RIP Henry County Courthouse’s Jim Raes

Well this is a sad one… it seems Jim Raes, the baliff at the Henry County courthouse passed away the other day. Here’s an article on his career.
 He was always a nice guy.
(Howard Zimmerle is a lawyer, practicing in Henry County Illinois)

Call for disciplinary action in DC dry cleaning case

Here is a cut and paste of an email I got today:
Disciplinary Investigation Called for in Dry Cleaners Case (
Washington, DC)— The American Association for Justice (AAJ) today called for a disciplinary investigation of District of Columbia Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson Jr., who brought a $65 million lawsuit against a family-owned dry cleaning business for [...]

Get your client’s past claim history!

Insurance companies have a leg up on us. They have access to databases that will tell them about every insurance claim your client has ever filed.
I’ve asked clients about past claims, past accidents and past complaints of similar injuries. Many can remember things well, but very, very often a client will claim that they never [...]

How a stenotype works

Most lawyers deal with court reporters a lot. I’ve always been fascinated with what they do because, well… I know I would be terrible at it.
 So I found a neat article on wikipedia about the machine most use – the stenotype. It even has a diagram that tells you what keys are what.
Check out everything [...]

Colossus – more tips and tricks

A few weeks ago, I posted about Colossus – the insurance company megaprogram to determine the settlement value of cases – and promised that after my return from Atlanta I would write about it at greater length. With no further ado…
1.         What is Colossus?
            Nearly every major insurance company uses Colossus or a similar computer [...]

Signing away your right to sue for malpractice?

Apparently some doctors in New Jersey have started requiring patients to sign malpractice waivers that would cap potential damages, require arbitration of all cases, and otherwise limit the patient’s legal options in the event of malpractice.
I don’t see these holding up in court, but I’m not really sure. What I am sure about is that [...]

$67 million pants? Who is this guy??

By now, I’m sure many of you have heard of the judge in Washington DC who is suing his drycleaners for $67 million because they lost his favorite pair of pants.
The case has sparked debate about tort reform, and has become great fodder for those who say our system doesn’t work. Because it’s impossible for [...]