Can I Sue Sheetz?

 Posted on May 16, 2023 in Auto Accidents

My name is Andrew Neuwirth. Today, I wish to discuss with you matters of slip and fall incidents at Sheetz, as well as car accidents in Sheets parking lots. This  article is entirely dedicated to Sheets. If you’re not a Philadelphia local, Sheetz is a cherished convenience store chain in our region and is one of the most popular and respected convenience store around.

However, Sheetz, like any other business, has its drawbacks. As it operates commercially, accidents happen on its premises. The parking lots, often cramped and chaotic, are the sites of numerous mishaps, leading to personal injuries. I’m aware of individuals who have suffered severe injuries due to falls or being hit by cars in Sheets parking lots. So, it’s important to remember that they’re accountable for their negligence, just like any other commercial property owner.

Am I hesitant to sue Sheetz? Not at all. Do I believe jurors are more sympathetic towards Sheetz? I can’t say for certain.

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DOG BITE CASES

 Posted on May 09, 2023 in Case Matters

I love a good dog bite case. There really is no defense to the claims and so it is really just a question of how much money the insured dog owner has on their policy. The risk in these cases is the lack of insurance. What is the best dog bite case? Well, the easy ones are where a pit bull bites your client out on the street, preferably in Wynnewood. Why? Well, you have a dangerous seeming breed, in a well-off neighborhood meaning there is likely insurance coverage for the dog owner’s negligence, and the dog is not on their own property. What is the worst case? We run into a lot of trouble pursuing these cases when a landlord rents out a property and is arguably unaware of the dog and may even have a no dog policy written into the lease. The out of possession landlord has a variety of defenses here, but most rental landlords are somewhat involved with their properties and may over the course of the case be shown to be aware of the dog. Once you have that fact established, then the type of dog and prior aggressiveness will come into play. A labradoodle is not your ideal dog bite defendant.

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NOT GETTING REFERRALS? DAVID GOGGINS WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED IN YOU

 Posted on May 09, 2023 in For Lawyers

Get out of your house! If you are not familiar with David Goggins, you may find him irritating or motivating or simply crazy. But, much like Tony Robbins, who I cannot stand because I have no idea what he does, Goggins is maniacal about self-improvement and setting crazy goals. He is worth looking at, but be warned that he will take over your youtube feed!

Anyway, professional services businesses like mine and possibly yours are based upon relationships with people who know what you do and trust that you will do a good job on their client’s case and will keep them at the top of your list for all developments and generally be a good professional. As we age or our practices morph in various ways, you will see people drop off of your list of referrers. The only way to remedy that is to add new people to your list. It is very hard to do that sitting in your house. It’s as simple as that. You have to get out and do things to meet new people. Whether you are joining new groups, taking people to lunch, coffee, or dinner or just being out, you have to keep your list building until it reaches a critical point where you have no more time for list building. The past two years have been a tremendous challenge for list building and I expect that most professionals have seen some shrinkage. Not in the Seinfeld sense of things. In fact, if anything, I feel more charged up to go out and meet people and do things having had a two year rest of sorts during pandemic.

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PLCAA

 Posted on May 05, 2023 in Case Matters

 

I am regularly contacted by people who want to sue the City of Philadelphia for any number of reasons. About a third of the time, people are upset by perceived lawlessness and want to sue the City.  For a while, I was getting several calls a month about off road vehicle gangs etc. Recently, calls about shootings have picked up. The City has immunity for most claims like a city street sweeper hit my parked car overnight or the city knocked down a vacant shell of a building without permission. But, as a plaintiff’s lawyer, I am always trying to evaluate if there is a way to gain some compensation for clients who have suffered terribly.

In researching how to pursue justice for families impacted by gun violence, there may be a change in the legal landscape coming soon to Pennsylvania. In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a law that, with some limited exceptions, immunized gun manufacturers and sellers from many state tort claims involving the misuse of firearms. This George Bush era legislation has been upheld throughout the country, with a few notable exceptions. The PA Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments on Gustafson v. Springfield and a few associated cases to determine the constitutionality of this law.  The law is intended to protect gun manufacturers from being sued for shootings by criminals. Criminals generally don’t have insurance and are hence not good targets for compensation. Further, shootings are intentional torts and not covered by insurance. It is good to know that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed an amicus brief in support of the gun companies. It sort of means that the Plaintiffs are on the right side of things.

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Proud Boys Verdict and Justice Grinds Slowly But Exceedingly Fine

 Posted on May 05, 2023 in Case Matters

Note to self, venue matters! The Proud Boys (PB) were convicted individually, and probably collectively eventually, of conspiring to overthrow the government or interfere with the lawful election process. I will be reading closely to see any juror interviews of their jury. Think about how your average Washington, DC juror would view this case. A notoriously violent thug group comes to your city from out of state and joins the January 6th insurrection. Then, it turns out that they were doing their best to make the demonstration into a riot. The riot shut down large parts of the City for a while and was generally a truly disturbing event. But, I am guessing that there were no Trump / Maga supporters seated on the jury. So, next time you are going to foment insurrection, maybe take your protest to Alabama or Mississippi.

