Inner Circle of Investigators Annual Conference

Spence, Moriarity and Schockey, LLM

15 South Jackson Street, Jackson, Wyoming

 

 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 1st and 2nd 2003

 

August 1st, 2003

 

8:30-8:45 

Registration and welcome to the conference

Fred Sylvester, Chuck Wooden.

 

8:45-9:00 

Election of officers

 

9:00-10:00 

Making trial exhibits using digital tools. Innovative means of designing and creating trial exhibits.  

 

James W. Harbert CLI, FCI

Technical Management Services, Pensacola, Florida.

 

Jim has an AS in Law Enforcement (72), a BA in Public Safety (74) and an MS Degree in Criminal Justice Administration (78). Jim is a Certified Legal Investigator by examination through the National Association of Legal Investigators (85) and a Florida Certified Investigator (99) through the Joint Committee on FCI Certification in Florida. Jim has published over 50 articles and two book chapters in the area of investigation winning five editor/publisher awards from the National Association of Legal Investigators. In 2000 Jim was named one of the Top 25 Investigators of the Century by the National Association of Investigative Specialists.  Jim's newest book, Techniques in Complex Civil Investigations, is available through his website and the Inner Circle of Investigators website. Jim is the owner of Technical Management Services and has conducted plaintiff's tort investigations and criminal defense investigations for over 25 years for the law firm of Kerrigan, Estess, Rankin & McLeod in Pensacola, Florida.

 

 

10:00-11:00

New Directions in Case Presentation.  How to present your case to the jury electronically. 

 

John Schatzman CLI 

839 N. Jefferson St. Suite 601 Milwaukee, WI 53202, 414-276-4970.

 

John has been a legal investigator concentrating in personal injury law since 1981. He has been responsible for investigating serious and catastrophic accidents and injury in more than 15 states and 100 different federal, district and circuit court jurisdictions. He is currently the chief legal investigator for the Milwaukee law firm of Warshafsky, Rotter, Tarnoff, Reinhardt and Bloch, S.C. John is a Certified Legal Investigator through the National Association of Legal Investigators. In 1997 John received an executive appointment from the state of Wisconsin to serve as advisor to the State of Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing. His responsibilities include reviewing all legislative matters involving the state of Wisconsin and the investigation industry, peer review and discipline, and license preparation and examination. John is on the faculty of the Institute for Paralegal Studies and frequently lectures at area colleges in the fields of rules of evidence, witness interviewing, federal and state open-records laws and personal injury investigation technique.

 

 

 

11:00 –12:00 

Automobile Product Liability Cases

 

Fred Sylvester 

Michie, Hamlett, Lowery, Rasmussen & Tweel, PC, 120 Day Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24095 , (877) 451-1288.

 

Fred is Director of Litigation Services at the Law Firm of Michie, Hamlett, Lowery, Rasmussen & Tweel in Roanoke, Virginia.   Fred reviews all cases that come into the firm, which takes only death and catastrophic injury cases.  Fred investigates and makes recommendations to the partners about taking the cases.  Once the case has been accepted, Fred does a complete case preparation including investigation, hiring of experts, assisting with discovery and preparation, and trial of the case.  Currently they have product liability ligitation pending against GM, Ford, Chrysler, Freightliner and others. 

 

Lunch:

 

1:30-2:30

“Who owns this Loss,” Determining third-party liability. 

 

The Warren Group,  Jeffery H. Warren, Ph.D., P.E., CSP

Email: jeff@warren-group.com The Warren Group, P. O. Box 211128, Columbia, South Carolina 29221, 803-732-6600

 

The Warren Group, LLC, formerly Safety Design Analysis, LLC, Columbia, South Carolina. CEO and Chief Engineer performing specialized consulting and training related to property loss analysis and the analysis of designs with regard to safety.

Property Loss Analysis
Determine the cause of the loss, establish scope of damage, estimate cost to repair, evaluate replacement cost, establish actual value, estimate salvage value, estimate time required to complete repair.

Safety Design Analysis (both personal injury and property damage)
Industrial accident reconstruction, machine controls, machine safeguarding, warnings, OSHA compliance, standards and codes compliance, maintenance, fire and explosion analysis, products liability, product failures, premises liability, failure analysis, consumer products.

Accident Prevention
Hazards identification, risk assessment, engineering design for safety, component testing, OSHA compliance, standards and codes compliance and products liability.

Training
Hazards identification, risk assessment, engineering design for safety, standards and codes, machine safeguarding and products liability

 

2:30-3:30

“Automobile After Market Add-ons,” Automobile Product Liability

 

Steve Lockman CLI, FCI

Levin and Papantonio, Pensacola, Florida

 

Steve has an AA in Liberal Studies (82) and a BS in Criminal Justice from Florida State University. He is a Certified Legal Investigator by examination through the National Association of Legal Investigators (99) and a charter Florida Certified Investigator (99) through the Joint Committee of FCI Certification in Florida. During his tenure with the Florida law firm of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor, PA, his knowledge and skills have expanded in the pursuit of claims investigation for the firm and its clients. Steve has a vast amount of knowledge and experience in personal injury investigation through cases involving motor vehicle collisions, commercial transport vehicles, multiple vehicle collisions and rollover accidents. His knowledge and experience of product liability cases involves motor vehicles, after-market motor vehicle add-ons, gym equipment, motorcycle helmets, bicycles and a host of other products. In addition to personal injury and product liability investigations, Steve also has extensive experience in the field of criminal defense and evidence photography.

