
Defense Demand For Disclosure of Damages.
"A Defense Demand For Disclosure of Damages
will make the plaintiff's attorney in federal personal injury
cases spend time preparing information you need. Use it early,
and use it aggressively."
This form is for defense
attorneys only. And only for BI cases in federal
court. It's aggressive, but civil in tone, ethically
correct, and follows the federal rule.
Defense Demand
Damages Disclosure gives you a letter you can use to gain the
initiative in an aggressive manner.
Respond to a new
lawsuit by both an answer and also an accompanying demand for information that the plaintiff's
attorney cannot refuse to give you in a limited time period. This simple tactic
impresses the plaintiff’s attorney. It is important to make that impression,
because it gives you a psychological advantage. Additionally and importantly,
this simple tactic requires the plaintiff’s attorney to invest valuable attorney
time in responding to you, rather than attacking you.
The simple tactic of demanding disclosure of damages at the
same time you serve your answer impresses your defendant client,
and also your client’s insurer, with your efficiency and
dedication to the cause of defense. Remember: impress your
client. Send a copy of the letter to your client and insurer,
along with your answer to the complaint. They will see you are
moving quickly.
It is important to impress your client with the idea you know what you are
doing, and are doing it fast. Both the client and also the insurer will listen to
you best if they think you are aggressively defending. The client's insurer rarely
sees defense attorneys that immediately take the initiative. Thus, you will stand out
from the pack when the next defense case comes up for assignment.
Although it can be modified for other courts and types of cases, this
Defense Demand
Damages Disclosure is designed for federal bodily injury cases
In federal court and some state jurisdictions there must be some sort of
an initial “voluntary” exchange of information between the parties before the
defendant can serve discovery interrogatories. E.g., see the federal rule.
“A party may not seek discovery from any source before the
parties have conferred as required by Rule 26(f), except....” Fed. R. Civ.
P., Rule 26,(a)(3)(D)(1) Timing.
In such a jurisdiction, you cannot serve a set of interrogatories with your
answer. How do you still gain -- in the first hour of work on the file -- the
initiative and power of putting the plaintiff’s attorney staff into using their
time to respond to you. The answer in a bodily injury case --- send a letter
asking for the sort of computations that take plaintiff’s staff time to prepare.
Be nice, but insistent that the federal rules of procedure for initial
disclosure requires an initial disclosure of all documents that the disclosing
party may use to support its claims and a meaningful, complete-to-date
disclosure of a computation of damages, with all records on which the
computation has been based and all documents which may be used to support
damages to date.
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