Gerry Spence and I met a couple of years before he created his Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming. We became friends, and he invited me to be one of the teachers for the first year he started the Trial Lawyers College. Unfortunately, I was involved in a 4-week trial in Oregon and couldn’t attend. However, I was asked by Gerry to teach at the program for the next 20 years. Each summer, I would travel to Dubois, WY, where Thunderbird…
I was asked for advice about a new lawyer who would like to be a great plaintiff’s trial lawyer. In addition to providing articles and advice, I thought the ideas of my late friend Gerry Spence would be helpful as well. I didn’t find any examples of his actually giving that advice to an individual, so what follows is what I think he might have advised. This is an outline version of what he taught, written in his voice and…
Washington Pattern Jury Instruction 105.08 A physician is not liable for selecting one of two or more alternative courses of treatment if in arriving at the judgment to follow a particular course of treatment, the physician exercised reasonable care and skill within the standard of care the physician was obligated to follow. This instruction should be eliminated as a biased statement in favor of a defendant doctor. It is difficult to deal with but here are some suggested idea for…