How to Maximize
Efficiency and Settlements
in Small Cases
While the costs of
processing small cases continue to rise, insurers and jurors are constantly
reducing settlements and awards. This puts intense pressure directly on the
shoulders of personal injury attorneys. This book helps to relieve some of
that pressure. It delivers guidelines, techniques, checklists, and forms to
help you screen, document, negotiate, and settle or litigate your smaller
cases. It also includes more than 100 custom-drafted checklists and forms to
help reduce your time and costs. Maximizing
Damages in Small Personal Injury Cases
will teach you dozens of proven techniques for obtaining top dollar in small
cases. For example:
Settlement
-
14 negotiating techniques that really work. §445
-
Insurance carrier negotiating tactics and how
to deal with them. §450
-
How to minimize the impact of independent
medical examinations. §458.4
-
18 steps to evaluation of a small personal
injury case. §466
-
16 mediation preparation tips guaranteed to
lead to settlement. §474.1
-
How to deal with unreasonable insurance
adjusters and carriers. §490.2
Commencing
suit
-
9 major case weaknesses to consider before filing
suit. §512
-
14 defense tactics you need to know about
before filing. §513
-
How to deal with nominal property damage
impacts. §512.7
-
23 tips on how to deal with large chain store
cases. §131.3
-
Strategies for maximum discovery at minimal
cost. §522
Trial
-
The 30 most common objections in small-case trials.
§664.1
-
Techniques to avoid in openings and closings.
§643, 684
-
Topics that are prohibited in closing
argument and how to get around them. §682
-
37 trial tips from jurors. §685
In
addition to the practical advice and tactics, over a hundred forms and
checklists will help save you time on your small cases. Most published
forms are overkill for small cases, but these short and simple forms will
save time and dollars, both of which are limited in smaller matters.
The custom-drafted pattern-specific forms are specifically tailored for
small cases: liability checklists, interrogatories, deposition checklists,
adjuster letters, motions, trial preparation checklists, and even public
relations letters. Some of the forms and checklists include:
Screening
-
11 liability
checklists for common small non-auto cases: falls, falling objects,
animal attacks, dram shop, inadequate security, intentional torts,
medical negligence, pharmacy negligence, and school negligence. §131
-
Minimize the
time-consuming task of dealing with clients’ questions and concerns by
distributing the author’s original 20-page information booklet for
small-case clients. §251
Investigation
-
Checklist of 13 items
to tell the new small-case client before he or she comes to the first
meeting. §202
-
A handy three-page
list of abbreviations and symbols commonly found in medical records.
§344.1
-
Simple, direct letters
to doctors that request only the essential information. §340
-
A letter to the
employer requesting lost wage data that avoids many of the common
information shortfalls. §352
Negotiation
-
Small-case negotiation
checklist. §410
-
Model paragraphs for
demand letters. §421
-
Pattern written
responses to unsatisfactory settlement offers for specific types of
small cases. §463
Discovery
-
Pattern responses for
abusive deposition tactics. §521
-
Litigation
cost-containment checklist. §511.3
-
Motion for protective
order from extensive interrogatories. §521.1
-
Pattern language for
handling abusive deposition tactics. §521.4
-
Checklist of maximum
discovery techniques for minimal cost and time. §522
-
Model interrogatories,
deposition checklists, and requests for admissions for the key types of
small cases. §§523-26
-
Timetable and
accompanying task checklist for avoiding stale files. §372
Litigation
-
Checklist for building
small-case trial notebooks. §621
-
Sample direct
examinations of plaintiff’s physician, occurrence witness,
before-and-after witness, and employer or co-worker. §§653-56
-
Foundation checklists
for medical charts and models, medical and business records, and maps
and charts. §674
The book
comes with a free CD-ROM containing searchable full-text of the book as well
as all the forms from the book, which can be accessed and modified with your
preferred word processing program.
Updated annually. ISBN 0-938065-55-6 Book price: $99.00
C7 |
| Reviews
"This book is almost a Do-It-Yourself Kit for personal injury
cases, and is the latest example of the superb job that James Publishing is doing in
providing lawyers with one-stop practice aids. It may just influence lawyers who
usually farm out their P.I. work to consider keeping them doggies on the ranch."
—Excerpted from Lawyers Weekly USA
"Maximizing Damages in Small Personal Injury
Cases is easily the most useful book I have in my law library. It is worth many times
more than the price your charged."
—R. Niesen, Waunakee, WI
"If I was told I could keep only one legal
publication, this would be it."
—D. Polow, Hyde Park, VT |
