Przemek Lubecki · Dan Ambrose
Winning the “Almost Impossible” Trip & Fall Trial
January 3, 2024 6:30 PM||TLU n Demand
SMG, now ASM Global, the largest commercial property management company in the world, operates the Superdome. In September 2018, Bonnie Rodriguez and her husband, Milton, were at the Superdome for the Saints season opener against Tampa Bay. As Bonnie stepped onto an escalator, she fell back on Milton, causing her and her husband to both fall down the escalator. Bonnie’s medical records quote her telling EMTs at the scene that she “started to lose consciousness and fell backwards” and ER personnel that “she doesn’t know what happened”. Bonnie was diagnosed with syncope (temporary loss of consciousness) and discharged. She later recalled an SMG employee high-fived her as she got on the escalator, and that it was this high-five which caused her to fall. The fall aggravated chronic back pain. Bonnie underwent a microdiscectomy 22 months after the fall and resolved.
Jury returned a verdict which specifically found Bonnie did not experience loss of consciousness or syncope! It found her 25% at fault and allowed 80K in specials and 250K in general damages in addition to 15K for her husband’s injuries.
Teaching points:
- Connection with the jury is everything. My efforts over the last year to develop the skills of connection and how deliberate practice shaped trial prep and trial.
- The importance of making the jury a witness to the client’s story. -How to “create space” on opening.
- Proper vs. Improper framework for cross-exam of the defense medical expert.
- The creative/fun part of putting new “skills” pieces into trial.
- Meeting the client and developing trust to be able to tell the client’s story credibly.
- Focus groups and how they informed voir dire, opening and closing.
- The power of visuals.
- Reversing defenses on closing.
- The challenge of a large group voir dire. Connecting with a 45-person venire.
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