Don’t Let Them Turn Your Case Inside Out

[Music] You're listening to Mittnik's monthly brush strokes, a podcast on the art of outsmarting, the fun part that sets you apart. I'm Keith Mittnik, author of Don't Eat the Bruises. For more information visit KeithMittnik.com or email me it's kmittnik at forthepeople.com. Hello everybody. In this session I want to talk to you about something that I call don't let them turn your case inside out and this is is for car crash cases your typical herniated disc case and what do I mean by don't let them turn your case inside out? Here's what I mean. Much of their defense without ever really saying it is built on really an illusion. They make it seem as if your client must not be hurt because they don't look hurt on the outside. Well that is so unfair because a herniated disc is in an injury that you can assess externally and that does not mean it's made up and it does not mean it cannot be assessed and it does not mean you can prove it. It just means you can't assess it from an external assessment you have to apply an internal assessment for this injury but if you don't call it out they will turn it inside out. What are they going to do? They're going to take social media posts, Facebook and your client. Heaven forbid is going to be in doing something enjoyable in laughing. They're going to be on a ride at Disney or somewhere and going heee and they're going to say they can't be hurt as if a herniated disc means you can't smile or enjoy life at all for the rest of your life which is hogwash but that's what they will portray or someone just carrying on with life pumping gas maybe mowing their lawn maybe unloading a U-Haul and they got surveillance. Look at there they can't be hurt. Now look if your client said I could never lift a box and I could never mow the art. No way I'd get on a roller coaster. Well now you got a problem but I'm not talking about that case. Hopefully you've prepped your client warn them of those kind of questions and if they're not if the truth is they can do all these things they would they don't say they can't do it. So we're not talking about a-ha moments in surveillance or social media we're just talking about something make some look on the outside like they're not hurt that bad. So what they're kind of walking to court right past the jurors at lunch and in the mornings and they're not going to be hobbling around with a cane. They're going to walk up to testify they're not going to limp up there. No one says you can see it from the outside. So we're fitting to put an end to the defense turning your case inside out like that. And all it does is a little quick teaching of the jury and it's over. So here's how we do it. Number one we start with a phrase you can't judge a book by its cover we do that in board dire. I'll say to the jury in jury selection you know one of the things that I need to talk to you about you see my client sitting there they look perfectly fine you can't tell what's going on. And here's my concern some of you may be looking over going well he just talked said this case is going to be talking about millions of dollars my guy he looks perfectly fine in fact I saw him on the break walking to the bathroom. Well here's what I'm going to ask each of you to do because as human beings it's just natural for us to start pre-judging things it doesn't make us bad people it's what we do we all do it it's just in here I'm asking you to suspend pre-judging and wait till we get to show you the evidence because I can't stand up here and tell you the evidence right now the rules don't permit it. And we've all heard the saying you can't judge a book by its cover I promise you the minute we get through this process and get opening I'm opening statements we're going to open the book up and then we're going to start presenting evidence and we're going to turn through every page and you're going to know everything you need to know why we're talking about money of that magnitude because that what was taken in the way of health I'm just asking you to please be aware and just don't judge this book by its cover wait and give us an opportunity let you see with your own eyes in here with your own ears can we all just fight that natural urge and just wait and fairness can we do that there and I'll tell you what they're going to do you're going to see jurors not like oops you got me but you're going to be okay you will have stopped that ugly train from running and you're going to have injected this theme or framework of you can't judge a book by its cover but that's the beginning not the end so let's get to the next step you get an opening statement and you start explaining these concepts to the jury folks this is you're going to see from the evidence that this is not the kind of injury that's called an external assessment injury meaning you can't judge a book by its cover you just can't look at it and see it but that doesn't mean you can't judge it it's just an internal assessment kind of injury it's just a different kind is supposed to external it's an internal assessment kind of injury and we're going to present you the evidence and you're going to be able to assess it and you're not going to just simply have to take someone's word for it but we got to put her focus in the right place and here's what you're going to hear there are injuries that can be assessed externally like a sprained ankle well you can roll up someone's pant leg and go and take the ace bandage off and say well you were limping and I thought so and now I look at and go oh my gosh look at that purple swallow parable looking thing yep you've got a sprained ankle no question or if someone broke their arm the cast and the slinger kind of a giveaway those are external assessment injuries not all but oftentimes those kind of injuries are not nearly as serious as the ones that require an internal assessment why because they're intense but short lived they go away they heal typically the internal assessment kind of injury is less intense that's not why they're that's why they're not hobbling around but they last and last and last they last forever that's why there's so much more significant and we're going to show you the evidence that will allow you to assess this and see my client indeed has a permanent forever internal assessment type injury called a herniation you're gonna see the evidence this way you're gonna hear from a treating doctor who laid hands on and could feel the muscle spasms you cannot fake muscle spasms you're gonna hear from a nurse of surgeon who not only laid hands on and felt those same spasms but went inside and saw the herniation with one of those high-powered magnifying loops they put on their head when he opened up my client and could see it or used a floroscope which is a fancy thing that lets you look on the inside so they can make sure they can see what they're doing and after they cut that herniation the burning down the leg got better now the pain is still there but it helped with that symptom but more than that we're gonna provide you proof that you can see with your own eyes we're gonna bring you MRIs and MRIs do not lie and you're gonna see with your own eyes not only that there's a herniation but you're gonna see there's increased signal there these white spots that show that this was a recent onset injury not some longstanding chronic problem so the evidence will be there for you any suggestion that because you can't see it on the outside somehow means it's not real will not fit the evidence nor be fair and this may be closing argument folks I'm back to you but I add you can add this in at some point I it may cross an argument I don't know but I like to do this it'd be like someone going in for their 50 years old and the doctor wants to do a checkup and screen to make sure they haven't developed coronary artery disease or high cholesterol can you imagine that doctor saying put on the gown turn turn turn I know the opening that's a little breezy don't worry I've seen it all turn okay you're fine go home you don't have any problems with your heart and no cholesterol course they wouldn't because you got to look on the inside that's why they put people on treadmills that's why they run like do labs and look at blood work but does that mean that you can't test for it of course not does that mean because you couldn't just have him spin around in the gown and be done with it that that means it's somehow less of a problem you tell that to someone who finds out they got coronary artery blockage in bad cholesterol tell him any of it So those are the things that really, really bring it home for the jury. And this is for you. What those lawyers on the other side do, they don't call it an external injury. They don't say you can't see it so it's not there because if they actually set it out loud, it would be obvious how unreasonable that position is. So they hint it. So two points before we're done. At some point in the trial, I almost always say this, the courtroom is not a place for hinting. It's a place for saying what you mean and backing it up. And if you want to be in if you're an event you'd let you be a little more aggressive and it fits your personality, you can add or hush out. The courtroom is not a place for hinting. It's a place for saying what you mean and backing it up or hush out. But if that in your personality and you don't want to push it, you don't have to leave the hush up out. It makes the same powerful point for just this kind of thing because you know what it's like what they're doing. It's as if there was a task and you had a competitive student who was fighting with a smart kid in the class who was probably going to finish with top grades and this other person couldn't stand it. They wanted to be top in the class and they were devious. And the good student studied and studying was ready to ace it. And the bad competitive student snuck over and gave saw switched out their written exam to one that was written in Spanish and the good student didn't read Spanish and they flunked it. Well that wouldn't be an aptitude test. It'd be a dirty trick. They were ready to ace it. Don't let the defense turn your case inside out for going to say don't let them switch the tests on you. It's an internal assessment injury, not an external and once you've explained that to the jury, the defense will not be able to get the high grade by cheat. Thank y'all. [Music]