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Top Three Nuclear Verdicts™ in California in 2021

Sheila Baker

Three verdicts have exceeded a gross verdict or award of $1.5 million in 2021. The following article explores these three Nuclear Verdicts™ and what can be done to avoid the nuclear nature of these verdicts.

Leveling the Playing Field: Defense Counsel Used “Honest Fouls” in California and Beat a $16 Million Jury Demand

Rob Olson

In Bob Tyson’s book Nuclear Verdicts: Defensing Justice for All, Tyson challenges the defense bar to “[u]se your fouls.” A defense attorney who prefers to play by the book may question what an “honest foul” is and when to make such fouls. This article evaluates a May 2021 California Appellate decision illustrating how California courts allowed “honest fouls” in trial. Ultimately, these honest fouls allowed a jury to evaluate facts beyond plaintiff’s $16 million demand and the jury ultimately found plaintiff 45% responsible, reducing the total award from $2.9 million to $1.6 million.

Three Things We Can Learn from the Largest Personal Injury Verdicts in Colorado History

Blaire Bayliss

When people hear the phrase “Nuclear Verdicts™,” they may imagine multi-million-dollar corporate lawsuits, medical malpractice lawsuits involving massive medical complications and fees, or wrongful imprisonment cases involving decades of back-payments for time spent wrongfully incarcerated. But even simple car crashes can turn nuclear! Upon examination of the two largest jury verdicts in Colorado history, we can begin to understand how plaintiff’s lawyers obtain multi-million-dollar verdicts in simple personal injury cases and what defense attorneys must do to stop them.