The Daily Feed, WTF?!

Will Daniel Snyder’s Lawsuit Go Anywhere?


‘Statue of Iustitia’
courtesy of ‘ralpe’

In my family, to my mother’s constant disappointment, I’m the one who didn’t go to law school. But I grew up around legalese and learned to argue at the kitchen table, so I like to read legal filings and opinions more than the average non-lawyer.

This is how I came to read the filing in Daniel M. Snyder vs Atalaya Capital Management, LP, et al.  I’m not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, but here’s a quick analysis of the filing and what it might actually mean. Postscript: TBD has also written about the suit’s merits

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Where We Live

Renting in the District

Photo courtesy of
‘070309 207’
courtesy of ‘dougtone’

If you don’t love your current place of residence you can at least take some comfort in knowing that others are worse off then you. There’s a question on a high-visibility advice site right now that I don’t want to link because I’d hate to draw the wrong attention to the asker. Suffice to say the situation is one where, as a tenant, this person and his or her roommates are dealing with an odd landlord who only wants to accept their over $2000 a month rent in cash and who seems to be running some sort of welfare/child support scam.

Their situation is a little rarefied, but I see other questions there from renters that make it clear there’s a lot of bad information floating around. Let’s try to drop some knowledge here, shall we?

If you take nothing else away from this article, save this link: D.C.’s Office of the Tenant Advocate and this resource: Tenant Survival Guide[pdf].

The OTA is an organization that’s existed in the DC government for about three years now and has been an independent agency for the last two. Their whole reason to exist is to be a resource for you as a tenant. The tenant survival guide was prepared in conjunction with Georgetown University’s Harrison Institute for Public Law, who have the Tenant Survival Guide on their website, just slightly more nicely formatted[pdf]. Between the OTA site and the guide you’ll find everything you need inside or linked from there.

That accomplished, let’s take a few minutes to talk some common myths so you don’t turn a minor problem into a big one. Continue reading

The Daily Feed

Metro crash lawsuit #1

Photo courtesy of
‘Supreme Columns’
courtesy of ‘Carla Jones (Gen-esis Photography)’

WTOP reports that the first lawsuit has been filed by a crash victim. Davonne Flanagan, 15, received a broken leg in the crash, where he was riding in the rear of the first car of the striking train. The family is seeking $950,000 in pain and suffering as well as actual injury and expected rehabilitation. The victim’s family hired this subway accident lawyer in new york to handle the case.

A personal injury lawyer knows your rights and also knows how much your claim is worth. They also know that their success determines how much money you will pay them. Insurance claims come with so many uncertainties, and most times, insurers always try to find a way of denying claims. They keep tabs on timing and procedures to make sure things happen within the stipulated time limits. This will help keep your compensation claim on the right track. According to the San Bernardino accident lawyer, this is vital for ensuring fast settlement of your claim.

Personal injury lawyers tend to charge on a contingency basis. This means they receive a percentage of the settlement if and when a settlement is reached. A client does not pay out of pocket. Personal injury lawyers‘ fees can range from 33 to 45%.

Attorney Lawrence Lapidus explains the prompt filing with the statement “My clients wanted to file early because the Transit Authority is known not to settle cases without filing suit.” Lapidus has apprently been a plantiff’s attorney against WMATA several times in the past.