- Claims and Litigation Management Alliance

1/22/15
Chicago, IL
Thanks to our sponsors
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Mike Casey
Pat Kilinsky
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James Fennell
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Alex Goodrich
Jennifer Morrow
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John Straus
Christy Twist
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Rachel York
Denise Spencer
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Anthony Barker
Joe Kestel
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Chris Kentra
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Alternate Dispute Resolution:
Why, When & How
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Presenters
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Hon. F. Keith Brown, (Ret.), Mediator and
Arbitrator, ADR Systems
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic Claims,
CNA
[email protected]
Jocelyn Cornbleet, Attorney, Karbal Cohen
Economou Silk Dunne, LLC - CLM Chicago
Chapter Education Director
[email protected]
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www.theclm.org
Why mediate a legal matter?
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Test the waters
No risk if agreed upon
Certainty of result
Significantly less expensive than
litigation process and trial
• Client's only opportunity to
control their own destiny/result
in case
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When is the right time to mediate
a case?
• All necessary parties are in the
case
• All requisite discovery is done
• Motion practice done
• Insurance issues determined
• Coverage issues
resolved/agreed upon
• Plaintiff done treating or
foreseeable MMI condition
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Plaintiff/Defendant's initial concerns
about attending an ADR session
• Is agreement to mediate a
sign of weakness or strength?
• Is my adversary serious about
settling or just interested in
testing my client's resolve?
• How expensive will the
process be?
• If it doesn't settle, will client
relationship be compromised?
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What Plaintiff/Defendant needs to know
about his own case prior to attending
• Strengths/weaknesses
• Insurance coverage issues
• Cost of defense and trial
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What Plaintiff/Defendant should
present as a submission
• What should your submission
contain?
• Should I hold anything back?
• What do I submit?
• Deposition testimony relevant
to liability and damages
• Using testimony from
transcripts in the submission
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What do I submit?
• Deposition testimony relevant to
liability and damages
• Using testimony from transcripts
in the submission
• Photographs related to liability?
• Photographs related to damages?
• IPI instructions relevant to main
issues in the mediation
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What do I submit? (cont’d)
• Representative jury verdict reports
• Animations in submissions?
• Explanation of insurance coverage
issues
• When is the amount of information
presented too much?
• Settlement videos: good or bad?
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Procedural issues
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Clopening or not?
Should my actual "client" be present?
Should I insist that the opposing party be present?
Should I insist that an insurance company representative be present?
Is there a benefit/risk to allowing the mediator question my client?
Various methods for closing gaps between demands and offers
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Causes of a failed mediation
• Know your expectations and prepare your client
appropriately
• Know the applicable insurance coverages/ability to pay
• Be mindful of reasonable potential verdict value, but
be cognizant of the fact that you are NOT there to try
your case and will not be receiving a verdict
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How to handle uncompromising
adverse positions
• Policy limits demands
• Isolation of decision makers
• Direct principal-to-principal discussions
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Plaintiff/Defendant's concerns
about a failed mediation
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Who RUNS the mediation?
• Who should be "running" the mediation and
why?
• Impact the success rate of a mediation when
mediators and defense counsel are ignored by
the carrier
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When should the structured
settlement offer be put on the table?
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Worst mediation experience!
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Strangest mediation experience!
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Judge Brown's scenarios
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Jury Selection or DE Selection?
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Procedural issues
Jury consultant or not?
Selection/DE selection process
Should a focus group be conducted to aid
the jury selection process?
• Impact from external national and world
events
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Jury Selection or DE Selection?
