Getting Ready for Trial

Attorney Tyson Mutrux describes in this video getting ready for trial.

Hi, Tyson Mutrux here again with the Mutrux Law Firm and today I’m actually going to talk about something a little different from what I normally talk about. Today we just wrapped up the first day of a two-day jury trial for an auto accident case. What I would like to talk about is actually being ready for the actual trial.

Chris Finney and I are putting this case together and Chris has done a lot of work. It’s actually his case, I am just helping him out with it. He’s done a lot of the prep work, the leg work. Getting motions ready, getting them filed, and actually having case law, getting the witnesses ready, getting videos ready and edited. There was a huge difference between how Chris had prepared his case and the way defense attorney had actually prepared his case. It has actually delayed the trial. We were let out really early today because of the fact that the defense attorney had not actually gone through the video transcripts, and had them edited based upon the motions in limine. A motion in limine if you don’t know is simply a motion to exclude certain things or to have certain rulings done prior to the actual trial.

The judge had actually ruled in our favor on several of those issues. So, the deposition transcript is a video transcript, of the doctor had to be edited. What the defense attorney had done, much to his regret, is he thought that he could rely on Chris. He thought he was going to do the work for him. Which, it is not our responsibility. Specifically, he thought Chris was going to go through and edit his cross-examination (the defense attorney’s) of our doctor. That’s not our job. We don’t put on the evidence, he does. So he completely blind sided them and caught them off guard, because we were ready, and they weren’t.

So, I really want to stress the importance of whether you’re an attorney watching this and you’re trying to get some advice on preparing for trial, or if you’re a client looking for an attorney. If you’re a client, get someone you know is going to be ready for trial. That is usually based upon someone who has a lot of experience. If you’re actually a plaintiff’s attorney, trying to get information on how to do it, you really need to have everything done 90 days out.

Chris and I, on our lawincubator website have 90-day checklists you can go through so that by the time your trial comes around you are ready to go. You need to have your witnesses lined up, and that includes subpoenaing those witnesses if need be. You need to have all of your medical records and bills completely requested. You need certified records. You need to file your certified records request with the court prior to the actual trial, and the medical records and bills. So people who have never tried an injury case, you have to redact anything that mentions the insurance from those medical records and bills.

So there is a lot of prep work that goes into this. But if you’re ready to go the day of the trial, you’re going to really be at an advantage with I’d say 90% of the defense attorneys out there because most of them are going to assume that you are just going to settle the case and not want to go to trial. The truth is, most of the personal injury attorneys out there just don’t want to try cases. So if you’re ready to go to trial, you’re ready to win.