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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

  • work Practice Area

    Personal Injury and Med Mal

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Wednesday, October 14, 2020

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$197.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will discuss how defense counsel can counteract the damages figure suggested by the plaintiff's counsel - while still pressing for a defense verdict.

Faculty

Cheryl A. Bush
Founding Member
Bush Seyferth, PLLC

Ms. Bush has extensive first-chair trial experience and has obtained exceptionally positive results for her clients, including Fortune 500 companies, by winning 95.97% of her jury trials. She serves as national counsel for a major automotive manufacturer, handling catastrophic air bag trials and coordinating discovery throughout the country. Ms. Bush’s cases, which have spanned 30 states, often involve high-level nationwide media exposure. She teaches regularly on trial advocacy and is a Fellow in both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers.

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Beth C. Boggs
Managing Partner
Boggs Avellino Lach & Boggs, LLC

Ms. Boggs concentrates her practice in civil litigation involving construction defect, insurance coverage, employment law, premises liability, transportation, defense of pharmacy cases, civil rights defense, professional negligence, toxic tort defense, asbestos exposure defense and insurance defense. She is a frequent author on a variety of insurance and trial topics and speaker at national conferences on trial-related topics. Ms. Boggs was selected to be a Senior Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary society honoring the top one-half of one percent of American lawyers.  

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Description

Study after study shows that the value a plaintiff's counsel first assigns to a case greatly influences jurors. Simply by requesting more significant damages at the outset, plaintiffs verdicts are higher. The results of this strategy can be staggering--verdicts of eight to 10 figures.

Parts of the defense bar have long operated on the belief that offering a counter value is tantamount to conceding liability, or that proffering a number will create a damages floor. But left with nothing else, juries rely on the plaintiff's valuation. Despite "tort reforms" and damages caps in many states, recoveries on even ordinary claims appear to have skyrocketed.

Is the "no-number" defense strategy still working? Although providing a value of the case may seem counterintuitive, some research shows that jury verdicts are between 20-40 percent lower when the defense addresses damages head-on. While there may be times not to offer a counter-value, pushing back on the plaintiff's significant number with an alternative amount can reduce the risk of a company-ending verdict.

Listen as our panel discusses when and how to offer alternative damage amounts to achieve lower verdicts and better results, as well as best practices for doing so.

Outline

  1. The traditional approaches to damages by plaintiffs and defendants
  2. Why plaintiffs offer a damages value from the first
  3. How defendants can establish their appraisal of the case
    1. Discovery requests
    2. Experts to assist on value
    3. Understanding what components of damages will be a challenge
  4. How defendants can address pain and suffering

Benefits

The panel will review these another key issues:

  • Why is the first damages figure juries hear the most persuasive?
  • Is offering an alternative figure really conceding liability?
  • When is the best time to value the case for settlement purposes?
  • What is the defense's role in setting the case value at trial?