LLS partner, Larry Silver (far right), joins Mayor Nutter and other sponsors at the Mayor's Bike Ride on May 8. The PEC and Ark Intervals joined LSS in sponsoring the bike ride to increase awareness of the East Coast Greenway Trail, a 3,000-mile, paved, off-road pedestrian and bike trail that will connect cities from Maine to Florida.

The trial of a personal injury or other casualty case involves convincing a jury of the facts that are necessary for your client to prevail. The evidence may include eyewitness recollection, documents or a recording of the event by surveillance cameras or other devices. However, unless an event is completely and clearly recorded, there is always room for conflicting versions of events.

Occasionally, experts, such as accident reconstructionists, are retained to analyze the data to convince a jury how things "must have" happened. It’s not unusual that one expert’s opinion is in direct conflict with the other side’s expert’s opinion, even though both are similarly trained or qualified.

In our practice, we try to take things to a higher level. As far as we know, we are the only firm that makes regular use of Hollywood stunt people. We’ve done this in cases involving automobile accidents, falls and industrial accidents with considerable success. Who could be more qualified to talk about how moving vehicles interact with each other and the road surface than someone who has personally been in hundreds of crashes and designed them to happen the way a director wants to see them? Most investigating police officers, including those who are trained in accident reconstruction, have never even seen a real crash. The same is true for engineers who may qualify as accident reconstructionists – they studied vehicle dynamics and physics as an academic pursuit. Stuntpeople, therefore, have a different analytical approach.

Recreating a Car Accident
To answer the question of what happened to a driver in a minor sideswipe accident with a tractor trailer truck, we engaged stuntmen and a professional film crew to recreate the accident and rebut the plaintiff's version of the injuries she sustained. The plaintiff and her expert asserted that the steering wheel whipped her hands around and she was jostled so badly that she two elbow surgeries, a neck injury and a temporal mandibular joint injury. She said she was in constant pain and would likely never work again at her high-paying job as a pharmaceutical representative.

Using the same truck, an identical model car, and cameras mounted on the truck, inside the car and in a separate camera car, and filming at the actual location of the accident, we documented how insignificant the event really was. The driver of the car just shook from the bump of the truck, almost imperceptibly. Our skilled drivers, and the plans of the stunt coordinator, produced an identical dent at the same speeds the drivers testified to and put it all on video. No one seeing our film could believe that this little event could hurt anyone, despite the testimony of the plaintiff's accident-reconstructionist-university-professor. The case was settled for cents on the dollar.

Taking a Fall
A beer salesman claimed that he walked behind our client’s bar to hang a promotional sign, stepped into an open trap door, and suffered injuries that disabled him. He claimed that he managed to catch himself in the trap door opening by his hands and feet, but not fall through to the basement. We knew that he did not fall to the basement. But, could he catch himself on the frame of the trap door? We thought the bartender's recollection was more likely to be correct – he just stepped down one step and quickly rose back up. But, who could predict what a jury might find credible?

Using the exact measurements of our client’s bar we had a bar with floor trap door and steps with the exact same dimensions built in a movie studio in New Jersey. Working with our stunt coordinator, we brought two stuntmen from New York City to see if either could find a way to suspend himself in the trap door opening, as the beer salesman claimed he had done. It proved to be impossible no matter how we set it up, although we filmed numerous attempts. When the results were made known to the other side, the case settled for less than ten percent of the amount demanded.

Stuntman on the Stand
On those occasions when we have had to present a stuntman on the witness stand at trial, the expense and effort proved worth it. Juries like celebrities, even minor ones. They remember certain exciting movie scenes the witness performed and this solidifies the jury’s acceptance of his expertise. The stuntman we most frequently utilize is a particularly engaging witness and the jury becomes visibly absorbed in the testimony.

We work hard to make our approach to litigation and to all client matters innovative and effective. We make use of a wide range of experts, graphics and demostratives to support, explain and convince. In our case development and our courtroom presentation we make every effort to make our position the one that the jury believes. Modern juries expect more than just talk. They expect the proof they see in television crime shows. When we brought them the driver who drove the chase scene in The French Connection, they were convinced.

Here's a little story you can share on Independence Day this summer:

On July 4, 1863, after word reached Washington about the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Ulysses S. Grant, a large crowd formed at the National Hotel and marched to the White House to congratulate President Lincoln. Lincoln appeared before the cheering multitude and gave an extemporaneous speech: "How long is it–80 odd years–since on the Fourth of July for the first time in the history of the world a nation, by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self evident truth that 'all men are created equal.'" The President went on to note the "praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union." But, although, he declared, "this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for speech...I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion."

Four months later, he was prepared and these off-the-cuff comments formed the basis of one of the most famous speeches in American history: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...."

Source: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals

First-Time Home Buyer Credit
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, first-time homebuyers who purchase a home before December 1, 2009 can claim an immediate credit of 10 percent of the purchase price up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married individuals filing separately. (In 2008, the credit was capped at $7,500 and had to be repaid.) You qualify for the credit if you, and your spouse if you are married, did not own any other main home during the three years preceding the purchase. You can claim the credit on either your 2008 or 2009 tax return; if you have already filed for 2008, you can file an amended return. The amount of the credit does phase out for higher income taxpayers. See the IRS website for answers to many questions about the credit.

Rage Against the Machine
Tired of not being able to get through to a real person when you call a customer service line. The gethuman database has instructions for navigating the phone systems at hundreds of companies to get through to a real person.