Good Morning, Friend

I've just spent about three weeks being in depositions every day. I am going to discuss a couple settlements obtained right after depositions below and a zero offer to $100,000 full policy settlement. But first I wanted to thank my friend and court reporter, Karen Russo.

I am blessed to have used the same court reporter in my litigation work for 20 years. Karen Russo is simply an amazing court reporter and person.

Karen and I have done hundreds, likely over a thousand, depositions together. I spend my time in depositions concentrating on winning my case and doing all of the litigation tactics I use. I never have to worry about whether she is keeping up or has got my back.

She gets every word said, which is important because that's how we win cases.

She is such a stable, amazing professional that, frankly, I take it for granted. Sometimes we are around people in our life that we just count on to be steadfast, rock solid, and always there. I often thank her, but have not in an email like this.

Thanks, Karen. You're a fantastic court reporter and consummate professional.

Karen has been in the trenches with me in some amazing cases and amazing depositions. We couldn't even begin to relate the amazing stories and crazy testimony we have gotten together.

Last Thursday, at the end of 10 hours of depositions of some California PhD experts against my case (and with only a couple 5 minutes breaks), I turned to Karen:

Me: “It has been a while since we've done a 10-hour deposition, hasn’t it?”

Karen: “Yeah, you're slowing down as you get older.”

Me: “I guess I am. I am not giving you carpal tunnel today am I.”

Karen: “You already did long ago.”

The other thing I sometimes do is brag to the witnesses in depositions that Karen and I have been doing this for a long time together – usually when she reads back a question they haven't answered.

Typically, I tell them that Karen has been doing this for 40 or 50 years (as an age joke). She can’t really respond – we are on the record and she has to report everything I am saying. I have made this joke at least 50 times – it is only funny to me.

Karen also has an amazing life and is a devoted mother, community volunteer and supportive partner to her husband – an amazing cook. He has a fantastic St. Louis based restaurant and catering company called Russo’s Catering.

I can’t say enough about Karen. She is the type of person who just quietly goes about her life and her business – winning daily. I have not heard her brag or say a cross word in 20 years. She brightens everyone's day, supports her family, friends and community and is an absolute joy to be around.

Three Settlements After Deposition

Depositions are an important step in resolving cases that are being litigated and well worth the energy and time that goes into them.

At Burger Law, we take depositions very seriously, and prepare our clients with videos, over the phone, and in person interviews for their depositions. We also have our team researching details of the defendants for their depositions, with no stone unturned.

People talk about how we push forward in cases and take a lot of depositions. They are extremely valuable. Below I give a few examples of cases we have recently settled due to depositions and the testimony given by either my client, or the defendant, that sways them into either accepting liability, or understanding the gravity of the injury and their role in it.

Hit and Run

I recently wrote about my client Joe and promised I would give an update. I ended the last update saying we had asked for the depositions of the defendants. They settled the day before the defendant’s depo and after Joe did a great job at his.

Joe testified the other driver hit his car then sped off, went the wrong way on a street downtown and even opened their trunk to prevent their license plate being read.

They followed the car and were able to get the license plate. We found the owner of the car and sued them. They said they did not know who was driving – but it was their daughter's car. So, we sued the daughter – then she said she did not know who was driving. I guess it runs in the family.

But we knew we would get to the bottom of it, and depositions were how we did it. We settled his case for more than four times his medical bills.

Next Day Settlement

Chris was sitting on a retaining wall when it collapsed. He was injured but the defendant would offer almost nothing. We fought with the defendants for months. They wouldn't budge.

In deposition, the corporate designee stated they had no system for checking the safety of the retaining walls on their complex, have no way of ensuring their safety, and said they had a database where they kept records of any incidents, but not wall failure.

The day after the deposition, the defendants nearly doubled their offer, and we were able to settle the case.

From $0 to $100,000 Full Policy Settlement

Our client, Rick Dunlap, stopped at Eovaldi’s Deli on the Hill for lunch, while hauling materials on the job. After Rick had parked and gotten out of the truck, he realized he left the keys in it. Rick reached back in and his open door was smashed by another car.

The streets are narrow in that neighborhood – especially at lunch time with cars parked on both sides of the street. The defendant had all kinds of stories – Rick opened his door into her and it was his fault. The police talked to her and she cried and apologized.

