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The Legal Intelligencer

Construction Injury Litigation: Paving the Road Through Discovery

When conducting discovery in personal injury matters that arise from construction accidents, the discovery requests, like in other matters, dictate the documents received. However, the difference is that with a construction project, there are a number of documents, areas of inquiry, and file materials that are important in an attempt to establish your claims against the owner or various contractors, but if not properly requested, they may not be produced. If the request is too broad (i.e., the construction file), you will be faced with an objection that the request simply seeks every bill, receipt, invoice, subcontract, etc., and many documents that have absolutely nothing to do with the issues in your litigation. If the request is too specific, and if you do not ask for the materials the correct way, you may not receive them (i.e., produce JSAs; response "none"—unbeknownst to the requesting party, the contractor did not use JSAs, they used JHAs (see below)). When pursuing a premises liability case, motor vehicle accident case, a dog bite case, etc., the world of documents is much smaller and less particularized. However, there are a number of areas that should be explored in a construction accident case, depending upon the type of accident. The intent of this article is not to identify every single document, as the requests are case specific. Nevertheless, some documents should be requested in all cases, such as all contracts, subcontracts, scopes of work, change orders, safety manuals, accident reports, and photographs, while keeping in mind there are many, many more materials to request.
15 minute read

Litigation Daily

In 'Especially Unpleasant and Nasty' Suit, Carlton Fields Client Must Pay $18.5M Legal Bill from Cooley

Litigation is rarely nice. But sometimes it's so ugly that you just have to stop and gawk. The antitrust battle between pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing companies Procaps SA and Patheon Inc. is one of those cases.
34 minute read

Daily Business Review

GARA Still a Powerful Tool in Aircraft Litigation Cases

The next time you chose to fly, ask yourself—can I sue the manufacturer of this aircraft if it crashes as a result of a product defect? The answer is sometimes found in the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) which was passed by Congress in 1994 in response to the enormous products liability costs that the tort system had imposed upon manufacturers of general aviation aircraft and their components, write James D. Gassenheimer, Ashley Dillman Bruce and Deborah B. Talenfeld.
4 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

People in the News—Aug. 21, 2017—Dilworth Paxson

Dilworth Paxson's James Landgraf was elected a fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America.
3 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Dilworth Responds After Ex-Employee ID'd as Charlottesville Marcher

In the days following the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, law firms ­nationwide released statements, expressing a sense of duty to speak out against hate and to reinforce their commitment to a tolerant and diverse workplace. But Dilworth Paxson had a more specific motivation for addressing the issue.
8 minute read

Daily Report Online

Total Eclipse of Liability?

Leave it to lawyers to find the legal angle to Monday afternoon's long-awaited total eclipse of the sun.
4 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

The Internet: An Underestimated Discovery Tool

As lawyers, we are often compelled to "stick to the script" by following in the footsteps of those who came before us, even when that means adopting legalese and using rigid templates that likely made little sense to their drafters. The discovery process is not immune to this phenomenon, following a life cycle that seems almost etched in stone: a series of requests for production of documents, interrogatories or requests for admissions, culminating with depositions laden with questions based on the information and documents received in response. While these are all necessary steps, there is another frequently underutilized discovery tool that is available to all of us. When properly used, it can serve as a powerful supplement to traditional discovery methods.
11 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Ninth Circuit Supports Alcohol Advertising Restrictions

In a highly anticipated ruling that maintains the status quo for alcohol beverage laws across the country, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Retail Digital Network v. Prieto, 861 F.3d 839 (9th Cir. 2017), recently determined that California's interest in preventing the undue influence of manufacturers over retailers was sufficient to trump First Amendment commercial speech challenges. In so ­holding, the court maintained longstanding precedent supporting the government's right to restrict advertising by alcohol suppliers, directly or indirectly, at the retailer outlets carrying their products, in contrast to business as usual for other nonalcohol brand owners.
7 minute read

National Law Journal

Industry Reacts to Charlottesville; Ex-Bancroft Partner Joins OMB; Jay Sekulow's New Music Video

Washington Wrap is a weekly roundup of Big Law hires and other Washington, D.C., legal industry news.
7 minute read

The American Lawyer

Ex-Foley & Lardner Partner Enters Not-Guilty Plea in Case Alleging Insider Trading

Following insider trading charges brought in May, former Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Foley & Lardner partner Walter "Chet" Little formally denied the allegations in court on Thursday, entering a not-guilty plea alongside a co-defendant in the criminal case.
19 minute read

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