High-Stakes Litigation

High-stakes litigation calls for cool heads and polished performances. We are frequently retained by companies and their primary and excess insurers and reinsurers to monitor or drop into litigation with millions of dollars of exposure at stake. This will often involve taking over litigation that is headed for trial because plaintiffs seek too much in damages based upon the liability or worth of the case.

We are also asked to take over defenses because the client wishes to proceed to trial and trusts our knowledge and experience to handle the case to a beneficial conclusion. We have handled high-stakes cases throughout the U.S., sometimes associating as counsel at the very last moment before trial. Often, a change in trial counsel can result in a positive change in settlement prospects. Our partners bring needed credibility to try large exposure cases without hesitation. Examples of high-stakes personal injury litigation include:

• A products liability multi-victim trial in New Orleans, involving a collision between a dump truck and a van transporting off-shore drilling workers. In addition to one death, the most seriously injured plaintiff was a high-level quadriplegic. The jury returned a verdict in favor of our client.
• A products liability fire case in Texas involved the deaths of four victims, three of which were infants, where we were asked to take over the defense three weeks before trial. The case, which had been assessed as a potential eight-figure exposure, was settled on the eve of trial for less than $500,000. This is one of our many examples of how involving our trial lawyers can have a significant impact on the settlement value of a case.
• A near-drowning at an international hotel chain’s pool in Nebraska, which caused severe neurological damage to a child. A trial resulted in a verdict within the client’s reserves and a fraction of the amount requested by the plaintiff.
• An accident between a client’s truck and multiple automobiles in upstate New York which resulted in multiple fatalities and severe injuries was resolved with an eight-figure savings off of the clients’ reserves.
• A medical negligence case involving a birth injury and subsequent brain damage to a newborn, with tens of millions of dollars in present and future medical bills and expenses, was tried to a defense verdict in Cook County, Illinois. A jury returned the defense verdict within 30 minutes.

Our drop-in counsel bring unique perspectives and well-honed skills, based upon years of trying large cases to verdict. They pride themselves on honoring their evaluations, regardless of whether the case is proceeding through discovery or pending trial on the courthouse steps. Our attorneys attack each of these cases with unwavering skill and poise—regardless of the stakes.