Important Stuff -- Or Not: If you were a juror??? What would a Juror do?

Saturday, December 15, 2007

If you were a juror??? What would a Juror do?

I am about to go to trial or I should say prepare for a trial I hope won't happen. But right now I need help with strategy. This is my very FIRST TRIAL by myself. I always thought the first one would be when I was at my firm and I had my boss the partner holding my hand but that is "spilt milk." And not happening in this case. I am on my own and the big firm I am up against is bullying me. This isn't a great case but I have a really nice client and a real injury but my question to anyone who would be willing to give me their opinion is.... Would you believe as a jury member that a rear end accident with less than $6,000 in combined property damage to both vehicles and involved a compact car that propelled an SUV 4 feet forward at the time of impact caused permanent low back pain to one of the passengers who was turned sideways and bending down in the car at the time of impact and now needs back surgery? Does that seem believable? Physical therapy did nothing and her only option if she so chooses is back surgery. Don't know how to explain it to a jury that the low impact of the accident caused this. It did, but that does not mean someone would believe it did. I have an expert but I still have to explain in plain language that this occurred. What would make you believe it? Or do you think there is no way it could happen. I am not asking for six figures just what is fair to cover the surgery plus a little extra. This 3 day trial is going to give me an ulcer. So any help would be appreciated.

7 comments:

Lone Ranger said...: I would absolutely believe it. I have a friend who was involved in an accident like that -- with less damage and force -- about three years ago, and she has been in constant pain ever since. Her doctors tell her she will have to wear a pain patch for the rest of her life. Maybe get a few doctors to testify that this is no hoax. In a rear-end collision, it is always the fault of the person who struck the car in front. Now, the only thing to do is prove the medical case.; 7:27 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm a lawyer. While I was preparing for my first trial, I thought I was going to die of heart failure. I lost the case. I'm still alive.; 8:38 PM
Lone Ranger said...: Every time I was transferred during my military career (about 17 times) I was given a new job with new responsibilities in new surroundings. Much to my surprise, there wasn't a single position I couldn't handle. Of course, in the military, failure is seldom an option. Most people underestimate themselves under new or unfamiliar conditions.; 11:48 PM
Trader Rick said...: 1.Backs are goofy things that doctors don't have a clue about. You can look at them cross-eyed and they go out. 2. Spinal cord injuries can result in excruciating pain. 3. The accident may not be the root cause, but it triggered the trauma.

Case for the plaintiff.

No charge for this definitive answer but subsequent inquires will be billed at our regular rates, minus the posted discount for Veterans, hot valley chicks and canines...; 6:57 AM
Mark said...: Seems to me anytime you bend over sideways, you put a unique strain on your back. It would seem to me (and believe me, I'm no expert)that when in this awkward position, any kind of unexpected jolt that throws one off balance could seriously twist some unused back muscles and cause pain.

I am thinking of times in my life when I spent too much time sitting more or less sideways in an office chair, I would usually go home with pain running the entire length of my body, down the sciatic nerve.

Don't use this info unless you get expert medical corroboration.; 7:56 AM
Tonto said...: WOW. Thanks you all. Really. I needed to know that a non legal person would believe the stuff the bio-mechanical guy is going to tell them. And you guys really helped figure out the most compelling points.

Thanks really. Trial begins 1/7!! I will keep you posted. I will let you know where to bill me if this all ends up well.; 7:49 AM
Lone Ranger said...: Don't forget that you're in L.A. The jurors aren't exactly rocket surgeons. You'll be lucky if they understand Ingles.; 7:29 AM

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Talking Points

I don't use talking points, I create them.

1. Hate makes people stoopid.

2. There is nothing so impenetrable as a closed mind.

3. A stupid person is not someone who can't learn, but someone who refuses to learn.

4. It is a small mind that has no room for God.

5. You can take Stalin out of the gene pool, but you can't take Stalinism out of liberals.

6. The best way to sabotage a bad plan is to follow it to the letter.

7. The race card is the first refuge of people who have nothing to say.

8. Ignorance is the cornerstone of arrogance.

9. Which is more racist, to hate someone who is not white or to assume someone is racist because he is white?

10. Children are not stupid. If a child is taught, the child will learn. If a child is not learning, the child is not being taught.

11. To express righteous indignation, one must first be righteous. And that's a label that doesn't stick to liberals.

12. Profanity is ignorance made audible.

13. An open mind is a liberal's worst enemy.

14. Paternalism is the purest form of racism.

15. People who bend the truth, usually bend it in their favor.

16. If you always stand in opposition to liberalism, you will never be wrong.

18. Life is simple. People who make it complicated usually have an agenda.

19. Getting your news from the corrupt, liberal media is like sticking your head in the sand, except you don't get grit in your teeth.

20. Liberals' emotional development stops at the age of 16.

21. To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell the truth.

22. Idealism seldom matches up with reality.

23. Those who don't hate communism have never lived it.

24. This was a much more civil country when men walked about heavily armed.

25. This economy will never heal as long as Obama keeps picking at the scab.

26. Liberals don't think outside the box; they ARE the box.

27. You cannot change the hearts and minds of liberals, because they possess neither.

28. There is no such thing as a kind liberal.

29. Reading Democratic Party platforms is like reading the history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in this country.

25 Immutable Truths About Liberals

Over the years I've been writing this blog, I've been throwing out little self-evident truths that seem to have no exceptions that prove the rule. I've made a list of some of them and will add to it as I remember them or make up more. Most of this list I've come up with myself. A few I've borrowed from others.

1. Always expect the worst from a liberal and you will never be surprised.

2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.

3. You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse conservatives of doing.

4. Liberals don't debate, they argue.

5. The only standards liberals have are double standards.

6. Liberals feel, conservatives think.

7. Whenever you don't understand a liberal's motives, just look for the money.

8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.

9. The Liberal Golden Rule is, "Do unto others but scream bloody murder if they do unto you."

10. Liberals don't have leaders, they have demi-gods.

11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.

12. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everyone's business is a liberal's business.

13. Liberals have an inflated sense of self-worth. They are like house flies that criticize the air-worthiness of a Stealth fighter. (Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, ad infinitum are morons.)

14. Liberals lack a sixth sense that conservatives have in abundance -- common sense.

15. Liberals never stop hating.

16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.

17. Every time liberals get on their high horse, they get bucked off.

18. Liberal programs are so wonderful that they have to be forced on people.

19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.

20. When given a moral choice, liberals always come down on the wrong side of the fence.

21. The only way liberals can build themselves up is by tearing others down.

22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

23. Liberals have only two political positions -- blind devotion and blind hatred.

24. Liberals are incapable of attacking the message, so they always attack the messenger.

25. Liberal diversity is only skin deep.