YouTube series focuses on the Louisiana trial lawyer scam

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the Louisiana trial lawyer scam

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Every time I see a picture of that guy, it makes my skin crawl. Can’t stand him.

Which chiropractor?

Our favorite poster boosiebadazz finna be a star!!

I'm fine with tort reform, but this is not a good idea and a borderline dumb idea.

Cases that result in defense verdicts are few and far between. Most involve liability disputes. Personal injury isn't an area of law that should ever enact loser pays, unless you want to tack an extra 33-40% on every single case. That would be a windfall for trial lawyers.

The problem with tort reform is that no one drafting the laws understand the games well enough to actually reform it. They are trying, but they keep missing the target, and are missing it by a lot at times. Maybe this video series will help explain the intricacies of how the system works to the benefit of personal injury attorneys.

Can you explain it here?

I know some lawyers who have “clients” that they use to file lawsuits.

I always thought prescriptive period was a big part of it.

The loan scheme is bad too.

I’d love to get some knowledge if you’ve got it

Cast of Characters:
Plaintiff- Car wreck victim
Defendant- Caused the car wreck
Plaintiff Attorney- Gordon McKernan
Personal Injury Doctor- Chiropractors and pain management physicians
Defense Attorney- People you’ve never heard of
Liability Insurer- Insurance company that provides coverage to Defendant
UM Insurer- Insurance company that provides optional coverage to Plaintiff


Caveats:
I'm a defense attorney
Some Plaintiffs are truly hurt
Some Plaintiffs aren't
Some Plaintiff Attorneys are good people and honest
Some Plaintiff Attorneys aren't
Same applies to Defense Attorneys

A wreck happens on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge. Defendant rear ended Plaintiff.

Plaintiff goes home and he may or may not be feeling hurt or sore. He sees the countless ads and billboards, so he knows who to call. He also knows four other people that have filed lawsuits in the past two years and they’ve all made money, and in some cases, a lot of money. So he calls Plaintiff Attorney.

Plaintiff Attorney meets with Plaintiff. Plaintiff Attorney explains how the system works, how long he expects it to take to settle, etc. He also explains that the amount of money he settles for is directly related to how hurt he is. Plaintiff Attorney then recommends that Plaintiff go to the doctor. Some more reputable Plaintiff Attorneys will leave the recommendation there. Some will direct Plaintiff to certain doctors who they have a relationship with- Personal Injury Doctor. This is problem number 2.

Plaintiff goes to a chiropractor for a few months. Plaintiff, knowing that if he gets better the value of his case is decreased, complains that he is still hurting after 3 months of treatment. At that point, the chiropractor sends him for an MRI. If Plaintiff has any abnormality on the MRI (disc bulge or herniation), and there is sufficient insurance, they are referred out to a pain management physician. (NOTE: The policy limits of Liability Insurer and UM Insurer dictate the extent of Plaintiff's pain. If the combined limits are $30,000, or less, Plaintiff won't be too hurt. If the limits are $300,000 plus, he will more than likely be really hurt).

These pain management physicians are also well tied in with the plaintiff attorney community. The pain management physician will meet with Plaintiff and recommend injection therapy. These injections are steroid injections that can be injected into the neck/back to provide pain relief. However, they don’t last forever, and you’ll need to get more injections in the future. If they don’t work, they recommend trying a different type of procedure. A lot of times, this procedure is a radiofrequency ablation, which is where they burn the nerve in your neck/back. If that works to relieve the pain, awesome. But the nerve grows back and you’ll need one of those, or so, every year for the next 5 – 7 years. If these don't work, they are sent to a surgeon for a surgical evaluation.

How these procedures are paid for and charged is problem number 3.

After a year, if Plaintiff Attorney hasn’t been able to settle the case, he files suit. If his case is a small case, he files in Baton Rouge City Court. If it is worth more than $35,000, he files in the 19th Judicial District Court. If he wants to limit his recovery to $50,000, he can stipulate to a bench trial and have the judge hear and decide the case. This is problem number 4.

