NITA Publications

Brown v. Byrd Case File

Kenneth Brown claims he can't engage in any strenuous exercise. He also claims that a muscle relaxant his doctor prescribes does not allow him to drink any alcohol. Both of these inconveniences, Brown is convinced, is a result of being rear-ended by the defendant, Robert Byrd. However, Brown has been observed exercising and drinking alcohol. Byrd maintains that the collision was in no way serious enough to cause Brown's alleged injuries. There are two witnesses for both the plaintiff and the defendant. The case file includes a CD containing exhibits.

• >> TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Contents
  
  How to Use the CD-ROM
  
  Fact Summary
  
  Deposition Summaries
  Kenneth Brown
  Robert Byrd
  David Pierce
  David Randolf
  Walter Wilkins
  
  Jury Instructions
  
  Verdict Form
  
  Exhibits
  
  Exhibit 1. Police report, Officer David Pierce
  Exhibit 2. Plaintiff's diary on pain and suffering
  Exhibit 3. Employment evaluation of Plaintiff (March 31, YR-1)
  Exhibit 4. Photo of Brown playing tennis--overhead smash
  Exhibit 5. Photo of Brown playing tennis--follow through
  Exhibit 6. Photo of Brown playing tennis--serve
  Exhibit 7. Photo of Brown playing tennis--volley
  Exhibit 8. Photo of Brown drinking beer--at fence
  Exhibit 9. Photo of Brown drinking beer--at bar
  Exhibit 10. Photo of Brown drinking beer--courtside
  Exhibit 11. Photo of surveillance location of Randolf
  Exhibit 12. Diagram of intersection done by Brown
  Exhibit 13. Diagram of intersection done by Byrd
  Exhibit 14. Diagram of intersection done by Pierce
  Exhibit 15. Diagram of intersection, labeled
  Exhibit 16. Photo of Brown's vehicle
  Exhibit 17. Photo of Byrd's vehicle
  Exhibit 18. Plaintiff?s Complaint, p. 3
  Exhibit 19. Medical report, David McCullough
  Exhibit 20. Video clip, Brown depo., p. 17 (on the CD)
  Exhibit 21. Video clip, Brown depo., p. 49 (on the CD)
  Exhibit 22. Video clip, Byrd depo., p. 18 (on the CD)
  Exhibit 23. Video clip, Byrd depo., p. 35 (on the CD)
  Exhibit 24. Thumbnails of evidentiary exhibits and illustrative aids
  
  Thumbnails of Slides
  
  Problems
  
  October 11, 2010

• >> AUTHORS
  
  
  • Anthony J. Bocchino
    
    
    • Professor Anthony Bocchino is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law after which he was a Bradway Fellow at the Duke University School of Law. He served as a full time faculty member at both the University of Connecticut School of Law and the Duke University Law School before joining the Temple University Beasley School of Law faculty in 1979. At the Beasley School of Law for the period 1979 -1989 he was Director of Temple's Trial Advocacy and Clinical Programs. He has designed the program, written materials and taught in the law school's Integrated Trial Advocacy Program which has been twice awarded the Gumpert Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, in addition to receiving the Gambrell Award for Teaching Professionalism from the American Bar Association. In 1997 he was named by Temple University as the Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation.
      
      Professor Bocchino has been honored with teaching awards from Duke University School of Law where he received the Mordecai Society Award and the Beasley School of Law where he was the first recipient of the George P. Williams II Memorial Award. In addition, he has received the Oliphant Award from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Richard S. Jacobson Award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America for excellence in teaching the art and science of trial advocacy.
      
      In addition to his law school duties Professor Bocchino has served as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) since 1974, served as NITA's Director for five years and served as the organization's Editor in Chief. Bocchino has written materials and designed programs for trial, deposition, fact investigation, motion practice and appellate advocacy programs for more than 30 law firms and numerous public agencies. He has also conducted needs analyses and designed litigation skill curricula for numerous law firms. His CLE materials and program designs are among the most frequently utilized by those organizations. In addition, he has and will customize materials to the specific needs of individual clients.
      
      Professor Bocchino is the author of over 60 books and articles, predominantly in the fields of Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Civil Litigation and Professional Responsibility. His trial advocacy and/or deposition practice materials are used in a majority of the law schools in America, as well as in CLE litigation skills training in the public and private sectors.
      
      Professor Bocchino has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute, and named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Litigation Counsel of America and the International Society of Barristers.

  
  

  • Frank D. Rothschild
    
    
    • Frank D. Rothschild has taught and lectured on trial advocacy since the 1970s. During that time he has been a NITA team leader and faculty member in hundreds of basic and advanced trial, deposition and technology courses. He has designed and been faculty at innumerable in-house programs for firms, insurance companies, public defender and prosecution agencies. In 1996 he received the Hon. Prentice H. Marshall Faculty Award from NITA. Mr. Rothschild graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and then clerked at the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. He then started a private general practice in Marin County, California, before becoming a public defender in Juneau, Alaska. He became a civil litigator for Perkins Coi in its Anchorage, Alaska office, followed by becoming a felony prosecutor for the Anchorage District Attorney's office. In 1985 he moved to Hawaii, where he has lived since. Besides the many trial training programs he teaches each year, Mr. Rothschild also serves as an arbitrator/mediator for the American Arbitration Association and Dispute Prevention and Resolution, based in Honolulu. He has also served as a per diem judge on Kauai since 1994, and is a member of the appellate mediation panel for the Hawaii Judiciary's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Rothschild has authored or co-authored over twenty publications including PowerPoint 2003: 50 Great Tips for Better, Easier Slides (NITA 2005); PowerPoint 2002 for Litigators (NITA 2002) and a chapter titled "Top Ten Screwups in Direct and Cross Examination of Experts" in 2000 Wiley Expert Witness Update (Aspen Law and Business 1999).

  
  

  • Deanne C. Siemer
    
    
    • Deanne C. Siemer has practiced law in both the public and private sectors in Washington. Presently managing director of Wilsie Co. LLC, a specialized legal services firm in Washington, she previously served as general counsel of the Department of Defense under President Jimmy Carter. During that time she was instrumental in supervising a team of lawyers and support personnel at the First Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1976 and later as counsel to the Third Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1995. Prior to becoming general counsel of the DOD, Ms. Siemer was an attorney with the Washington Law firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Receiving a B.A. degree from George Washington University, Siemer then studied at the University of Hawaii, including field study in Thailand. She then took a position with the Office of Management and Budget as an examiner in the foreign affairs area. She studied at Harvard Law School and received an LL.B. degree cum laude, before joining the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Ms. Siemer is very involved in continuing legal education, working with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), as a faculty member, trustee and former chair of the organization. She has also taught at the University of Buffalo Law School and has been a lawyer adviser for the trial practice course at Harvard Law School.