Litigation Databases

Litigation Tab Page Aids the Practitioner from Case Evaluation to Case Closure

More Litigation databases are under the Topical Materials by Area of Practice section of the Westlaw Directory. Several of the entries, such as Lawsuits Filed and Litigation Preparation Records, are Westlaw public records databases. Some of these materials can also be found on the Litigation tab.

Litigation

Jury Verdicts and Settlements

Jury verdicts and settlements documents give the names of parties, lawyers, and expert witnesses; the type and extent of injury; the age and occupation of the injured; the nature of the negotiations; and the final award (if any) by either jury verdict or settlement to help evaluate the value of a case.

Jury Instructions Databases

Jury Instruction databases can be found in the Directory under Litigation in the topical section or on the Litigation tab page.

Listed to the left are some of the jury instructions databases on Westlaw.

• Database: FL-JV• Natural Language search: 25 year old male truck driver burned

when radiator overheated after repair• Result: At least one document with similarities to the fact pattern

embedded in the search; see above.

Jury Verdicts and Settlements

• Database: JV-ALL• Jury verdict databases have unique fields. To see fields, click Fields on the Terms and Connectors search page.

• Search: “carpal tunnel” in the Summary field and val0 (value 0) in the Range field.

• The Range field (ra) allows you to search for documents in which the awards fall within a certain dollar range.

Defendant’s verdict

Carpal Tunnel

Fields in JV-ALL

Expert Witness DatabasesSeveral databases are designed to help you locate expert witnesses in specialized areas.

– Expert Witness Résumés (EXPTRESUME) gives the education, past expert witness experience, results obtained, and fees and rates of expert witnesses.– ExpertNet (EXPNET) gives biographic information on medical malpractice and personal injury experts. There is a $200 referral fee.– Forensic Services Directory (FSD) gives names and biographic data on scientific, medical, and technical experts.

Expert Witness Searches Expert Witness field searches in the Jury Verdict and Settlements databases

can also be used to to determine the effectiveness of a specific expert witness in past litigation or to locate expert witnesses in an area of expertise.– Database: JV-ALL– Search: ew(john /2 anders*n)– Search: ew(“vocational rehab!”) & st(mn wi ia)

Vocational Rehabilitationist

Polk County, Iowa

Andrew’s Litigation Reporter databases

Andrew’s Litigation Reporters contain short

newsletter style articles on the latest developments in

specific areas of litigation. They are in the Directory,

under Litigation, under Newsletters.

Other Litigation Materials• WestDockets® (court docket information) databases tap into courts’

docketing systems so you can determine what documents have been filed, the schedule of proceedings and appearances. The general format for the identifiers of these databases is DOC-XX-DCT, where XX is the state’s postal abbreviation. Check the directory for the exact identifier.

• Litigation Preparation (LITPREP-XX) databases contain information about all business names, the type of business entity, whether the business is registered with the state and is in good standing, and the person to receive process.

• Lawsuit Filings (LS-XX) databases contain records of civil lawsuits filed in 500 counties of 44 states. These databases indicate basic information concerning the lawsuit. Most of these databases cover only business civil filings.

Other Litigation Materials• National Directory of Process Servers (NDPS) database lists process

servers by state, city, and county.

• Personal Injury Damages materials consist of more than a dozen databases covering the practical aspects of litigating various types of personal injury suits.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution materials contain forms, checklists, and texts that contribute to successful negotiation and arbitration skills.

• Civil Procedure and Evidence materials include federal and state rules and orders databases, as well as the Daubert Citator, Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, and McCormick on Evidence.