Excess Monitoring and Parachute Trial Team

Times are changing and so is our jury pool and plaintiff’s trial tactics. It is no mistake that nuclear verdicts are on the rise.

The toughest challenge a client can face is to secure a fair and impartial trial and verdict, not tainted by prejudice or sympathy, in the wake of a tragic, untimely death, traumatic brain injury or paraplegia. Let us help you mitigate reptile and nuclear risks.

Our Excess Monitoring and Parachute Trial Team is adept in laying out the “big picture” defense on tough losses. We are available to assist on three types of representation scopes:

(1) CO-COUNSEL ROLE: Disruption of the status quo can usually open doors to settlement. We can file an appearance and co-counsel with primary defense counsel. We will work efficiently and collaboratively with primary defense counsel to ensure the best defense and expert strategies are being employed.

(2) LEAD TRIAL-COUNSEL ROLE: Our team neutralizes reptile tactics in Jury Selection / Voir Dire, Opening and Closing Arguments. We will work efficiently with primary defense counsel or if the client desires, take over the defense for trial purposes.

(3) MONITORING ROLE: Sometimes having a second set of new “eyes” on the matter will help provoke strategic thought processes and unearth issues previously missed, good or bad. Now-a-days a good monitoring team is essential on excess and tower cases.

We will advise our client on the best settlement and trial strategy and the realistic probability of winning or mitigating. We represent a broad range of insured businesses and self-insured corporations in complex surgical, wrongful death and catastrophic injury claims (traumatic brain injury, paraplegia, amputation and burns). The team is available to consult on cases in other states on a case-by-case basis.

The plaintiff’s bar continues to perfect the Reptile approach in developing their cases, with the idea that jurors are more likely to award substantial damages to plaintiffs if they decide cases on “charged emotions,” rather than on the facts and law. The Reptile approach is probably the single biggest reason for nuclear sized verdicts in the United States. It is a strategy that tries cases in a way that appeals to a jurors’ primal instincts of fear and danger by portraying Corporate America and the defendant’s actions or products as a threat to the community’s safety. The strategy ultimately aims to evoke strong emotional responses to deliberations, resulting in verdicts tainted by prejudice and sympathy.

Our dedicated practice will employ our reverse-reptile strategy, which Dan Santaniello has discussed in numerous conferences across the country. “My reverse-reptile strategy has been employed successfully with some of America’s largest corporations on sympathetic and catastrophic cases. It has enabled me to task jurors with the impossible job of setting aside sympathy and prejudice in deliberating tough cases, and ultimately obtain equal justice and fair treatment for corporations.”

For further information, reach out to Dan Santaniello.