I need legal advice - about legal advice.
November 30, 2010 5:22 AM   Subscribe

My daughter was seriously injured more than a year and a half ago. We hired an attorney. The attorney was gung-ho for a while. Then he dropped the case. We kind of gave up. Now, I realize that my daughter's life has been severely compromised by her injuries. We still have a few months when we could refile with a different attorney. What should I do?

My daughter was seriously injured in a park in Michigan. She was on a path - but not on the sidewalk. We hired an attorney. That attorney said a lot of things - among them, not to discuss the case with anyone. The city in question sent us an email and said they would settle with us - if we did not proceed with a lawsuit. I forwarded the email to the attorney. The attorney said they were just fishing for information and to ignore them. - and he went ahead and filed an intention to sue. The attorney also said he would see that the park was made safe. He did nothing. He made no attempt to settle with the city. A few months later, he dropped the case.

At one point, the attorney also said he was good buddies with the mayor of the city. I suspect, but of course could not prove, collusion between the city and the attorney.

I have come to realize many things in the past year and a half, among them that Michigan is a deeply corrupt state (witness the state's Attorney General approving of the ADA stalking and harassing a student at UM simply because he's gay - until, of course, Anderson Cooper & Jon Stewart got involved). We were told we cannot sue the government and win.

Everyone seems shocked that my daughter has not gotten a penny for her extremely serious injuries. She recovered and seemed to be doing fairly well, but she is in constant, severe pain. My daughter is a very private person. She does not let people know what happened to her. If you did not know, you would never guess. She is not at all suicidal, but she does question why she was left to live like this. She is young - by 9:00 at night, she is exhausted. I have no idea what her life will be like in another decade or two, and of course, I'm worried.

The city in question never apologized. No one has been held accountable. I contacted the local press about the safety issue. They did nothing. I contacted the governor's office (the governor's daughter attended the same university as my daughter - and presumably was in the same danger) - they did not care.

I do not know what to do, and so have done nothing. The legal clock is ticking. Do we pursue this or let it go? If we pursue it, how do we do that? We had what we thought was a reputable attorney, but his behavior was highly questionable.

My daughter is a full-time student with a grueling schedule, trying to make up the year she lost. I am not well. We do not need an exercise in futility. Advice?
posted by clarkstonian to Law & Government (21 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
You get a new attorney. The bottom line is that even if you don't ultimately go to trial, the threat of a lawsuit is enough to make the city want to settle (you saw the preliminary overtures of that during your time with your previous lawyer) and a lawyer is best equipped to handle negotiations that will enhance your position and take it to court if need be.

I'm sorry your previous lawyer didn't work out. That happens sometimes. Doesn't always mean they were corrupt.
posted by inturnaround at 5:39 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Consult your state bar association and hire another attorney. There are plenty of personal injury attorneys who will take the case "on contingency" (ie: for a cut of the settlement, normally about a third) and who will be more than willing to take the case.

Its likely your case will never actually go to trial. What is more likely is that the case will settle right before the trial date. I just concluded a personal injury lawsuit that took over two years to settle, but settle we did, about three days before the court date.

A good attorney will make this easier for you, not harder. The folks at your State Bar know who the best personal injury attorneys are and should be willing to advise you. Do, however, stay away from personal injury attorneys who advertise on TV. Often their deal is that they churn through a lot of cases quickly, so they settle a lot without pushing counter offers.

If you want, memail me and I'll put you in touch with my attorney (in Maine). Feel free to call her and ask if she can recommend an attorney in Michigan that's as good as she is. I bet she can.
posted by anastasiav at 5:48 AM on November 30, 2010


I don't know (and none of us can tell you) if the city is liable here. But if the other party makes an offer to settle, that usually shouldn't lead to your attorney dropping the case. Find and talk with another lawyer immediately.
posted by J. Wilson at 6:04 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Make appointments with a couple of lawyers, tell them the story, see what they say, and choose the lawyer who makes the most sense.

