stable for the entire time, despite a transition from an almost all defense practice to an almost all plaintiff practice. But success and experience has not made me fear failure less.
I fear failure more today than I did the day that I walked out of Baker Donelson. The reason is that now I have tasted bitter defeat from losing trials where there was no recovery or fee unless we won and have seen other lawyers’ practices fail. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were lawyers making a fortune in Mississippi who were not really practicing law—much less litigating and trying cases. Today, there are smart and hard working lawyers who struggle to make it.
Morgan suggests that when the fear of failure leaves a lawyer, he or she should hang it up.
Morgan is a huge proponent of television advertising. He states that many lawyers who try television ad campaigns do it wrong. He recommends developing a catch phrase like his firm’s brilliant “for the people.” If everyone advertised like Morgan’s firm, I might not think that it is damaging to the profession. But the get-rich-quick commercials starring plaintiffs who look fine are a ball-and-chain around the neck of those of us who actually try cases.
Although the book is written for plaintiff lawyers, some defense lawyers might enjoy its insights on the business of law. The book is $20 on Amazon or $9.99 on the Kindle. You don’t need to get much out of it to make it worth that price. The book even comes with an offer for a free gift for those who read to near the end of the book. What is it? Read the book. But I can say that Morgan does deliver the gift as promised.
If Court Orders documented what the judge was thinking, they would all look something like this order from a Kentucky state court. Seems that the judge was excited that the parties settled the case.
My favorite part of the order was the footnote to the word amicably: “The Court uses the word ‘amicably’ loosely.”
Don’t stop reading on the first page. Paragraph 4 is not to be missed. 
The Order was entered by Judge Martin Sheehan (not pictured).
On Saturday a Hinds County jury returned a $750,000 verdict in a nursing home case involving Manhattan Nursing and Rehab. Center in Jackson. I believe that Manhattan is part of the Tara Cares chain. All the damages were non-economic damages.
The case was a wrongful death case involving Mannie Williams, aged 87. Ms. Williams fell and suffered a fractured pelvis at home. She went to Manhattan for short term rehab. with a plan to return home. While in the nursing home, she suffered multiple pressure sores, also known as bed sores. The pressure sores included a stage IV sacral (tailbone area) wound that became infected and caused Ms. Williams’ death.
Stage IV pressure sores are serious injuries. If you doubt the severity of a stage IV sacral pressure sore, go to google images and search “stage iv sacral pressure sore.” But don’t do it right after a meal. Wikipedia has a good explanation of pressure sores here. Pressure sores are usually preventable with regular turning.
The case was tried before Judge William Gowan. The trial started on Wednesday and ended on Saturday.
Eric Stracener and Andrew Neely of Jackson and Jake Adams of Brandon represented the plaintiff.
Davis Frye, Barry Ford and Brad Moody with Baker Donelson in Jackson represented the defendant.
The June issue of the Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter was emailed earlier this week. This edition includes 8 jury verdicts from 2011.
Four of the eight verdicts were defense verdicts. One of the defense verdicts was my recent losing effort in a medical malpractice trial in federal court in Aberdeen.
Of the four plaintiff verdicts, only one was a personal injury case. That was the $1 million Hinds County med-mal verdict that I reported in this post.
The other 3 plaintiff verdicts were:
Two of the defense verdict were in personal injury cases. So to recap, there were 3 personal injury jury verdicts reported and 2 of those 3 were defense verdict.
Perhaps someone could forward this information to the Clarion-Ledger and Gannett, who want to pretend like it’s 1999.
Here is my post on the May 2011 edition of MJVR.
Here is all the information that I’ve been able to obtain on the recent jury verdict in Pearl River County.
Reportedly, there were 12 plaintiffs. The defendant was Mitchell Crane Services. The case involved personal injuries sustained in 1999. But I do not know what kind of case it was. The trial was bifurcated. The liability phase was tried in 2005.
A couple of weeks ago, a jury awarded total damages of $2.3 million in the damages phase. The largest amount was $1.3 million and went to a woman with $755,000 in medical expenses. Two other plaintiffs were awarded less than $2,600.
