Are You Aware of This Powerful Investigation Tool?

I had just finished typing up a witness interview summary when my phone rang. It was a long running attorney client. 

She was representing a woman who had been fired by a builder after she complained to him about abusive conduct directed towards her by his top sales producer.

The attorney liked the client, but said the case was difficult. The lawyer representing the builder had refused to entertain settlement negotiations because the salesman had a great witness appearance and felt that a jury would side with them at trial.

In his answers, the salesman, listed a DWI criminal case when asked about any criminal cases he had. The DWI came while he was working for the builder. The builder was fully aware of the case and in his own deposition said he didn’t care about it. It was a misdemeanor, and a common one.

The salesman didn’t list any other criminal cases.

The salesman’s deposition was coming up in two weeks, so anything I could come up with, would need to be ready by then.  

She emailed over some documents for me to review. Those documents listed that he previously lived in two other states.

I performed a statewide court case search for the first of the two states. 

I found a felony case for auto theft and evading the police. He pleaded guilty to the charges, and received probation. I called the clerks’s office, and got a dollar amount for copies including certifications. 

There was no statewide database for criminal cases in the other state. So I called the county clerk’s office in the county where he lived.

It was during lunch time there, and only one person answering phones. She ran his name through the court’s case database and found a FELONY FRAUD case. She described the charges. I asked her for the cost of getting certified copies, and she gave me a copy cost per page, plus a blanket certification fee if I’d request the entire file. 

I mailed out copy request letters and checks to both states.

I shot the attorney a quick email, noting that at least we had him omitting these case on his answers. So that was a pretty good start.

But it gets better…

About a week later, I got documents from both states. The documents on the auto theft and fleeing the police were helpful. But, when I looked over the felony fraud case, the file contained a pre-sentence report, which identified him as having a “sociopathic” personality, prone to lying and abusive conduct.

I called the attorney and read her line by line through some of the more interesting info. Since the deposition was coming up in just a couple of days, I ran the documents over to her office, with the important elements post-it noted.

I got a call from the attorney that next week. At the start of the deposition, the builder had his arm arrived his top salesman’s shoulders, and defense counsel reiterated their lack of interest in trying to settle the case.

After running the salesman through his DWI, she asked him if he had any other criminal charges. He replied “no” and smiled.

His boss patted him on the back and smiled too.

My attorney client then pulled out the documents I got for her. One by one she handed the documents about the felony auto theft and fleeing the police case, and asked him to read the documents, and then asked him about the information contained in the documents. 

She noticed that during that sequence, the builder began sliding his chair away from his top salesman. Defense counsel’s face seemed to darken too.

Then, my attorney client asked about the fraud case. Defense counsel immediately objected. But it was a deposition, so on she went. Asking him questions, and having him read aloud from the documents.

By now, the builder’s chair was half way around the table, closer to my attorney client than to the salesman.

At the end of the deposition, the defense counsel, builder, and salesman left immediately.

As my attorney client packed up the documents, the court reporter told her “they’ll settle the case tomorrow.” She looked at him, and replied they’d sworn they’ll never settle this case. The court reporter smiled and again repeated his belief that the case will settle tomorrow. 

Sure enough, her phone rang at 8:30 the next morning. It was defense counsel with an offer to settle that was too good to refuse.

Most plaintiff law firms are unfamiliar with the power of public records. But they’re an essential tool for conducting effective litigation investigations. A tool so powerful that it can shape the outcome of a case including resolving cases quickly, and gutting opposing counsel’s theory of the case.

And they’re just one of the 4 tools I discuss in my live, online, workshop on Wednesday November 5th.

If you’re looking for a proven step-by-step process to create an effective in-house litigation investigation system that maximizes your clients’ recoveries, and your firm’s revenue, without trial and error, even if you’ve never conducted in-house investigations before, you should take my Maximize Client Recoveries and Firm Revenue with an Effective In-house Investigation System Workshop. 

You’ll learn:

• How an effective in-house investigation system maximizes case results. Helping you develop relevant and material evidence, while allowing you to maintain control over the information you develop for maximum effectiveness.
• The key elements necessary to developing an investigation plan. An effective investigation plan is the foundation for getting better quality information while reduces unpleasant surprises.
• Matching the right staff person to each investigation assignment. Assessing your staff’s skills and personalities helps you avoid dead ends and poor results.
• The 4 most effective investigation tools for plaintiff case preparation and the different ways they can be used. Allows you to not only maximize case results, but to do so cost effectively so that your clients and your firm get the most return.
• The most useful report formats. So that information can be properly conveyed to the different people involved in the preparation process so that you never overlook important and useful information.
• Organizing the information developed during your investigation. Developing useful information is a great start. But it’s of limited benefit without connecting it to your case themes that convinces opposing counsel, insurance companies, and triers of fact of the strength of your case.

Learn more and sign up now for the workshop by clicking here .