What's the Difference Between Mesothelioma and Asbestos Lung Cancer?
You may assume that mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer are interchangeable terms. But while both are caused by asbestos exposure,...
Jim Ferraro
- Jan 6
Why File a Paraquat Lawsuit?
Farmers who use paraquat are far more likely to develop Parkinson’s than those who never used it. A lawsuit is the best way to get...
Jim Ferraro
- Jan 4
Can Asbestos Exposure Cause Lung Cancer?
Each year, thousands of Americans die as a result of exposure to asbestos, and those in certain industries—particularly Navy,...
Jim Ferraro
- Dec 1, 2021
How Does Paraquat Cause Parkinson’s?
Parkinson’s disease affects nearly 1 million people in the United States. Since its introduction in 1962, scientists have connected...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 14, 2018
Getting the Jury to Understand How to Calculate Damages
I was in the middle of my closing arguments in the Castillo-Dupont case. Although I spent the bulk of my 90 minutes going through and...
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 10, 2017
A Family Heritage
In 1997, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (now known simply as Public Justice) named me a national finalist for Trial Lawyer of the Year be
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 8, 2017
Justice for the Families
The results of our third and final appeal in Delaware came in shortly after the Florida Supreme Court reinstated the Castillo decision....
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 5, 2017
Success at Last
The day of oral arguments was surreal. We had been through so much already, from the trial, to the court of appeals, to getting the...
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 4, 2017
Reassuring the Castillo Family
While we were in the briefing process at the Florida Supreme Court, my firm received a letter from Greg Gaebe that stated if we dropped...
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 3, 2017
Arguing the Case to the Florida Supreme Court
We had one step one, and received a positive decision on our writ to present our case to the Supreme Court. We now had to fully brief and...
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 2, 2017
Refusing to Give Up Hope
In the aftermath of the appellate decision, the Castillos and I had a limited period of time in which to decide whether we would try to...
Jim Ferraro
- Oct 1, 2017
Dealing with Defeat
During the appellate process at the Third District Court of Appeals in Florida, DuPont did two notable and important things. First, it...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 28, 2017
In Hostile Territory
The proceedings in the Scottish cases – we had started to vigorously pursue 29 cases on behalf of children in Scotland who were affected...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 27, 2017
Getting to Know the Jurors
I asked Clem Glynn how he came to know about the jurors, especially that one nasty juror who wanted to sabotage everything, and who...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 26, 2017
Paying for the Angry Juror
When a case like this comes to an end, some lawyers crash from the emotional and physical toll. Not me. For several weeks afterward, I...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 25, 2017
Savoring a Hard-Won Victory
The jury had awarded a $4 million decision for the plaintiff. When the clerk finished reading how the jury came up with this number and...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 24, 2017
The Verdict
Sometime in the late morning the jury came back with a second question related to economic damages, which is usually a great sign for us....
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 21, 2017
The Possibility of Press Leaks
As I mentioned in my last post, I’d noticed a conference between the DuPont and Pine Island Farms attorneys concerning how Judge Donner...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 20, 2017
The Jury Deliberates
On the first full day of deliberations in the Castillo-DuPont case, as the lawyers were going through the evidence with the court, the...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 19, 2017
Helping the Jurors Understand the Case
Judge Donner had spent a considerable amount of time explaining the evidence in the Castillo-DuPont case to the jurors. She continued to...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 18, 2017
The Judge Instructs the Jury
On the morning of June 6, 1996, the jury was ushered into the courtroom just as it had been every other morning for the previous five...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 17, 2017
Asking Damages, and Dealing with Defense Badmouthing
The total damages we were pursuing in the Castillo-DuPont case were in the general range of $20 to $30 million. Based on our assessment,...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 13, 2017
Closing Arguments
I was ready to close the case. Judge Donner instructed her clerk, Ray, to bring the jury back into the courtroom to commence closing...
whitewayweb
- Sep 12, 2017
The Judge Stands Firm
In my last post, I mentioned something sneaky that the defense was doing: one of the lawyers had used blowups of testimony as exhibits –...
whitewayweb
- Sep 11, 2017
Bickering Over Evidence
In my last post, I mentioned how the defense wanted the judge to declare a mistrial on the basis of the testimony of Sonya Sipes. The...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 7, 2017
The Importance to the Case of an Ecological Study
One of the last witnesses to testify in the Castillo-DuPont case was Dr. Brad Pollock, an associate professor and the director of the...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 6, 2017
An Unshakeable Witness
In my last post, I wrote about some of the dirty tricks the defense was employing during this trial, and how one of the defense lawyers...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 5, 2017
Dirty Tricks to Sway the Case
The questionable tactics the defense engaged in from the outset of the Castillo-DuPont trial continued right through the very last...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 4, 2017
An Expert Witness for the Other Side Helps Our Case
In my previous few posts, I’ve been recounting the testimony, and my cross-examination, of expert witness Dr. Robert Brent, who said that...
