This invaluable CLE is a must-have for any auto accident lawyer
I was given an advanced copy of the newly released Trial Guides DVD series, “Mastering Motor Vehicle Cases.” This six disc, 10-hour DVD set is actually from a series of lectures from an advanced motor vehicle accident seminar that featured my friend Aaron DeShaw and Dr. Arthur Croft.
The DVDs are broken up as follows:
- Discs 1 and 2 are an overview of the medicine and the traumatically-induced injuries that people can suffer in motor vehicle crashes.
- Disc 3 focuses on auto accident reconstruction for lawyers.
- Disc 4 (my personal favorite) is an overview of the defense myths and common defense attacks that we see in nearly every single auto case.
- Disc 5 is an overview of MIST and Colossus and SIU (special investigation units).
- Finally, there’s a bonus disc that focuses on advanced biomedical and biomechanics.
As I watched the DVDs, I found myself wishing I had been exposed to these DVDs 20 years ago as a young lawyer. The ideas and information contained in them would have saved me countless hours. Here in one place is all the information any auto lawyer needs to learn all the essential basics of injury causation and accident crash reconstruction in motor vehicle accident cases.
But the best part about the series is how it goes in depth into exposing the defense lies and junk science that we see defense lawyers, biomechanics, and so-called “independent” medical examiners spread into courtrooms across the country every day. In my opinion, this information should be required and mandatory for any personal injury lawyer learning how to handle motor vehicle accident cases.
The series is not just for new lawyers. This is an advanced program that goes far beyond introductory concepts.
The lectures go in-depth into teaching lawyers how to prove your case and how to stop the bogus defense attacks on our clients, and the lies that defense IME doctors spread in courtrooms. Aaron DeShaw, Dr. Croft and Dr. Ivancic provide the scientific studies and medical journal articles so the lawyers who watch this series can start putting the information to work in their cases on day one.
As I told Aaron, I’ve probably now spoken at somewhere between 150 and 200 legal seminars in my own legal career on various aspects of trial and litigation of automobile accident cases, which means I’ve also sat through at least 200 legal seminars over the last several years. This is one of the very best.
There were many parts of this program that I’ve never seen discussed before. One notable example is the perverse control that the big auto insurance companies exercise over many of the body shops that our clients take their cars to for repairs. These repairs are manipulated in many different ways by the insurers to lower the total repair costs, often by thousands of dollars. The inaccurate repair bills are then exploited by defense lawyers and by claims adjusting programs such as Colossus, using MIST classifications, to lower settlement offers and values in thousands of automobile accident cases across the country. The repair estimates are also paraded in front of juries, and these juries are told by insurance company lawyers how improbable it is that someone can be seriously injured in a low-vehicle damage car wreck, even when the true cost of the vehicle damage was significantly higher. This fraud causes real harms to consumers and accident victims every single day.
I believe these practical tips will be invaluable for all lawyers litigating motor vehicle accidents. The sad and unfortunate reality is that any lawyer can sign up a car wreck case. Any lawyer can try to litigate such a case. And it’s very easy for a lawyer to settle a case short and for far less than the true settlement value.
But very few lawyers truly understand and possess the medical and legal sophistication required to litigate these cases effectively, so they can achieve the best possible settlement and trial results for their clients. So many of the ugly and dishonest defense arguments that we see perpetuated time and time again in auto accident cases are allowed to exist because of this vacuum of knowledge.
These defense manipulations cannot exist when lawyers have the knowledge required to identify them and to effectively rebut them. This series by Trial Guides on “Mastering Motor Vehicle Cases” does an outstanding job of giving lawyers these tools, so that we’re truly effective advocates on behalf of our clients.
This is a tremendous series and strongly recommended.
