Let’s assume you represent a plaintiff in a personal injury action. The jury has just returned a verdict in your client’s favor but has only awarded your client an amount equal to the plaintiff’s past medical expenses without any compensation for past or future pain and suffering. Let’s assume also that the jury did so despite the fact that your client provided unrebutted testimony attesting to the pain and suffering he allegedly sustained.
Should you advise your client to accept the award, not to file post-trial motions or an appeal and move on? Or, should you advise your client to press his luck and challenge the verdict (arguing that he was aggrieved to the extent that the jury did not award him all the relief he requested), and seek a new trial, which may put him at risk for losing the entire award?
