Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone help me understand something about Abbott's disability? Would never make light of [View all]LetMyPeopleVote
(182,160 posts)3. Texas Monthly has a long article on Greg
It is written by a person who was a paralegal at the firm Greg started at. That firm had issues and fell apart in the early 1990s. There used to be a joke that Butler & Binion hired as many attorneys as Vinson & Elkins but few stayed with the firm.
There are some good details on the settlement Greg got due to a falling tree.
Link to tweet
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/who-is-greg-abbott/
One of the higher-ups at Butler & Binion was a canny litigator named Pearson Grimes. (Disclosure: I worked as a paralegal at Butler & Binion from 1976 to 1979, before Abbott arrived.) Grimes persuaded Don Riddle, who was then considered one of the best personal injury lawyers in Houston, to represent his young associate in a potential lawsuit. Abbott had been hurt during the heyday of the plaintiffs bar in Texas, with wily lawyers regularly winning jury awards and settlements in the seven figures for injured clients. Riddle knew, however, that a tree falling did not necessarily indicate negligence on someones partand negligence had to be shown in order to recover damages. But Abbott made for a sympathetic plaintiff, struck down just as his professional life was beginning. And the owner of the property where the accident occurred was a wealthy divorce lawyer, Roy W. Moore. (He died in 2018.) According to one person who heard the story from Moore, he visited Abbott in the hospital and promised that he would insist that his insurance carrier pay Abbott the highest amount the policy would allow, negligence or no negligence.
Moore was covered for $1 million or so in his homeowners policy, Riddle recalled. A million dollars didnt stretch that far if you were damaged for life, he said. But he discovered that Moore had paid a tree company that was part of a large national chain to do some work on the oak. Riddle could then assert that the repairs might have been done improperlythat more attention had been paid to caring for the trees canopy than to protecting and stabilizing the roots. Now Riddle had not one but two deep-pocketed defendants. Through what was then known as joint and several liability, a plaintiff could recover damages from multiple parties so long as some responsibility was established.
By 1986, Abbott had completed his rehab. He wasnt walking, but he was moving forward in other ways. Riddle had negotiated an impressive settlement that would support his client for the rest of his life. The estimated total of $3 million (about $8 million today) began with an initial lump-sum payment of $300,000 (about $770,000 in todays dollars), followed by another lump sum of $100,000 in 1989. Abbott would continue to get lump-sum payments every three years, with the last payment of $740,020 scheduled for November 1, 2022a nice supplement to his $153,750 annual governors salary. Additionally, in 1986 Abbott started receiving $5,000 a month (almost $13,000 today) with a built-in annual increase of 4 percent for the remainder of his lifetime. It was all tax-free.
Moore was covered for $1 million or so in his homeowners policy, Riddle recalled. A million dollars didnt stretch that far if you were damaged for life, he said. But he discovered that Moore had paid a tree company that was part of a large national chain to do some work on the oak. Riddle could then assert that the repairs might have been done improperlythat more attention had been paid to caring for the trees canopy than to protecting and stabilizing the roots. Now Riddle had not one but two deep-pocketed defendants. Through what was then known as joint and several liability, a plaintiff could recover damages from multiple parties so long as some responsibility was established.
By 1986, Abbott had completed his rehab. He wasnt walking, but he was moving forward in other ways. Riddle had negotiated an impressive settlement that would support his client for the rest of his life. The estimated total of $3 million (about $8 million today) began with an initial lump-sum payment of $300,000 (about $770,000 in todays dollars), followed by another lump sum of $100,000 in 1989. Abbott would continue to get lump-sum payments every three years, with the last payment of $740,020 scheduled for November 1, 2022a nice supplement to his $153,750 annual governors salary. Additionally, in 1986 Abbott started receiving $5,000 a month (almost $13,000 today) with a built-in annual increase of 4 percent for the remainder of his lifetime. It was all tax-free.
I have never been impressed with Greg's intelligence and I am hopeful that Greg will continue to push homophobic policies that will help Beto.
I hope that this helps
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
30 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
Can someone help me understand something about Abbott's disability? Would never make light of [View all]
allegorical oracle
May 2022
OP
Considered that, too. Then wasn't he at least somewhat as negligent as the tree owner?
allegorical oracle
May 2022
#4
Premises liability tort law can look like strict liability given the circumstances.
Frasier Balzov
May 2022
#11
And Abbott is an attorney, but maybe not at the time of his accident. nt
allegorical oracle
May 2022
#17
Fascinating! Thank you muchly. Now I don't feel sorry for the homeowner, either...lol
allegorical oracle
May 2022
#6
No one would. Just pondering the timing odds of a large tree falling on someone jogging by it.
allegorical oracle
May 2022
#7
Good point. I have about 200 oaks on my property and they're fairly amiable, so far. But they
allegorical oracle
May 2022
#16
Hearing that years ago was the first inkling I had that he was a piece of shit.
Patterson
May 2022
#20
The house next door has a California Live Oak that dropped a branch before we moved in...
Hekate
May 2022
#24
a progressive pushed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by Tom Harkin (D)
Shellback Squid
May 2022
#29