Legal Blog

Providing Input About Your Damages in A Class Action Lawsuit

In the instance of the Special Master who is reviewing damages before the settlement or judgment, a claimant can have some input about the damages for themselves. In the course of a large class action lawsuit we recently settled, the court appointed a Special Master to calculate the amount of damages. The Special Master came […]

Objecting to A Class Action Settlement

If there has been a settlement or a judgment, typically notice has been sent out to the class members advising them of the award or the settlement, and the terms of the settlement. The notice gives them a time and place to object to the class action settlement, and if you truly are upset about […]

Statute of Limitations – Medical Malpractice Exceptions

Q: Are there certain, long-term exceptions to the Statute of Limitations, in Medical Malpractice cases? Is it from the date of discovery? For example, if someone finds a sponge after a surgery inside them, but it takes a biopsy a long time later? There are a lot of statute of limitations that start running from […]

Homeowner Exclusion Cases

An example of an exclusion that we’ve fought more than once relates to a freeze loss in your house with piping (it gets pretty cold here in Reno). A lot of these homeowner’s policies have where they say “we have an exclusion for freeze losses, and we don’t cover frozen pipes,” and then they qualify […]

Insurance Bad Faith Scenarios

Recently we have taken a few cases against homeowners’ insurance where an exclusion doesn’t apply, but the insurance company claims it applies. Another common scenario is where there is a catastrophic loss and they fail to pay as they are supposed to, and they fail to account for all of the damages that were suffered […]

Individual Damages in A Class Action

People often ask whether everyone in a class action gets the same amount. The short answer is no. For example, in one large class action we recently settled, the damages were divided into four tiers, and then within those tiers, the lowest tier got x, the tier above got 2x, the tier above that got […]

Dealing with Your Health Insurance Company in Writing

When you’re having a dispute with your insurance company, do your best to make sure that all communications are in writing. By minimizing the use of the telephone, you have a written set of documents showing what has transpired and the history of the claim. Otherwise you’re in a situation where you’re trying to recollect […]

Punitive Damages in Bad Faith

In Nevada, you can get punitive damages against the insurance company if you are able to show that it acted with malice, fraud or oppression. These are high standards. And there is a considerable amount of case law that goes into what those terms mean.

The Role of The Special Master in A Class Action

In the case of a class action where liability is established by a court and the damages need to be calculated person by person, a Special Master would be appointed to figure out the individual damages for every person. But, there are different types of Special Masters. Sometimes there are Special Masters in State court […]

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