I would not mention, or mention it only in passing, the corruption angle. That's a fight for another day- your goal is to get the best resolution you can for your daughter, and to hopefully make sure the park is made safer. If, after this case is worked out, you still want to pursue the corruption angle, look into it then. My gut feeling is that combining the two will dilute both claims.
posted by gjc at 6:06 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Get another lawyer. It's basically as simple as that. Your first lawyer could have dropped the case for any number of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with corruption. It certainly seems like he's done a bad job of communicating with you, but the fact that your daughter was injured does not, in fact, mean that she is entitled to compensation. It could be that he learned that the odds are against you and decided to direct his efforts on more profitable cases, especially if he was taking the case on contingency.

Look, you haven't given us enough facts to indicate that you've got a slam dunk case here. The seriousness of your daughter's injury is not the basis for determining liability. If the city wasn't negligent, the city isn't liable. It could be that another person--including your daughter--was negligent, or it could be that no one was negligent but that your daughter got hurt anyway. It happens. But liability follows fault, not injury, so where there is no fault, there is no compensation.

Either way, definitely seek other counsel. I'd definitely tell your new attorney that you already had an attorney on the case, but seriously, if you aren't satisfied with your current attorney, get a new one.
posted by valkyryn at 6:06 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


First & foremost, IANAL. That being said, you should get thee to this website & search for a law firm in your state that specializes in personal injury. Start contacting firms with high ratings - both as it regards to peer reviews and client satisfaction.
posted by muirne81 at 6:09 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Call another attorney. But I warn you, when you say "We were told we cannot sue the government and win," what the speakers may have meant is "you don't have a very good case." Sometime accidents are not anybody's fault and nobody is liable, or it's too difficult to prove liability. (The local press's lack of interest also makes me wonder if this is the case.)

And, no, once you involve lawyers, the city will not apologize. If I were to guess, I'd think your first attorney got in over his head or didn't realize how the case would go and then just dumped you rather than releasing you properly as clients -- client avoidance isn't uncommon, especially for solo practicioners. (Big-firm lawyers might want to just drop you and never talk to you again but the firm usually has someone who closes out files.) In a smaller city is it quite usual for all the attorneys to know each other and all the local politicians; it doesn't necessarily mean they're corrupt, it means it's a small community where social and professional circles are small and overlapping.

When you call attorneys, try to stick to what happened to your daughter. Do not talk about generalized corruption in the state of Michigan screwing you out of what you're owed. Do not talk about the local press's disinterest. Do not talk about your first lawyer being good buddies with the mayor. Do not say how "everyone" is "shocked" that your daughter hasn't gotten any money. These things read as "problem client." Lawyers understand that YOU are emotional and the reason you hire a lawyer is to be rational FOR you when it is too hard to be rational. But lawyers do NOT want clients who are so irrational that they are unable to accept or understand the reality of their case. Because these clients a) don't pay bills and b) sue for legal malpractice later. (My malpractice insurance liability-avoidance book that comes with my insurance every year actually has a whole section on "how to tell if your client is so pissed off that no matter how awesome an outcome you get for them, they will be convinced you failed, and why you should never, ever take on these clients." Only called something more formal.)

Your case may well be excellent. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm merely suggesting that you try to crank down the emotional involvement a couple levels and focus ONLY on the main issue (the actual event of your daughter's injury), leaving aside all the ancillary injustices and frustrations that are not related to your primary case, when you call attorneys for a second (and ideally even third) opinion. And, yes, if you have the time, I would make appointments to meet with a couple of different attorneys and get a feel for a couple of people, and get a couple of opinions on the case. And be suspicious if one attorney is hesitant and says it's not a great case, while the another is insisting he'll get you a huge settlement, guaranteed. One of these guys is not in touch with reality.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:18 AM on November 30, 2010 [32 favorites]


BTW, it is perfectly okay to show emotion and to say things like, "This is a really emotional issue for me, it's been very frustrating to see my daughter suffer and to want to help but to meet with indifference." Just try very hard to keep your explanations focused on the main issue and not to let your emotions drag you off into side issues that don't matter.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:55 AM on November 30, 2010


