David Ball on Damages: A Plaintiff's Attorney's Guide for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases - Softcover

Ball, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556817177 ISBN 13: 9781556817175

Publisher: Natl Inst for Trial Advocacy, 2001

Synopsis

Based on extensive research as well as the experience of lawyers and trial consultants across the country, David Ball on Damages: A Plaintiff’s Attorney’s Guide for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases supplies step-by-step practical guidance for attorneys seeking money for their clients. Popular author David Ball begins with the four basic principles of damages that shape juror decision making about money. He examines juror motivations for awarding money, and why some jurors are reluctant to award compensation, especially for intangible damages. The book explores intangible damages in detail, which Ball claims are hard to get because jurors do not always understand what purpose the money can serve. Ball examines going to trial with or without voir dire and discusses specific strategies to enhance damages cases for voir dire, opening, direct and cross-examination, and closing. The appendices provide methods, strategies, and structures for voir dire and opening that are designed to work with the damages strategies described in the book.

Ball stresses that a punitive damages campaign is rarely effective unless you pursue it on a variety of fronts throughout trial, and he demonstrates that even the best damages case can be undermined if jurors think you have the wrong motives. While the book focuses on strategies and techniques for plaintiff’s lawyers, any defense attorney would also benefit from Ball’s instruction in this book.

About this title

About the Author

David Ball, PhD., a nationally known jury consultant and trial skills trainer, is a leading authority on adapting audience persuasion techniques from theater and film to in-court use. Trained in communications, theater, and film, his credits as a director, producer, and playwright include the Guthrie Theater, Broadway and off-Broadway, Carnegie Mellon University, and Duke University, where he chaired Drama.

He has taught law students at Duke, the universities of North Carolina, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh, and Campbell University as Adjunct Professor of Law. He writes for a variety of law publications, and his NITA book Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials is a national best-seller.

Edition details

• Publisher: Natl Inst for Trial Advocacy
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1556817177
• ISBN 13: 9781556817175
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 180