Episodes

  • John Sloan: Finding the Emotional Truth in TBI Cases

    John Sloan: Finding the Emotional Truth in TBI Cases
    Nov 25 2025

    “Jurors don’t decide cases on the facts… They decide the case based the emotional content and whether they can connect with our client’s story.” – John Sloan

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    Uncovering the Core of a Client’s Story

    In this episode, Tom is joined by veteran trial lawyer, John Sloan, a nationally respected litigator with more than 150 jury trials under his belt. John brings four decades of insight to a deep and candid discussion about what truly moves juries in traumatic brain injury cases. Together they explore how to get beyond surface-level facts, uncover the emotional core of a client’s story, and present before-and-after witnesses in a way that makes the jurors feel the loss that TB clients live with every day. John also shares his experience with the Trial Lawyers College and how it has shaped his approach to storytelling and client connection, and why getting to know clients in their everyday environment is non-negotiable.

    Key Takeaways
    • The critical importance of visiting clients in their homes to understand the real impacts of their injury
    • Why medical documentation can make or break your case
    • Why mild TBI clients often deny their own symptoms and how to handle that effectively
    • How a lay witness can be more powerful than even the best neuroimaging
    • The reason why specialized trial education can help litigators to better hear the hidden meaning behind what clients are saying.

    Trial lawyers will walk away from this episode with actionable strategies to strengthen their next TBI case and elevate their courtroom storytelling.

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Connect directly with John Sloan by visiting: https://sloanfirm.com

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    32 mins
  • Making the Invisible Visible: Special Recap Episode

    Making the Invisible Visible: Special Recap Episode
    Nov 11 2025
    Introduction of Winning The TBI Case: Strategy, Science, and Storytelling Imagine standing in a courtroom, representing someone whose life has been forever changed by an injury no one can see. No broken bones visible on X-rays. No scars to photograph. Just a person who looks perfectly normal on the outside, but whose brain and the very essence of who they are, has been fundamentally altered. This is the world Tom Crosley introduced us to twelve episodes ago. “Traumatic Brain Injury trials are some of the most complex and contentious litigation scenarios that you can encounter as a trial lawyer,” he explained, setting the stage for a journey through one of law’s most challenging frontiers. TBI Trial Strategy Fundamentals & Advanced TBI Case Strategies with Keith Mitnik Keith Mitnik joined the conversation early to share a profound truth that shapes everything in TBI litigation: You need two completely different skill sets to succeed. “People either step in and try them and don’t truly know the science,” Keith observed, “or they know the science in their sleep, but they don’t know how to try a case with it. It takes both to do them right.” This isn’t your typical car crash case involving a herniated disc. This is a whole different universe of knowledge. And here’s where it gets interesting—Keith revealed that when medical bills are minimal compared to the damages you’re seeking, sometimes the boldest move is not presenting them at all. “Insider information gets in our way,” he explained. “We know we like to present medical bills. We know not presenting them may be unusual. Guess who doesn’t: the jury.” Sequencing the Evidence Tom then pulled back the curtain on one of the biggest mistakes lawyers make in TBI cases: telling the story in the wrong order. “Have you ever watched a movie where the twist at the end completely changed how you saw everything that came before it?” Tom asked. “Trying a TBI case is a lot like that.” The strategy is surgical in its precision: Build a wall of evidence before the jury ever meets your client. Prove the injury is real before the defense gets a chance to argue it isn’t. Win half the battle in your first two or three witnesses, drilling the point home so sharp and so early that momentum carries you through. How Expert Witnesses Build a Wall of Evidence But evidence alone doesn’t win cases. connection does. Tom revealed that while experts might be the brain of your case, before-and-after witnesses are its heart and soul. These are the people who knew your client before the injury, who can paint the picture of what was lost. They translate MRI scans and medical terminology into something jurors can see, feel, and understand. “When done right,” Tom emphasized, “they push jurors from understanding to truly caring. And that’s what wins cases.” The Power of Before-and-After Witnesses and Introducing the Plaintiff for Maximum Impact Here’s where the strategy gets almost paradoxical: In most TBI cases, Tom doesn’t let the jury see his client until deep into the trial, perhaps the 17th witness out of 20. “Timing is everything,” he explained. “You do not put the plaintiff on the stand until the jury is primed to see their injury and not just in medical terms, but in human terms.” By the time the plaintiff finally appears, the jury has been educated, emotionally invested, and prepared to truly see the invisible injury that has upended this person’s life. How to Tear Apart the Defense’s “Junk Science” Experts Episode eight brought us into the trenches of cross-examination, where Tom laid out his systematic approach to destroying defense experts in what he calls “junk science witnesses.” The strategy starts in discovery, trapping them early. Then comes the methodical dismantling: Expose their bias as paid witnessesUse their own words against themTransform their “normal limits” argument into a weaknessRemind the jury that biomechanical engineers aren’t doctorsFollow the money trail to expose the hired gun relationship “Nothing kills credibility faster than a hired gun in the hip pocket of the defense lawyer,” Tom noted with satisfaction. TBI: Not Everyone Recovers Then came the bombshell research every TBI lawyer needs to know. Tom shared groundbreaking data that destroys the myth that everyone recovers from brain injuries: “Only 27% of patients with post-concussive syndrome recovered after three months.” Let that sink in. And it gets more powerful: If symptoms persist beyond a year, patients are more likely than not permanently injured. And if symptoms last three years? The study found zero recovery after that point. This isn’t opinion. This is science. This is ammunition. The Multiplying Effect of Injuries with Steven Gursten Steven Gursten brought another crucial insight in episode ten, explaining how multiple injuries don’t just add up—they multiply human suffering. “Two...
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    14 mins
  • Stewart Casper: Mastering TBI Science

