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An Unforeseen Value to Loss of Consortium Claims in Selecting a Jury.
As a Plaintiff’s attorney you want to identify jurors who will refuse to follow the Court’s instructions directing the grant of money damages for pain and suffering. I inadvertently found something that is even more polarizing and controversial than claims for such intangible losses… Loss of consortium! I was picking jury in a rural county →
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The Floor for the Value of a Human Life is Flying High
You have a wrongful death claim and need an indisputable source of information to determine the minimum value of a human life. Wouldn’t it be nice if the federal government published minimum values for the loss of a human life? Well, they have! The U.S. Defense Department has made a conscious decision on this very disputed →
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Why Sorry is the Badest Word…
An expression of regret or an apology by a Defendant is nothing new when a case doesn’t settle and finally makes it to trial. However, should this be allowed? Why no! Defendants should be prohibited from expressing any apologies or statements of regret to the jury in connection with a civil case not seeking punitive →
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Limiting the Damage
So you lose an evidentiary argument and the court allows some potentially prejudicial evidence to be presented for some narrow purpose such as bias, impeachment or to show intent, similar plan, motive or scheme. So what should you do? Indiana follows “the rule of multiple admissibility” endorsed by the evidence treatises of both Whitmore →
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Closing Argument – What to Do When Your Opponent Deals from the Bottom of the Deck
It is important to stick with the argument that you’ve planned out. Then aggressively and positively put forward your case. You don’t want to waste too much time responding to the other side’s argument to the detriment of their own. You want to help the jurors reach their own conclusions about the case with the use →
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Closing Argument: How to Combat Guilt by Association
Oftentimes, we have clients who through no fault of their own grow up in difficult circumstances or are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The opposing attorney may try to paint your client as less than worthy in the eyes of the law. However, remember that lady justice holds the scales of →
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Why It Doesn’t Always Pay to be the Smartest Guy in the Room
Ego… All good trial attorneys have it. Without a little ego it would be difficult to stand up and try to persuade a bunch of strangers you just met to acquit your client or award your client a significant sum of money. It takes not hard work and preparation, but a fair amount of moxie →
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