Shortly after I joined Ziff Law, Jim Reed, the firm’s managing partner (and frequent poster on this blog,) told me to sign myself up for the two-week National Session on Building Trial Skills offered by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).  “And by the way,” he remarked, “the program is located just outside Boulder, Colorado.”

‘Nuff said.  As a former resident of Denver and Missoula, Montana, I am a true lover of the mountains and was ecstatic about the chance to spend some time savoring mountain life.  Oh, NITA looked pretty cool as well.

I had no idea at the time that I was about to embark upon a career changing — if not life changing — voyage.  Seriously.  Two weeks at NITA equaled, for me and I suspect most of my classmates, at least five years of real world trial experience.  Unfortunately, as most practitioners recognize, cases are not tried nearly as often today as they were fifty years ago.  Increased pressures to settle matters quickly or engage in Alternative Dispute Resolution — such as mediation or arbitration — has created a professional atmosphere in which young attorneys wait years or even decades before ever getting a chance to see a case through to verdict.  (The one notable exception is in the area of criminal law, where cases are tried on a somewhat more frequent basis.)  (Watch an interview with The Honorable Jim R. Carrigan, one if NITA’s founders.)   

I was fortunate to have tried a number of cases as a prosecutor before participating in NITA’s National Session.  However, the skills and confidence I gained from NITA are unparalleled.  I had an opportunity to test myself against some of the best up-and-coming attorneys in the country — and even the world!  The faculty was comprised of seasoned practioners with practical, focused advice on how to become the very best trial lawyer possible, and the lecturers offered insight into cutting edge legal trends and technology emerging from all ends of the globe.  (Read NITA’s Blog.)   Read the rest…

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“A stitch in time saves nine.” I never really understood this proverb when I was growing up, though I certainly heard my father use it on more than one occasion as he cautioned me to take my time before embarking on a new endeavor.

As a personal injury attorney in the Elmira/Corning, New York area, I have now come to understand the true wisdom behind those words, especially when it comes to automobile maintenance. Accidents certainly do happen, but general awareness of basic automobile maintenance can go a long way toward preventing personal injuries and saving lives. Although I do not profess to be an expert mechanic in any way, I have decided to post basic auto tips periodically this summer to inform – or more likely, remind – readers of simple steps you can take to protect your families from injuries sustained in automobile accidents.To many people summer is synonymous with road trips and family vacation, and I hope my tips will help readers stay safe when hitting the roads.

Tip #1 – Check your Tires

Today is my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. My father, ever the romantic, decided to take my mother to the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, New York for a little getaway. Alas, as my parents pulled out of Horseheads to begin their journey, they got a flat tire. Luckily neither was injured and my dad had the tools to change the tire, though they may have been “spared” (I couldn’t resist) a short delay if only my dad had followed his own advice and checked car before getting on the road.

Tires are crucial to vehicle’s handling, traction, and stability, and can cause an automobile to loose alignment if they are not in proper working order. In general, you should check each of tire periodically, or about once a month.

When checking your tires, first look for obvious defects and damage, and visit a professional if anything looks seriously amiss.

It is very wise to carry a tire gauge in your automobile at all times, and you should check the pressure in each of your tires every time you check them. Tire pressure changes due to a variety of factors, though they are most commonly affected by changes in weather or air temperature. A decrease in air temperature often causes a loss in tire pressure, while an increase in air temperature often causes a gain.

Each vehicle has its own recommended air pressure, and information about it can likely be found in your vehicle’s owners manual. Although a tire’s maximum pressure is listed on its in fine print, you should never use max pressure as a guide when filling your tires because over-inflation allows tires to puncture more easily and can create instability for your automobile.

As an avid bicycle rider, I realize the importance of checking the pressure of my bike’s tires before every ride I take to avoid an accident (and make the ride more enjoyable!) Although checking a vehicle’s tires before every trip may be a bit overly onerous, it is something all of us could do a bit more frequently in order to stay safe.

Thanks for reading,

Christina Bruner Sonsire

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Expert Witnesses are a necessary part of the legal profession. In certain cases, such as medical malpractice, experts are an absolute necessity. In other cases they are sometimes a luxury. The use of experts by defense attorneys seems to be on the rise, and so Plaintiff’s attorneys feel pressured to respond in kind. What some attorneys fail to consider, however, is that the expert they hire will play a HUGE part in whether they are successful.

Because of the increased use of experts referenced above, more and more individuals are looking to get into the expert witness game. A fancy website, a polished resume, and paying to be put on an expert witness list on a few websites is all that is required for someone to appear to be a reputable expert. But that doesn’t mean they will serve your needs in court.

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In a world seemingly dominated by all-encompassing HIPAA protections (i.e. the dozens of forms you are asked to sign when treated in the hospital) and daunting HIPAA fears (i.e. your boss’s warning that you cannot repeat, recite nor should you even remember information you learn from HIPAA sensitive documents while on the job,) the question inevitably arises: What can I do if I feel my so-called “HIPAA rights” are violated?

