Polarizing the Case Exposing and Defeating the Malingering Myth

by Rick Friedman

With Rules of the Road Rick Friedman (with co-author Patrick Malone) changed the way thousands of plaintiff lawyers try their cases. In the process, he established himself as one of the nation's leading tacticians in the battle for civil justice. Now, with Polarizing the Case, Friedman teaches us not to fear allegations or insinuations that our client is malingering or exaggerating injuries. Instead he provides, in his own words, "a guidebook for wrapping the malingering defense around the neck of the defense lawyer and strangling him with it."

Genres: Law

332 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for plaintiff-side trial attorneys. It's a trial practice book specifically about the idea that defense attorneys want to imply that an injured plaintiff is malingering (i.e., pretending their injuries are worse than they really are, milking it, etc.), but often don't want to come out and say that's what they think. The author recommends ways to force the defense to take a stand--are you calling the plaintiff a malingerer or not?

There were some helpful techniques here, and generally the idea of making sure that the defense has to take a stand on their story was helpful. Rick Friedman has written several helpful trial manuals and he uses some real transcripts to help make his points. Overall, worth the interlibrary loan to get a chance to review this one.