"The Beard Grows, But The Head Does Not Grow Wiser."
"Lawyers work hard and, like us, they're human, many of them."-Dick Cavett
“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.” - H. L. Mencken
"I tell you, I'll consult my lawyer. And if he advises me to do it, I'll get a new lawyer."-Groucho Marx 
"We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can."
On March 29, 2023 I received the letter, below, from a friend. Dr. Steven Newman, the last member of the Detroit Institute of Physical Medine and Rehabilitation, located at 25811 West Twelve Mile Road, Ste. 200, Southfield Michigan, was retiring, effective March 30, 2023. I hope this is not health related for Dr. Steve. I think he has reached normal retirement age, for most.
According to the letter, the Insitute has been in existence for 70 years, started by the legendary Dr. Max Newman, around 1953.
The Newmans, father Max, and sons Steve and Don were, over that time, as reliable a source of pro-plaintiff medical opinions as Medical Evaluation Specialists continues to be for pro-defense opinions.
In my plaintiff days, at Bernstein and Bernstein (not Sam) I had quite a bit of contact with Don and to a lesser extent Steve, though I did meet Max once. I am not in a position to relate any of the many stories about Max, which include a kidnapping. I hope someone has.
B&B used Don and Steve, not for treatment, but essentially for a plaintiff's IME, to at the very least counteract any defense IME. If the jury said, "Curse all IMEs", that was a measure of success, as the jury would then decide the case based on the opinions of the client's treaters-hopefully favorable.
But I have had Don win me trials, especially my first at B&B, which happened 2 weeks after I started there. More of that a little later. The Newmans had an advantage the defense IMEs didn't. The defense had to disregard the plaintiff's complaints, often calling them malingerers, frauds and/or liars (motivated by "secondary gain"). If the defense docs had to find the complaints credible, they might have to admit there was something wrong with them. That was not helpful.
Don and Steve could believe the plaintiff's complaints, and the accident-related diagnosis would follow. And if the jury liked your plaintiff, they would go along with the Newmans, and that could lead to a nice verdict for you.
In fact, that was what happened at my first B&B trial. I had a nice client, a nurse. It turned out that Dr. Don was my only medical witness. On the Friday before Labor Day, Harvey Howitt told me to take a look at the file (his exact words) over the weekend and meet him and the client outside the courtroom of the assigned Settlement Conference judge at 8:45am on Tuesday morning. I had known Harvey for less than 2 weeks, and I didn't correctly understand what he meant by "Take a look at the file". I met Harvey and the client as scheduled, and in less than 5 minutes, after telling the client, "I bet my back hurts worse than yours", he was gone. Shortly after a $5,000 max offer was made on a case that mediated for $30,000, we were sent to the Assignment Clerk for assignment to a judge for immediate trial. Back then, judges didn't have individual trial dockets, and the date of the Settlement Conference could be the date of trial.
There wasn't a judge immediately available, so we were sent back to the office to await assignment, which happened the next afternoon. I started trial on the Thursday after Labor Day. Unfortunately, as no one had looked at the case before Labor Day weekend, no one had bothered to schedule any doctors' depositions for the trial no one noticed could have happened that Tuesday. So, there I was, presented with a trial and no medical testimony. Welcome to B&B.
That's where Don Newman came in. He had seen the client for a one time exam and agreed to come in live. I met with him over the weekend before his Monday testimony. He was my last witness. It was a soft tissue case and he talked about "scar tissue", "muscle shortening" and such. He held up on cross. I got a verdict and mediation sanctions. Verdict came in at 12:35pm on Tuesday, right before lunch. Flushed with my victory, I packed up, crossed Larned and Congress and went to our downtown office to meet with another client at 1pm to prep for a 2pm dep. Not enough time for a Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn post. No problem, none of them existed.
Don's deps followed the same script:
"Dr. Newman, based your education, and experience, the history taken, the complaints of Mr. X, your physical examination, your review of records, and the diagnoses you previously testified to, do you have an opinion within a reasonable degree of medical probability, as to the relationship between those diagnoses and Mr. X's auto accident of (insert date)?"
"I have an opinion".
"And what is that opinion?"
"(Helpful stuff)".
Steve's deps were different. He always seemed a bit annoyed if you felt the need to interrupt the flow of his testimony with the occasional question. He had this, and you should just enjoy the ride.
I took many deps at the 12 Mile office. For some reason, after a few years Don started using his father's office for deps. It was impressive. All the walls were covered, floor to ceiling, with various diplomas, certificates, testimonials, letters, etc. All were about Max. Once, during the defense cross exam of Dr. Don, having nothing better to do, my attention strayed to those walls. My eye caught the title on a small item with the title, "Thanks from the President". I was expecting to see the name of Bill Clinton, possibly Jimmy Carter. Wrong. It was from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, dated 1942! I found out later that my gasp was audible on the tape of the deposition.
A long run, indeed.
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