I think one of the tougher things to do in preparing an injury case for litigation can be determining the proper court and ad damnum amount for suit. This usually comes up in cases where the damages are significant enough that the case can’t be filed in the District Court for…
Arbitration is a form of resolving civil disputes privately, outside of the actual court system. Instead of taking their case to court and having it decided by a jury or judge, both parties voluntarily agree to have the case heard and decided by a private arbitration panel. Arbitration differs from…
In a personal injury lawsuit, plaintiffs are entitled to get compensation for the economic losses resulting from their injury, including lost earnings. So if you’re not able to work for an extended time because of the injury, you are supposed to get money to compensate for the income you lost.…
The most important part of a personal injury trial is the plaintiff’s testimony. Specifically, the most critical part of a trial is the personal injury plaintiff’s direct examination. If it doesn’t go well when you are in total control of the process and the facts, it will be nearly impossible…
Certainly, given their preference, plaintiffs’ lawyer will choose PG County or Baltimore City as the venue for almost any Maryland accident case. If our case is not in Baltimore, we want to be in P.G County if I have a Maryland traffic accident case. The difference cannot be understated. There…
Two weeks ago I had a trial scheduled to begin on a Monday. It was a jury trial that was set for a car accident trial to begin on an agreed date that had been selected 8 months earlier. My client and his three witnesses — two of them experts…
Putting a bad pun in the title is always a great start to a blog post, right? Try the veal, I’m here all week. But seriously, proving medical causation of an injury in a personal injury case nearly always requires expert medical testimony. There a few exceptions for objective injuries…
Here is another great real-life trial preparation tip that I have forgotten myself in the past: Check the weather the day before! I am finalizing my preparations for a trial tomorrow in a car accident case in Baltimore County Circuit Court. According to weather.com, there is a 60% chance of…
Having the right equipment is worthless unless you know how to use it. That is why the second important element to using multimedia at trial is preparation. I never, ever, ever use anything at trial that I have not practiced with. For PowerPoint, this means doing a complete practice run…
OK- I am pulling a bit of the ol’ switcheroo here. I know you were probably expecting this installment of my series on trial organization to focus on the trial binder. Relax, that’s coming. I changed topics at the last minute because I recently saw two blog posts that touch…