News & Events

Attorney Liam Duffy Presents on Workplace Injury Cases at Louisiana Association for Justice CLE

Posted: December 14, 2022

Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy was invited to present last week at the Louisiana Association for Justice’s “Winning with the Masters” CLE program.  His talk, “Lessons Learned from a Louisiana Scaffold-Fall Case,” was around a workplace injury case he recently settled for $15.75 million for a Louisiana woman who was critically injured on the job near Baton Rouge.

The woman was tragically rendered a paraplegic after falling ~20 feet from an unsafe scaffold on an asbestos abatement jobsite. Two years into the case, Yarborough Applegate was brought in as lead trial counsel thanks to the significant verdicts and settlements we’ve secured for Hispanic immigrants and victims of spinal cord injuries. 

The $15.75 million outcome was a resounding affirmation of the rights of immigrant workers who are needlessly injured at the hands of negligent employers and third parties in the construction industry. 

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A LOUISIANA SCAFFOLD FALL CASE

Duffy’s presentation covered broader insights to be learned from our team’s strategic approaches that proved to be difference-makers in this case. Among them: the mindset required to set aside fears created by your case’s so-called “bad” facts—for example, a client’s immigration status—avenues to explore for additional claims to maximize your client’s recovery, and how to anticipate and avoid common traps in workplace injury and scaffolding cases. 

Liam Duffy presents scaffold tags, a safety designation that indicates whether a scaffold is safe (green), requires a harness and caution (yellow), or is dangerous and should not be used (red). Here, they’re a reminder that compelling visuals at trial need not be over the top, expensive, or digital; they can be simple props.

Knowing that even the most well-built case is worthless if a judge or jury fails to process key information and its implications, Duffy also emphasized the importance of simplifying every case through easy-to-understand visual aids, testing and honing case theories using big-data surveys and focus groups, and embracing technology as part of everyday trial and deposition practice.

Duffy’s talk before the Louisiana Association for Justice was the latest in a series of workplace injury presentations he’s given this year before legal peers. Our attorneys are proud to be industry leaders, and every time we’re invited to share case-proven insights with colleagues in the legal community, we aid in building a stronger, more just legal profession for all. 

If you have a case in need of co-counsel, contact Yarborough Applegate to see how we can help. 

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