TIDA Industry Articles

The TIDA Quarterly Newsletter serves as a key benefit to members. Each edition features original industry articles on the sharing of best practices, current hot topics and updates on key happenings.

The library of more than 100 articles is available to members to reference at any time! 

access the library

featured article from the archive

Give 'Em What They Want: An Effective Settlement Strategy Right Out of the Plaintiff's Playbook

By: Byron Ames, Ames & Ames, LLP | PUBLISHED IN THE Q1 2023 NEWSLETTER

We’ve all seen it. Sometimes it shows up with a great deal of fanfare and anticipation, and other times it drops out of nowhere, completely unexpected. I’m referring to the well-crafted, verbose, illustrated, highly technical, and threatening settlement brochure or demand package from plaintiff’s counsel. 

The plaintiff’s settlement brochure attempts to outline a “scary reality” you or your client is facing from the perspective of the plaintiff (or attorney). The threat is emphasized by throwing in long medical explanations with complicated terminology, graphic and sad pictures of injuries and representative surgical procedures which may be required in the future, and lists of abnormally large monetary amounts required to make plaintiff whole again.

The whole purpose of this dramatic effort is to evoke emotion to elicit a larger settlement number. While reaching a settlement may be a defendant’s goal, the settlement negotiations are often just a game of plaintiff trying to get the largest number possible without any anchor to REAL “damages”                  

This gives rise to the question of how we can best respond to these plaintiff demand packages. Read More