ALFA International Publications

Watch Out for The Fall Guy:  Preparing Your A-Team  to litigate everything from slip-and-falls to Murder (she wrote)  -- What are Juries Focused on Post-Covid? The pandemic effectively ended most civil jury trials in early 2020.  Jury trials slowly began to resume under strict Covid screening and jury-protection measures. As jury trials resumed, there was speculation as to t…

What is “implicit” or “unconscious” bias? Implicit bias is a preference, whether positive or negative, for a group based upon a stereotype or attitude we hold that operates outside of human awareness. It can be understood as a lens through which someone view the world that automatically filters how a person takes in and responds to information.[i] In society, we all have attitudes toward people…

In the last decade, violence in the workplace has become tragically common.  When acts of violence occur within the workplace, it is common for employees to levy accusations against their employer for failing to prevent the incident.  Preventing violence in the workplace is one of the most important issues employers face, but addressing this issue is not simple.  Employers have conf…

Since 2020, the retail industry has been challenged by numerous threats and challenges. At first, it was the pandemic that shook the world, pushing the eCommerce adoption rate to +30% over the 2019 levels and fiercely switching the purchase behavior of consumers across the world. In 2022 and as the world tried to normalize its pace, the Ukrainian War, the energy crisis, and inf…

While the merits of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DE&I”) in the workforce have long been discussed, it was only after the murder of George Floyd and the demand for social justice reform, did DE&I initiatives come to the forefront.  However, DE&I is often thought of as a “hot topic.”  But the term “hot topic” evokes a certain thought process that the underlying idea or co…

Litigation alleging “negligent security” as a consequence of isolated criminal assaults is not new to the hospitality and retail industry. In fact, it is well known that such lawsuits represent potential high exposure, particularly in certain venues.[i] However, the increasing number of “active shooter” and “mass shooting” incidents has brought greater focus on the broader risk to multiple victims…

In today’s legal environment, trials are no longer a certainty; however, it is clear, beyond peradventure that every case will be referred to mediation. Since Chief Justice Burger’s original admonition to the American Bar Association that the legal profession needed to do something about the plethora of cases being litigated and that the Court would do something about it if their lawyers did not, …

Are extreme jury awards – known as “nuclear verdicts” – the new normal? From 2015 to 2019, the average verdict in the National Law Journal’s Top 100 Verdicts more than tripled from $64 million to $214 million. (National Law Journal’s 2015 and 2019 editions of the Top 100 Verdicts studies). These socially inflated verdicts are creating challenges for the insurance industry, making it difficult to u…

Running with the Bulls Running with the Bulls: How to Win Top-Dollar Settlements is the title of the 2018 book by nationally recognized plaintiff's attorney, Nicholas Rowley.  Attorney Rowley's websites, nicholasrowley.com and tl4j.com (Trial Lawyers for Justice), state that Attorney Rowley has achieved over $2 billion in verdicts and settlements for his clients, including: $131 million against…

On a busy interstate in the American Northeast, a snow squall descended upon unsuspecting drivers going about their day.  While snow in that area is not uncommon, many drivers appeared deceived by the density of the storm and low visibility, leading to a pileup of dozens of vehicles that careened into each other, unable to stop in time to avoid the collision.  At least three people were killed and…