You described the incident in question in another AskMe not long after it happened: Our daughter's back was broken when a 67 foot dead ash tree fell on her in a public park. You also posted several later questions about neurosurgery etc. I'm not sure what import being on a "path, but not on the sidewalk" has (quote from current question), but when a clearly dead tree falls on a person in a park, that doesn't seem like a weak case to me. You say "we kind of gave up", but given the fairly clear case you have, and the extent of your daughter's injuries, and the fact that now the long-term impact on her is much clearer than when you started the case with the current lawyer, this is NOT an excercise in futility. Follow the good advice above, especially from Eyebrows McGee.
posted by beagle at 7:57 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I'm pretty good at editing out the emotions when I talk to other people, so I will do that if I talk to an attorney. I'm aware attorneys operate by law, not by emotion. I also understand that Michigan does not really allow personal injury lawsuits and the state grants itself and governmental agencies almost total immunity. It infuriates me that if this happened on private property, the same state, the same court would hold the property owner liable for negligence in an identical situation.

By the way, it was another attorney who told us the behavior of our attorney was out of line and bordered on bizarre.

And I'm not sure we want to sue anyone. The problem is, time has passed and I see how permanent the injuries are and how badly a life has been damaged by the utter indifference of this community (how difficult would it have been to post signs that said this area was not safe, if they didn't want to deal with the safety issues?), and it's really hard to accept that. I also know that sometimes life sucks - get over it.

But they know they almost killed one person, and they have done nothing to remedy the situation. That is really hard to accept.
posted by clarkstonian at 8:31 AM on November 30, 2010


I am a lawyer, obviously not your daughter's lawyer, and I don't know the first thing about Michigan law, but please do be aware that, oftentimes, the statute of limitations for bringing claims against governmental entities is short. Your daughter should do not delay in pursuing this matter. At the very least, as soon as possible, your daughter should satisfy herself that she knows what the statute of limitations for a claim such as this is.
posted by pasici at 8:46 AM on November 30, 2010


just a word of encouragement - when your daughter is thirty, and raising her own children, and seventy, with her grandchildren, and in excruciating pain and maybe unable to work, and maybe you're not there, it's important that that money be there. so eat the bitterness for these last few months and file that lawsuit while you have time. when you're on your deathbead worrying about her, you will be glad you've done everything possible.

therapy to deal with your emotions.
posted by By The Grace of God at 9:03 AM on November 30, 2010 [5 favorites]


I also understand that Michigan does not really allow personal injury lawsuits and the state grants itself and governmental agencies almost total immunity.

You're either making a lot of assumptions or relying on faulty information. Do not make ANY decisions based on what "you understand" the law to be. You're not a lawyer, don't think you know anything about the law. Yes, state governments often grant themselves a fair degree of immunity but there are large exceptions that allow individuals to collect on tort claims against the government.

For you to find a lawyer, take time to find a GOOD lawyer, one with a well-established personal injury practice. Don't go to one of the tv-advertising personal injury mills ... they may seem that they know what they're doing but they generally want cases that fall into a very narrow template of claims they can settle quickly.

The best way to find an attorney is to ask a few good attorneys (in any specialty): "If your family member were seriously injured, what attorney would you want representing you?"
posted by jayder at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: A few points:

Eyebrows, the press was very interested. My daughter refused to allow them access. It's regrettable that press coverage determines the strength of a legal case.

Pasici - we still have some time, although not a lot of time.

GOG - there won't be any children. The life she once envisioned, the major she wanted, those things are gone. But she's an intelligent young woman. She has a life, a good life - just not that life.

There's no bitterness here. That's not the point. Our daughter is a functional human being. She's accomplished an astounding amount in the past year and a half. She lost a year of college and changed majors - she's already made that up. In my mind, she's not limited in any way. The reality is a bit different, and I didn't realize how different until I spent this past week with her. Again - if you saw her, you would never know what she has been through and what she goes through every day.

