What is an ‘Eggshell Plaintiff’ and When Does it Matter? Personal injury law has many complicated factors for determining who is responsible for harm, how much harm they are responsible for, and how much that harm is valued monetarily. It’s easy to imagine a healthy person struck by a reckless driver and suffering several broken bones. But other less quantifiable scenarios arise. What if the...
Swanson O’Dell
From The blog
Serving a Lawsuit
Why Do I Need to Serve a Lawsuit? When you file paperwork for a lawsuit with the court, the next step is to ensure the other party is aware of it. After all, it would be fundamentally unjust for a court to adjudicate a lawsuit if you were not aware enough to defend yourself. When you file your paperwork, the court will give you two dates. The first date is the service date. The second is the...
Personal Injury vs. Worker’s Compensation
What Case Do I Have? When you suffer an injury, there are several different ways to get relief for your damages. Under the law, physical injuries usually fall under two areas of practice, personal injury law and worker’s compensation claims. These two areas are often very similar and can frequently overlap, so it’s important to know what sort of claim you are filing and the general principles...
California’s Strict Liability for Dog Owners
What is Strict Liability? Most all forms of law, whether criminal or civil, recognize the state of mind of the person who committed the act. In other words, there must have been some level of intent in the actions that caused the injury in order to hold someone liable. This intent could be negligence, failing to act with a reasonable amount of care, or it could be intentional, such as engaging...
Standards of Proof
Introduction If a case goes to trial, as the plaintiff, you bear the responsibility of proving your case against the defendant. Inversely, as the defendant, you enjoy the protection of the presumption of innocence. Contrary to popular belief, this presumption is not limited strictly to criminal law. Unlike criminal law, however, the threshold of how much has to be proven, and how clear that...
Negligence vs. Recklessness, Definitions Under CA Civil Law
Negligence and Recklessness: Why does it matter? Negligence and recklessness are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation. Unfortunately, the legal system doesn’t speak quite the same language as the average citizen and finds these two terms legally distinct. When you have suffered an injury, fully understanding these two concepts will aid you in knowing what you have to prove and...
Documentation and Evidence
Preparing For Your Case Recovering from an accident can be a tremendous job. Undertaking the steps to get medical treatment and file claims can be onerous work entirely on its own. When confronted with a recalcitrant opposing party or insurance company, it can often feel overwhelming. A skilled personal injury attorney can help guide you through the process. However, there are some things that...
Comparative Negligence
Introduction If a vehicle changes lanes without signaling and gets rear-ended by another driver going fifteen miles over the speed limit, you may have a case where both drivers are partially at fault for the accident. So what now? Do you take full blame for the accident? Does this mean that you are out of remedies? The short answer is ‘not usually.’ This wouldn’t be the first time courts have...
How Does the Court Calculate Timeshare for Child Support?
HOW DOES THE COURT CALCULATE TIMESHARE FOR CHILD SUPPORT? Time share calculations are very important for determining child support, and generally are fairly simple: the court will determine how much time the minor or minors spend with each parent, and turn that into a percentage. However, there are always twists and grey areas, some of which have been addressed via cases that have been appealed...
When Is A Loan A Loan?
Family law courts have a duty to equitably, and most importantly, evenly, divide all community property assets and debts. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, one issue that comes up with remarkable frequency is loans that one party alleges must be repaid and which the other party alleges were a gift. Consider this scenario: A young couple marries, and they want to buy a house. However, they do...