Conference Agenda
Day 1, Thursday, February 24, 2011
7:30 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Registration
8:15 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Welcome By Co-Chairs
Mark D. Sayre, The Valorem Group, Chicago
Joseph W. Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
"Ok, So Whose Big Idea Was It To Remove this Case to be Tried in Federal Court?" - Federal Rules of Evidence in Trial
- Relevancy vs. Prejudice in Federal Trials
- Attorney-Client Privilege, Work Product and Waiver under the Rules of Evidence
- Discoverability of Expert Reliance Materials and Draft Reports
- The Limits of Lay and Expert Opinion
- Unique Federal Twists on Hearsay Rule and Exceptions
F. Ford Loker, Miles Stockbridge, LLP, Baltimore
Sharon J. Zinns, Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP, New York
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Getting Past the Gatekeeper: Clearing Daubert Hurdles with Your Asbestos Experts
- Finding and Vetting Reliable and Relevant Experts
- Preparing and Deposing Experts in Anticipation of Daubert Challenges
- Defeating Daubert Challenges and Getting Your Expert's Opinions Into Evidence
Lawrence G. Cetrulo, Cetrulo & Capone, LLP, Boston
Justin Shrader, Shrader & Associates, Houston
Alani Golanski, Weitz & Luxenberg, New York
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Medicare Issues
- Medicare Issues Between the Defendants, Their Insurers and the Plaintiffs' Bar
Joseph W. Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York
Mark D. Sayre, Valorem Law Group, Chicago
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
The Ethics of Threatening Removal of Cases to Federal Court as a Settlement Tool
- Cases Are Now Resolved in the MDL Much More Promptly
- Strategic Removals
- Demands for Releases
Charles Siegel, Waters & Kraus, Dallas
Robert O. Meriwether, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P., Columbia, SC
2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Refreshment Break
2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The Changing Views of Removal Among Defendants
- Why, Historically, Defendants Wanted to be in Federal Court
- Why Defendants Now Want to be in Federal Court
- Evolving Theories of Law Affecting Removal and the Use of Bases of Removal
- Effects of Removal on Settlement Dynamics
Bernard L. Levinthal, Goldfein and Joseph, P.C., Philadelphia
Joseph Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Standards of Proof In Federal District Court
- Federal Court Evidence Compared to General State Court Evidence
- How Standards of Proof Differ from State to Federal Court
Dan O'Connell, O'Connell Tiven Miller & Burns, Chicago
Nathan D. Finch, Motley Rice, Washington, D.C.
Terry Budd, K&L Gates, Pittsburgh
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Networking Cocktail Reception
Day 2, Friday, February 25, 2011
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Discovery Issues: Bankruptcy Trusts, Transparency Issues and MDL 875
- Need for and Goals of Transparency of Claims in the Bankruptcy Trusts
- Types of Claim Information Available from Bankruptcy Trust Data
- Discovery of the Bankruptcy Claims (Efforts, Successes and Barriers)
- Bankruptcy Trusts' Efforts to Limit Transparency
- Extrapolation of Discredited and Suspect Non-Malignant Claims Used to Predict Future Claims
David M. Setter, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Denver
Daniel J. Mulholland, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Jackson, MS
William Kohlburn, The Simmons Firm, East Alton, IL
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Current Status of the Asbestos MDL
- Who is Left?
- What is Happening?
- How Much Longer Will This Go On?
Marcy B. Croft, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Jackson, MS
Kyle E. Bjornlund, Cetrulo & Capone, LLP, Boston
Keven H. Friedman, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., Woodbridge, NJ
Tiffany F. Turner, Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, P.C., Philadelphia
V. Brian Bevon, Motley Rice, Mt. Pleasant, SC
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The “Dos and Don’ts†of Trial Attorney Conduct & Decorum in Federal District Court
Scott L. Frost, Waters & Kraus, LLP, Dallas
Stephen M. Nichols, Walsworth, Franklin, Bevins & McCall, Orange, CA