That’s a super interesting find about the presence of malice with respect to a tort, etc.
Trying to analyze how a civil case might play out with this situation makes my head hurt. I have to think there is significant complexity and uncertainty though. I don’t know much about how lawyers work in situations like this - I’ve had the good fortune to not ever have been involved in personal litigation matters - just worked on a team in support of some business litigation situations years ago. Anyway… I wonder if the lawyers involved will truly continue to work on a pure contingency basis in this matter (assuming that’s what they were doing up until this point)? I would assume not, after a certain point.
I can understand if, in the beginning, when it seemed like a slam dunk personal injury case, that LKs civil attorneys might have been working entirely on a contingency basis when they were still confident he would plead guilty to something in relation to the shooting, or be found guilty at trial.
But now that the situation has shifted… and it’s a potentially far more complex litigation matter than it originally seemed… I wonder if her lawyer can switch gears and go to a billable hours situation in preparation for the next phase?