Helping You in Safety and Cases
As a premise liability attorney, it is an uphill battle on cases where a client is severely injured on a commercial premise. Ninety-nine times out of 100, the owner of the premise is going to deny liability. Thus, a lawsuit is filed, then written discovery it taken, and the parties have to designate experts. Locating the right expert can be a challenge. First, the attorney must find experts who hold themselves out to have the knowledge to investigate and eventually testify to the hazardous condition on the premise that caused the client to be injured. Then, the attorney has to vet these experts, looking through CVs and hoping that the expert’s credentials show a knowledge base in the area that the attorney needs the expert to testify. Once an expert who may work is identified, meeting the expert is imperative. Even if an expert looks good on paper, the face-to-face meeting can make or break the professional relationship. If the expert comes off as a know-it-all, speaks in a manner that would go over the heads of jurors, or presents as too sophisticated for most jurors to related it, it could be detrimental to the case. On the other hand, if the expert appears anxious, unpolished, and unprofessional, that can be a turn-off to jurors as well. The happy medium is an expert who is knowledgeable about hazardous conditions on premises, has the career experience to justify his or her findings, and can present to a jury in a down-to-earth way that makes him or her likeable and believable.
Once the happy-medium expert has been discovered, the next step is to present the potential case to the expert for review. It has been my experience that the most credible experts will not sign off on a case just because you want to retain the expert. A good expert will evaluate the case and if he or she does not believe your case has merit, the expert will tell you. This upfront honesty from the expert can save you and your client much heartache down the road. Once the expert has agreed to provide expert testimony on the case, a deeper investigation begins. An expert should be knowledgeable of all applicable laws, statutes, codes and regulations that govern the area of premise liability that your case entails. The expert will then expound this knowledge to you so that you may draft better discovery requests and lock-in defense witnesses during depositions.
A written report is often necessary in premise liability cases, depending on what jurisdiction you practice. A good expert will be able to produce a written report that is thorough yet concise, simply laying out the facts and applying the law to show that the premise owner is liable for the injuries to your client. Additionally, a good expert will have the oral skills to testify at deposition and trial regarding his or her findings and not allow opposing counsel to rattle him or her. Remaining calm and collected is imperative, as an expert who reacts in a negative way to opposing counsel can sink your case.
Additionally, an expert should be up-front with his or her fees and bill you throughout the case. This helps to ensure that the attorney always knows where costs stand on a case in the event that settlement is a potential outcome at various stages.
The right expert can strengthen a case by educating you, opposing counsel, and a jury as to why the defendant is liable for damages to your client. Over time an attorney needs to become an expert on finding the “right” expert.
--J. Doe, Premise Liability Attorney