The Video Settlement Brochure

Ken Margolin

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In a previous blog, I wrote about day-in-the-life videos. These are videos that film a severely injured plaintiff and capture vignettes of a typical day, in a 20 - 30 minute movie. If done properly, they can be shown to a jury at trial. Another tool that any lawyer representing a client with catastrophic injuries may consider, is a video settlement brochure. In the video settlement brochure, the company producing the video interviews the client, and key people in the client's life, to gain an understanding of the client's life before and after his injuries.

The video settlement brochure may interweave pictures of the client before his injuries, with interviews of loved ones, and day-in-the-life type vignettes of the client's struggles to perform simple, daily tasks, as a result of the injury. Some attorneys may worry that the video settlement brochure gives the defense too realistic a view of what the plaintiff's case at trial would be like if the video brochure does not result in a settlement. That shouldn't be a major concern if the witnesses to be interviewed have already been deposed. The video settlement brochure may convince the insurance company adjustor assigned to the case, that allowing the case to go before a jury is too risky, and that a reasonable settlement is the company's, as well as the plaintiff's, interest.