Jim Ferraro
- Sep 3, 2017
The Inconsistencies of an Expert Witness
In my last post, I spoke about the experienced expert witness, Dr. Robert Brent. It turned out that Dr. Robert Brent had known Dr. Robert...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 31, 2017
Navigating the Testimony of the Opposition’s Experts
While Dr. Robert Brent, an expert witness for DuPont in the Castillo-DuPont trial (whom I began to write about in my previous post),...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 30, 2017
Of Newbie and Rock-Star Witnesses
As I mentioned earlier, when we went to trial, my two key witnesses had never testified in court before. That’s an extremely risky...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 29, 2017
The Defense Tries to Discredit the Case
The Defense was now about to present its case in the Castillo-DuPont trial. Just as I had carefully, methodically, and thoughtfully laid...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 27, 2017
The Defense Acts to Decimate an Expert’s Reputation
As Liz and I sat and listened to toxicology expert Dr. Vyvyan Howard, who after providing testimony on our behalf at the Castillo-DuPont...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 24, 2017
The Defense Tries to Dismantle the Truth
Dr. Vyvyan Howard, a renowned expert on toxicology and pathology who had testified for us on the effects of certain fungicides on the...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 23, 2017
The Fine Details of Chemical Exposure
The following morning, the day after his in-depth testimony on the many different ways an embryo or fetus can be impacted by...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 21, 2017
A Breather Between Testimony, and Taking Stock
In my previous posts, I presented the first phase of the testimony from Dr. Vyvyan Howard, a renowned toxicology and pathology expert,...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 21, 2017
The Expert Testimony Continues
In these last few posts, I’ve been recounting the testimony of the toxicology and pathology expert Dr. Vyvyan Howard, in the...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 20, 2017
Transmission Through the Skin
In my previous two posts, I gave a picture of the testimony of the toxicology expert Dr. Vyvyan Howard, who was testifying as one of my...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 17, 2017
Evidence for Developmental Damage
I had placed on the stand at the Castillo-DuPont trial the renowned Dr. Vyvyan Howard, a doctor and researcher who specialized in...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 16, 2017
A Renowned Expert Takes the Stand
I called Dr. Vyvyan Howard to the stand on May 22, three weeks into the Castillo-DuPont trial. By this point, the jury had heard a lot of...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 15, 2017
Becoming an Expert Witness ‘Whisperer’
I spent the next week or so of the Castillo-DuPont trial calling every expert witness in our arsenal to testify about the scientific...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 14, 2017
The Sides that Lawyers Choose
On the plaintiff side, we often have to prove a lot in order to win. If we miss one point, we lose. It’s like building a house: if you...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 13, 2017
Admitting the Truth About Toxicity
In my last post, I recounted how I had been questioning the DuPont toxicology expert Dr. Judith C. Stadler, and how we had, little by...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 10, 2017
Calculating Exposure
Once the judge cleared my line of questioning, I began slowly and meticulously walking DuPont’s expert toxicologist Dr. Judith C. Stadler...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 9, 2017
Jockeying for Position During a Trial
During my questioning of the DuPont expert Dr. Judith C. Sadler, which I began to recount in my previous post, I saw that my line of...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 8, 2017
Countering a Witness for the Opposing Side
My primary objective with DuPont’s corporate representative Dr. Judith C. Stadler was to completely dismantle the bullshit five-gallon...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 7, 2017
The Delicacy of Working with Numbers in a Court Case
Since the beginning of this trial, DuPont had been disseminating propaganda about its product and the case itself. I was doing my best to...
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 6, 2017
Battling the Claims of Junk Science
With the exposure issue now firmly behind us, the next fight we had to endure in the Castillo-DuPont case was the battle of science....
Jim Ferraro
- Aug 3, 2017
Overwhelming Evidence
In my last post I recounted that I’d begun reading the 65 admissions I’d received from codefendant Pine Island Farms, in the...