    Stewart Casper: Mastering TBI Science
    Oct 21 2025

    “I said, this is really interesting stuff. It’s not just broken bones or a sprain of a neck. This is something really, really fundamentally interesting, and it would require a lot of hard work, which I was prepared to do as a young lawyer.” – Stewart Casper

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    Mastering the Science

    Stewart Casper has spent over 40 years becoming one of the most respected names in traumatic brain injury litigation. His reputation isn’t built on victories alone, it’s built on an unparalleled commitment to mastering the evolving science of brain injury. For two decades, Stewart has systematically read, curated, and indexed every significant piece of TBI research, creating a resource he generously shares with trial lawyers nationwide.

    In this episode, Tom sits down with Stewart to explore the insights that have shaped his legendary career. We start with where it all began when Stewart attended a brain injury conference in 1980 where he heard the term “diffuse axonal injury” for the first time. We then fast-forward to 2014 when he discovered neurometabolic cascade research that fundamentally changed how TBI litigators counter defense experts. Stewart’s career, spanning from that first brain injury conference to today’s cutting edge science, reveals what it takes to truly master TBI science in this ever-evolving and complex field.

    Key Takeaways

    • Stewart’s systematic process for staying current with medical literature and creating a searchable database
    • What the “citation cartel” is and how defense neuropsychologists manipulate perceived credibility
    • Tactical advice on MMPI misuse by defense experts and how to demand raw data exchanges
    • Why blood biomarkers and objective neuroimaging represent the future of TBI litigation
    • Advice for lawyers interested in TBI litigation

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Connect directly to Stewart Casper: https://slagermadry.com/attorney-stewart-m-casper

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    29 mins
  • Steven Gursten: The All-or-Nothing Nature of TBI Cases

    Steven Gursten: The All-or-Nothing Nature of TBI Cases
    Oct 14 2025

    “ Half of these guys are still calling it post-concussion syndrome and think you still need a loss of consciousness to have a brain injury.” – Steven Gursten

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    When Settlement Offers Stay Stubbornly Low

    In the conclusion of their two-part series, Tom continues his conversation with Michigan trial attorney Steven Gursten. They discuss tackling one of the most frustrating challenges in TBI litigation: getting cases settled for fair value when insurance companies consistently mis-evaluate them.

    Steven shares the reasons why mild TBI cases demand a completely different playbook for both damages presentation and settlement strategy. He explains some of the proven tactics that catch defense lawyers off guard and lead to substantial settlements for his clients.

    This insightful conversation explains why TBI cases are fundamentally all-or-nothing propositions and what you can do to stack the deck in your client’s favor.

    Whether you’re facing your first mediation on a brain injury case or looking to refine your approach, Steven’s systematic strategies offer practical wisdom for achieving results that reflect the true value of your client’s traumatic brain injury.

    Key Takeaways
    • Steven’s unconventional approach to presenting economic damages in TBI cases
    • The Sponsorship Theory – A powerful negotiation strategy that leverages the defense’s own experts against them
    • How regular communication with TBI clients helps prevent confusion, distrust, and doubt from creeping in when settlement offers come in low
    • The creative deposition tactic that changes negotiation dynamics before mediation begins
    • Why having a trial track record is essential for settlement leverage in TBI cases

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Connect directly with Steven Gursten: https://www.MichiganAutoLaw.com

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    25 mins
  • Steven Gursten: The Multiplying Effect of Injuries

    Steven Gursten: The Multiplying Effect of Injuries
    Oct 7 2025

    “When you have multiple injuries, multiple problems, people’s problems go up by multiplication, not by addition.” – Steven Gursten

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    Rethinking The Unwinnable TBI Case

    In the first of a two-part series, Tom is joined by Steven Gursten, nationally recognized trial lawyer and past president of AAJ TBI Litigation Group. Steven shares the pivotal experiences that shaped his TBI litigation career, from taking on “hot grounder” cases early on to achieving multimillion-dollar verdicts. These early successes made Steven the lawyer other lawyers turn to when cases seem unwinnable.

    In this episode, their conversation goes beyond trial tactics to explore the deeper lessons learned from decades in the courtroom: the critical importance of mastering the medical and scientific aspects of TBI, the challenges created by gaps in diagnosis and treatment to Steven’s tactical approach to transforming perceived case weaknesses into courtroom strengths. Steven also reveals an unexpected connection between two types of injuries that has fundamentally changed how he approaches cases that don’t fit traditional TBI profiles.

