General Question re Case Transferred at Law Firm

I tend to agree with most of the responses you got. Seems like their is a good chance that you're looking at a large payout so the partner is taking over.

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elposter

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Just ask them why

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That is the plan. Waiting to speak to the lawyer and not a paralegal.

Congrats on your upcoming windfall.

I wouldn't read too much into the case transferring. This firm sounds a little more formal than most; at a lot of firms, this news wouldn't have even been worth informing the client over b/c multiple lawyers may work on the same file - it just depends who has the time to do certain things on it when it arises. It certainly could be an indication that they expect a nice settlement for a partner, but it could also be something as small as that partner having a good working relationship with the defense counsel so they wanted his name on the signature block.

With that said, sorry for what you and your family went through. The challenge with these cases is finding someone with money. You'll have strict liability against the dog owner, but they won't have any money. You may have a claim against the pound, but no strict liability. It won't be an easy case, but I wish y'all luck.

Dude, WTF OP. Multiple people that are known lawyers told you to remove your information from the internet and here you are posting it again with a new topic? With all due respect, you are being a complete idiot.

Honest question here because you are clearly looking for someone to tell you something specific and not looking for actual advice, what are you wanting to hear? Are you wanting to hear, "you are probably getting screwed and should go to a new firm"?

You aren't. If someone higher up is taking your case, that is good. END OF STORY. Get off the internet, you are asking to screw your case up.

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baldona

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I went back to thread on OT and removed all details yesterday. If there is a specific post I missed please point it out and I will edit.

Again all I wanted was a general answer about what if any meaning to a case being transferred up the ladder meant.

We make our clients sign a separate social media policy along with our contingency contract for instances just like this.

We make them sign it mostly to bring it to their attention so hopefully they don't talk about it on the internet. Ethical considerations mean I can't tell a client to remove a post once it has been asked for in discovery, but I can bring it to their attention on the front end that anything they post on the internet is most likely discoverable.

And I am a lawyer in Lafayette, and I do handle mostly personal injury work. I am an associate at the firm, and I work directly for a partner on all his files (and I have some of my own). I can tell you that your case being transferred probably means the firm believes there is a good chance of recovery and wants to have another set of more experienced eyes look at it. I can only speak to my firm, but we have multiple lawyers here and we all discuss everyone's cases among ourselves. We even have a monthly meeting to brainstorm and ask questions and get other ideas about how to prosecute a case.

While I believe there was a recent ethics opinion released allowing second opinions, I don't really want to talk to you about the specifics of your case at this time. While I always like to know what other firms are doing and how they're doing it, I don't want to present the appearance of any type of impropriety. I think the partner will alleviate any concerns you have over why your case was transferred. If something changes and you are no longer represented then I'd be interested in speaking with you, but I don't feel comfortable doing that right now knowing you're represented.

Regardless, I've read your posts regarding the underlying story of what happened, and I'm thankful you and your family survived. I'm hopeful you'll all be able to make a full recovery, both mentally and physically. Most folks don't realize how common and vicious dog bites can be.

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In general what does this mean?

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Its most likely because they think you've got a big money case, so the partner/owner wants to handle your case personally because of the potential size of the award/settlement. Cases with biggest payout potential go to the firm's owner/partners while the smaller cases are handled by staff attorneys. Sounds like good news for your case.

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You'll have strict liability against the dog owner, but they won't have any money. You may have a claim against the pound, but no strict liability. It won't be an easy case, but I wish y'all luck.

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Agreed, dog bite cases aren't easy. Even the strict liability standard for dog owners isn't absolute. It's much more of a negligence standard. OP's attorney would still have to show the dog knowingly posed a danger and the owner knew of such propensity, essentially thereby not preventing it (Not easy to prove).

Nonetheless, OP I agree with everyone else's sentiment that this doesn't really sound like a big deal. Without knowing any details about the case, like others have said, it's likely the partner sees value in the case and would would be better off handling it. Best of luck in your recovery.