Take advantage of my 20+ years of experience with alcohol-test cases
as a trial attorney, legal writer and consultant on the subject, and as
a teacher of trial attorneys dealing with these specific problems. Don't
take a chance on overlooking critical TEST issues, or missing important
facts in HOSPITAL, LABORATORY and POLICE REPORTS. Use my experience to
find and understand the triable issues, to help you prepare your own experts
for depositions and trial, and to help you prepare for the EFFECTIVE cross
of opposing experts.
Initial Review of Applicable Documents With Written Report (and/or
Phone Consultation)
I will review the police reports, hospital and laboratory reports,
statements of witnesses, and reports and opinions of expert witnesses—to
identify hidden issues, to find inconsistencies, to explain (if present)
the significance of frequently overlooked or misunderstood facts, to
suggest other discoverable materials needed, and to point out unanticipated
issues likely to arise.
[Attorneys: in alcohol-test cases, never assume that the pre-trial
opinion(s) you get in a written report are the only opinions, or the
identical opinions, you will encounter from that same witness at TRIAL-they
are not. This is true of your own and opposing experts.]
Compare History (Eating & Drinking) With Test Values Reported
I can evaluate for you and compare reported eating and drinking over
time with reported alcohol test values, using all of the factors which
need to be considered (which most who perform such calculations do not),
and I can determine for you the range of BAC values consistent with
drink consumption—matters which go directly to the credibility
of lay and expert witnesses. [NOTE: the so-called "drink chart"
cards and wheels are inadequate to do this properly; many contain errors
in the mathematics factors used (and hidden in them); they oversimplify;
none properly consider individual differences and the range of values
consistent with a given test value.]
Checklists and Suggestions For Further Needed Discovery
What other facts and documents do you need to locate through
available discovery? I can help with that. Should you take depositions,
of whom, for what purposes? Is your own expert prepared properly to
provide a court-required written opinion, and for his/her deposition?
These are matters I can help you with.
[Issues overlooked and not discussed with an expert before testimony
is recorded can "gut" the effectiveness of the opinions
offered at trial or on motions to exclude.]
Further Review: Evaluation of Newly Discovered Facts
Once retained, if requested, I will help you review and evaluate
newly discovery documents and facts as they are obtained-to help you
speedily and accurately understand the significance of the complex documents
or testimony obtained, and to provide comments and suggestions for you
and your expert.
[New discovery (not pursued earlier) can open Pandora's box—introducing
a lot of new information that might have lain undiscovered until trial,
to your detriment. Further discovery can also open new, unanticipated
avenues of attack.]
Assistance with Selection of Expert(s) If Needed
Once retained I am available, if asked, to help in the selection
of an appropriate expert—which choice will vary depending on the
evidence in your case, how the test samples in question were obtained,
where they were tested, whether injuries or death were involved, and,
of course, availability. If you have certain experts already retained,
I can help you with their preparation for depositions and trial (see
below, next heading).
[A major consultation goal: helping you to increase the EFFECTIVENESS
of your own witness(es) at every stage of the litigation.]
Unavoidable Experts-"Thrust Upon Us" By The Case
In many cases, experts are thrust upon us because of their direct
involvement in the case—we did not choose them, but they will
be involved. (They collected the sample, or treated the patient,
or performed the autopsy, or performed the laboratory test, and so on.)
Often they have sobriety opinions already entered in the record. Whether
you are going to offer these witnesses yourself, or challenge their
opinions in behalf of your client, how effectively those "unavoidable"
witnesses will testify for you, or be successfully attacked by you,
will depend on how well you are prepared for their direct and
cross. I can help you with that.
Anticipating Lines of Inquiry (Depositions & Trials)
The testimonial experts we hire by choice, and those thrust
upon us by the case itself, are notoriously poor—not being lawyers—at
anticipating all the lines of inquiry the opposing attorney is
likely to pursue. ("I didn't realize they would even get into
that!"— a common phrase heard from experts after-the-fact-as
the strong case you thought you had goes trickling down the drain.)
Few testimonial experts, even experienced experts, see "the big
picture"—few adequately alert and educate attorneys beforehand
to the "trouble" areas later encountered on depositions or
at trial. Again, I can help you here.
Assistance With Preparation for Direct & Cross of Experts
Once retained, and no matter which side of the case you are on,
I can help you to prepare for the effective direct examination
of your own expert witness (or witnesses) and for the effective
cross-examination of opposing experts—at depositions or at trial—on
the alcohol-test issues, and those related to the condition of the individual
in question. The oversights, omissions, side-stepping, avoidance, gross
oversimplifications and deliberate obfuscation indulged in by some witnesses
in this field-even by some witnesses with impressive credentials—is
legion! Helping you to prepare your own experts, and to be ready to
effectively cross opposing experts, is one of the most important consultation
services I can perform for attorneys.
[Alcohol-test cases can be won or lost on whether the testimony
of the experts is believed or rejected at trial, and in some cases,
on whether the offered opinions are ruled admissible or inadmissible
pre-trial. Be ready!]
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