Spillane Trial Group was delighted to be selected to defend Cross Creek, a top independent film producer whose first effort was Academy Award winner “Black Swan,” in a case eminently heading toward trial filed by French entertainment giant Studiocanal. A Cross Creek entity had contracted with Studiocanal to pay $5 million for rights to distribute “Legend,” a British Tom Hardy gangster film, in the U.S. and Canada. Concerned that Universal’s limited release plans for “Legend” frustrated the expectations of the film’s U.S. investors, Cross Creek returned the investment funds rather than pay Studiocanal. Studiocanal obtained a judgment for breach of contract, then initiated action against numerous Cross Creek entities and insiders with omnibus theories including fraud, successor liability and intentional interference with contract. read more
Cross-Examination Revisited
Some years ago, I blogged about “Effective Cross-Examination at Trial.” I stand by those comments, but my technique has evolved.
Some of my colleagues cross from a word-for-word script, including full printouts of the impeaching testimony or exhibit, but I prefer a simple outline, to make the cross more organic. I have a summary of the point I want to establish in the left column and citation to the impeaching deposition testimony or trial exhibit in the right. Absent a budget concern I always take videotaped deposition, which should result in an impeaching video clip ready in the trial display system as needed. read more
Direct Examination – Fact Witnesses
Your client’s case is presented primarily through “direct” examinations, those where your witnesses tell your side of the story in their words.
Advance Planning
Before meeting with your witnesses to prepare, you should have developed your case “theme,” possibly through a mock jury. This is a plainspoken statement of why your client’s position is just, made in terms the Starbuck barista can understand.
I pull together the most important exhibits, assemble them in chronological order and invite all my witnesses to assemble for a “walk-through talk-through.” The witnesses may have touched upon different aspects of the dispute, but likely never met together to obtain a global picture. read more
Jury De-Selection
The trial phase that takes place before opening statements and presentation of evidence is popularly referred to as jury “selection.” This is a misnomer. The parties do not “select” jurors who will hear their case. Rather, after several rounds of vetting by courthouse staff and the judge, potential jurors are seated in the jury box and become jurors by default—except to the extent they are “excused,” or “de-selected,” before trial begins. Jury “selection” is therefore about removing bad jurors, not selecting good ones.
Potential jurors are first contacted by courthouse jury commissioners through mail solicitations based upon a “master list.” read more
SPILLANE TRIAL GROUP OBTAINS DEFENSE VERDICT IN MEDICAL FIDUCIARY DUTY TRIAL
Spillane Trial Group has obtained a defense jury verdict for Dr. Li Sheng Kong and his medical corporation, LSK Enterprises, Inc., against cross-complaints for breach of fiduciary duty in connection with West Coast Vascular, a vascular surgery practice in the Ventura-Santa Barbara community.
Two of the WCV partners accused the senior partner of performing surgeries not indicated by the patient’s condition, a violation of the False Claims Act. Dr. Kong initially voted to expel the accused partner from the practice. Then, feeling he had been unduly pressured, and suspicious of partisan motivations for, and the medical methodology underlying, the accusation, he rescinded his vote to expel the partner. read more