Oklahoma Injury Lawyer Blog

The Oklahoma Senate has an upcoming vote on SB 272. The bill was originally proposed to deal with relationships with car dealers and car manufacturers.

The bill was recently amended to incorporate a "no pay, no play" section for consumers. Basically, if you don't have car insurance, and you are in an accident that is not your fault, your pain and suffering damages are zero.

Guess who benefits from this type of legislation? The people that are funding it: insurance companies.

Today's front page of the Oklahoman has a nice article on the upcoming attorney general election: Oklahoma Elections 2010: Experience, federal government at issue in attorney general race.

The Attorney General of Oklahoma serves as the chief legal and law enforcement officer of our state. The two candidates are Scott Pruitt and Jim Priest.

So, should our attorney general actually have courtroom experience?

Here's a brief quote from the article:

"You don't start the case by saying we're going to litigate this to a verdict. You start a case and litigate it to an objective," said Pruitt, who as an attorney often settled cases out of court.

Court records show Priest has handled more than 500 cases as an attorney in state district courts and federal courts, compared to the 50 cases Pruitt has handled in those courts.

To be fair to Pruitt, most cases settle.

Yesterday's NY Times posted some interesting statistics on Insurers Feeling Pain of Dog Bites.  The average dog bite claim exceeds $24,000 and claims are up 4.8% nationwide. 

Dog bite law in Oklahoma pretty straightforward.  The owner of the dog is liable for any of the damages if:

1. The attack was without provocation; and
2. The victim had a lawful right to be there

If anyone is interested, the actual statute is here: Owner Liable for Damages from Dog Bites, 4 O.S. § 42.1.

One of the recent changes to our tort system is that, to file a medical malpractice case, an expert affidavit has to be attached to the Petition. The attorney must attest that:

1) Plaintiff has consulted with a qualified expert
2) Plaintiff has obtained a written opinion from the expert and that the expert believes that a reasonable interpretation of the factors supports a finding of professional negligence
3) Based on the consultation with the expert, plaintiff believes the claim is meritorious and based on good cause.

The law goes into effect November 1, 2009.
Here's the full statute: 12 O.S. § 19 . Professional Negligence Action - Expert Opinion Affidavit Requirements - Exemption

This is good news for Oklahoma attorneys:

Court filings from each of the state's 77 counties will be available to the public online for free in the next three years under a plan being pursued by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The court has signed a $1 million contract with a Duncan company to prepare electronic court records from 64 counties to merge into one publicly available online system, Chief Justice James Edmondson said Wednesday.
"It's time to get in gear with a 77-county, integrated system," Edmondson said. "So we'll have one system that's state of the art and a uniform case management system for the entire state."
The new system should be operational by summer 2012, if funding is available, he said.

So, if funding is available, this will be really convenient. What I'd really like: allow us to file electronically like we can in federal court.

Currently, filings are available on The Oklahoma Supreme Courts Network Dockets Page. It's really hit or miss if the documents are accessible online though.

Our filing fees may get a little less costly. The Journal Record reports:

Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent filed a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of only three fees: one that goes toward child abuse services administered by the Department of Human Services, an adoption fee with revenue that funds a voluntary registry and a fee that funds the state attorney general's Victim Services Unit.

It's very common for medical providers to file liens related to personal injury lawsuits. After all, doctors like to get paid for their services. How can you find out if a lien is filed against you in Oklahoma County?
1. Go to Oklahoma County and click on Search Land Records (under Online Services; 6 down on the left side).
2. Read the disclaimer and click "Yes" that you understand that it is for informational purposes only.
3. Click "Registrar of Deeds Public Access" (on the right side)
4. Click "Grantor/Grantee or UnPlatted"
5. Put your name (Last First - without a comma) in the "Grantee" section.
6. Click "Search Now!"
7. If your name is in the search results, click on the box next to it and click "next step."
8. The various liens (hospital/doctor or other) filed should be on the next page.
9. For the detailed information, click on the Document Number.

