Hunt Consulting, LLC

“Ojos que no ven. Corazon que no siente”

First words of an impactful opening statement, followed by staggering evidence.

Evidence of both the negligence – hiring un-licensed folks to drive safety escorts, painting fake DOT numbers on the truck door, causing a head on collision on a dusty oil patch road.  And evidence of their callous response – assuming the plaintiff had been killed. Ignoring him in the mangled wreckage, leaving him to die. 

Jurors responded, delivering about a $24M verdict.

The ojos que no ven theme threaded through the facts, stitching together the witness testimony, cloaking the plaintiff’s attorneys with integrity. 

But the outcome shares credit with the opposition, not just the injustice itself.

Sometimes, large verdicts indict both the defendant and their lawyers. In this case, all eight members of the defense battery proved as blind and heartless as their clients.

New Mexican jurors are insightful, thoughtful, nobody’s fool.  Juries in northern New Mexico include nuclear physicists, recently retired CEO’s of fortune 500 companies, acclaimed authors. They also include 8^th generation New Mexican’s, members of sovereign indigenous tribes and pueblos, artists, yoga instructors, cowboys, the often invisible class of hospitality and restaurant workers who are the lifeblood of the tourist industry, leaders in state government, and plenty of blue collar, hardworking citizens. 

These jurors notice new boots straight off the rack from Boot Barn. They hear the oily words of misrepresentation and take measure when interrupted mid-sentence during voir dire.

They nickname attorneys wearing thousand-dollar Louboutin heels as “shoes”. And mark my words, they sniff out and punish greed. By either side. Every time.

And yet so often, I observe seasoned attorneys demonstrate dramatic cultural incompetency and disrespect. Has no one pulled them aside to tell them? 

Here is why I am telling you this.

Jurors don’t have to like you to vote for your client. Jurors are smarter than that.  Let’s give them credit where credit is due. Jurors decide cases on facts.

But to win a trial and persuade the jurors with the facts you assembled, well, then they damn well better well trust you.

Trust from jurors is hesitant, hard won, and constantly vulnerable. Trust is built through the theme, arguments, and facts. Crucially important, trust is buttressed by the integrity of the parties and attorneys.  And when cultural competency is absent, or worse yet, disdain is present, opportunities for distrust are amplified.

None amongst us trusts someone who looks down upon us.

Cultural competency and integrity matter. Gaining jurors trust as a truth teller is crucial. We don’t have to look deep into recent New Mexico verdicts to see that our hero jurors truly do have eyes that see and hearts that feel.