Once suit is filed, Defense Attorney does his best to limit Plaintiff’s recovery. He can check Plaintiff’s accident and medical history to see if he was hurt before this accident. He can argue that the treatment isn’t needed or that it is related to another accident. However, if there is no prior injury or similar complaints, it is presumed that all subsequent treatment is related to the accident. He can hire his own expert to review the treatment Plaintiff received. But there really isn’t a lot Defense Attorney can do to prevent Plaintiff from recovering money, his goal is to limit that recovery to something that is reasonable. This is why loser pays doesn’t work. Rarely does Defense Attorney prevent recovery of any kind.

Trial occurs and a jury of 12 people or a judge determine the extent of Plaintiff's damages. What a lot of people don't realize is that judges do not really assess Plaintiff's pain and suffering to determine an appropriate amount. The amount of recovery is tied to the treatment, especially in cases where Plaintiff only went to the chiropractor. Judges will award between $2,000 and $5,000 a month (with some going to $10,000) for every month of chiropractic treatment.




Problem 1: We are inundated with commercials claiming big recoveries for accidents. We have a culture that thinks small fender bender accidents equal big money. Are some people hurt, absolutely. Are some people getting in accidents and just making claims, absolutely. There is not a quick fix to fix this culture. It would involve curbing attorney advertising, tort reform, etc. and it would still take years for everyone to get back to a position where a small, minor accident doesn’t trigger dollar signs in their eyes.

Problem 2: Plaintiff Attorney and Personal Injury Doctor have a very symbiotic relationship. They communicate prior to depositions. They communicate about Plaintiff’s treatment. The general public would be shocked to know how much discretion Plaintiff Attorney has in what treatment Plaintiff receives. Plaintiff Attorney and Personal Injury Doctor hang out together, go to each other’s tailgates, send each other Christmas presents, etc. The are constantly referring clients to each other. When they are deposed, Personal Injury Doctor is a borderline advocate for Plaintiff much like Plaintiff's Attorney, instead of being an impartial doctor who gives an unbiased opinion. To counteract this, Defense Attorney will hire a different doctor to give an opinion, and this doctor is normally very conservative. The result is having a jury decide which doctor they like more.

Problem 3: Collateral Source is a term you hear a lot in tort reform. When Plaintiff Attorney tells the jury how much Plaintiff's medical bills are as a result of the accident, he uses the biggest number on the page (charged cost). Defense Attorney cannot mention how much insurance paid and how none of that money is going to have to be paid back to the insurance company. What also isn’t reflected is the negotiation after settlement/trial where Plaintiff Attorney gets discounts from Personal Injury Doctor. If the discount is received prior to trial, it is allowed to be discussed with the jury. Now, most of these discounts are done after the fact. This encourages Personal Injury Doctor to increase the charged cost. Also an issue that arises in this Problem is the amount of the charged cost. A non-Personal Injury Doctor will perform procedure A for less than $1k. Personal Injury Doctor will do the same procedure for north of $15k. This is because they do them at a surgical center, not in office. They do it under anesthesia, instead of with local anesthetic. It is safer this way, so they say. But they also own a portion of the surgical center and the anesthesia clinic.

Problem 4: The judges in certain judicial district courts are very plaintiff friendly. I’ve had one judge tell me, in a liability dispute case, that if he found my client liable, I need to call my client and have them back up the Brinks truck. Decreasing the jury threshold, in theory, would prevent this.






Solution- There is not one solution. There is not one bill that has been passed that will definitively help this situation. For every problem listed above there are a dozen smaller problems that make the system work for Plaintiff Attorney. It's very complex and the proposed legislation doesn't account for the complexities.

These greedy trial lawyers are killing Louisiana economy!!!!!!

I love how these mills like Bart and Gordon get called “trial lawyers,” when they have no intention of taking their cases to trial. If a case does happen to get to that point, they bring in a real trial attorney to handle it and split the judgment, if any.