MEET YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND – PREPARING THE PLAINTIFF FOR THEIR DEPOSITION

MEET YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND – PREPARING THE PLAINTIFF FOR THEIR DEPOSITION

My wife of forty-five years, Lita Barnett Luvera, and I were law partners for over 40 years until our retirement. Together. During that time, in addition to managing the office and trying. She was also. Responsible for preparing. Clients. In major cases, for their deposition as well as for their trial testimony. She prepared a paper. Or client preparation for deposition. Which was delivered as a speech to a trial organization. Before her retirement. Her advice is still relevant, and…

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TORT LAW AT RISK

TORT LAW AT RISK

The Seattle Times recently reported that Washington state’s tort lawsuit payouts and legal costs have set another record, reaching nearly $614 million in the past fiscal year. It reports the state paid out more than $537 million to settle lawsuits and tort claims alleging government misdeeds in the 2026 fiscal year. That’s up roughly $500 million from 2025. In addition, the state paid about $76 million for legal defense costs, up from about $58 million the previous year. There is…

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THE REALITY ABOUT JUROR’S DECISIONS

THE REALITY ABOUT JUROR’S DECISIONS

The King County Bar Journal in June 2026 published an article by Thomas M O’Toole and Kevin Bouly, “Persuading reverse engineers.” They did an excellent job of outlining the great truth (unknown to too many plaintiff trial lawyers) about how jurors actually reach decisions. It is a subject I have written and lectured to lawyers about for years and which the writers explain very well. I’m taking the liberty of quoting the essence of their writing about this process. See…

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