(Cont’d)
• Impact from the bench
• War stories with jury
selection
• Outline of topics for
creating Voir Dire Questions
• Sample jury questionnaire
• Law on jury selection
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www.theclm.org
Q&A
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Hon. F. Keith Brown, (Ret.), Mediator and
Arbitrator, ADR Systems
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic Claims,
CNA
[email protected]
Jocelyn Cornbleet, Attorney, Karbal Cohen
Economou Silk Dunne, LLC - CLM Chicago
Chapter Education Director
[email protected]
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www.theclm.org
Jury Selection In The
st
21
Century
www.theclm.org
Presenters
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Rachel York, Ph.D., Senior Litigation Consultant,
Magna Legal Services
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic Claims , CNA
[email protected]
Christian Novay, Partner, Gordon & Rees LLP –
CLM Chicago Chapter Secretary
[email protected]
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Voir Dire- Skills and techniques to
conduct an effective Voir Dire
• Function of Voir Dire
• Theme, story and term development
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Jury research
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Theme
Story
Term identification
Importance during Voir Dire and jury selection
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Juror profiling
• Profiling of relevant jurisdiction for predispositions and biases inherent in the venue
– Understanding the importance of potential jurors’
backgrounds and experiences
– Knowing what kind of juror/jury that you want
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Voir Dire questions
• Emotional susceptibility and prejudices
• Elimination of biased jurors
• Selection of favorable jurors
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Understanding and translating
jurors’ non-verbal cues
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Voir Dire strategy
• Individual Voir Dire versus group Voir Dire
• Jury profiling algorithms
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Technology and Voir Dire
• Public records
• Social media’s impact
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Jury selection
• Purpose and importance of jury
selection
• Court driven jury selection versus
lawyer driven
• Techniques for identifying “For
Cause” jurors
• Theme indoctrination
• Evidence presentation- should I
show “bad” evidence?
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Shadow Juries
• Predicting legal outcomes
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses of a
case
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Q&A
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Rachel York, Ph.D., Senior Litigation Consultant,
Magna Legal Services
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic Claims , CNA
[email protected]
Christian Novay, Partner, Gordon & Rees LLP –
CLM Chicago Chapter Secretary
[email protected]
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www.theclm.org
Litigation Management
www.theclm.org
Presenters
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James Fennel, Senior Account
Executive, LSG
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman
Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic
Claims, CNA
[email protected]
David Cohen, Claims Manager, CNA,
CLM Chicago Chapter Vice President
[email protected]
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The evolution of insurance
company litigation guidelines
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Early guidelines
Legitimate ethical issues can arise for counsel
Model guidelines
See CLM Model Litigation Guidelines
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The importance of compliance
• Litigation guidelines
• Regular and meaningful communication between
counsel and the insurer's decision makers
• Promote efficiency and good billing practices
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Billing rates and litigation
guidelines
• Insurer published litigation guidelines
• Hourly rates must be approved (exception:
Cumis counsel)
• Avoid typical pitfalls
• Know all carrier rules (and pre-approval
requirements) with respect to such
activities as interoffice conferencing
• Research activities
• Staffing of attorneys
• An initial case evaluation is required
• (See CLM Guidelines at App. 2)
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Periodic reporting is required
• What is important to report
• When to report it (See CLM
Guidelines at App. 3)
• Prepare timely and accurate
litigation budgets (See CLM
Guidelines at App. 4)
• Goal: develop a strategic
relationship with claims
personnel and jointly
formulate case strategy
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Periodic reporting is required (Cont’d)
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Litigation guidelines
Attorney’s professional duty to the insured
Liability evaluation
Best strategy for resolving claims against the insured
If the case proceeds to trial, a pretrial report is required (See
example, attached)
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Billing and audits
• Ebilling
• Follow the rules
• Auditing defense counsel
invoices
• Auditing determinations
appeals
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Settlement
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Evaluation of an appropriate settlement
Different ways to evaluate potential liability
Insurers' preferences
Obtaining proper settlement authority
Claims representatives in mediation preparation and
participation
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Tips for improving cooperation between
defense counsel and claim representatives
• Communicate early and
often
• Early assessment of case
strategy and potential
liability
• Respect the insurer's
guidelines
• Timely resolve the claims
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Plaintiff's perspective
• Applicable policies of insurance
coverage and potential issues
• When is it advantageous to make a
policy limits demand?
• When is a "bad faith" demand
appropriate and should it be made?
• Getting your message through to
the real decision makers
• Insurance representative’s
attendance at mediation
• Trial attendance issues
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www.theclm.org
Q&A
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James Fennel, Senior Account
Executive, LSG
[email protected]
Chris Kentra, Attorney, Meckler Bulger
Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP
[email protected]
Louis Cairo, Partner, Goldberg Weisman
Cairo
[email protected]
Peter Van Dyke, Director-Strategic
Claims, CNA
[email protected]
David Cohen, Claims Manager, CNA,
CLM Chicago Chapter Vice President
[email protected]
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www.theclm.org
Thanks to our sponsors
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