Posted on 04/05/2013 5:34:38 PM PDT by InMemoriam
Trayvon Martin's parents have settled a wrongful death claim, reportedly for more than $1 million, against the Florida homeowners association where their son was killed.
[snip]
Under the terms of the settlement, Trayvon's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, agreed to drop their wrongful death claim as well as claims for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and expenses.
[little more at link]
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The lawyer fee is agreed to before hand. And each state has different max. FLorida:
· If the case is concluded at any point after the filing of an answer or demand for appointment of arbitrators or, if no answer is filed or no demand for appointment of arbitrators is made, the expiration of the time period provided for such action, through the entry of judgment, the maximum fee is 40 percent of any recovery up to $1 million.
· In addition to the above fee, if you and your attorney settle your case for an amount between $1 million and $2 million, or if you win at trial and your recovery is between $1 and $2 million, the fee is 30 percent of the recovery between $1 million and $2 million.
They will wake up and realize that the lawyers got around forty percent, then the tax guy adds up the reminder of the one million, and the family is lucky to get $200k.
The association that paid this out? They will have all kinds of people asking why association fees suddenly go up in 2014, and refusing to cooperate.
WOW....didn’t listen to Rush today! What a true STATEMENT!!!!
SIGH.....
Plus, in many states (I don't know about FL specifically) if a plaintiff's lawyer makes a demand and the insurer does not settle, and the verdict comes in for more than the demand, the insurer is on the hook for the entire amount plus attorney fees and costs.
So yeah, it's a good business decision.
Not so much, The weaselly insurance company actually tried to weasel out of paying anything
http://blogs.findlaw.com/injured/2012/08/trayvon-martins-mom-sued-by-travelers-insurance-co.htmlThat will be one million, thank you. \=Fulton made an insurance claim against Traveler's for about $75,000, reports The Washington Post. The insurance company had a policy with the homeowners' association at the Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Fla., where Trayvon Martin was killed, agreeing to cover the costs of certain injuries.
But instead of paying out Fulton's claim, Traveler's filed a lawsuit against Fulton so that a court would step in and clarify just what damages it owes, if any
~~~
By filing the lawsuit against Sybrina Fulton, Traveler's is seeking a declaratory judgment from a judge. Generally, a declaratory judgment differs from other judicial rulings in that it does not require that any action be taken. Instead, the judge simply issues an opinion declaring the rights of each of the parties involved after analyzing the controversy. It should be noted, however, that a declaratory judgment is conclusive and legally binding. Traveler's Insurance Company basically sued Trayvon Martin's mom first, before she had a chance bring a lawsuit against the company. The judge's declaratory judgment will determine just what rights Sybrina Fulton has to recover damages from the insurance company.
The condo association just rewarded these two degenerates for raising an ignorant criminal. Their baby boy was worthless to them when he was alive. This payout was the only thing they were after. I can see them giving each other a high five and chest bumping in celebration. They’re disgusting.
“Their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, says he intends to file suit against Zimmerman, as well.”
"Travelers is not a party to the settlement," the company said in a prepared statement. "The settlement would have been with other insurers of the homeowners association and/or the property managers."
The policy had a $1 million limit, according to federal-court records, and went into effect March 30, 2012, a few weeks after Trayvon was shot. Trayvon's mother filed a claim with the insurer after it went into effect, according to federal-court records."
BRILLIANT!
what a great way to view this scenario.never thought of that!
WTH?????????????????????
publish his name so if one is looking for an inept law firm, they can look him up....good grief
Crump asked that the agreement remain confidential. However, the court has decided that there is no reason for the agreement to remain confidential, and is giving Crump 10 days to appeal that decision.
We have learned, that the homeowners association’s insurance company did not have to pay out a claim on the case.
I've never understood why you sue someone who has basically nothing!
Zimmerman needs to sue the Attorney General who is pushing this farce.
Zimmerman should not be persecuted because Florida’s cowardly Attorney general wants to stop a black riot.
Now why would Crump settle and file this right now?
1) Price goes down as it becomes clearer each day that there really is no case against GZ, especially as W8 continues to unravel (and who knows this better than Crump?);
2) Crump wants to publicize his representation of the Martins to provide a rationale for why he shouldn’t be deposed (because O’Mara just filed an appeal to overturn Nelson’s ruling in Crump’s favor).
Insurers don’t settle for more than their policy limits, in this case said to be $1 million. Thus headlines about “for more than $1 Million” are self-evidently false, likely straight from the mouth of spindoctor Crump. Could Crump have actually settled for peanuts to give him something to announce? It’s not as if his career rides on avoiding deposition...
Maybe they don't have dec. actions in your neck of the woods. But if there is a coverage dispute -- not typically an issue of liability, but of policy terms or of rival claimants for the policy benefits, the statutorily prescribed action for the insurance company is to file a dec. action.
Looks like this is a "rival claimants" situation - iirc, Trayvon's parents have been divorced for some time, and it appears that the father (at least at the time) had custody. So there is probably a legal issue of whether the mother had the right to seek damages for wrongful death for a child of whom she was not the custodian. Don't know FL law, but in GA this would be an issue if the insurer paid the mom and the dad turned out to be the proper party to file the claim (or they were required to file the claim jointly). If the insurer does NOT file a dec. action and pays the wrong party, they have to pay all over again. Now there's a bad business decision for you!
From R4F's post, I see that the "weasel" was the mom, who filed a claim for an insurer outside that insurer's policy period.
You can't get insurance coverage for an incident outside the policy period. That's not what the insurer contracted for.
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