California Trust, Estate & Probate Litigation

After making the decision to take all of my cases to trial in 2011, here are the important lessons I learned as a plaintiff’s and estate trial attorney:

1.  Taking each of your cases to trial generally works in your client’s favor.

Defense attorneys (and their clients) will offer your clients pennies on the dollar for your clients’ harms and losses, until the defendant is fully convinced you will take a case to a jury of your clients’ peers. Even then, most defense attorneys (and their clients) require you to show up and begin trial (whether you get to voir dire, opening statement, or witness testimony) before offering a reasonable settlement amount. I think they do this because they know most attorneys are not willing to go to trial.

Even though I attempted to take every case to trial in 2011, only three cases actually went to trial, with one settling right before voir dire, and the other two going all the way to a verdict. All other cases I had in 2011 settled generally between 30 days out to the day before trial was to begin.

This is an important lesson I learned. It is very likely the only way you will obtain a fair settlement for your client is to be prepared to take your case to trial—and then do so if the defendant refuses to offer a reasonable settlement.

2.  Jury instructions and an elements outline are mandatory.

When I first became an attorney I remember hearing the better attorneys say you have to know the jury instructions and create an elements outline. I had no idea what they were talking about. I do now. Before taking a case, spend time looking over the jury instructions applicable to the case you’re considering taking on. What facts do you have that satisfy each of the jury instructions? Make an elements outline of each jury instruction, including a brief description of the facts you have (or need to have) to satisfy each instruction.

This takes some work early on, but it’s worth it. It helps you focus on what facts you have, and what facts you need to obtain in the discovery process. If you learn new and needed facts during discovery, be sure to update the elements outline.

3.  Hire experts early on.

Experts are expensive—but worth every penny. There were several cases we looked at taking in 2011, but had to decline after experts told us the potential case had no chance of winning. It’s always difficult to have a conversation with a potential client letting them know they don’t have a case, but better to do this early on before putting them through the hell of several years of litigation, and then having the same conversation.

 Experts are also great because they focus you in on the facts you need to obtain in the discovery process.

4.  Don’t be afraid of motions for summary judgment.

I used to be terrified of getting motions for summary judgment. I then changed the way I viewed these motions. First, I now expect that a motion for summary judgment will be filed in every case—and that takes the surprise and fear element out of the equation. Second, because I’ve done my homework with the jury instructions, created an elements outline, and hired experts early on, I am able to file an opposition that will likely be granted. It actually makes it fun (okay, not exactly fun) to put your opposition together.

Motions for summary judgment also alert you to the arguments and facts the defense attorney will use at trial. This gives you additional time to contemplate how you plan to respond to these arguments and facts at trial. We really should be welcoming motions for summary judgment. I’m not there yet—but hope to be sometime in 2012.

5.  Bring motions to compel during the discovery process.

Defense attorneys know that many (if not most) plaintiff’s attorneys will not take the substantial time required to bring motions to compel during the discovery process. Don’t make this mistake. In 2011 I brought motions to compel at the first opportunity. It not only let the defense attorney know I wasn’t going to allow him/her to play games, it made future responses from the defense attorney so much better.

6.  Spend less time objecting at deposition and more time on motions in limine.

I used to treat depositions as an “objection” exercise. Now I don’t do that (unless absolutely necessary). If the defense attorney is questioning my client and I’m uncomfortable with the questions, I simply mark these down in my notes and indicate in my notes that I need to bring a motion in limine to keep this evidence out at trial. In most cases, these uncomfortable questions are either (1) not relevant, (2) lack foundation, (3) are inadmissible hearsay, or (4) can be kept out as “unduly” prejudicial under California Evidence Code section 352.

When you don’t object, it’s amazing how much information a defense attorney is willing to provide in a deposition that you can identify for future motions in limine. Let the defense attorney “win” the deposition—You “win” when it matters at trial when the court grants your motion in limine and keeps the bad facts out.

Worst-case scenario—the Court denies your motion in limine. At least you have the first opportunity to address these bad facts in your opening statement, which will likely remove the sting the defense attorney is hoping for. 

