By: Betsy Campo, Partner, Gainesville

It was a sunny day in the Spring of 2014. I had spent the morning at the deposition of my employer representative in the beautiful Villages area of Central Florida.  My representative did an excellent job and I was feeling good about the outcome of the deposition.  After the deposition, the associate who was handling the deposition for his boss, a well-known claimant’s attorney, approached me about possible settlement in the case.  He didn’t have authority to make a demand, but he acknowledged that the deposition did not go as well as his boss had told him it should go.  He anticipated returning to the office and reporting the bad news to his superior and discussing possible settlement.  I advised that I would check with my client, but wasn’t optimistic about getting settlement authority, in light of the fact that we were denying compensability, and now we had this great deposition to boot.  However, I promised to call my client to see if I could get authority to make an offer.  I called the adjuster and secured some authority.  Before I hit the road to head back to Gainesville, I dictated, ala “talk to text” this quick email to the associate  attorney, with a cc to his boss:

“Dumb – This will confirm our conversation following the deposition of my employer representative. Specifically, we discussed possible settlement of the case.  After today’s deposition, Dumb, I must say that my client’s position has been bolstered.  At trial, today’s witness will definitely  present much better to the JCC and her credibility will outweigh that of your client, Dumb.  Despite our confidence in our position, my client is willing to discuss resolution for a nominal value.  Accordingly, Dumb, I have been authorized to offer you $1,000 inclusive to settle this case.  Please let me know if I should begin drafting the settlement documents….” 

                I didn’t have my reading glasses on, but I glanced over the text of the email quickly before I sent it, making sure that the amount I offered was correct. It looked good so, as was standard, I cc’d my assistant on the email and hit “send”.  Imagine my horror when I stopped for lunch a short while later and saw the text message from my assistant saying “I can’t believe you called Dom Dumb throughout that whole email!”

So is the woe of the dreaded typo – or, in this case “talk to text-o!” Needless to say, I contacted the Claimant’s attorney immediately and apologized for the error. Thankfully, he was a good sport, and he was able to laugh it off.  Not everyone would accept that type of mistake with such good humor, however.

                That is why, despite the fast-paced nature of our high tech jobs and the multitude of daily communications, it is more important than ever to proofread what you send before you send it.  Read and re-read even the smallest words, to make sure that your message is communicating exactly what you want it to say.  For instance, I can’t tell you how many times my messages will print out on my phone as saying things like “will” instead of “will not”, or “have” instead of “haven’t” – minor changes which substantially change the meaning of my communication.  Even if you are not using “talk to text,” but are instead typing your message, don’t rely upon spellcheck to get it correct every time.  In fact, spellcheck may change what your are typing into a valid word, but one that has a completely different meaning than that which you intended.  The most common of these mistakes, of course, which always gets a chuckle from the junior high crowd, is the dreaded word “pubic” instead of “public.”  We can probably all remember when we, or friends of ours, made that mistake as a kid. Oh the horrors!

                Medical records are often teeming with those kinds of mistakes, where a transcriptionist perhaps typed a word by ear and a busy doctor reviewed the record very quickly before giving approval, thereby missing the error.  Many times in our cases, the Claimant’s injury may even switch from the left arm to the right arm or from the cervical region to the cervix, for instance.  It is important that we review these records very carefully, and that we verify the content with the physician before taking action, if something seems glaringly inconsistent with what we know about the injury.  And then there are records that say things like this emergency room record I received:   “C/O foreign body in rectum – flashlight there since yesterday. Both he and his wife tried to get it out with their hands but could not.”  Oh my, that was one heck of a typo!  Oh, wait, it wasn’t a typo after all.  I guess that will be the topic of a later article.  For the time being, don’t forget to proofread your documents so you don’t make any meaningful Miss Stakes!

Betsy F. Campo | Attorney