The Journal Record reports that:

The 10th United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that the Ten Commandments monument at the Haskell County courthouse violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  

The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a resolution yesterday that will ask voters to require Senate confirmation of Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Court judges.  The Journal Record reports:

The House voted 60-37 for the bill and sent it to the Senate for final consideration in spite of opponents who said it would replace Oklahoma's nonpartisan appointment process with the gridlocked, highly politicized process of Washington, D.C., where partisan disputes in the U.S. Senate often delay judicial appointments.

Currently, state district court judges are directly elected, and civil and criminal appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices appear on a retention ballot at the end of their appointed term. But workers' comp judges are appointed by the governor and never appear on a ballot.

The article also mentions that similar legislation was vetoed last month by our governor. 

Today's Oklahoman reports that our State Troopers may start using the new electronic insurance verification system as soon as this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. 

This is good news.  Something's got to be done about the uninsured drivers roaming our streets.  "It's estimated nearly one in four Oklahoma motorists are driving without vehicle insurance."  The electronic system allows for the officers to know immediately if the pulled over driver should be fined for driving without insurance.  The article states that all departments in Oklahoma will be using the system by July 1.   

Debt collectors appear to be using Facebook to get info on the people their pursuing:

 
One Elk Grove mother says she was scammed by a debt collector who claimed to be a college student looking for advice on her town. She accepted him as a 'friend' on her Facebook page even though they had never met.

The attorney in the video is Jonathan Stein.  He's a personal injury lawyer out in Elk Grove, CA.  He's also the author of Litigating MIST Cases.  The MIST Book is a step by step guide to fighting insurance companies in what they've termed "Minor Impact Soft Tissue" (MIST) cases. 

The AP (5/5, Juozapavicius) reports, "A 15th medical negligence complaint has been filed against an Oklahoma City surgeon who made international headlines after performing a risky operation in 2006 that left a Russian teen brain dead." Of the other cases, "as many as 11...against" Paul Christopher Francel "could go to mediation this month."

From the American Association for Justice News Brief.

Settlement offers are almost always a part of the litigation process.  Sometimes settlement talks will fall through though.  If this happens, can one party use the opposing party's settlement offer as evidence to show that the party was at fault or did something wrong?

No.  The Oklahoma Evidence Code clearly states that this is inadmissible.  Check out the statute for the exact language: 12 O.S. § 2408.  Note that the rule does not require the exclusion of evidence that would otherwise be discoverable simply because it occurred during settlement negotiations. 

One of the reasons for this rule is that it encourages settlement. 

Last week's Oklahoman ran the story, "Against tough odds, Oklahoma seeks uninsured solution."  It details the account of an Oklahoma woman who was injured by an uninsured driver.  She still suffers from the medical bills and scars left from the car accident. The article also includes some startling statistics:

"A study released in January by the Insurance Research Council ranked Oklahoma as the fourth-worst state in the nation for uninsured motorists."

About one in four Oklahoma state drivers don't have insurance.

The article mentions that measures are being discussed to help solve the problem, and that Rep. Faught of Muskogee is introducing a bill to help address this issue.  The bill limits the awards given to uninsured motorists involved in traffic accidents.  The uninsured accident victims would be limited to property and medical loss reimbursements and excluded from pain and suffering damages. 

I doubt this would have any positive influence on uninsured drivers though. 


So what can you do if you are in a car accident with an uninsured motorist (who was at fault)?

Call the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Financial Responsibility Division at 425-2098 and fill out the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle Collision Report.  The DPS can suspend the uninsured's driver's license. 

The Oklahoma Supreme Court recently heard the medical malpractice case, Frank Artist Woods v. Unity Health Center Inc.  The lawsuit involved a special statute that was only imposed on medical negligence lawsuits.  Insurance companies will continue to lobby for restricting access to justice for accident and negligence victims.  But, for now, Janice Francis-Smith, a reporter for The Journal Record, has good news for Oklahomans injured because of medical malpractice:

The court found the law meets the definition of an unconstitutional special law because it "targets for different treatment less than an entire class of similarly situated persons or things," creating preference and establishing inequity between similarly classes of litigants, according to precedential court rulings.

The High court strikes down portion of tort law article also states that the ruling in Frank Artist Woods v. Unity Health Center Inc. was unanimous.