Posts tagged motorcycle accidents

• Court Permits Hospitals to Charge "Maximum Rates" to Those Who Can Least Afford It

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 27, 2007 2:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Division One just handed down Banner Health v. Medical Savings Ins. Co., a terrible opinion which deals with whether a hospital can charge a patient and its "non-network insurer" full billed amounts historically paid by only two percent of all patients. The answer, for now, is yes in a two-to-one decision.Incidentally, by "non-network insurer," I mean to refer to an insurer who has no agreement...

• Arizona Courts Have General Personal Jurisdiction over Foreign Insurers

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 27, 2007 2:14 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Wrongful Death
  

  New decision from Division One, Bohreer v. Erie Ins. Exch.. Bohreer holds that an Arizona court has general personal jurisdiction over a foreign insurer which has appointed the Director of Insurance as an agent for service of process and has not withdrawn such qualification or appointment, but has ceased doing business in the state prior to the acts underlying the complaint. The Court held...

• Court Holds Offer of Judgment Sanctions Include All Reasonable Expert Fees

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 19, 2007 5:18 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Division One handed down Levy v. Alfaro today which holds that Rule 68 sanctions include all reasonable expert witness fees after the offer, not just those fees for testifying at trial. The decision is no surprise to those of us who regulaly try cases, but I suppose it is good to have it "clarified."

• Judicial Officers are Subject to the "De Facto Officer" Doctrine and Failure to Object to the Appointment of a Judge Pro Tempore is a Procedural Defect That Can Be Waived

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 08, 2007 8:49 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Division One just handed down Garner v. Schindler, a short and sweet opinion on the nature of judges pro tempore (I am a judge pro tempore, by the way). In sum, the appellant had a probate dispute litigated before a judge pro tempore and, after the case was over, decided to raise (for the first time) hyper-technical defects in the judge's appointment.The Court of Appeals, awknoweldged that...

• Court of Appeals (Incorrectly) Dismisses Wrongful Death Appeal Due to Untimely Notice of Appeal After Plaintiff Attempts to Obtain a Change to the Breadth of the Trial Court's Judgment

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 01, 2007 3:00 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Frank Zappa said, "We are a nation of laws; badly written and randomly enforced." That's probably the way that Joe Burkhamer feels, having lost his daughter (and son-in-law) in tragic accident in 2003, and now having had his appeal dismissed in a published opinion from Division Two, Burkhamer v. State of Arizona, because two of the three Judges on the panel decided that the appeal was filed too...

• Circumstances of Death Are Admissible in Wrongful Death Actions To The Extent They Impact on Shock, Grief and Emotional Distress of Statutory Survivors

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 26, 2007 3:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Wrongful Death
  

  Division One just put out an opinion in Girouard v.Skyline Steel involving interpretation of the wrongful death statute. The case involved admitted liability, but disputed damages where the decedent burned to death in car accident. The Court clarified that, while pre-death suffering is not compensable in a wrongful death action, the horrific circumstances of the death, the necessity of closed...

• Arizona Court of Appeals Describes the Quantum of Evidence Needed to Prove Lost Earning Capacity and Addresses Damages for the "Increased Risk" of Harm

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 23, 2007 1:40 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  New case from Division One, Felder v. Physiotherapy Assoc., that has some good stuff in it concerning lost earning capacity and anxiety over the "increased risk" of harm.The first and main issue in the case concerns the quantum of evidence needed to prove lost earning capacity. Although the standard is "reasonable certainty" in predicting the future in such cases, the Court "conclude[d] that...

• Statutes and Rules that Require Mandatory Disclosure of Medical Records Violate HIPPA

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 19, 2007 8:34 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Arizona requires mandatory disclosure of medical records in medical malpractice cases and, amazingly, is currently considering a change to mandatory arbitration procedures to require the same thing. As we have often explained, these provisions violate HIPPA, the comprehensive federal scheme that provides essential privacy rights for medical records.The voice of reason is finally kicking in: ...

• Parental Liability for Uninsured Minors That Cause Injury Accidents

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 18, 2007 10:39 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  In Arizona, if you are under 18, your application for an instruction permit or driver's license must be signed by at least one adult. The adult may be responsible for any negligence or willful misconduct when the minor is driving.The statute, A.R.S. 28-3160, provides that "[n]egligence or wilful misconduct of a minor when driving a motor vehicle on a highway is imputed to the person who signs...

• Loss of Services of a Homemaker is About $138,095 a Year

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 14, 2007 8:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  This report published by Rueters says that if "the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year."This is an important study because the issue often comes up about the value of domestic services in personal injury litigaton. Perhaps this data can be reasonably relied upon by an...