Jeff Matthews Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 It was a good day today. After 2 days in a jury trial defending a slip and fall claim where the plaintiff had back surgery and claims he could never work again, we won. Plaintiff takes nothing, so says the jury by an 11-1 verdict. What a relief. The Plaintiff made a pre-trial offer to settle for $800,000. It was a little unnerving to say the least. I'm tired, but it's a good tired. Off for some relaxation! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Congrat's on the "kill" . You may want to relax where I am going tomorrow , ....for a week. Maui , Hawaii ! Aloha !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 Hey, Craig, I'm back on for a few minutes. You'll love Maui. If you have been there before, ignore the rest of this post. If not, I recommend renting a car and taking the road to Hannah. From Hannah, you can continue south and around the rest of the island. The roads are rough, but we did it in a Nissan sedan. Do not run out of gas because it is desolate, but there's alot of good scenic driving along the south. Shopping at all the shops in the town that starts with an "L" (which is where we stayed) on the west coast is nice. It's got to be the most extensive shopping on the island full of all sorts of souvenirs and collectibles. What I was not aware of is that snorkeling is good right off the beach. If you get someone to tell you where the little reef clusters are, you can go there right off the beach, and beginning about 20 feet from the shore, you can see the beautiful forest of the sea, with fish of all sizes and colors. Maybe a sea turtle or two. I was lucky and saw one. You can almost reach out and grab the fish. Just amazing. You'll have a blast. Also, if you still have time, the Io Needle is quite a sight in the Western Mountains. There's a nice trail set up to walk. And then, if you want to get up real early one morning - and I mean real early - you can go watch the sunrise on top of the Haleakala Crater. If you do, bring a jacket. It might be in the 70's on the bottom, but at the top, it's in the 30's. Also, go to Academy and buy an inexpensive snorkle kit (mask, tube and flippers). Just have them packed in your bags, and you'll be ready to go. The Wal-Mart is in the big city with the airport (I forgot its name, but its far from the coast. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Folks that have never done litigation have no idea about the hours or the stress involved, nor do they understand the nature of the risk in jury trials. Literally anything can happen. The plaintiff's attorney is probably looking at his errors and omissions insurance about now after leaving $800k on the table. It may be easier to settle in the future with such a result. Congratulations!!! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 Oh, yeah. The little town with all the shopping is Lahaina. Very nice. And don't forget the Helicopter ride. We took the one that toured the Western Mountains of Maui and skipped over to Molokai. It was great. We were in between mountains on Molokai with the great waterfalls coming off the mountaintops. They are named the "Jurassic Falls" because these were the waterfalls from the scene in "Jurassic Park," the movie. And you could also see herds of wild goats running across the mountaintops. It was my first Helicopter ride - and my last so far. It was very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 Thanks, Bill. I'm off to play B-Ball to get that last bit of energy out and to get my head back on straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Jeff, ...been to Maui 3 times. We go to Hawaii to SCUBA !!! Me and my better half is "search and rescue" SCUBA diver. Why snorkel ??? ...We dive down to 180 feet and play w/ the animals. This is the season for the WHALE watchin'. 60 % of all the North Amercan Whales show up in Hawaii to mate !! Thanx for the Maui recommendations. Done them all ...but the 70 mile HANNA road. { No patience for all the curves.} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Lo Needle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Done them all ...but the 70 mile HANA road. {No patience for all the curves.}I strongly recommend the Hana drive! By 1999, I believe they'd widened and straightened out the road from the 1980s. You must stay there overnight, however, and not make the mistake of coming back the same day. The setting is so timeless and nice that you'll want to stick around anyway -- poke around the so-called sacred pools, very dramatic coastal cliffs, beautiful waterfalls and even Lindberg's grave. Take about some time to drive around the Keanae peninsula and point, about half-way to Hana.I also enjoyed the obscure paved switchback drive up Waipoli Rd., between Kaonoulu and the Kula Botanical Gardens, although I didn't go all the way to the 6,500' Poli Poli Spring State Recreation Area. The 10,000' Haleakala drive is king, of course. If you really want a hairy, curvy drive, take the loop around West Maui from Honolua to Kahului (do it clockwise to keep the cliffs down on the other side of the road). Although rental CDW doesn't apply on that road, it's very interesting and mostly gorgeous. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Very big congrats, counsel. It is what people go to law school for. You've got bragging rights. I second chaired several cases where we were we got a lot of comparative. In another we brought a contribution claim and got some recovery. The appeals I've ran have gotten good results. The next day you feel like a million bucks. I predict a bunch of post trial motions. One more demand for settlement; talk of a retrial and discussion of all these specials. Then notice of appeal, maybe filing of appeal. They say they'll never cave. You hang tough. But someone on your side says you have to settle for cost of defending the appeal. Rats, there is seldom a clear victory. But I love to hear about your victory. Best, Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Folks that have never done litigation have no idea about the hours or the stress involved, nor do they understand the nature of the risk in jury trials. Literally anything can happen. The plaintiff's attorney is probably looking at his errors and omissions insurance about now after leaving $800k on the table. It may be easier to settle in the future with such a result. Congratulations!!! Bill It doesn't look like the plaintiff left money on the table. Jeff said that plaintiff's demand was $800K, but he didn't indicate that defendant made any offer, but most judges would require some settlement offer. Jeff, what was the bid and ask, if you don't mind sharing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 You're right. We would have maybe (and I say maybe because we never had a serious opportunity to think about it) offered $15k. We asked for an offer from them without making our own, first. We advised not to come in with a huge number, and Plaintiff's counsel indicated he understood. The next thing we get is a letter saying they would take $800,000. Ouch!!!! Guess we're going to trial. What made it stressing is you never know how trials go. It turns out the judge excluded some evidence we thought was relevant, very important, and damaging to Plaintiff's case. I thought the exclusion of our evidence allowed the Plaintiff to put a whole new spin on the case to Plaintiff's advantage and our detriment. Plaintiff was saying he couldn't come back to work because of a back injury when he slipped at work. As we uncovered during discovery, the Plaintiff had severe alcolhol and drug problems requiring in-patient programs and substance abuse felony program lockdown, and we believe his ricidivisim into abuse is why he would not come back to work. He had all kinds of medical records showing the extent of his abuse, including mentions of his ricidivism after the "slip and fall." When we couldn't offer our side on this issue, it felt as if Plaintiff's counsel just rubbed our noses in it big-time, saying how his client was so "worthy" and a great, hard-working guy, with only a few periods of unemployment (for reasons that were never explained truthfully and just glossed over as typical "in between jobs" episodes). "My client wanted to work so bad to take great care of his family and send his kids to college, bla... bla... bla...." We knew, but could not say, that he was busy popping Vicodin, drinking liquor and smoking pot, and that's why he wouldn't get his butt to work, let alone spend any time with his kids. The man did not even have utilities but found away to afford his alcohol and pot. Go figure. It killed me that we were told not to use this evidence and that Plaintiff could put on his one-sided story about his work-ethic. It was very unnerving, and I thought the jury was going to come back against us, and we would be having to appeal. The jury went with us despite not hearing all our evidence. Very relieving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Finally a story about a Texas jury making sense instead of the nationally publicized aberrant awards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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