I'm really just trying to decide if we did the right thing when we gave up on her legal case and how hard I should pursue this. I understand that in almost any other state in the country, we would have a good case. But we don't live there, and this accident didn't happen there.

Thanks for your thoughtful input.
posted by clarkstonian at 10:26 AM on November 30, 2010


I'm not sure we want to sue anyone. . . I also know that sometimes life sucks - get over it.

There's a certain cultural strand that tells us that Suing Someone is an action undertaken only by Litigious People -- that it's akin to begging or blackmailing -- and that truly upright citizens just solve their own problems: this cultural strand is crap.

Our system implicitly includes many insurance policies, which are fundamentally modes of cooperation. One such insurance policy is that, whenever someone is injured due to X, Y, or Z (certain forces that we have designated as a shared problem, and so have assigned a government to protect us against), then we will all chip in and cover that person's costs.

A lawsuit against the government is just a way of accessing that insurance pool, and none of us fellow-insurers (ie taxpayers) begrudges you that one bit.
posted by foursentences at 10:33 AM on November 30, 2010 [6 favorites]


"Eyebrows, the press was very interested. My daughter refused to allow them access. It's regrettable that press coverage determines the strength of a legal case. "

My point was not that press coverage determines the strength of a legal case. You initially said, "I contacted the local press about the safety issue. They did nothing." Not that they didn't do a story because your daughter refused an interview. Having worked in a newsroom, we often had people calling up and saying, "There is this GIANT SAFETY HAZARD that ALMOST KILLED ME and you MUST GO WRITE A STORY" and we'd go check it out and discover a well-marked uneven patch of sidewalk. Based on what you related about the press having no interest (and having not checked your history), I speculated that it might therefore be a non-story both journalistically and legally. Press coverage has no bearing on the strength of the case, or we'd all be screwed, because most cases are too damn boring for press coverage.

I reiterate that I think you should talk to a different lawyer. Governmental entities do have various tort immunity rights, yes, but most have consented to be sued under various circumstances. Ensure that you get at least a second opinion as to how good your case is under Michigan law.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:19 AM on November 30, 2010


nthing getting another lawyer, and this time make sure that you get one experienced in suing municipalities! There are plenty of them out there. The practice is a bit different from regular private personal injury. A lawyer like this will, most importantly, have a sense of how good (i.e. likely to result in a useful settlement) your case is; and will also know the relevant case law on how to get around the public entity tort immunities at play.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:42 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


A long time ago, a police cruiser smashed into the back of my econobox and put me out of action for months. It took a long time to find a lawyer who would take the case. Lawyer dropped case when there was very little time left. I called my city councilman and had a check in 3 days. It was more than the lawyer was going to ask for and I didn't have to pay a third of it to a lawyer.

Somebody you vote for probably cares about this.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:21 PM on November 30, 2010


Nthing get another lawyer, but hurry, because you may be bumping up on the statute of limitations soon if it's already been 18 mos.
posted by elpea at 4:38 PM on November 30, 2010


I don't understand where your conclusions about the strength of the case is coming from. From the crappy, unethical lawyer? But is he really trustworthy? And why would the city offer to settle if you have no chance of winning this?

How many lawyers have you talked to about this case? Why not at least try to have a few (more) conversations with lawyers? What harm could it do? And then if you find a lawyer who's willing to take the case on contingency you know it won't be an exercise in futility and that they believe you can win-- no one wants to work for free.

You just sound so defeated and resigned. Are there things you're not telling us about the legal advice you've been given, or is the stress and frustration maybe skewing your thinking a bit?
posted by EmilyClimbs at 4:45 PM on November 30, 2010


I remember when your daughter got hurt, clarkstonian. Please hurry in your search for another lawyer... I am in a different state (Indiana) but when I was hurt in my car accident, the statute of limitations was 2 years. If she has demonstrable physical difficulties to this day, I'm almost certain she should be getting some help.

My friend (who was injured in the accident) was initially told she couldn't sue the state over the intersection in question not having a light, because not enough people had been hurt there. They're putting up a light now and she's gotten a very substantial settlement.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:07 AM on December 1, 2010


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