[used to be]

Hello to all and hope you are having a beautiful day. My rsd is the result of a fall on ice in the parking lot of a major shopping mall. Next week I have to meet with the attorney for the mall to give a deposition. Has anyone else had experience with this? I am feeling very overwhelmed. Between the pain and the side effects of the meds I don't know how I'll make it through the day. Based on how the deposition goes they may offer a settlement. How do I know what is fair? How do you put a price on the loss of use of a limb? Has anyone else gone through this? I feel bad for having to do this but my life will never be the same again and it is not my fault. Hope no one thinks I'm a terrible person. Any advice you could give me would be so helpful...Jeannie

[junk4myemail]

Your attorney has a good idea as to what fair is. I would suggest that you request an appt with him/her before the depo to go over what he/she would like from you.

Keep in mind during a depo:

1. Don't start talking and not stop. If they ask a question, give an answer and that is it. (What medications are you taking? Vicodin, neurontin, etc., etc. Why do you take vicodin? My pain level exceeds an 8 every day.) Short and sweet. If you start telling your life story and won't shut up, it doesn't help your case.

2. The defense attorney is basically looking to see if you are going to make the jury sympathetic to your case. Are you believable? Are you someone that people will see and feel sorry for. It's ok to be nervous, it's good to be strong. You are standing up for yourself and fighting the cause of your injury.

3. Your attorney is allowed to take breaks and take you out of the room. Maybe come up with a signal with him to do so. Have a good repor with your attorney. Trust him. They are fighting for you. Also, if it is a contingency attorney they are fighting because if they don't they don't get paid.

Good luck and let us know.

[theoneRogue420]

Hi usedtobe, good luck with your depo.

Junk gave great advice, especially #1. The longer you babble, the more likely you are to say something they can use against you. Answer, only... don't elaborate. If they need more info, they'll ask.

Here's a dirty little hint that worked for me (I fought work comp for 7 years, only ended up resolving it after I went ProPer and handled my own case.)

A few minutes into the depo, ask for a drink of water, state that you need to take meds. Have them right there, handy, so you don't have to get up to get them. Make sure you do this AFTER the depo has started, and the steno is busily typing away. Take them, and go on. Later, when reading the transcripts with your lawyer, the two of you will see what looks bad and what doesn't. If there is something you said that hurts your case, you can blame the meds you took for making you groggy, you weren't thinking straight. It's on the record that you TOLD them you were going to take the meds, you did it in front of them. They had no objection to it. The judge will then give much less credit to anything you said that didn't quite fit.

It also helps quite a bit if you make the opposing lawyer feel uncomfortable. Give him/her "looks", make sure they know you aren't even the slightest bit intimidated. (If you ARE, fake it!!) This isn't Perry Mason, and most lawyers are just reg guys/gals... they make plenty of mistakes, and they know it well. If they don't smell fear, they won't turn into animals.

[fmichael]

Dear Jeannie -

Just adding to Christine’s comments. From what I understand, the key thing in valuing your claim is to recognize that you have a lifelong disability. (Sad but very possibly true.) As such, this isn't you average slip and fall case, but something that demands a settlement well into the six figure range, maybe high six figures at that. Anything less, and you're going to be sold short. IMHO.

In preparation for the deposition, if you haven't already done so, I would consider keeping a journal for the next few days and make entries every time the pain affects your life. You'll be surprised how much goes down there. Then you can - will the approval of your attorney of course - refer to those notes at your deposition.

Finally, you can not only ask to take breaks whenever you need to, but if the pain becomes so intense as to cloud your ability to go on, you can and must say that you are done for the day: and they have to stop! Then too, if you don't understand a question or are not sure of what to say, just ask the lawyer to repeat or rephrase the question, which you can do as often as you like. And check with your lawyer on this one, but if you give an answer you're at all uncomfortable with, or if you believe the lawyer's going into an area which you have to review with your lawyer, you can, at least under California practice, just say AT THE CONCLUSION OF YOUR ANSWER TO WHATEVER QUESTION WAS JUST POSED "I need to confer with my counsel," whereupon the deposition goes off the record and you can confer to your heart's content.

Good luck. You'll get through it just fine.

Mike

[carose]

The very last thing to say is "What is true today may not be true tomorrow" As you know with RSD you can have good days (we hope so anyway) along with bad days. And just when you think nothing could be worse--sure enough something else comes along. I just went through this about six weeks ago. At that time the RSD had not spread to my right arm, it has now or I pulled a muscle from overuse, one can always hope.. Also your meds may change, maybe now you can get by on three meds, but six months from now the Dr. may need to add to that.Or you have a good day and go out for a relaxing dinner or movie and "someone" is taking pictures of you on one of the few good days you may have enjoyed in six months. Those pictures "prove" things can not be as bad as you think. Try not to use the words ALWAYS and NEVER. If you want to know what they ask me I'll be glad to share, but I have to give my arm and hand a rest for now. All the best, Carose

[Desi]

Originally Posted by used to be

Hello to all and hope you are having a beautiful day. My rsd is the result of a fall on ice in the parking lot of a major shopping mall. Next week I have to meet with the attorney for the mall to give a deposition. Has anyone else had experience with this? I am feeling very overwhelmed. Between the pain and the side effects of the meds I don't know how I'll make it through the day. Based on how the deposition goes they may offer a settlement. How do I know what is fair? How do you put a price on the loss of use of a limb? Has anyone else gone through this? I feel bad for having to do this but my life will never be the same again and it is not my fault. Hope no one thinks I'm a terrible person. Any advice you could give me would be so helpful...Jeannie

Hi Jeannie! Just wanted to add some of my knowledge here. My husband who has neurapathy, stepped on a roofing nail on our property that the neighbors next door hired(Roofers) to do their roof. Well, they(The roofers cleaned up everything) but had to come back out the next day, as it was raining and I guess the neighbors roof was leaking. ok.. anyway, the roofers came out.. they were throwing shingles, nails everywhere, cussing in the rain.. ok.. the next day, hubby go's to mow the grass and being he has no feeling in his feet, steps on the nail that was in our yard! well, hubby comes in after mowing the grass, takes his shoe off and there is blood all over his sock.. and there in his shoe is the roofing nail those roofers threw in our yard!! To make a long story short, I called an attorney in Cleveland ohio.. he wanted me to take pictures of my husbands foot while he was in the hospital(he is diabetic and nearly lost that foot) from the roofers neglect. ok.. he sent us a large package to put my husbands shoe in(Attorney) and took it from there. we didn't even have to go to court, My husband's attorney had all the "proof' he needed. I got paid a high sum of money as well as my husband. this took 1 year. I wish you the best of luck. the Attorney's are usually your moth piece, (Does all the talking) he got the roofers and they settled.

[used to be]

Hi everyone and thank you for your input and wisdom. No sooner had I posted this tread I received a call telling me my deposition was postponed for a month. I really wanted to get it over with. Mike..you sound more like a lawyer than my lawyer. To him, I'm just another face in the crowd. I get the impression that if he doesn't make any money from my case, he'll just make it on the next one. He was actually waiting to settle my case until " I got better"!!! I wanted to change lawyers at that point but I have a contract that stipulates that I would have to pay him for the time he has into my case and I can't afford to do that. I'll just have to hope for the best.
Carose...I know what you mean about photos. It's too bad that pain doesn't show in a picture. I saw a man just a few weeks ago taking my picture. he wasn't even discreet. I know this one will never show up in court because I was wearing shorts and my leg brace along with my cane was clearly visible
But, thank you all for your suggestions and support. i will keep you informed. jeannie