from the editor By Taunya Painter Painter Law Firm PLLC
Associate Editors
Anietie Akpan METRO
Anna M. Archer U.S. District Court
Kimberly Chojnacki Baker Donelson
The Houston Lawyer
Trey Holm Killeen & Stern, PC
Koby Wilbanks Murrah & Killough
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Doing the Lord’s Work
n 2017, we started reading through the Bible annually as a family. As our kids now range from ages nine to 14, they have become quite engaged and opinionated. Of course, having parents that are attorneys, they are often prone to debate as well, and just this year, one of them announced that God must be pro-plaintiff. Long before Donoghue and Palsgraf, the Old Testament laid out the rules for duty owed and foreseeable harm. It started with God telling Moses, “Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them [the Israelites],” then proceeds to outline the damages for all kind of intentional and negligent torts, including the recoverable damages for harm caused by someone digging a pit and not covering it (Exodus 21:33-34). While I would not dare to venture which side has the moral high ground, I do have complete faith in a system that lets both sides work it out. So when HBA President Benny Agosto, Jr., suggested an issue on personal injury law, I was excited for THL Editorial Board to have the opportunity to give both sides some substantive topics that could be useful to a large portion of the Houston Bar that does either PI work or insurance defense. Brooksie Boutet, at Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP, and Travis Armstrong, at Sheehy, Ware & Pappas, P.C., led the effort as the Guest Editors of this issue on personal injury law. I thank them both for their hard work and the excellent outcome of the substantive articles. April Strahan explores some “when, why, and how” issues about discovery. She challenges attorneys to get out of the ruts of using cut-and-paste requests and raising objections to stall for time. Starting the discovery on the right foot and following court procedures will not only help your relationship with opposing counsel, it will help your client’s case, and she outlines how.
January/February 2020
thehoustonlawyer.com
We were especially excited to see a 360-view of the “Eggshell Plaintiff Rule,” with Troy M. Moore presenting the plaintiff perspective to collect damages regardless of pre-existing conditions, and Rebecca A. Moore addressing the defense view to exclude the claims. Troy arms plaintiff lawyers with the relevant case law, and gives tips along the way. Rebecca does a thorough job of outlining potential weak points in a plaintiff’s case. There could not be a more relevant and timely topic about mediation than what Heather McFarlane has provided – online mediation. McFarlane has 20 years of experience as a mediator and completed Harvard Law School’s program on negotiation. She incorporates her knowledge of both to share how online mediation works and in what type of cases it can be particularly beneficial in terms of time, cost, and recovery. If the policy limits are not enough to cover a potential judgment, plaintiff lawyers should consider judgement collection options early in the litigation process. Shawn M. Grady advises plaintiff’s counsel to obtain collection advice well before judgment. Especially since Texas is considered a debtor haven, Grady discusses some options to lock down an adversary’s assets through different remedies, exploring in detail the steps for what he calls the most powerful tool for collection, turnover receivership. Attorneys that have practiced in Houston for a while know to look forward to the release of the Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. exhaustive report on reversals in the Texas Courts of Appeals. Kent Rutter and Natasha Breaux are the authors. While their full analysis will be printed as a law review, they pulled out 1,690 cases that are PI and consumer related and included them in this shorter article you will want to keep to plan your trial and potential appeal strategy. The trends, and specifically changes to trends, are particularly useful.