7.  Practice, practice, practice for voir dire and opening statement.

My poor legal assistant. I make her listen to my voir dire questions and my opening statement, over and over again. I want her to poke holes in my questions and opening statement. I also ask anyone else who will listen about these issues. The more you practice the more comfortable you become. I don’t think many defense attorneys spend time doing this—and it shows.

8.  Send defense attorneys all trial documents 30 days out from trial.

Don’t worry about showing your hand too early. Defense attorneys are extremely busy with all the cases they’re required to handle, and likely won’t have time to spend much time with your trial documents in any event. Sending defense attorneys proposed joint exhibit lists, witness lists, a statement of the case, jury instructions, and your trial brief will surprise them. Most plaintiff’s attorneys don’t do it—you should.

9.  Don’t be nice to defense attorneys.

I’m tired of hearing that we need to be civil with the defense bar. I would agree with being nice if the defense bar felt the same way—but they don’t. It’s been my experience that defense attorneys will do anything required to make your client’s case go away. It still amazes me (although it shouldn’t) that defense attorneys are willing to demonize and attack individuals who have suffered substantial harms and losses due to the defendant’s actions. The purpose is to stress the plaintiff so he/she will take a small settlement or dismiss a case in its entirety.

In one of my recent cases, the defense attorney, in deposition, wanted to know how many times my client had sex with her husband in the year prior to his death, which was caused by the intoxicated defendant. Apparently this was to somehow show they did not have a good sex life, which leads to them somehow having a bad relationship, which in turn leads to somehow my client hating her husband and glad that he’s actually dead. I know it takes huge leaps of logic to get there, but defense attorneys don’t care about the logic, they care about stressing your client and making litigation more miserable than it already is.

In another case, a large defendant corporation that manufactures surgical mesh that destroyed my client’s vagina wanted to know in deposition if my client had attempted sexual intercourse after the mesh destroyed her vagina. My client answered “yes” she attempted to one time but could not due to the substantial pain she felt. The defense attorney then wanted to know whom she attempted to have sex with. I directed my client not to answer that question based on her right to privacy. The defense attorney threatened to bring a motion to compel. I told the defense attorney to bring the motion. I couldn’t wait for the court to hear this. Of course the defense attorney already heard two treating physicians of my client testify at deposition that it was very unlikely she would ever have pain-free intercourse for the rest of her life due to the substantial scarring. But that wasn’t enough, the defense attorney wanted to know whom she tried to have sex with. 

Finally, in a recent sexual harassment case, the defense attorney wanted to know how many sexual partners my client (a female) had during her lifetime. Then he wanted to know how many sexual partners in the past 10 years, then 5 years. I did not allow my client to answer these ridiculous, invasive, and despicable questions.

Am I still supposed to be nice to defense attorneys after this type of behavior? I say no. Let’s stop being nice to defense attorneys who choose to act inappropriately. 

10.  Never give up.

Never giving up may be the best trait of a trial attorney. No matter how bad things seem, don’t give up.  Everyone will tell you that your client won’t win or doesn’t have a case. You’ll hear this multiple times from the defense attorney; you’ll hear it from the mediator; you’ll hear it from a judge at the mandatory settlement conference; you’ll hear it from the doubt that creeps into your thought process when you’re attempting to fall asleep at night. Don’t give in to these doubts.

The good news is that most defense attorneys advise their clients to offer almost nothing before trial to settle the harms and losses they’ve created. These insignificant settlement amounts make it easy to go to trial—after all, you won’t do much worse if you get defensed at trial. That makes it easier for me to handle the doubt that I will inevitably feel going to trial. Chances are, if you don’t give up, the defendant will come up with a reasonable settlement amount a few weeks out from trial. But if they don’t, take them to trial. There’s no reason not to. 

Nobody Likes Motions to Compel:

 Plaintiff attorneys don’t like them because they aren’t paid an hourly fee to draft them; Defense attorneys don’t like them because they know how effective these motions are at slicing through their procedural gamesmanship; and Judges don’t like them because these motions take up valuable court time with juvenile spats between grown adults—lawyers—who simply can’t agree on anything.

 Motions to Compel are Necessary:

 But Motions to Compel are necessary and required for most cases. Filing a motion to compel immediately does three things:

 Put Defense Attorneys on Notice:

 First, it puts the defense attorney on notice that you are not like some plaintiff attorneys who simply take cases in bulk and settle for pennies on the dollar. These types of attorneys generally do not bring motions to compel and live with the responses and documents the defense attorney chooses to give them. But filing a well-drafted motion to compel informs your adversary that you are not like some plaintiff attorneys.

