[over the mountain]

I have attended 3 seminars now and am eligible to participate in the "masters" seminar in somewhere in carribean islands ...

here is a quick snippet from david ball on damages, i spoke with him a bunch of times, even had don keenan "review" a case issue for me . .

6-8
Damages-only case.(16)
With minor adjustments, the same structure for opening – minus whatever won’t be admissible –works well for a damages-only case. Here’s how:

Damages-only case.
Part I. Primary rules. No advocacy.
Focus the rule on money:
When a truck driver’s negligence harms a pedestrian, the pedestrian is entitled to an amount of money equal to the level of the harm. Now let me tell you about the harm in this case.

Damages-only case.
Part II. Story of what the defendant did. No advocacy.
Tell as much of the negligence story as allowed. Argue to get in as much as possible. Explain to the judge that part of the emotional harm is your client’s vivid, painful memory of what happened. The traumatic memory of the defendant’s truck careening at her across the median is causing her emotional harm now, so that memory goes to damages.

Damages-only case.
Part III. Who we are suing and why: the safety rules the defendant(s) violated. Start of advocacy.
Again, include all you can get in. Try to cover each thing the defendant did wrong, why it was wrong, how it caused harm, what the defendant should have done, how easy that would have been, and how that would have prevented the harm. These elements should get in because each of your client’s harms is exacerbated by her knowing about the very simple safety rules the defendant so needlessly violated. Your client will tell you this, as will any psychologist or similar kind of therapist. Knowledge of how easily the defendant could have followed the rules makes the pain harder to bear.
When possible, part of your story of what the defendant did should include the defendant’s denial of negligence until the eve of trial – when they stipulated despite having no information they did not have in the first place.
Last-minute stipulation is relevant to damages because it causes additional harm.
For three years, Jane had to live with the knowledge that she was stopped at a light and hit from behind – yet they denied doing anything wrong and refused to meet any responsibility. That makes things a lot worse for anyone. It increased her worry that she’d never get the money she needs to take care of herself. And they did it just to scare her into walking away from her case. Only when they knew you were coming did they decide to try to look as if they were exercising some responsibility – far too late to do anyone any good but themselves.
Remember: the defense can diminish damages by showing your client’s failure to mitigate them. So you should be allowed to show how the defendant’s last-minute stipulation exacerbated them.

Damages-only case.
Part IV. Undermine. (What is wrong with the negligence defenses?)
This is usually not necessary for a damages-only case. You’ll undermine the causation and damages defense points in the next section.

Damages-only case.
Part V. Causation and damages.
Same as with regular case.

Damages-only case.
Part VI. ‘Before’.
Same as with regular case.

Damages-only case.
Part VII. “What can the jury do about it?”
Same as with regular case.
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(16) For additional help with damages-only cases, please see Chapter 20 of Reptile.