How to Make Clear, Quick and Effective Objections
Podcast - A Checklist of Common Objections
In this episode of "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan Small addresses the art of making effective objections during trial, highlighting the importance of preparation, quick thinking and...more
In this episode of his "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan Small provides a checklist of the most common objections and their shorthand descriptions. Mr. Small shares why he believes this is...more
On September 2, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Continental Vineyard, LLC v. Vinifera Wine Co., LLC, and adopted a new contemporaneous objection rule for the circuit in doing so. In this...more
Having heard good things about it for years, last month I finally got around to reading Dr. Atul Gawande’s book, The Checklist Manifesto, and have begun to give some thought regarding its application to class action practice....more
This checklist is intended as an overview to help trial lawyers preserve the record for appeal. It is not exhaustive of all steps necessary to preserve error in every situation. Certain rules may vary by state/federal...more
In challenging the admission of an expert opinion, you should not assume that, because you objected on one basis, you have properly preserved for appeal objections on other grounds....more
Although it might be obvious to attorneys who routinely practice in the federal courts, for those who do not, it is important that specific and timely objections to a federal magistrate’s report and recommendation are filed...more
During a judicial career that spanned more than 25 years, Carlton Fields Shareholder Peter Webster presided over numerous jury trials as a circuit judge and authored hundreds of appellate opinions following his appointment to...more
It is axiomatic that objections not presented to the trial court are deemed waived on appeal. What may come as a surprise, however, is that waiver arguments can also be waived. Thus, a party’s failure to raise a waiver...more
Most recognize the well-known rule that, “once a trial court has definitively ruled on an issue on the record, before or during trial, a party need not renew an objection at trial to preserve a claim for appeal.” A slightly...more
The rules governing how litigants conduct written discovery changed substantially on December 1, 2015, when major amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure took effect....more
Two recent federal cases highlight the challenges practitioners face in presenting expert claims handling testimony in bad faith litigation under the Daubert standard. In the first case, a court excluded such expert testimony...more
In Byrd v. Stubbs, 190 So. 3d 26 (Miss. Ct. App. 2016), the Mississippi Court of Appeals reminded us of the need to be diligent during a charge conference by raising specific objections to a proposed jury instruction, as...more
On November 21, 2016, the First Circuit offered practitioners yet another reminder that, as the charges and verdict form evolve through colloquys with the trial judge, there is a continuing obligation to object; the timing of...more
This chart provides a quick reference regarding motions and objections that may be made immediately prior to, during, and immediately after trial to preserve issues for appellate review. ...more
While trial attorneys know they must preserve issues they wish to raise on appeal, they often overlook the basic steps required to help ensure appellate review. During more than 27 years on the bench, former Florida appellate...more
California courts are tired of hearing your demurrers, and now the state has done something about it. Code of Civil Procedure Section 430.41, which went into effect on January 1, 2016, now requires a meet-and-confer process...more
An unpublished opinion from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2016 caught our eye because it collected various established preservation-of-error principles for objecting to a magistrate judge's report and...more
Preserving error during voir dire can be tricky. In jurisdictions like Florida, certain steps must be taken to preserve objections, including those related to pretextual peremptory challenges. On March 18, Florida’s...more
Without a crystal ball, trial lawyers can make objections only on the basis of what has occurred or what they reasonably expect might occur based on the facts and circumstances existing at the time. Litigation, however is a...more
May you preserve an objection to personal jurisdiction by including a general denial to the complaint’s allegation in your answer and then moving to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds less than three (3) months later?...more
A recent Pennsylvania case presents the question: can a party rely on its co-defendant’s objections at trial, or must it join in an objection or make its own? In Amato v. Bell & Gossett, 116 A. 3d 607 (Pa. Super 2015),...more
Several months ago, we reported on a case in which a Florida court ruled that in order to take advantage of a change in the law, a party must first make the proper objection at trial. In other words – trial lawyers were...more
Jury instructions are important in winning the case before the jury. They can also provide grounds for appeal if errors are properly preserved. The following points address the most common problems we appellate lawyers see...more
Jury trials are supposed to be a forum within which the parties, represented by competent, professional and zealous counsel, present their positions in a coherent, thoughtful and respectful manner to their fact-finding peers....more