The police report noted that the defendant was at fault. But she called them later and added an addendum to the report that Rick suddenly opened his door, hitting her car. The insurance company originally denied liability completely and found Rick to be 100% at fault.

The defendant bent Rick’s door while he was holding on to it – pulling his shoulder. She was speeding. Rick tore his rotator cuff in the accident and needed surgery. After getting his surgery, and some physical therapy we made a policy-limit demand. The insurance company refused to make an offer on the case until after Rick’s deposition.

Rick did an amazing job at his deposition and was well prepared. We work really hard to have our clients advocate for their case well in their depos.

Three days later they offered the full policy limits of $100,000. Rick is a great and honest guy and I was honored to represent him. He also went back to work just two days after his shoulder surgery, with his arm in a sling, because he is such a hard worker.

We are happy to have gotten Rick such a great result but the battle continues. Rick’s health insurance was provided through his work and they were self insured. They denied health insurance coverage claiming that they didn’t have to pay if a third party was at fault.

Also, Rick did not file a worker’s compensation claim because he was such a loyal employee and wanted to solely pursue his civil claims.

Rick is no longer with the company and has started a new job. We will not stop fighting until Rick’s medical bills are paid for by his health insurance or by the company’s worker’s compensation insurance. We are happy to continue to fight for clients like Rick to get them full compensation.

Hey, Friend

I am excited about this newsletter - hope you enjoy it. We are almost out of winter, but still take slip and fall cases at the firm. Below read about three slip and fall settlements, a great story about our client Edna and her bad lawyer, and a new book.

Dangers of Social Media and Driving Scholarship

Burger Law is excited to announce our 2018 Dangers of social media and Driving Scholarship. We will support a student passionate about raising awareness of the risks of using social media while driving. See information regarding our current scholarship.

Please visit our scholarship page to learn how you or someone you know can apply. So many crashes are caused by distracted driving, and with the numbers only continuing to rise, Burger Law wanted to be a part of the change, by alerting young people to the dangers.

By engaging people to think through solutions, maybe together we can help stop people from using social media and texting while driving.

NEW BOOK

If you like these newsletters, you'll love my new book, "Client Success Stories."

I took all the newsletters I wrote over the last two years on client success stories, tips for cases, and social media more, and collected them in this book in case anyone has trouble falling asleep. JK – it's pretty good and a fun read. The newsletters chronicle what happened at the firm since its inception and in the world. Biweekly over 104 weeks. This book is available for free at wordpress-1141749-3971949.cloudwaysapps.com.

Slip and Fall

With the conditions St. Louis has been seeing (rain + falling temperatures=ice) I thought I would discuss slip and fall law in Missouri.

I had two clients ask us to navigate the slip and fall law labyrinth. Mary and Dora didn’t know each other but had the same story. Both were going shopping at a grocery store, walked through a parking lot to get there and slipped and fell on ‘black ice’ they did not see.

Even crazier, after each fell at the respective stores, the managers attempting to help them fell too! It was a very dangerous condition.

As is increasingly common, neither store owned or maintained the parking lots exclusively reserved for their use. And the company that owned the lot hired someone else to plow and salt. This is pretty typical. But this doesn’t let the owner off the hook as many believe – A landowner has to keep its property free from dangerous conditions under Missouri Law. MAI 22.03 (7th Ed.). This states the landowner only could know of a dangerous condition – not should. So, the owner is on the hook.

Further, Missouri courts have long held that, in parking lot cases, the store using the lot owes a non-delegable duty to its invitees to provide a reasonably safe parking lot. Cannon v. S. Kresge, 116 S.W.2d 559 (1938); Demo v. H & H Inv. Co., 527 S.W.2d 382 (Mo. App., 1975); Groce v. Kansas City Spirit, Inc., 925 S.W.2d 880, 885 (Mo. App. W.D., 1996); Turcol v. Shoney’s Enterprises, Inc., 640 S.W.2d 503 (Mo. App. E.D. 1982); O’Connell v. Roper Elec. Co., Inc. 498 S.W.2d 847 (Mo. App. 1973).

Although a landowner is not required to remedy a dangerous condition that generally affects all property in an area, they are required to address a property hazard that was known or reasonably discoverable – such as snow and ice! Harris v. Niehaus, 857 S.W. 2d 222 (Mo. App. 1993); see also Gorman v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 19 S.W.3d 725, 732 (Mo. App. 2000)

We were pleased to have got settlements for our clients even with the complicated law.

