Vegas Litigator

My next Trial starts next week.  I am representing a victim of a personal injury accident who was injured when a grocery store employee struck my client in the ankle with a row of shopping carts.  As a result, my client was injured and, eventually, needed surgery to repair his ankle.

This case is ready to go.  

The Exhibit books are all printed with the exception of some minor changes I will be coordinating with Defense Counsel. My outline is all set and my client has been prepared, although we may meet again before he testifies just to make sure he is comfortable on the stand.

I know that I need to be fully prepared when I represent clients in personal injury lawsuits.  

The insurance defense industry has spent billions on its campaign to fend off legitimate lawsuits such as this one.  They are willing to spread mis-information in an attempt to harm all those already hurt by their insureds in injury accidents.  So, I must be careful in picking a Jury that has not been infected with this Defense oriented bias.

 Once the Jury is picked, I have to present my case in a concise and efficient manner while giving them all of the facts.  Not side of the case consists of medical and wage loss records as well as the testimony from my client and two of his treating physicians.  In addition to the normal preparation, we do not have sufficient Court Rooms in our Clark County, Nevada District Courthouse to allow the Judges to have their own Court Rooms.  That leaves us having to use partial days for Trial and makes it more difficult to coordinate the testimony of the various parties – especially doctors who have their own busy schedules caring for their patients.

 I’m nearly ready and, although I always feel as if something is missing, will be ready to start Trial on Monday.

Several years ago, Clark County District Court initiated the Medical Malpractice Sweeps with the intent to keep these cases on track and resolved as quickly as possible.  I have one Med-Mal case which means I have to attend the Sweeps every so often.  I’m sitting in Sweeps today.

There are, or will be, dozens of attorneys here this morning along with three Judges and the Discovery Commissioner. The same thing will happen in the afternoon session. For some reason, defense lawyers sit up front and get table while we plaintiffs’ lawyers sit in the and, in “pews”….maybe because we have to be true believers to represent our injured clients.

Just checked the schedule and I’m on page 4 of 11.  Since the schedule should be done by noon (three hours), I figure I’ll be here till 10:00 or so.  Basically, we’re here to advise the Court that we need some more time to get a couple of Depositions done and try and resolve some issues.  Maybe we can get the case to settle once that is done.  We’ll be asking for a Trial date about a year from now. After we talk to he Judges, we will see the Discovery Commissioner, Bonnie Bulla, who is always helpful in moving cases forward while not interfering with the attorneys need to prosecute their cases.

Well, I’m about two weeks out from My first Trial of the new year. This time it’s a conventional trial. It should last  about 4 or 5 days. My client was injured when a grocery store employee struck him in the ankle while pushing carts into place.

My client attempted conservative care. When that failed, he had to have surgery on his ankle to repair  a torn tendon. The surgery improved his condition, but he continued to experience pain and discomfort in his ankle for some time.

We will be seeking compensation for the medical bills, lost wages, and poison and suffering caused by the accident.

It’s always nice to work with ( against) adverse counsel who respect others and the Justice System. This Trial involves two personal injury car accidents. There is no liability in one; liability is contested in the other.

In addition, the law in Nevada calls for joint and several liability for any injuries the Jury finds are related to BOTH accidents UNLESS the Jury can apportion those damages between the accidents.

This makes does somewhat complex Jury Verdict form. This is where cooperative counsel comes in handy. Hopefully, we’ll continue to work together to come up with a( relatively) simple Verdict form that covers all of the various combinations of liable, damages and ( if possible) apportionment.