Mr. Friedman,
I once wrote you about the successes my brother and I have enjoyed using the information we learned in Rules of the Road and Polarizing the Case. Well, on Wednesday the Rules prevailed again—this time for $32.5 million.
To begin with, my co-counsel initially had the case and took it to trial; but it resulted in a mistrial, which the defense had requested. The defendant’s final offer before the mistrial was $100,000. I enjoy pondering about how much the defense regrets the decision to move for a mistrial, because upon having the mistrial granted our soon to be co-counsel drove to our office and asked for our help. I took it upon myself to go through every page of documentation he had accumulated and apply the Rules technique to the case. What resulted was an entirely different way of presenting the case.
I then took the 30(B)(6) deposition of J.B. Hunt’s corporate representative and locked him into the Rules, all of which he agreed with. The panic on the defense lawyer’s face as his witness continued to agree with the Rules was comical. The defense lawyer knew what was happening was bad, but as you know, there is really no way to deal with good Rules. You either agree or look foolish disagreeing. Following the deposition, J.B. Hunt offered $3 million, which we rejected. The week before trial they offered $5 million, which we rejected. I think that shows the power of the Rules more than anything. This was a case that had been fully litigated all the way up to a trial and they offered $100,000. Then I applied the Rules technique and took one deposition and they offered $5 million.
After a three week trial the jury returned a verdict of $32.5 million. I thought you’d enjoy hearing about a successful plaintiff’s verdict and wanted to again pass along my thanks for sharing your wisdom with all of us. It is truly incredible how your books have taken what seems to be a very difficult and confusing profession and made it so clear. Thank you again.
Sincerely yours,
Attorneys Todd S. Schafer and Timothy Schafer, II
Schafer & Schafer, Attorneys at Law
Merrillville, IN