Slip and Fall 2

Our client, Edna Walters, slipped on grease at a Denny’s restaurant in May of 2015. Edna and her husband asked the manager for the restaurant’s insurance information, but the manager refused to provide it. Edna and her husband are the kindest folks you could ever meet.

Edna learned that she had suffered a fractured vertebrae and a sprained wrist. In the coming weeks, Denny’s continually refused to own up to its responsibilities, and Edna hired another lawyer, Jo Ann Karll of High Ridge.

That legal representation did not go well for Edna. Incredibly:

• Ms. Karll refused to talk to Edna about her case.
• Ms. Karll never talked to her on the phone and never returned a single phone call.
• Edna never met with any other attorney at the Karll Law Firm.
• Ms. Karll did not even attempt to negotiate a settlement of Edna’s case until six months after she was done treating.
• Ms. Karll says she sent a demand letter, but Edna never gave her authority to do so or an amount.
• The claims representative denied ever getting a demand letter – it was never sent.
• The claim rep never talked to Ms. Karll or a lawyer at her office.
• Ms. Karll asserted a lien in the case for over $4,000 – but would never talk to me.
• Edna only talked to Ms. Karll's paralegal. Same with me and the claim rep.

Edna came to me in December 2016, confused and angry with the legal system. She goes to church with the mother of a high school friend of mine and asked her for help. We were able to get a copy of the case file, and settled Edna’s case within 3 months. This was after the other lawyer had it for a year and a half. We settled Edna's case for $41,500 – she had less than $15,000 in medical expenses and had fractured her vertebrae before.

Unfortunately, Ms. Karll pursued Edna with an attorney’s lien on the case of about $4,159.86. This, despite having done minimal work and dropping Edna’s case down a black hole. We didn’t think that was fair.

Missouri law says that if a client decides to terminate a lawyer, a lawyer is entitled to be compensated based on the amount of work they have put into the case, and their hourly rate. We reviewed the invoice that Ms. Karll had submitted and found numerous abnormalities which we believe suggested that Karll had inflated her invoice/lien.

For example, she claimed she spent loads of time: reviewing inconsequential, pro-forma Medicare documents; negotiating lien reductions which normally are done by paralegals in five minutes, drafting form letters, and drafting and sending demand letters.

We told Ms. Karll’s paralegal this was not fair. I say Ms. Karll’s office because, like Edna, we were never able to speak with Ms. Karll ourselves. We did offer to pay $1,000 because Ms. Karll’s office did do some work on the file, and did incur expenses of about $250.

I regularly treat lawyers fair if I get a file later and have never written about something like this. But Ms. Karll's conduct (or lack thereof) makes all lawyers look bad.

The Missouri ethics rules recommend using the Missouri Bar’s Fee Dispute Resolution Committee to resolve liens. We did so and arbitrated the case before a volunteer.

Do you think Ms. Karll showed up at the hearing to get her fees? NO. The arbitrator awarded her exactly what I had offered 9 months earlier.

To date, neither I, Edna or the claim rep have ever talked to Ms. Karll.

177th Google Review of Burger Law (by Edna)

I would just like to raise Gary Burger up today. If anyone needs a good attorney and one that will treat you right and fight for you, then Gary is the one to choose!! I had previously had a bad experience with another attorney and a special friend recommended Gary to me and I took her advice and within 3 months his firm had gotten in touch with the insurance adjuster and was well on the way for a settlement.

When he took over the case it had been going on for a year and a half and there was no sign of any settlement and no correspondence from the firm. I am eternally grateful to Gary for his kindness, courtesy, and knowledge of the case and was so impressed by the way he handled the opposing firm. My case is completely closed now and I am so glad that I was referred to him. Thank you, Gary, for a job well done!!

Settlement after Filing Suit

We recently secured a great result for our client Joan. Joan was leaving the parking lot at a mall when a car crashed into her on the passenger side. The other driver was cited for driving at excessive speeds and failure to yield.

Despite this, the insurance company refused to send us an offer in the case. We filed suit and after the discovery process, the defendant's attorney agreed to a great settlement. We were happy to fight for Joan and get her a great settlement.

We settled her claim for $40,000 - which was a great result. Know how to settle a case for $40,000? Don't take $35,000. We didn't. Thanks for letting us help, Joan. Proud to represent you.