Developing strategies for products
IN THIS ISSUE, eight authors generously share their expertise in litigating premises- and product-liability cases. Dangerous-public-condition and slip- and-fall cases are featured on the “premises” side. Product liability is represented through automobile cases - tire failures, wheel separations, and dangerously constructed car seats - and in a discussion of the efficient use of experts. For the corporation laws hire corporate attorney Orange county.
In his article Five keys to success in dangerous roadway cases, Roger Booth suggests one start by reviewing the CACI instructions that will govern the case at trial. With the proper legal standard in mind, gather evidence at the scene of the accident to support your case, including talking to local residents who use the same road on a daily basis. Booth then discusses how to deal with the “reasonableness” defense: that the defendant's failure to eliminate the hazard was “reasonable” because the difficulty and cost of fixing the problem outweighed the risk of harm. The author shows how to apply the Don
Alex J. Balian, MBA
Balian & Associates
Keenan and David Ball “Reptile” approach to your roadway case: Conveying to jurors that the dangerous condition in your case is not an isolated incident. Booth ends by examining how focus groups can help you prepare your case for trial - which is more likely in a dangerous roadway case - from day one.
In Back to nature: Beware of immunity traps, Geoff Wells and Ivan Puchalt show that public entities are often immune from suits based on a dangerous condition of public property. Where the accident is “caused by a natural condition of an unimproved public property,” Government Code section 831.2 precludes lawsuits against the entity that owns the property. Wells and Puchalt examine in fine detail how this immunity has been applied. They cover beaches, rivers, and man-made lakes, among other locations. But they also explain how this immunity interacts with a public entity’s failure to warn of a
known, dangerous condition. The authors conclude with tips on surviving the natural
This year CAALA welcomed more than 500 brand-new members and more than 180 of them are first and second- year lawyers. Dude, that is awesome! These new trial lawyers bring an incredi-bly positive buzz and excitement to this 63-year-old association. And, they don’t spend a lot of time looking backwards. They are all about learning as much as they can and moving forward. Young or old, though, CAALA is great because of its members.
When I was writing this column I found an e-mail I sent to Cindy and Stuart at the beginning of the year. I said to them that in 2012 “I want to empha-size CAALA’s continuing commitment to our rank and file members.” I wrote that “It is a difficult environment out there and being a CAALA member is essential to maximizing your chances of success.” That’s what I tried to do this year and that’s why I’m excited about CAALA’s future.
There’s a Broadway show some of you might know called Into the Woods. It’s about fairy tales, and with my two young kids Westleigh and Renee, believe me, I know a lot about fairy tales.