Litigating Parallel Personal Injury Cases and Criminal Prosecution
Managing the Competing Interests of Defendants, Injured Parties, Insurance Carriers, and Law Enforcement
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Personal Injury and Med Mal
- event Date
Thursday, August 26, 2021
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
-
This CLE course will prepare counsel defending or involved in personal injury lawsuits to anticipate and respond to parallel investigations and proceedings by U.S. federal and state criminal and civil enforcement authorities. The panel will review how the two types of matters affect one another and how they differ regarding discovery, sources of evidence, and other areas. The program will offer strategies for cooperation with criminal counsel to avoid sabotaging the defense in either case.
Mr. Brusca dedicates his practice to representing vulnerable individuals and their families in wrongful death, catastrophic injury, negligence and abuse claims arising in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, psychiatric facilities, hospitals, boarding and group homes. He is a frequent lecturer to lay organizations and fellow attorneys at the state and national level on topics such as facility selection, resident care, litigation, trial practice, and technology issues.
Mr. Hashemi has handled a wide variety of civil & criminal cases. Ranging from a simple name change or breach of contracts, to complicated civil litigations and felonies. Mr. Hashemi has also represented thousands of Californians accused of violating their probation or parole. He has also argued and practiced before the California Court of Appeals. Mr. Hashemi is admitted to practice before all California State Courts and the United States District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Central & Southern Districts of California. He is the host of the Podcast “Hashing Out the Law“ and volunteers on a regular basis at the Mesereau Free Legal Clinic, in South Los Angeles.
Ms. Staton has more than 46 years of experience representing governmental entities, including state, counties and cities, as well as school districts and privately-held corporations. She is committed to defending clients on issues involving governmental liability, employment law, personal injury and civil rights. Ms. Staton has tried more than 75 cases to verdict in state and federal court in matters involving wrongful death and claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Title VII discrimination and sexual harassment claims and retaliation, as well as false arrest and excessive force allegations against law enforcement including pursuit cases and SWAT actions.
Many cases involve simultaneous criminal, civil, and regulatory actions arising out of the same events against individuals personally involved in an incident, company executives or manager, and even companies themselves. Trucking and commercial vehicle accidents, auto accidents, fires, floods, structural collapses, and environmental incidents, for example, can spawn both civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution.
Discovery in the civil case may be the genesis of criminal prosecution. Defendants should reasonably anticipate that documents and reports disclosed in the civil case will become evidence in criminal cases. Counsel should understand how government agencies and law enforcement conduct investigations and prosecutions.
Parallel proceedings breed competing interests between the injured parties, insurance carriers, and law enforcement creating problems for the defense. Individual defendants must be careful to protect the attorney-client privilege. Invocation of Fifth Amendment rights may damage the civil case. If the civil case is tried first, counsel must pay careful attention to protecting the criminal defendants' rights.
Listen as this experienced panel guides counsel in quickly responding in an organized and strategic way on multiple fronts and strategies for communicating and coordinating the defense of the parallel cases.
- How parallel civil and criminal matters may arise
- How government agencies and law enforcement investigate
- Fifth Amendment privilege
- Work product and attorney-client privilege
- The preclusive effect of one case on the other
The panel will review these and other pivotal issues:
- How do government agencies and law enforcement conduct investigations and prosecutions?
- What kind of discovery from the criminal case is available to the civil litigants?
- When may the client exercise the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the civil proceeding?
- Which case should be resolved first, and what factors should be considered?