    Key Takeaways

    • A practical framework for deciding which cases deserve six-figure investments versus early settlements
    • The two case killers every TBI litigator must recognize and actively manage from day one
    • Steven’s approach to salvaging delayed-diagnosis cases most lawyers would turn down
    • The importance of mastering medical literature and meeting with doctors to build credibility
    • Leveraging the ‘multiplication not addition’ concept that changes how juries see injury cases

    Listeners will gain new ways of thinking about evidence, strategy, and storytelling that will reshape their approach to TBI cases. Join us next week for the conclusion of this two-part series where Steven and Tom tackle one of the most frustrating challenges in TBI litigation: getting cases settled for fair value when insurance companies consistently mis-evaluate them.

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Connect with Steven Gursten directly by visiting https://www.MichiganAutoLaw.com

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    29 mins
  • TBI: Not Everyone Recovers

    TBI: Not Everyone Recovers
    Sep 30 2025

    “Think of the brain like a city’s power grid. After a storm, most lights come back on quickly, but in some neighborhoods, the transformers are fried. The wiring’s damaged, the lights may never work the same again.” – Tom Crosley

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    From Defense Mantras to Scientific Truth

    The defense always starts with the same worn line: “Most people recover from mild TBI in just a few weeks.” While that may be true for most, it’s not the whole story. A significant minority never recover at all, and those are the clients who end up in our courtrooms. In this episode, Tom shares game-changing research: Longitudinal Study of Postconcussion Syndrome: Not Everyone Recovers.

    This groundbreaking study is the peer-reviewed science that proves what we’ve known all along. Learn about the critical three month threshold where the odds flip, why the ‘miserable minority’ concept is your strongest weapon, and how to use powerful analogies to make the invisible injury visible to juries.

    Key Takeaways

    • How the groundbreaking 2017 study proves that only 27% of patients with post concussion syndrome beyond three months ever recover
    • Why the three month threshold is the inflection point where recovery odds flip dramatically
    • Learn about the “miserable minority concept and why 15-20% of mild TBI patients never recover
    • Courtroom-tested analogies that communicate the challenges of mild TBI to jurors
    • Cross-examination strategies to lock defense experts into admitting the science behind non-recovery

    Resources

     The Longitudinal Study of Postconcussion Syndrome from the Journal of Neurotrauma: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5397249/

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    23 mins
  • How to Tear Apart the Defense’s “Junk Science” Experts

    How to Tear Apart the Defense’s “Junk Science” Experts
    Sep 23 2025

    “Defense experts aren’t here for the truth. They’re here for the paycheck. Show the jury that and you can overcome them.” – Tom Crosley

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    Overcome “Junk Science” to Gain Jury Trust

    Defense lawyers do not like TBI cases. They are complicated. They are potentially permanent. They can be expensive. When they are unable to argue the injury away, they turn to hired gun experts wielding junk science. In this episode, Tom breaks down the three main types of defense experts every litigator will face and reveals the systematic approach to dismantling their credibility on cross-examination. Tom shares real trial examples of exposing confirmation bias, flipping defense buzzwords against them, and why following the money trail is your most powerful weapon against these paid opinion witnesses.

    Key Takeaways
    • Cross-examination starts in discovery
    • The three-step approach to destroying defense neuropsychologists
    • How to shut down the “no objective evidence” argument
    • Taking apart the biomechanics expert’s claims
    • Follow the money trail to expose the defense’s hired guns

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    23 mins
  • Introducing the Plaintiff for Maximum Impact

    Introducing the Plaintiff for Maximum Impact
    Sep 16 2025

    “You do not put the plaintiff on the stand until the jury is primed to see their injury, not just in medical terms, but in human terms.” – Tom Crosley

    Welcome to Winning The TBI Case hosted by trial lawyer Tom Crosley. Listen each week as Tom provides practical, powerful guidance for litigating traumatic brain injury cases. This podcast is meant for litigation attorneys who are ready to explore the essentials of TBI cases to confidently represent clients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

    The Most High-Stakes Moment in Your TBI Trial

    After building your foundation with science and humanizing the case with before-and-after witnesses, it’s time for the most critical moment: introducing your plaintiff. But if you handle this wrong, you can undo all of your hard work in minutes. In this episode, Tom reveals his counterintuitive approach to plaintiff preparation and testimony that goes against everything you’ve learned about in other injury cases.

    Key Takeaways
    • The timing decisions that minimize the opportunity for jurors to form damaging first impressions
    • Why conventional client preparation methods can backfire in a TBI case and what to do instead
    • Techniques for introducing your plaintiff gradually rather than all at once
    • How to determine the optimal length and scope of plaintiff testimony for maximum impact
    • The power of authentic emotional moments

    Subscribe and Stay Connected

    Are you ready to take your TBI practice to the next level? Subscribe to our Winning The TBI Case newsletter at www.crosleylaw.com/podcast for exclusive case studies, resources, and trial strategies you won’t hear anywhere else.

    Join our community of trial lawyers who refuse to settle for average results. Subscribe to Winning The TBI Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don’t just listen to the strategies, implement them!
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    18 mins