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Damages
Strategies for Minimizing Damages in High Damages Cases
Paper
presented at DRI 2003 Damages Seminar. With a clear trial strategy, consistent defense themes and low damages messages, a good defense attorney can do a great deal to minimize the chances that his or her client will end up on the pages of the local paper, one more unlucky loser of the high damages lawsuit lottery. This paper explains techniques for effective defense jury selection and present a number of questions empirically demonstrated to flush out high damages jurors.
It also discusses how to present your case to minimize damage awards.
Making Your Damages Argument Persuasive
Awarding damages is an ambiguous situation for jurors. They don't know how much money is right to award and they usually have little in the way of external referents to guide their decision-making (leading to the "Monopoly money" phenomenon). It's up to the trial attorneys to provide jurors with a frame to structure their deliberations on damages. This article tells you how.
Insurance (Bad Faith/Coverage)
Presenting Insurance Company Witnesses
How do jurors perceive insurance company witnesses? How can you overcome typical problems and perception issues with insurance company witnesses? Based on hundreds of post-trial interviews we have conducted in insurance cases, we provide some answers.
Intellectual Property / Patent
Adjusting For Attitude
Attorneys on both sides of IP cases traditionally have favored well-educated jurors with technical training who they believe can attend to the minute and specific issues at hand. Empirical research suggests that this is not the best strategy for selecting jurors. This article explores some of the attitudes that prove important in shaping juror verdicts that IP attorneys should explore in voir dire.
Bringing the Juror Back into IP Litigation
Because IP attorneys usually need to focus on highly legal and technical aspects of their case in pretrial preparation, they easily lose sight of the key decision-makers: Jurors. This paper describes how to effectively use a mock to bring jurors back into the picture and discover which preexisting attitudes and biases shape their reactions to your key witnesses, case facts, and arguments.
Mold
Mold Litigation: Themes, Mock Trials and Other Tactics
Mold is in the news. This is of concern to those involved in settling and litigating those cases because the media usually sensationalizes the issue. This paper presents recent survey data on juror attitudes to mold and discusses the emotional charge that mold cases can carry. It then outlines specific strategies for succesful mold defense.
Nursing Home
When Prevention Isn't Enough: Using Jury Research to Prepare for Nursing Home Litigation
Nursing home litigation is on the rise, as is juror anxiety about nursing home care—for their parents, and for themselves. This paper examines key attitudes that shape juror reactions to nursing home cases.
Product Liability
Theme Development and Jury Selection in Product Liability Cases
This 12-page paper, originally presented at the Connecticut Bar Association Biennial Products Liability Update, gives a comprehensive overview of how to effectively plan and execute theme development, voir dire and jury selection in a product liability case. It includes discussion of when to use a juror questionnaire and effective question design.
Toxic Torts
Finding Out What Works with a Jury: Developing and Testing Case Themes
This 12-page article, originally presented at the 1999 DRI Annual Meeting, gives a comprehensive overview of psychologically validated strategies for effective theme development, psychological obstacles that can prevent jurors from accepting your themes, and methods for testing and refining your themes in focus groups and mock trials.
Mealey's Risk Communication
This 33-page presentation was originally presented at the 2005 Mealey's Water Contamination Conference in Marina del Ray by the President of our firm, David B. Graeven, Ph.D. The presentation provides trategies for dealing with water contamination litigation from the viewpoint of a juror.
Trucking
What Jurors Bring to Trial: Juror Attitudes in Trucking Litigation
Jurors have strong attitudes about trucks on the highway that litigators need to take into account when assessing and trying trucking cases. This article presents data and insights about these attitudes from a series of focus groups we conducted around the country for Federal Highway Office of Motor Carriers.
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