Yesterday I spent a classic, semi retired, old man's day. First, I worked out with my trainer, after sharing with the CT scan finding about my "old man's neck." I then came home to meet Jorge, the PT who also does "needling."
Turns out, there's an American form of accupuncture, and it's called needling. A trained PT does it, and Wifey bought a package of 4, and it helped her. So Jorge let me use the 2nd two, and it seems to help. The funny thing is Jorge was also the guy to do my regular PT, and so at 3, I drove back to the old 'hood in West Kendall to his clinic.
He gave me an evaluation and is confident he can stop the pins and needles that annoy me during the day. I hope he's correct.
Later, I met Barry and Norman for a great dinner at Luna, across from our Adult Ed class. The class was interesting as they all are -- when does the Torah permit abortion. Cut to the chase: there are 2 schools of thought -- and one is when the mother's health is imperiled. We had lively discussion teasing out the subtleties of the arguments -- and of course Barry is the ringer in the group, as he navigates these issues all the time.
The final class is scheduled for July 9, but Rabbi Moshe told us he was going to NYC for a Rebbe related meeting, and so we would have to move the final class to July 16. I will likely miss it, as we will be hosting friends then, but I guess the schedule is fluid.
But tomorrow is July 4, and with the holiday falling on Thursday, I was taken back to one of the best bits of lawyering of my career. It began with a tragic car crash in June.
An aunt of a beautiful 4 year old girl put her niece in the front seat, essentially right under the visor sign that said "Don't put little children in the front seat -- in English and Spanish." Sure enough, there was a crash, the airbag deployed, and the little girl was left a quadriplegic. Her parents, a South American born mother who, I recall, looked like the actress Sonia Braga, and her Asian American husband, who was out at sea as a merchant sailor, hired us.
Mom and the little girl lived on one side of a duplex in Little Havana, and the aunt the other. Both shared the same street address, but one was "Unit 1" and the other "Unit 2." Tia had a $10K liability policy.
The $10K maybe paid for one day of the niece's care. My goal as a lawyer was to try to set up a bad faith claim -- asking the carrier to pay, and hoping they wouldn't. I explained the strategy to Mom and Auntie -- Auntie was of course willing to get sued for millions to help her beautiful niece -- I can imagine the guilt she had for her negligence and its tragic consequence.
So I prepared the demand letter, noting that July 4 was a Thursday, and demanding the company tender its limits on Friday July 5. I knew well that was NOT a legal holiday, but it was a de facto one -- most people would decide to take a 4 day weekend, and NOT work on the 5th.
I was one of them -- we shut down the office until Monday July 8. And when I arrived, sure enough -- no $10K check! I immediately prepared a lawsuit, served it on Tia, and a few days later got the expected paternal sounding call from a senior partner of a leading defense firm -- I'll call him Dan, since that's his name.
"I see what you're trying to do, David, but it won't work. We properly paid the $10K policy." I employed the jiu jitsu I often used with great success. "Oh Dan -- all that complicated insurance law is beyond me -- I just know I told your carrier they were facing a mult million dollar case, with only $10K in coverage, and they decided not to pay since they assumed Aunt and Mom shared a home? That's ok, but now I have to represent this little girl best I can."
Within a few months, after a few mediations, we settled for millions -- after some dark humor.
A key in assessing whether to settle the claim of a grievously injured child is how long the child will live to require expensive care. We hired the now retired Chief of Peds Neuro at a local hospital, and he testified that the child could live a normal span, WITH proper care.
Right after his depo, he called me back in to the office, savvy old salt he was, and asked if we had an offer. I told him we did, and he said "Take it. Poor kid won't last another 6 months."
We settled the case, and, sure enough, the poor, totally incapacitated child mercifully passed on.
Was I proud of my stategy? Hells yeah, as the hip hop guys say.
Paul and I had quite a few of these over the nearly 30 years (our anniversary is November) of our firm.
Playing legal chess made an otherwise ponderous career fun, sometimes.
And I recall that move each time July 4 falls on a Thursday.
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