California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law S.B. 447, which was sponsored by the Consumer Attorneys of California (an organization of 3,000 plaintiffs lawyers), and overturns the longstanding legislation to allow for pain and suffering damages to be...
Brendan Gaughan was interviewed for an article published in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly entitled "Surveillance video takes center stage in premises liability." The article examines the proliferation of video surveillance in commercial settings, the impact of this...
S.B. 447, which has been sponsored by the Consumer Attorneys of California (an organization of 3,000 plaintiffs' lawyers), seeks to overturn longstanding legislation to allow for pain and suffering damages to be compensated in a survival action. Under California law,...
In 2009, jury consultant David Ball and plaintiff’s attorney Don C. Keenan published a book, Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution (“Reptile Manual”). The concept of the “Reptile Theory” is based upon the reptilian or primal portion of the human...
Last month, I wrote about a Massachusetts personal injury case in which the Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments that addressed an issue concerning improper “reptile based” comments made by plaintiff’s counsel during closing argument. Before jury deliberations...
The Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) recently filed a Chapter 11 voluntary petition for bankruptcy amid an onslaught of claims against the organization related to historical acts of sexual abuse in its programs. According to a Debtor’s Informational Brief filed on its...
If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that COVID-19 has changed the way we live and work. With the virus continuing to spread throughout the country, our new way of life is appearing as if it will remain for the indefinite future. For practicing lawyers,...
We’ve all been there. Opening statements are over, the evidence is closed and you just killed it with your closing argument. Nothing left to do but relax, let your guard down a bit and listen to your opponent’s closing argument. Right? Wrong!!! While you may be...