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Shaw Chiropractic You Have Got to Believe ! ! ! ! Low speed automobile collision cases are among the most difficult for the plaintiff attorney to bring to trial. Jurors have been influenced by well constructed media campaigns to believe that injuries from low speed collisions are nearly impossible. They have been trained to believe that if there is no property damage then the injuries claimed by the plaintiff are fraudulent or magnified. Defense positions are also well rooted. Defense attorneys and adjusters have been brainwashed by their employers to believe the party line. They have been hand fed incomplete and unscientific literature which supports the argument they need to make in court. They believe it so deeply that it is nearly impossible for a plaintiff attorney to negotiate a fair and just settlement. Many plaintiff attorneys have listened to adjusters and defense council for so long that they are starting to believe the disinformation. My father always told me that if a salesman is to be successful he must believe in his product. The question I have for you is AAre you sold on your product?@. If you=re not, you need to become familiar with the scientific literature. Why? Because the literature is overwhelmingly supportive of your client=s injuries. Once you are convinced that your client has really sustained significant damages you are in a position to become a legal crusader for your client. This concept of being a legal crusader was the common theme at the CTLA seminar this past October. The speakers were eloquent and made the point that attorneys must know the material and then try the low velocity cases with a vengeance. One speaker challenged the audience to ATry the cases as if the injuries were sustained by your children@ . Then and only then would your clients be fairly compensated for their injuries. Lawyers, like doctors, need hard facts to establish an opinion. We need to support our beliefs and positions based upon a competent body of knowledge. Belief does not come easy for us. So where does a lawyer go to strengthen his knowledge base for low velocity collision injury causation? Let me make some suggestions. Locally, the CTLA puts on programs for the plaintiff attorney which are excellent. I know what you=re thinking. You are a seasoned attorney with abundant experience. What could you possibly learn? You believe that the CTLA seminars are really designed for new attorneys. If that is true perhaps you can explain to me why I regularly see the veterans of the plaintiff bar attending these seminars. I always see the same faces. Sometimes they are teaching and other times attending but they are always there. I believe that they have learned what I have experienced. No matter how basic a program is there is always at least one pearl which you can take home. At the very least you can network with your peers and see what=s working for them. Nationally, there are programs offered by ATLA as well as the Bar associations of other states. National concerns and the concerns of other states do have relevance to Connecticut. Again, you need to look for the pearls. There are private programs like those offered by the National Business Institute and the American Academy which provide programs custom tailored to topics of interest. I recently spoke at the ATrying the Soft Tissue Injury Case in Connecticut@ program which included a mock trial demonstration by two of Connecticut=s leading plaintiff and defense attorneys. Medical programs designed for physicians and attorneys are an excellent place to learn the scientific literature. I know that the leaders in my profession are always pleased to see attorneys in attendance learning the up to date information offered at their seminars. These seminars are also a place to go to learn the physician perspective. An example of a program for doctors and attorneys is a program being offered through Texas A&M over the next few months in Dallas. The next three programs are Acrash test simulation@, AMedical Literature Review and Analysis@ and AMock Trial Presentation@. I will be attending these seminars and encourage you to do so as well. At the least, you can enjoy the great city of Dallas. Of course, the internet has become a good place to find information as well. Whiplash101.com and Injuryresources.com are fun sites to visit with practical information about injuries. Also, scientific journals such as Spine publish their abstracts on line. If something sounds interesting, the UCONN Medical School library has these journals catalogued. By February 1999 we will have completely redesigned our web site to be a source of information with links to other sites so that you can use it as a hub for acquisition of vital data. On that note, we have begun to send out information by email to those attorneys who want more regular Anews@ from our office. If you are interested email me at Dr.Shaw@shawchiropractic.com. I=ll make sure that you are kept up to speed on literature changes and more. Finally, use your treating physicians as a source of information. In our organization we have physicians with postgraduate training in orthopedics, neurology, rehabilitation, accident reconstruction, trauma biomechanics and more. We maintain a comprehensive database of the current literature and attend conferences which better prepare us for court testimony. At Shaw Chiropractic we limit our practice to traumatically injured patients and therefore we have made special preparations in our education. All doctors are required as part of their employment contract to continue their education in areas which relate to our area of specialization. This is why we, and other similar practices, are a valuable source of information. I encourage you to share our resources so that we can present the information in proper light. With a little effort we can make the
pendulum swing back. Let Shaw Chiropractic
do it=s part by assisting in your training. |
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