The Plaintiff's Perspective: Ensuring Your Case Has 'Staying Power

• Author: James F. Haggerty
• Profession: Lawyer
• Pages: 203-229

203

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Plaintiff’s

Perspective:

Ensuring Your

Case Has

“StayingPower”

Much of this book has been focused on the litigation communication

equivalent of not getting caught with your pants down, a condition

primarily (although not exclusively) faced by defendants who nd their

legal matter under the glare of the public spotlight. But what about

plaintiffs? How do they get their story out? How can they ensure that

their communication strategy is designed not just to make a single day’s

news, but also to affect the course of the entire litigation?

In this chapter, we look at the particular problems that face plaintiffs

as they prepare their case for presentation in the court of public opinion.

We look at the difculty in sustaining momentum against large corpo-

rate clients with enormous resources. And we consider the importance of

not giving up, even if your litigation takes years to work its way through

the system.

Most of the principles I’ve detailed in this book can be used by

all parties in legal disputes, regardless of the type of case, the

particular circumstances of the parties, or the level of damages

(or criminal penalty) at stake. Techniques such as the Control,

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In the Court of Public Opinion

204

Information, Response (CIR) system; the Litigation Media Check-

list; messaging exercises; and the Media Brief are specically

designed to be:

• As applicable to the large-scale lawsuit as they are to the

smaller case;

• Useful whether the litigant is a corporation, a nonprot

enterprise, or a high-prole individual who nds him- or

herself in the media spotlight;

• As vital in a lawsuit between two private parties as in

cases involving government investigations and regulatory

action; and

• As important for the plaintiff’s side to remember and

adhere to as the defendant’s.

There’s no denying, however, that for much of this book, I have

focused on response—how to react and control the message when

your case “breaks” in the media. This chapter focuses on the par-

ticular issues plaintiffs face when promoting their case and how

to make sure the case gets the best media coverage possible. And

we start with a battle that is frustrating, ongoing, and more than

half a decade old.

The United Nations, Publicity and Responsibility

“Hey, Scott. I think I need some help.”

“Scott” is Scott Prendergast, a former NYPD detective, now an

accomplished private investigator in the New York area. His com-

pany, Cornelius Investigations (http://corneliusinvestigations

.com), handles all manner of investigative work for law rms and

other parties. I was leaving an ofce building in Chicago and I

needed a favor.

“We’ve just learned that the Secretary General of the United

Nations, Ban Ki-moon, is giving a speech this afternoon at the

Asia Society in Midtown Manhattan,” I said. “We want to serve

him with papers in the Haitian cholera lawsuit.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever served a UN Secretary General

personally,” he replied. To this day, I’m not sure how he knew

that . . . but he did.

“Yes, I know. But we’d like to.”

A pause. Then:

“I got just the guy for you. Specializes in the unusual. Serving

by Irving.”

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