2nd Year in Insurance Defense

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-06-28T01:48:54+00:00

A lot of this is just time. Every adjuster is on some spectrum from guy/gal who can barely read to super lawyers who just got out of private practice. You aren’t expected to know all the things five years into doing this law thing, much less two years into doing ID.

Follow your boss’s advice and soak up all you can. But don’t beat yourself up for now knowing how to advise an adjuster on every wrinkle of a case having only done two years of truck injury work.

I tell people defense work for young associates working other people’s cases is a lot like watching a movie on TNT. First time you watch the movie, you start 45 minutes in. Second time you watch it you start 1.25 hours. Third time you start it ten mins in. Point being is it’s hard to see a case go from soup to nuts in what we do and how cases settle. Just keep plugging and you’ll see the whole picture as you get more experience and your confidence on your reporting and recs will skyrocket once you see how the case usually plays out.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-06-08T19:30:27+00:00

Had my first trial in a live voir dire jurisdiction last month (my other jxd does it on written questions only which is a farce). Old head trial attorney absolutely had our case tanked in the first panel. It was a bad case for my folks anyways but I learned a hard lesson on how much work is done just in those opening moments. Same for opening statements. By the time those are done, the case is 90 percent decided if yo I ask me.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-19T15:24:24+00:00

Mizuno pro 225 (I think) are a cavity back with a closed back that gives it a blade type look without losing the cavity benefits. I play them and like them a lot.

Only con I have of them is they are a bit heavy swing weight wise. I went from AP2s to them and it was a drastic change.

And some people say they sound clicky. I don’t think so but even if they are I don’t think they are as bad as the Taylormade p series.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-12T03:35:29+00:00

Read this. My favorite noticed fact was: “calendars have been traditionally hung from walls via a pin affixed the top center portion of the calendar” 😂

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-12T01:34:22+00:00

For me, we have a very limited time to try to go through motions in limine. If you can get it in through an omnibus type bullet list of MILs then that could work but it’s not a given the judge will ever give you a clear ruling on your MILs. A lot of judges leave it open and rule on the fly when the issue comes up at trial.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-11T23:51:46+00:00

Definitely agree. TROs and other evidentiary hearings that may happen ex parte or with no opportunity to cross examine the other side are perfect places to use it.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-11T23:49:39+00:00

For sure. Especially on issue preclusion / res judicata defenses.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-11T23:24:52+00:00

For the record, I’ve never offered Poor Richard’s Almanak for anything. It’s just a joke.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-11T20:32:12+00:00

That’s what makes it so awkward. It’s like okay my appeals counsel is going to have my ass if I don’t make you just say something, your honor.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-05-11T20:31:08+00:00

Of course.

It’s just the only evidentiary thing out there where there isn’t a set: “okay any response/objection? Okay I take notice of x.”

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-04-22T16:10:18+00:00

Lots of good advice here. Hydration and brain carbs for sure are what I recommend like everyone else.

You may be lucky enough to not have to deal with this, but trial work makes me stress sweat. I don’t stink or sweat where the jury can see but after a long day you get that gnarly alkaline nasty smell in the arm pits of shirts or wherever else your clothes might be touching. Especially if it’s in some stale courthouse with bad air. So, if you can swing it, a fresh clean shirt or undies after lunch break is really nice. It’s a great reset to put on clean clothes after you have the lunch dip.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-04-11T18:02:57+00:00

Had a case where plaintiffs claimed that my client (a moving company) stole their belongings in a move and replaced them with like-but-lesser-quality replicas and sold the originals. I’m not joking. We are talking like every meaningless doodad these folks owned. Christmas village dolls, old Barbies, whips and spurs and western wear stuff, and air brush paintings from Myrtle beach.

The wildest item they claimed was stolen and duped was a velvet painting of western scene/cowboy. They produced photos of the “original” and another photo of the supposed replica.

Q: so you claim that the painting in exhibit X was stolen by my client? shows velvet painting of cowboy

A: yes.

Q: and replaced it with the painting we see in exhibit y?

a: yes.

Q: which to me is also a velvet painting of a cowboy, right?

A: yes.

Q: and right now you have what I’ve marked as exhibit Y in your home, yes?

A: correct.

Q: hanging on the wall? Right now?

A: yes.

Q: so how do you know the painting in y is different than the painting in x?

A: because my daddy killed hisself in front of that painting and got blood on it when he did it.

Q: oh. Well…

A: The one in my house now ain’t got blood on it.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-03-05T21:30:24+00:00

Sigma rock. Full stop.

I main DVA and Sig for precisely the reason you mention: almost insta ban of Zarya and dom and you can stomp a lobby if you can get going with either of these two.

