The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

Questioning a Witness as Chinese Water Torture

In the book Trial Advocacy, James W. Jeans writes about the way "the repetition of question and answer too often simulates the Chinese water torture as the soporific rhythm rolls relentlessly on and on."

Q. What is your name?
A. Sylvester Brown.
Q. Where do you live?
A. At home with my wife.
Q. What is your job?
A. Inspector of parts.
Q. Da da da da?
A. Da da da da da.

Jeans suggests varying the questioning in three ways: (a) by moving around the courtroom if the rules permit it; (b) by varying your approach to questions by using phrases like "state your name and address," "tell the jury," and so on; and (c) by giving "dramatic impact to those features of the case which you feel are important," for example, by referring to the police report as "the official police report" and to the dangerous widget that caused the injury as "The Safe Tee Widget," which is the name the manufacturer gave it (while saying it, of course, with a sarcastic sneer).

Jurisdiction: Parents and Subs

In Riemer v. KSL Recreation Corp., No. 1-01-4347 (March 29, 2004), the First District rejected an argument that plaintiff properly served a corporate defendant by serving a subsidiary. "When a court determines whether a foreign corporation is doing business in this state, the question is not whether its local affiliate is doing business in the jurisdiction, but whether the foreign parent is doing business in the jurisdiction through its local affiliate."

The case contains an extensive summary of the current law concerning constitutional due process and the "minimum contacts" rule. Applying the applicable law, the Court held that the defendant had insufficient contacts with Illinois to subject it to the jurisdiction of the Illinois courts. Among other problems, "Defendant's only contacts with Illinois were through the activities of its sub-subsidiary's Illinois office. However, plaintiffs were never solicited by the Illinois office and their stay at [defendant's] California resort was unrelated to any activity in Illinois. "

Advice to Young Associates: Admit Your Mistakes

Details here, in a post from The Uncivil Litigator titled "Advice for New Associates."

Illinois Rules and Statutes Online

Misplaced your rulebook?  Here are links to Illinois Statutes and the Illinois Supreme Court Rules.

Defending Depositions

Here's a recent law review article about defending depositions: "Playing by the Rules: Strategies for Defending Depositions," by Sandra F. Gavin, The Law Review of Michigan State University Detroit College of Law (1999) (.pdf version).

The article contains a survey of deposition rules in various jurisdictions and a helpful section titled "Objections, Instructions and Seeking Court Intervention."

Cross-Examination Online

If you want some basics about cross-examination, here's a chapter from a law textbook that's online for some reason or another (.pdf file). It contains these headings, among others: Example of a Cross-Examination; the Content of Cross-Examination; the Form of Cross-Examination; Planning a Cross-Examination; and Conducting the Cross-Examination.

The Laws of Other States, As Seen by Blawgs

If you're looking for general legal news, there's no better source in the blawgosphere than Howard Bashman's How Appealing. But what about state-specific legal coverage? In the right column of the Texas Law Blog are links to several other state-specific sites (other than Texas), these being California, Indiana, Florida, Lousiana, Virginia and West Virginia.

The other states, apparently, are up for grabs: if you've got a little time to spare for blawging, stake your claim now. (Meanwhile, if you're new to the blawgosphere and want to get a sense of what other blawgs are "out there," I've listed a bunch in a recent post at Notes from the (Legal) Underground titled "I Hear That Train A'Comin . . . And Daydream About Blawgs.")

Does The Illinois Recreational Use Act Provide You With a Defense?

The Illinois Recreational Use of Land and Water Areas Act, 745 Ill. Comp. Stat. 65/1 et seq., contains a limitation of liability that will serve as a defense in certain actions.

In a recent decision by the Illinois Supreme Court, however, the Court ruled that the protections of the Act do not apply when the property at issue is used only by invited guests. In order to apply, the property must be open for use by the general public. Hall v. Henn, 802 N.E.2d 797 (Ill. 2003) (in injury case arising out of an invitation to use a sled run, the limitation of liability contained in the act was not applicable because the property owner had not opened the property to the general public).

The Cost of Caring for a Minor Child

Query: In Illinois, can a parent whose minor child is injured in an accident sue to recover damages for the services rendered in caring for the child?

The Rules of Evidence Applied to Presidential Debates

Who said the rules of evidence were only useful in courts of law? From George Wallace of A Fool in the Forest comes a proposal to incorporate the rules of evidence into presidential debates:

Objections based on ideology will not be allowed; the only permissible objections will be those that could be raised under the rules of evidence. If a timely objection is made, the responding candidate would not be permitted to make statements of fact of which he has no personal knowledge, nor to rely on hearsay -- subject, of course, to the admissibility of admissions or prior inconsistent statements by the opposing candidate.

The objections are to be raised by each participant's "Candidate Advocate"; each side will also get one "Bag Carrier," who will transport a briefcase full of notes.

From the tone of George's post, I suspect he isn't holding out any hope that he'll win over the presidential candidates with his proposal. But he's won me over: I truly like the rules of evidence. In addition to presidential debates, I'd also like to see them incorporated into a few debates of my own, namely, all debates with my mother, father, wife, siblings and children--or at least the debates I'm losing, which means most of them.