Contents Volume 38, Number 7, JULY 2011
Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Ehrlich
Associate Editors Joseph Barrett, Mary Bennett, Christa Haggai-Ramey, Joan Kessler, James Kristy, Beverly Pine, Norman Pine, Rahul Ravipudi, Linda Rice, Ibiere Seck, Geraldine Weiss
Editors-in-Chief Emeriti Kevin Meenan, William Daniels, Steven Stevens, Christine Spagnoli, Thomas Stolpman
Managing Editor Cindy Cantu
cindy@caala.org
Copy Editor Eileen Goss
Publisher Richard Neubauer
Art Director David Knopf
Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles President Philip Michels
Treasurer Joseph Barrett
President-Elect Michael Alder
First Vice President Lisa Maki
Second Vice President Geoffrey Wells
Secretary David Ring
Immediate Past President Garo Mardirossian
Executive Director Stuart Zanville
Board of Governors Mike Arias, Michael Armitage, Todd Bloomfield, John Blumberg, Michael Cohen, Scott Corwin, Carl Douglas, Ricardo Echeverria, Jeffrey Ehrlich, Mayra Fornos, Maryann Gallagher, Victor George, Steve Goldberg, Christa Haggai- Ramey, Genie Harrison, Steven Heimberg, Elizabeth Hernandez, David Hoffman, Arash Homampour, Neville Johnson, William Karns, James Kristy, Lawrence Lallande, Scott Marks, Shawn McCann, Jill McDonell, Gretchen Nelson, William Newkirk, Minh Nguyen, Thomas Peters, Linda Fermoyle Rice, David Rosen, Jeffrey Rudman, Ibiere Seck, Adam Shea, Carney Shegerian, Douglas Silverstein, Steven Stevens, Armen Tashjian, Geraldine Weiss, Jeff Westerman, Ronnivashti Whitehead, Andrew Wright, Daniel Zohar
Orange County Trial Lawyers Association
President Yoshiaki Kubota
President-Elect Douglas Schroeder
First Vice President Scott Cooper
Second Vice President Casey Johnson
Third Vice President Ted Wacker
Secretary Vincent Howard
Treasurer H. Shaina Colover
Parliamentarian Geraldine Ly
Immediate Past President Anne Andrews
Executive Director Janet Thornton
Board of Directors Melinda Bell, Gregory Brown, Brent Caldwell, Jonathan Dwork, Jerry Gans, Robert Gibson, Cynthia Craig, Kevin Liebeck, B. James Pantone, Christopher Purcell, Solange Ritchie, Sarah Serpa, Adina Stern, Kimberly Valentine, Dieter Zacher
Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, California.
Copyright © 2011 by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
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Contents Features:
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Past medical expenses in a medical-malpractice case The collateral source rule doesn’t apply so you must consider carefully whether or not to introduce the past medical expenses. William H. Newkirk
Combating the “anything is possible” expert Speculative possibility does not become admissible evidence merely because it comes out of the mouth of a defense expert. Alan Van Gelder
Future economic damages – when do you need an expert? Take the time to integrate substantial evidence of the client’s injuries with the testimony of your experts. Margaret P. Stevens
Don’t designate an “inexpert” expert The most common errors made in expert-witness designation, and how to avoid them. Brian D. Chase
Using claims-adjusting experts in bad-faith cases Insurers are smarter today and their files don’t reveal the obvious abuses that they did in the past. Michael L. Cohen & Heather M. McKeon
Chronic pain: Effectively presenting it to a jury Communicating the devastating impact of chronic pain on your client’s life takes more than a stack of medical records. Joseph M. Barrett
Obstacles to your success on appeal Attorneys must bypass several well-established roadblocks before seeking a reversal of judgment. Excerpted from the author’s new book, An Appeal to Reason. Donna Bader
Pain: 101 Where does it hurt? The author suggests how to make chronic pain understandable and compensable. John F. Denove
Punitive damages post Roby v. McKesson The author reviews new cases that provide a roadmap to proving reprehensibility. Carolin K. Shining
Working with a novice expert witness A novice expert can be harder for the defense to impeach, but you need to prepare that witness more carefully both for deposition and trial. Roger M. Rosen
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