Mitch Tyner of Jackson represented the plaintiffs. Bill Whitfield with Copeland Cook’s Gulfport office represented the defendant.
My Take:
Not enough information here for me to have a take on the case, so I’ll reminisce about Pearl River County.
A community South of Poplarville called Derby was like a second home to me growing up. My parents were from there and both sets of my grand-parents lived there.
Probably my earliest memory as a child are a few snippets from riding out Hurricane Camille in the Derby Baptist Church.
When I was a young child, it was a big deal to get to go to “town” (Poplarville). This was back before the influx of people from Louisiana into Pearl River County. It was small, very rural and very conservative. It has a different feel today, even though I suspect that it is still very conservative.
It does not seem that long ago. But now, both my parents and all four grandparents are gone and buried in Poplarville cemeteries. The only time that I go to Poplarville now is for funerals or to visit the cemetery.
I have always wanted to try a case in the Pearl River County Courthouse in Poplarville. At this stage of my life, it would be an emotional experience for reasons not readily apparent to others in the courtroom.
On Friday the hammer fell for five men who pleaded guilty in the A&O Life life insurance fraud scheme. Here is a good A.P. article on the sentencing as printed in the Houston Chronicle. The article describes the scam:
The sentences were:
Mackert asked for a shorter sentence based on his being stupid:
These sentences put a smile on my face. Life insurance agents, in particular, should heed Mr. Bromseth’s sentence. The take-home is that when you put your clients into a scam, you will be held criminally responsible.
Investors should note that they cannot automatically trust their life insurance agents—particularly when it comes to selling investment products. Many of the victims of the A&O scheme invested because they were buying from their long-time life insurance agent who they trusted. The agents, who earned large commissions from the sales, later claimed ignorance as a defense to the scheme.
This is not the first investment scheme fueled by sales made by life insurance agents. Personally, I would not buy anything except insurance from an insurance agent. They may try to become your investment advisor and put you into mutual funds and other investments. I’d say no. Why?
It’s sort of like the adage of don’t order steak at a fish house or fish at a steak house. Insurance and investing are different.
Read more about the A&O scam here.
Last week Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd issued a bench trial ruling that resulted in a $1.1 million verdict against a manufacturer of tear gas. Here is the Clarion-Ledger article on the verdict.
Facts:
In 2006 Jackson police officers used tear gas to flush out three teen-age car thieves who broke into Linda White’s home. I guess Barney and the other deputies got their men. But then:
White and family members entered the home later that night and began coughing and tearing up from the residual effects of the chemicals released in the house, her family said.
Less than two weeks later, White, 42, was dead.
Lewis, executor of White’s estate, testified at trial that the smell of the tear gas was strong in the house a day after the raid.
White went back to the house three or four times for brief visits to try to clean it or to retrieve clothing, according to the lawsuit.
After her last visit, White went to the hospital, complaining of breathing difficulties. She died in the hospital May 8, 2006.
White died of respiratory failure secondary to the acute respiratory distress, according to an autopsy. The autopsy report cited double exposure to chloroacetophenone, an active chemical in tear gas, and capsaic in fumes, the pungent ingredient in pepper spray, as contributing causes to her respiratory failure, according to the lawsuit.
A wrongful death case ensued.
Judge Kidd’s Ruling:
Judge Kidd found the police 50% at fault and the tear gas manufacturer 50% at fault. The basis for the claim against the tear gas manufacturer appeared to be failure to warn and breach of warranty. Total damages were $2.2 million. But with the City 50% at fault, the tear gas manufacturer (Combined Systems) owes $1.1 million. The City settled before trial.
Chris Graves of Jackson represented the plaintiff. David Curtis of New Orleans represented the defendant.
My Take:
This is an example of why Barney had to keep his bullet in his shirt pocket on The Andy Griffith Show. Bad things can happen when you give weapons to some idiots policemen.
The cops used tear gas in a private home and then sent the residents back in and left? Those cops were the kind of guys who use the light of a match to see if the gas tank is empty.