The PB defendants’ defense was hamstrung by endless text messages gloating about their roles in the riot.  One of our own Pennsylvania citizens was convicted and he seems to be the unapologetic son of two Philadelphia police officers.  More black eyes for Philly, which is still recovering from the shame of the dollar dog night at the Phillies game.

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CLARENCE THOMAS WATCH

 Posted on May 04, 2023 in Courts

Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica. Source images: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images, piemags/DCM/Alamy Stock Photo, Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

 

Ah, Clarence. As we all know, a leopard cannot change its spots. Does anyone know anyone who would like to pay for my children to go to private school even though they are not your children? It seems that this is not worth disclosing if you are C

larence. It certainly seems like a stain on the ethical credibility of the man who was never the leading light of the Court. It is fair to say that he does not care and his lifetime appointment makes sure that he does not have to care. However, he is seriously damaging the Court’s reputation in the eyes of most people, who normally don’t know or care much about what the Court does. For those of us who pay passing attention to the devious underhanded shenanigans of the Court, it is about time that people woke up to see that the Court is not their friend and not staffed with fair, honest, and well-intentioned people. The justices are often political creatures and the Court merely gives them a platform to express their political views. Amusingly, clarence and alito are not very good at politics and are making things very hard for their preferred party.

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A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO SERVICING A CLIENT

 Posted on April 24, 2023 in Best of

Last week, something happened that had not happened in the past decade in my practice. A prospective client called with a case that was worth $100,000-$200,000.  However, it was a slip and fall case and would likely have to go into suit and would resolve with a settlement in 2 years. The client had been through a difficult divorce and did not want to go through litigation and wanted to settle the case pre-suit but had no idea of the value of the case. So, she came to me for advice. Now, normally, advice on case values is sort of proprietary information. Nevertheless, I thought that there was no way a carrier would give the client a fair valuation on her case.

Nevertheless, soon after her injury and healing, the carrier settled her case with her for halfway between what I told her to demand and the initial offer. So, this was a great result for the prospective client. She basically saved herself my 1/3 referral fee and avoided litigation and was happy with the outcome.

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A WORD OF WARNING

 Posted on April 24, 2023 in Law Practice Management

Buh Bye! Don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split ya!

I am involved with an organization that was about to hold its annual meeting and benefit at the Union League in Philly. As many may know, the Union League club is in the middle of center city, is a lovely club, and has a bit of a George Bush republican type history. While I am not a member, I have always enjoyed their hospitality. Recently, the Union League held an event for Gov. Ron Desantis. Apparently, the membership of my group decided that was a bridge too far and withdrew en masse from the event. The Club was gracious and did not keep our deposit, but it was a lesson learned.

The Bud Light marketing person who tried to reframe or redirect the brand is no longer with the company either.

So, commercial businesses remain very sensitive to popular outrage or opinion or the general mood of its customers. The willingness to yield to pressure has shown a lot of success in the business ecosystem. For example, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is one of the most watched hosts in prime time tv, but he has extremely limited ad support because of his racist/polarizing/nutty/hypocritical opinions expressed on his show. Basically, big business has decided that supporting Tucker is bad for business. Similarly, I no longer buy Goya beans. And, while beans are a big part of my life as I am vegan, mostly, I just find other brands. Goya’s boss came out fervently for Trump and I choose to purchase elsewhere. Whether it harms Goya I don’t know, but I vote with my wallet on that product.

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FOX NEWS / DOMINION

 Posted on April 19, 2023 in Case Matters

Tucker Carlson, throwing up in his mouth

Well, that’s a damn shame. Case is settled for $700 million or so and an apology. My first thought is that I really, really hope that Dominion’s counsel had this on contingency, though I doubt that. Second, I was a bit concerned as to how a company was going to show 1.8 Billion in damages and get a jury to bite on that number. Third, 700 million is near about 1/3 of the demanded amount which sounds about right to me in your average personal injury case.  I would guess that plaintiffs wanted a nice round $1 Billion, but negotiations probably revealed that as a non-starter.

Another interesting consideration of this is whether there was insurance coverage for this. There is no coverage for intentional torts, but some media outlets are reporting that insurance will cover some or all of this. It makes for an interesting armchair quarterbacking. If there is insurance money to pay for this, then the insurer will control the negotiations to some extent as it is their money and there are more suits that will need settlements. Rupert Murdoch may be a difficult client to deal with with a lot of business with the insurer.  However, it would be unusual that Fox/Rupert get to dictate how an insurer settles its cases.

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JUDICIAL ELECTIONS COMING UP

 Posted on April 19, 2023 in For Lawyers

Clarence and Ginny Thomas, on the town

Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 6:15. I am not much for biblical quotations. But, this quote was on the wall of a church in South Africa and extolled the benefit of whistleblowers. I was shocked at how great a quote this was and went to look it up. Sadly, it seems to reflect a lot of our politics these days and especially republican refusal to face up to problems like guns and social change.

On a semi-related tangent, once upon a time when I was in law school in the 1990’s, there was a newly forming area of legal studies that took the unconscionable position, at the time, that judges were deciding cases based upon their own personal political or religious views or personal financial interests and not based upon the law. The fancy term was that some opinions were outcome determinative, which meant that ye olde judge decided what outcome they wanted and that drove the reasoning in the opinion.

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