 

 

3:30-4:30

“Research in Automobile Product Liability Cases,” Understanding the issues and maximizing the outcome of product liability cases.  Conducting research in product liability cases.   

 

Sherry Kuntz

Strategic Safety Inc., Birmingham, Alabama.  205-525-4616. 

 

 

Saturday, August 2, 2003

 

8:30 – 9:30

Legal Investigations in the 21st Century. 

 

Gerry Spence

Spence, Moriarity, and Shockley LLM, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

 

Gerry Spence, recognized nationwide for his powerful courtroom victories, including that for the estate of Karen Silkwood against Kerr-McGee and those for the defenses of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos and White Separatist Randy Weaver, takes pride in being a country lawyer.

Born, raised and educated in Wyoming, Spence graduated cum laude from the University of Wyoming Law School in 1952. The University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May 1990.

He spent his early years as a prosecutor and gradually developed an insurance clientele, becoming one of the leading defense attorneys in the intermountain west. After successfully defending insurance companies for many years he "saw the light" and took on a new direction--representing people. No more corporations, insurance companies, banks, or big businesses. Representing people remains his steadfast commitment.

Spence first gained national recognition when he received a $10,500,000 verdict against Kerr-McGee in the Karen Silkwood case on behalf of her children. Later he earned such verdicts as $26,535,000 against Penthouse for Miss Wyoming and successfully defended Ed Cantrell in the famous Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case. Spence received a $52,000,000 verdict against McDonald's Corporation, the fast-food chain, on behalf of a small, bankrupt, family-owned ice cream company for McDonald's breach of an oral contract. A Utah medical malpractice verdict of over $4,000,000 established a new standard for nursing care in that state. In 1990 he won acquittal for Imelda Marcos on multiple charges after a three and one-half month trial in New York City. In 1992, he received a record-breaking $15,000,000 verdict for emotional damages incurred by his quadriplegic client because a major insurance company refused to pay the $50,000 policy more than twenty years earlier. Two weeks later he added $18,500,000 in punitive damages to the award. In 1993, Spence successfully defended Randy Weaver on murder, assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the famous Idaho federal standoff case. He has not lost a jury trial since 1969, and he has never lost a criminal case.    

 

9:30 – 10:30

“Electronic Data Recorders,” How electronic data recorders will effect the future of automobile crash investigations.

 

Jack Murray CLI, Dallas, Texas. 214-902-9156.

 

J.W. Jack Murray Jr. is a Certified Legal Investigator and accident reconstructionist qualified as an expert in State, County and Federal courts, Murray has testified in both civil and criminal cases all over the United States. Combining his investigative skills and training as an accident reconstructionist he has successfully investigated and sent for prosecution, numerous cases of insurance fraud.

Award winning author of seven books in his field, Murray is internationally recognized as a lecturer and teacher and has received numerous accolades from his peers. He has twice been a winner of the prestigious Editor-Publisher Award of the National Association of Legal Investigators. In 1998, he was named one of the top five investigators in America by PI Magazine and in 2000 was named one of the Top 25 Investigators of the Century by the National Association of Investigative Specialists. In 1996, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Investigative Specialists and in 1997, received the National Directors Award from the National Association of Legal Investigators. He is a former Regional Director of the National Association of Legal Investigators and former President of the North Texas Private Investigators Association.

 

 

10:30 – 11:30 

Gary L. Shockley will lead a discussion group and answer pertinent questions regarding product liability investigations and civil law.  

 

Gary L.  Shockey, Partner in the law firm of  Spence, Moriarity and Shockly LLM, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

 

Practice Areas: Plaintiff's Personal Injury; Product Liability; Toxic Tort Litigation; Environmental Law; Civil Litigation.

 

Gary was born in Casper, Wyoming in 1950. He attended public schools there, graduating from Kelly Walsh High School in 1969. He was active in many school activities and received the Principal's award as the outstanding graduating senior. Gary attended Yale University, graduating in 1973 with honors, earning dual degrees in Political Science and Sociology. He was honored with the Mead Cup, for outstanding service to his college. He enjoyed his four years on the East Coast, but knew he wanted to return to Wyoming.

Gary entered law school at the University of Wyoming and graduated in 1976. While in law school, he was on the staff of the Law Review and active in the Defender Aid program. During the summers he was an intern for Bob Schuster of Spence, Moriarity & Schuster (the firm is now called Spence, Moriarity & Shockey, LLC) and for the Natrona County Public Defender. He entered the legal workforce as an assistant public defender and also started a private practice.

Gary became an associate with Spence, Moriarity & Shockey in 1978.  He moved from Casper to Jackson, Wyoming in 1979 and became a partner in the law firm in 1982. He continues his practice in that capacity today.