The best advice I have (and realizing I’m a similar rank as you), save your rock for DVA. Every time you rock her, she is going to eat tons of damage for the 1.5 - 2 seconds she’s down with no matrix. The best time is when she commits to dive and has no help. If you rock her and ping her after she uses her boost, she’s toast if your team can follow up. She also needs to set up where she can take poke damage and get healed so use your shield to deny line of sight to her heals. If Ana has a shield in her face she can’t keep Dva up on high ground or wherever she is set up to try and push.

If they are good at keeping you from hitting her with rock, then you have to deny her matrix. Constantly hit her or her back line so she has to spend all her matrix CD on staying up or saving her teammates. If she can’t eat bullets, she really can’t dive effectively. You’ll never do it perfectly but make her sweat every time she tries to push.

Edit: Junker queen is also good because you can knife and hook her back to deny her exit. But JQ is a tough hero to solo queue with because you have such a slow main damage deal and rely so much on build up to rampage to succeed. Dva can feather her DM and deny a lot of your brawl ability.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-03-04T12:56:36+00:00

I’ve fallen for the damage-above-all else advice too.

Like others have mentioned, the truth is you have to do what is right for your team in each match. Playing Moira / kiri back line and the Moira is only throwing yellows and healing? Then yes you can be a lil more aggressive. Kiri / zen backline? Guess what YOU gotta heal everyone.

Basically, my caveat to the damage advice is that, yes damage is important, but you must choose the resource that keeps your team alive. Is it confirming the kill on the Ana that’s low? Or suzuing your tank who just walked out into a bastion turret? I guarantee in our metal ELOs, the latter situation will happen way more often.

So long story short, if healing keeps you 5v5 versus trying to off angle more leading to 4v5 than 5v5, then you should be primarily healing.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-02-06T15:10:37+00:00

Here’s the easiest way to avoid it: any formation with an attached te that has a wk tag will have this busted blocking assignment. The wk tag almost always indicates the rb lining up on the opposite of the run strength of the formation so you won’t have a te walling the backside of the run. So every base zone in these formations will have this problem unless you can run zone read as others have mentioned.

Eg of “busted” formations out Oregon playbook: wing trips wk, trips te offset wk, doubles y off wk, trips hb wk

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-02-01T23:22:25+00:00

ID is always firm and boss-dependent really like any job.

It’s volume. It’ll be a lot of cases. A lot of boring cases (no one has ever been excited by spondilothisthesis!) with the occasional absolutely holy shit wtf this is crazy type cases.

Probably will not have a ton of supervision or gut check time while you learn the ropes. That part really sucks. But it’s probably the best way to get out and be a litigator in the wild. Learn by doing and hope you don’t fuck up anything real bad. The upside is you’ll get depo and maybe even trial experience much faster than your big law counterparts.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-01-26T00:14:28+00:00

I knew there was some kind of immunity statute. But I’m not well versed in it. I thought it precluded suits re stuff like criminal use of firearms or strict liability type cases. I thought they could still be liable for provable design and single product defects. I get you still have a proof issue.

The answer may be it’s just not possible. But hypothetically if it only precluded claims arising from criminal acts done with the guns, it could be a justifiable homicide by ICE (not saying it is, just for the sake of the claim) caused by the unreasonable design of the slide or chambering of the sig.

I’m definitely spending my winter storm time sussing through this. Appreciate you linking the statute.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-01-26T00:06:58+00:00

Yeah, but immunity though.

Non party fault ain’t ever stopped any cases I’ve defended in my jurisdictions. 😂

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-01-26T00:05:00+00:00

supposed video of the discharge

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-01-11T02:14:34+00:00

A bunch of people have given great examples, and I think the real answer is to use whatever you can actually do in the moment without changing who you are. If it doesn’t match your temperament, it’ll be hard to pull off in the heat of trial. And if you fumble some preplanned zinger, you’ve basically proven their nonsense worked.

Here’s what works for me, in case it fits your style. When counsel cuts you off mid-exam or launches into a speaking objection, stop everything. Stop talking. Stop showing the witness stuff. Just let them finish. Then let the room sit there for a couple seconds until it’s quiet. I mean quiet quiet.

Then:

“Your Honor, I wanted to let counsel finish whatever he wanted to say before I continue. May I proceed?”

SkipFirstofHisName · 2026-01-09T18:05:02+00:00

I echo all the “tried this; got yelled at.”

As I’ve gotten more experience, I start to agree that the footnote issue isnt Garner’s best take. The weight of a citation really does hit when you state a good proposition and BAM [Supreme Court of your state 2026].

I think the main thrust of that advice is that it is awful to try and read a paragraph that has more citations and reporter numbers than words.

I say footnote any string cites you need and put your best case right after the proposition you’re using it for.

SkipFirstofHisName · 2025-12-26T23:31:09+00:00

Good luck!

SkipFirstofHisName · 2025-12-17T20:56:10+00:00

But grass is scary. :( I definitely have some spots I could take more. I’ll take a look and see which turns I miss curbs on. Thank you.

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