WAG, I was asked privately what I think. When I get a little time I'm gonna give MY WAG, FWIW, and it ain't worth much. I can certainly tell you now that I'm in for the ride to settlement, buyout, or verdict. IF you believe VRNG has the goods, then a trial, and verdict, shouldn't scare you, as long as you don't have more on the line than you can afford to lose. IF you have more on the line than you can afford to lose, you need to take some off. There are no guarantees in a jury trial. Expert witness testimony will be key. Who will a jury of common people believe? Will it matter that Lang sold his patent for pennies of what it was worth, then bought his patent back again to go for the gusto? Not really because that has already been excluded from evidence. Lang is da man! The EXPERTS are key, for the jury. Why? Because this shit is WAY over their heads. If the jury loves our experts, and believes them, WE WIN! Cuts will take out any computer gurus from the jury panel.
At trial, I'd be looking MORE at how EACH particular EXPERT witness will come across to the COMMON MAN/WOMAN.
We tried a products liability case one time on a drilling rig turnover that killed one of our clients, and hurt the other badly. The one killed was a derrick man, the other a trainee up on the racking board of the rig with him. They were tripping the well (bringing the pipe out of the ground and stacking it in the racking board) and OUR contention was that a piece at the top of the rig holding the cable to one side of the racking board broke and cause the pipe to swarm which turned the rig over. OUR OWN EXPERT WAS AGAINST US FOR % YEARS, and I turned him around when I got in that case. I built a model of that drilling rig myself. I reviewed the depositions and talked to the surviving client. I convinced our own expert, which had given us an unfavorable opinion, that I knew exactly what had happened, and my model rig proved it. He flipped and we published his report to the other side and we designated him as a testifying expert instead of a consulting expert. We went to trial with my little wooden model of that drilling rig. He cut that cable support to that racking board (failure was in an eye at the top of the board that broke due to bending it, dropping in water, and crystalizing that piece of metal..it DID break) and in our model, the rig turned over. The other side had a full scale, totally metal rig. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, and to absolute scale! The problem they had with it, in trying to show how this could not be, was that this monster they brought into the courtroom would not extend out full length to allow them to show their experiment to the jury, which would have shown that the rig would NOT have turned over, and it actually would not have after later calculation. The judge would not let them take it outside. EXPERTS! One, with my little piss ant rig model I made, allowed us to win that case. We tried that case for a full week. The jury hated the defense expert, and they liked our guy. Our little model worked, and theirs didn't. IF a jury likes your expert, and the "model" works, they will go with you. IF your expert can't communicate with them, and they don't like him/them, then you lose. The Defense expert in this case came into the courtroom wearing a hard hat, just as he had done at deposition (I KNEW a jury wouldn't like him!) They didn't! The funny thing is, that idiot/expert for the defense, as I later learned, was ABSOLUTELY right! It wasn't a rig failure at all, but rather a failure to provide a proper foundation for the rig to support it. We won, but probably shouldn't have.
THIS case is also a trial of experts. Experts are meant to guide a jury. The better they are at coming across, the better that "guidance" will be for the outcome of your case. I hope ours come across well at trial, if we end up there, and we may well do so. A bird in the hand settlement gives everyone some bucks. If the bird is sitting on the bush, and you get both the bird, and the bush, you own BOTH the BIRD and the BUSH.
I'm NOT afraid of this going to trial. We have a great legal team, and I believe GREAT experts! We have Lang, who wrote the underpinnings of this patent. If he doesn't come across as a weirdo, our chances are very, very good. EACH expert must come across well to have a total victory! MY DD says they'll do fine, and my money is bet on them.
Have a good night! Won't be around much Thursday afternoon, and probably not at all on Friday. IF anything noteworthy happens, please PM me. I got to give my Baby away Friday.
Best of luck to all!
JJ
AI