Proper analysis of that inquiry requires a basic understanding of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.  (A complete copy of the HIPAA statute can be found at http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/pl104191.htm.)   Read the rest…

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Alternative dispute resolution (or ADR for short) is being increasingly pushed by the judiciary and insurance companies involved in civil litigation.  The Federal courts even have pilot programs where ADR is mandated before a case can proceed to trial.  The question for the personal injury attorney and client is whether ADR is a good thing.

There are three different methods of ADR presently in use in New York.  They are mediation, arbitration and summary jury trials.  Mediation and arbitration are by far the two most common, but summary jury trials are also increasing in frequency.  Mediation is a process by which all parties agree to meet with a mediator.  The mediator does not have authority to determine any issues, but merely tries to foster agreement among the parties and broker a settlement.  The mediator has no interest in the outcome of the case, and acts as a neutral third party who looks at the potential evidence with the clear eye of someone not personally involved in the litigation.  A skilled mediator can help each side to see their potential problem areas, and arrive at a reasonable settlement figure in light of the strengths and weaknesses of their case.  If at the end of the mediation no agreement is reached, the case proceeds to trial.

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For my fellow NY accident attorney readers, we all know that answering the defense lawyer’s Demand for Bill of Particulars is a necessary evil.  Necessary because we are required to do it and evil because a trial judge will generally limit your proof at trial to your answers to the defendant’s demand.  Accordingly, for those questions you are required to answer, it is important that your answers be as complete as possible.  However, because a BOP Response is a pleading and responses are admissible at trial, you don’t want to answer any more questions than are legally required.  That’s where this practice tip comes in.  My advice is that you review the BOP demands carefully and ONLY answer those BOP demands that are appropriate and OBJECT to any BOP demands that are inappropriate.

I have noticed a recent trend with defense lawyers asking more and more BOP questions that are clearly objectionable.

I think alot of this may be due to the fact that some plaintiff’s lawyers haven’t bothered to read CPLR §3043 which specifies just 9 areas of inquiry in a NY personal injury action.  That’s right, just 9 areas of inquiry.  So the next time you get a BOP Demand that goes outside these 9 areas of inquiry, you can reply:  Improper Demand, beyond the scope of CPLR §3043.

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E-mail can be a tremendous tool for the busy trial lawyer trying to stay in touch with his clients and office.  In fact, I LOVE E-mail and I frankly advise new clients that the best way to keep in touch with me is via E-mail for two reasons:  (1)  E-mail is easy to file in our case management software so I always have ALL the details of the E-mail to refer to as the case progresses, and (2) I respond more quickly to E-mails than I do to the phone (that’s probably a personal quirk of mine but I find myself always turning to my E-mail Inbox first and my Voicemail second– my thinking is that since I have this quirk, it’s better to embrace it and use E-mail than to fight it!  :-) 

But E-mail can also be VERY dangerous if not carefully used.  A billion dollar oooppppsss by an attorney illustrates the point.  A lawyer for the drug company giant, Eli Lilly & Co., was working on a billion dollar drug case.  This lawyer had two people named “Berenson” in her Outlook Contacts:  one Berenson was co-counsel in the case and the other Berenson was a New York Times reporter. 

By now you are probably guessing what happened with a “confidential” E-mail that the lawyer was mailing to her co-counsel regarding a “confidential settlement” that they were working on in the case….. Yup, it got emailed to the Times reporter rather than to her co-counsel.  Can you say OOOOPPPPSSSS?

The moral of the story is a simple one:  Always, always, always check to make sure that the TO: address in your E-mail is the correct person.  For those of you who use Outlook, you may want to consider turning off the Auto-Complete function that automatically inserts an E-mail address as you type the first few characters of the E-mail address.  Some people also configure a default Delayed Sending feature in their E-mail program so that ALL emails are automatically delayed a certain period of time– this permits you to delete an E-mail IF you discover your mistake before the E-mail sending time.

The bottom line is Be Careful and Practice Safe Computing.  The computer CAN be our best friend or our worst enemy…..

Thanks for reading,

Thanks, Jim
_________________________________________
James B. Reed, Esq.
Personal Injury & Malpractice Attorney
Ziff, Weiermiller, Hayden & Mustico, LLP
303 William St., Elmira, NY 14902
Tel. (607) 733-8866  Fax. (607) 732-6062
Toll Free 1-800-943-3529
mailto:jreed@zifflaw.com     http://www.zifflaw.com 

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Any lawyer who actually tries accident, injury or malpractice cases knows that one of the biggest pains in the neck is subpoenaing all the necessary witnesses for trial. 

One recent change under NY law now permits a subpoena for a Party (or a person under the Party’s control) to be subpoenaed by serving the Subpoena on the Party’s Attorney rather than having to serve it on the actual witness.

 Here are my notes on the new NY law on this issue:

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