Theodore T. Appel Attorney Theodore T. Appel presented oral arguments to the Iowa Supreme Court on Thursday, March 21, 2024 in an appeal defending hospitals and healthcare professionals. The appeal involved Iowa Code section 147.140, known as the certificate of merit affidavit statute. This statute requires a plaintiff to provide an affidavit from a qualified medical expert early in litigation that verifies the allegations of medical malpractice. Failure to substantially comply with the statute requires dismissal of the case. In this specific appeal, Appel argued that the plaintiffs did ..read more

Recently, we handled a denial of insurance claim on behalf of a Nebraska Producer who experienced abnormally low yields as a result of an unprecedented drought.  The Producer had a valid Federal Crop Insurance Policy and submitted a claim to his insurance company for the loss, using grain scale tickets, where the Producer noted which loads came from certain fields in accordance with the Loss Adjustment Manual (“LAM”), as evidence. While the insurance company paid a portion of the Producer’s claim, $57,000, it unjustifiably denied the remainder of the claim by arbitrarily requiring that th ..read more

Monte L. Schatz As the issue editor for The Nebraska Lawyer’s March/April issue, Monte L. Schatz, undertook a range of responsibilities. These included the confirmation of topics and authors for articles, organizing the preferred order for articles where applicable, collecting and reviewing articles for content, gathering approved author bios and headshots if not provided with the article, and finally, coordinating the submission of all reviewed articles and bios for final review. Published six times a year, The Nebraska Lawyer offers sustaining members access to articles on a variety of ..read more

Eric W. Tiritilli Sean A. Minahan Partners Eric W. Tiritilli and Sean A. Minahan gave a presentation to farm managers on agency law, their role as fiduciaries, and how to best help them from inadvertently binding their company to duties not obligated under a contract. Mr. Tiritilli and Mr. Minahan provided helpful scenarios that were insightful and well received by the audience. The post Eric W. Tiritilli & Sean A Minahan Presented to Farm Managers on Agency Law appeared first on Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP ..read more

Daniel J. Waters Partner Daniel J. Waters recently sat down with the Omaha Community Foundation for an interview where he shared the importance of working with experts when making financial decisions, including when it comes to charitable giving. Click here to read his full interview. The post Omaha Community Foundation: Q&A With Daniel J. Waters appeared first on Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP ..read more

Mark E. Novotny Partner Mark E. Novotny presented at the 2024 Creighton University/CHI Maternal Child Health Conference at Lakeside Hospital on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. This annual program is designed to provide education to nurses on various issues that impact the care delivered to the neonatal, pediatric and maternal population and to advance the quality of care provided in the hospital and clinic settings. Mr. Novotny spoke to 117 obstetrical labor and delivery nurses, advanced practice, nurses and midwives discussing issues of risk management, medical malpractice claims and medical ..read more

Ted T. Appel Attorney Ted Appel judged oral arguments conducted by first year law students of Drake Law School on March 19, 2024, for the First Year Oral Argument Competition. These oral arguments are designed for first year law students at Drake Law School to gain practical experience in the art of appellate advocacy and receive real time feedback on their advocacy from members of the legal community. This semester’s oral argument focused on whether a defendant lying on a financial affidavit to achieve court-appointed counsel constituted a willful obstruction of justice related to the d ..read more

Michael L. Storey Michael L. Storey, Attorney What is your definition of success? Success is finding happiness and sharing it with others. Some days finding happiness can be harder than others. But if I can find and share some happiness every day, either professionally (for a client or co-worker) or at home (for friends, family, or even complete strangers), I consider that day to be a success. What’s the most unique part about working at LDM? I love being a trial attorney and our firm, LDM, was built on the shoulders of many great advocates. LDM has provided me with every opportunity to f ..read more

Rebecca M. Queensland Rebecca Queensland is a corporate attorney in LDM’s Omaha office. She graduated cum laude from Hamline University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies and Business Administration. During her time at Hamline, Rebecca was a member of the nationally competitive mock trial team and served as a legal research and writing tutor. She went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in 2018, focusing on technology regulation and public health law. Rebecca earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Award f ..read more

A “Liquidated Damages” provision should be a key part of your playbook when entering a construction contract. These damages typically apply when a party misses a performance deadline. The value of damages is usually expressed in a certain amount of dollars per day. Liquidated Damages are intended to avoid the difficult task of figuring out the economic impact of delayed performance. In many cases, an accurate estimation is quite difficult and can quickly create a dispute. This dispute can lead to increased expenses, including litigation expenses. Liquidated Damages provisions create predictabi ..read more