 Dictate the Relationship Between Yourself and the Defense Attorney:

 Second, by filing the motion to compel, you dictate the relationship between yourself and the defense attorney. You are establishing that you require the defense to provide valid responses, as well as all non-privileged documents, pertaining to the case. Ironically, it’s been my experience that the relationship with defense counsel generally improves after filing several motions to compel.

 Establish That You Believe in Your Client’s Case:

 Third, by filing the motion to compel, you establish that you believe in your client’s case and are willing to put your valuable (and finite) time and resources into helping your client’s cause. Attorneys that don’t believe in their client’s case are unlikely to bring motions to compel. And defense attorneys know that a plaintiff’s attorney is unlikely to take a case to trial if he/she does not believe in it. 

 The Outcome:

 In many cases, once you’ve filed the motion to compel, the defense attorney will call you a week or so before the motion hearing date, concede, and ask if you will withdraw the motion if they provide the answers or documents you are seeking.

 But in other cases, the defense will press its luck to see what the Court will say about your motion. In the end, it really doesn’t matter if you win or lose your motion. (I’ve lost some motions I was sure to win, and won others I was sure to lose. There’s no rhyme or reason to it). What matters is that you file the motion. Once filed, you establish that you are a good lawyer who requires proper responses from the defense—and, now, you’ll likely begin to get them. Try it out in your current or next case. See for yourself how well it works. 

Responding to written discovery can be overwhelming. In most cases defense attorneys send the bulk of written discovery early on in a lawsuit. This discovery generally includes Form Interrogatories, Special Interrogatories, Requests for Admission, and Demands to Produce. Due to the size and expansive scope of this discovery one can become overwhelmed by it and tend to put it off until the last minute. Of course putting it off leads to stress, resulting in either poorly drafted last-minute responses (leading to defense motions to compel), or asking defense counsel for an extension of time to respond (which means asking for a favor.)

A better option is to establish a workflow for responding to discovery before it is ever received. Then, once your workflow is in place, it is triggered and implemented when discovery is received.

The essential components of an effective workflow for responding to discovery includes the following:

Form Interrogatories:

Obtaining completed answers to likely Form Interrogatories from your client before you receive Form Interrogatories. I usually go over the Form Interrogatories with my client before I file the lawsuit, or shortly thereafter. In any event, I do it well before a defense attorney sends discovery.

 Once I complete the likely responses I simply save them in my file to include in future formal responses I will need to provide once Form Interrogatories are actually received.

Documents:

Obtaining all documents (and things) in your client’s possession pertaining to the lawsuit before the lawsuit is filed (or shortly thereafter). This is important. Don’t think you can get all these documents once you receive the Document Demand from opposing counsel. Get every document from your client, including privileged documents, before the lawsuit is filed.

 Once I have these documents, I scan them into my case management system under a file named “Documents”. I then break these documents down into natural categories, i.e., Communications, Special Damages, Medical Records, Medical Billing, FDA, Bank Account Info, Attorney-Client Communications, Photographs, 911 Transcripts, 911 Phone Calls, etc.  

Contact information:

Obtaining the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all individuals and entities that have (or may have) documents pertaining to the lawsuit before it is filed (or shortly thereafter). This is important. If your client does not have actual possession of responsive documents after making a good-faith effort to find them, then the Discovery Act requires your client to identify any individuals or entities that may have these documents.

 I enter all names, addresses, and phone numbers of these individuals and entities into my case management system indicating that they may have documents pertaining to my client’s case. It always surprises me how long this list of names gets when you actually think about all individuals and entities that may have documents pertaining to your client’s case.

Objections:

A list of likely objections to improper discovery requests. I’ve built this list up over time and find it very useful to review as I respond to each discovery request. I keep theses objections in a handy application, which I use when responding to discovery.

Self-imposed deadline:

Simply stated, respond in 48 hours or less.

And that’s it! You now have a feasible workflow for responding to discovery. In my next blog post I will introduce an application that significantly reduces the time it takes to respond to discovery—thus ensuring you make your 48-hour deadline.