Mastering the Deposition: How Expert Institute Assisted Attorney Mark D. Alcott's Landmark $44 Million Victory

The Firm

Harlin Parker, a prestigious full-service law firm located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has been offering exceptional legal representation for over a century, covering diverse areas from personal injury to business law. Attorney Mark D. Alcott, a seasoned litigator with extensive experience in federal and state courts, recently secured a significant victory in a wrongful death lawsuit.

The Case

This case revolved around a tragic incident where a 30-year-old woman lost her life to pneumonia shortly after receiving a stem cell transplant following her battle with cancer. The plaintiff's legal team contended that her pneumonia and its complications could have been prevented if her treating physician had prescribed antibiotics.

The Challenge

As the deposition of the defendant physician approached, Attorney Mark D. Alcott faced a crucial challenge. While Expert Institute had already provided him with two well-qualified experts—an esteemed pulmonologist and an oncologist—Alcott recognized the need for a specialist in bone marrow to refine his line of questioning.

The Solution

The experts that Expert Institute sourced for Mark and the in-depth Expert Radar due-diligence on the opposition’s expert “changed the course of this case,” in Alcott’s view.

A Luminary Stem Cell Transplant Expert

Mark Alcott's experience was transformed by the expertise of Dr. Robert Soiffer, a distinguished stem cell transplant specialist sourced by Expert Institute. Dr. Soiffer currently holds the position of Chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Co-Director of the Adult Stem Cell Transplantation Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts. His extensive involvement in the field, including chairing the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research advisory committee and past presidency of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, made him an invaluable resource.

Alcott emphasized the significance of the time spent with Dr. Soiffer in preparation for the deposition with the defendant physician.

Leveraging Expert Radar to Discredit the Defense Experts

In a strategic move, Mark Alcott employed Expert Radar, an AI-driven due diligence tool, to scrutinize the litigation history, legal documents, publications, and personal/professional background of his three opposing experts.

Expert Radar unearthed a textbook where the defense's expert had authored a chapter recommending the same standard of care that Alcott was advocating in the case. This revelation directly contradicted the expert's stance on behalf of the defense in Mark's case.

The Results

With Dr. Soiffer's assistance and the insights from Expert Radar's research, Mark executed a masterful deposition. Describing it as his best deposition ever, Alcott began by laying the groundwork with initial questions and then presented the textbook. When faced with his previous recommendations in black and white, the expert had no choice but to admit that he had indeed endorsed the same standard of care advocated by Mark.

The deposition discredited the expert to such an extent that the defense chose not to call him as a witness during the trial. Mark, on the other hand, shared highlights from the compelling video deposition with the jury. The Expert Radar research provided Alcott with a decisive advantage in dismantling the defense's argument regarding the stem cell transplant standard of care.

"Working with the Expert Institute changed the course of this case."

- Mark D. Alcott, Attorney at Harlin Parker

Conclusion

Mark D. Alcott's remarkable success in deposing the defense's expert, enabled by the Expert Institute's resources and expertise, underscores the invaluable role played by expert guidance and meticulous research in shaping the outcome of complex legal cases.