There is a time disparity is the Court’s treatment of plaintiffs and defendants that has resulted in a situation where expedite is a plaintiff’s turtle to the advantage of insurer defendants making expedite their hare.
Turtles are everywhere in Katrina litigation – often with the information needed to represent the plaintiff shielded in privilege logs that do not comply with applicable rules and law. Discovery is a nightmare. Decisions routinely are based on defendant’s claim discovery has been completed, even when plaintiff’s claim to the contrary. The Court seeming makes no independent inquiry and issues knee-jerk orders with regularity. Plaintiff’s counsel takes his or her life in hand when meeting the ethical responsibility to file a request for reconsideration of a Magistrate’s order – so much so that rumor has it the plaintiff’s bar has purchased purple hearts.
How evident it is to others, I don’t know. How regularly anyone reviews the dockets is something I can’t begin to guess. An attorney I am not; but, one need not be to know that motions related to discovery merit a timely response and it’s just not happening.
Nowhere is the disparity between the Court’s treatment of plaintiffs and defendants more evident than Continue reading “expedite is a plaintiff’s turtle and insurer’s hare”