Recovering the Full Value with a Settlement Documentary Agenda
PART ONE: Turning Up the Heat: Untangling Disputed Liability with Video Technology (50 minutes)
Audience: Plaintiff attorneys with cases burdened with complex liability issues.
Overview: This presentation gives the audience a new outlook on the importance of thinking of their case visually, and ways to turn those visuals into a compelling presentation for mediation or trial.
Outline: The course will delve into the following subject areas:
- This is a visual world, the adjusters and jurors are part of it;
- Act quickly! Collecting useful visuals from the start – unexpected places to look and why you can't wait another day;
- Teaming up with the right video production house – what to look for, what to avoid at all costs;
- The use of Madison Avenue caliber themes (DeWoody case);
- Simplifying confusing evidence;
- Energizing mundane evidence;
- "Accident" and other case killing buzzwords;
- Eyewitness "Walk and Talks";
- Visualizing medical timelines in MedMal cases (Anderson case);
- Bringing highway construction site collisions to life (Caolie, Trotter cases);
- Pros and cons of 3D animations;
- Defendant depositions – the "60 Minutes" approach;
- Video for mediation – tips and techniques for integration into your settlement demand;
- If mediation fails, using the component parts of the mediation video at trial;
- Using the mediation video for opening and/or closing argument at trial.
Purpose: Upon completion of this one-hour presentation, the attendee will have a renewed appreciation for the value visuals bring to the liability facet of the plaintiff case.
Break (15 minutes)
PART TWO: Recovering the Full Value of a Case at Mediation with Video Technology (50 minutes)
Audience: Plaintiff attorneys with seeking to enhance the recovery of their cases' non-economic damages.
Overview: Insurance companies use arbitrary formulas to determine the value of a plaintiff case. A well crafted video settlement documentary will help ensure that the case is evaluated on its own merits and will communicate to the claims committee the constellation of misery – recoverable by law – that the advocate will present to a jury.
Outline: The course will delve into the following subject areas:
- "Colossus" and arbitrary formulas – the defense's big lie;
- Revisiting statutes to determine value;
- Expense vs. Investment;
- Establishing credibility with court admissible components;
- Chasing butterflies - Persuading the adjuster vs. persuading the jury;
- The Onion Theory – a 21st Century Perspective;
- "Puke factors" and "Puss points"
- Selecting and interfacing with a video production company;
- The eternal damnation of lost opportunities;
- Selecting the best Before And After witnesses;
- Discoverability issues – keeping it clean;
- Questions not to ask in the interviews;
- Medical show and tell with treating physicians;
- How to get the most from your witness statements;
- Home videos, snapshots, and awards;
- Presenting TBI cases;
- Presenting soft tissue cases;
- Presenting "plaintiff back to work cases";
- Bringing the component parts of the video together;
- Persuading the Ivory Tower.
Purpose: Upon completion of this presentation, the attendee will have an understanding of the value and mechanics of putting together a winning settlement documentary which uses proven communication and persuasion techniques.
Tim Titolo:
- Explaining Liability (20 minutes)
- Here the attender will hear how video can simplify and explain the liability issues of a case.
- Showing Injury (20 minutes)
- Here the attender will see how to show injury tastefully and professionally while expressing the seriousness it bears on the clients life.
- Showing Memory Deficits (20 minutes)
- Important in the Traumatic Brain Injury Case, here the attender will see how a victim's loss of memory will be revealed with video.
- Using Experts (20 minutes)
- When putting together a video, many times the attorney forgets that having the clients own expert on video will assist that insurer with the expertise related to issues in the case: be they damage or liability.