A Dozen Thoughts On Presenting Damages To Juries by John W. Debelius, III
John W. Debelius, III, Associate Judge, Montgomery County Circuit Court, 6th Judicial Circuit. His distinguished legal career spans more than 20 years of handling cases in private practice including personal injury, real estate, domestic relations and criminal defense. A
noted lecturer, Judge Debelius has taught numerous legal seminars and served as a leader in several legal organizations, including the American State Bar Association, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Maryland Trial lawyers Association and the Montgomery County Bar Association. Judge Debelius is an active volunteer and has served such worthy organizations as the Lord’s Table Soup Kitchen, the Gaithersburg Community Advisory Board on Homelessness, the Wells-Robertson House, Habitat for Humanity, Boy Scouts of America and the Lions Club. Photo by Brooks Glogau Photographers.
Montgomery County has a reputation for being a tough jurisdiction for tort plaintiffs. This reputation rests upon a solid foundation of dashed hopes and dis- appointed lawyers. Yet, every once in a while, even as dire predictions fill the air, a plaintiff’s attorney will pick up the ham- mer and ring the bell. How? Is it random chance, or does some pattern of strategy or presentation emerge? Are there REC- OGNIZABLE TACTICS [things] successful attorneys USE [do] which dis- tinguish their results from those of their less fortunate colleagues? Although chance occasionally rules the day, there is no question that strategy and presenta- tion play a major role. Chance is not within my area of expertise, but I have a few observations about strategy and pre-
sentation.
These thoughts are offered to help at- torneys more effectively present damage evidence to skeptical OR [and] resistant juries. With the dis- claimer that neither my good or bad days in the courtroom as an attorney, nor my four years on the Circuit Court bench, have given me a crystal ball, some corre- lations can be identified. The dozen suggestions below are really aimed at the garden variety Circuit Court automobile collision, slip and fall, and miscellaneous injury litigation — too big to file in Dis- trict Court, but too small to invest your personal fortune in.
1. Don’t surprise the judge. Maybe you want to use demonstrative evidence in
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opening, or maybe you anticipate an un- usual issue coming up at trial. Give the judge a heads up. You may spare your- self an objection, or at least have an idea of how it will be ruled on when it is made. A judge who has had a chance to think about it will be more likely to al- low the unusual approach or request than one who is blindsided by it. Don’t be afraid to show your cards.
2. Don’t tell the jury; show them. If the mechanism that injured your client is small enough to bring into court, bring it — the front fork of a bicycle, with- out lock washers, that caused your client’s fall; the unbolted meter lid that flipped, allowing your client’s leg to descend into the hole; the negligently installed ceiling fan that fell on your client’s head. Juries want to put their hands on something other than 50 pages of medical bills. If they can see the size and feel the weight of the un- bolted meter lid and flip it on its iron collar, they will almost feel their own legs falling into it. If it’s too big to bring in, document it with good’COLOR photographs, big enough to see.
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3. Sources of evidence — think outside the box. The car may have been fixed or sold for salvage. Did your client’s insurance company take photos? Who bought the car? Where did they take haul it? Did the collision tie up traf- fic? Maybe the local newspaper took pictures. Maybe a volunteer fireman did. Do you have the’FIRE OR PO- LICE [run]’report to know who responded? Who made the meter lid? Maybe you can contact the manufac- turer or a distributor to buy one. What about the diagnostic films? Don’t settle for a verbal description. Have your doctor put the film in the view box and mark it up with a special pen. The
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