New Iowa Cases – Three Interesting Ones

Hi folks… I’m swamped with actual work now, so too busy to blog much. Priorities and such, you know?
I did want to bring to your attention three new Iowa Appellate cases that may be of interest.
1. A UIM carrier can contract around the 10 year statute of limitations. Think you potentially have a UIM claim? [...]

New Illinois Subpoena Law

Illinois lawyers can now issue subpoenas on their own. Sweet!
On a semi-related note, has anyone noticed the wide variety with which people pronounce the words “subponea duces tecum?”

Subpoena (sometimes sup-peeny for the southern lawyers)
Duces (dooses, deuces, duchess, dookes, etc)
Tecum (tay-kum, teachem, teesum, teekum)

It’d be nice if at least all lawyers agreed to pronounce this the [...]

Verdict makes news – again

I blogged the other day about a jury trial I won in Henry County Illinois. There is another article about the trial and verdict in the Kewanee Star-Courier today. This one doesn’t need registration, but it has been very difficult to load for some reason.
(Howard Zimmerle is a personal injury attorney in Rock Island and [...]

Filing stupid lawsuits to stop tort reform… whaa?

Apparently a Nebraska senator has filed a lawsuit against God for natural disasters, “inter alia fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornados (sic), pestilential plagues…”
Other than his fantastic use of alliteration, I thought “What a nutball, how did this guy ever get elected?”
According to the article linked above, the lawsuit was filed “to fight [...]

The Value of Wrongful Death Cases

One of the biggest challenges facing wrongful death attorneys and juries is to put a value on the life that was lost. Medical bills, lost wages, etc is the easy part – there’s a number for that. Things like pain and suffering (not usually recoverable in wrongful death cases), and loss of society or consortium [...]

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 [...]

$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 [...]

New legal theory in pet food cases

By now, I’m sure most readers have heard about pet deaths due to tainted pet food.
 Naturally, people want to sue. I can’t blame them at all… my dog is a part of my family and very important to me. The snag in these cases though, is that most courts only allow a pet owner to [...]