Traps for Iowa Lawyers

There are tons of traps for lawyers – little deadlines or rules that could easily be missed and screw up a case. Good lawyers know what they are and how to avoid them. Here’s one:

Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.906 states that the clerk shall set a trial-setting conference in all cases within 90 days of filing. This conference is to be set within 150 days of filing. No problem, right?

Well what happens if you don’t get a trial setting notice? Clerks are great, hardworking, and do their jobs well, but things slip through the cracks occasionally.

The rule states that the parties are responsible for having a trial setting conference within 150 days. It doesn’t provide for a remedy if this doesn’t happen, but I wouldn’t want to find out.

(Howard Zimmerle is a trial lawyer practicing in Davenport and the surrounding areas).

Tips for understanding medical tests/conditions

This may be obvious for some of you folks… you know, along the lines of “check Google or Wikipedia.” But even for someone young and technologically savvy (not to mention handsome ;)) as myself, I’m still kind of surprised about this:

Curious what a medical condition or test looks like? Check Youtube.

Yesterday I was trying to understand what a Trendelenberg gait was, and I wasn’t exactly understanding the wikipedia explanation. Turns out there are videos on Youtube to show exactly what it looks like.

I’ve done this in the past so I could see common tests like the Hawkin’s sign or Neer’s sign. It beats trying to read about it.

(Howard Zimmerle is a personal injury attorney in Rock Island and Moline Illinois, practicing in Illinois and Iowa).