On cases involving significant, life altering type injuries, most attorneys will want to engage an economist,life care planner and even a vocational rehabilitation expert. Great move! The projections/opinions will most certainly give defense counsel and the carrier something to think about , while doubling or even tripling the value of the case.
So why do many attorneys wait until there is a trial date(30 days before) to exchange their opinions. Cost, surprise, decreasing defendants time to " meet the proofs" and of course it's not required earlier , are a few of the reasons you'll hear.
When I practiced, I took the opposite approach. "If you had the goods, show em"! If I had a huge injury(with coverage), I would be busy as a bee...serving reports, supplements, CPLR 3101(d) experts exchanges, narratives, records and anything else I could think of on defense counsel every day if possible. Why? To show the defendants I have the time, energy, money, skill and perseverance to " push the case to the hilt".
I had a case once against Mark Landman involving an Amtrak train derailment where my client underwent 13 procedures. Amtrak removed the case to Federal Court. After defendants conceded liability , I served something new on defendants almost every day . At the end of the case Landman confessed to me that about 3/4's of the way through the case he stopped looking at my daily blasts...
The case settled after defendants refused to consent to a Magistrate to try the case, and I couldn't get a trial date.
Moral of the story, if you got the goods, no need to wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment