THE POWER OF ANCHORING IN TRIAL
Most attorneys who work in civil litigation are familiar with the “anchoring effect,” and know that suggesting a number has an influence on damages. Numerous studies have shown that the amount of a...
View ArticleWHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU IN LAW SCHOOL YOU NEED TO KNOW
. . . One September morning in 1959 Skagit County’s only two superior court judges, Charles Stafford and Arthur Ward, administered my taking the oath to become a brand new lawyer. Also taking...
View ArticleDEALING WITH MAJOR DAMAGES EVIDENCE
. When you are faced with handling a case with major personal injuries, a different approach from a less serious damage case should be considered. Among the many issues involved in major damage cases,...
View ArticleTHERE ARE LIES, THERE ARE OUTRAGEOUS LIES AND THERE ARE STATISTICS”...
According to the book “The Body” a French lawyer struck a deal in 1965 with ninety year old Jeanne Calment in which he agreed to pay her twenty hundred Francs until her death. When she died, he would...
View ArticleTHE IMPACT OF INJURY & SUFFERING
. . To understand how to present evidence of our client’s injuries, we must first understand what the injuries have done to our client. That requires an advance understanding of the nature of...
View ArticleWHAT IS THE MOTIVATION FOR “NUCLEAR VERDICTS”
There have been a number of studies and publications by the defense and insurance interests about the trend of large verdicts commonly labeled by them as “Nuclear Verdicts. The information is of...
View ArticleOPENING STATEMENT DAMAGE CONCEPTS
There are some fundamental legal concepts about damages that should be incorporated in most personal injury damage cases. Some of the more important ones include a factual introduction followed by a...
View ArticleDEALING WITH THE “ERROR OF JUDGMENT” DEFENSE IN MEDICAL...
A common defense in medical malpractice cases is to assert the cause of the injury was an unintended outcome following medical judgment regarding acceptable choices between alternative medical...
View ArticleTHE HAMBURGER PRICE WAR & THE IMPORTANCE OF FRAMING TRIAL ISSUES
A price war between McDonald’s and A & W fast food restaurants has a lesson for trial lawyers about the importance of describing trial issues or “framing.” A&W was the first-ever chain...
View ArticleMY POLICY ABOUT CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSES IN SETTLEMENTS
It was my policy over my 50 years of representing plaintiffs to refuse to agree to any form of confidentiality as an imposed requirement of settlement by a defendant. My policy was that clients were...
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