Rick Watters, ’73

Miles, Sears, & Eanni

If there is a perception that lawsuits mean more trials than ever, the truth lies elsewhere, according to the American Board of Trial Advocates and the ATLA. They say there are far fewer trials than in years past, with some 97 percent of civil cases settled outside of trial. That’s not a good trend in the view of Rick Watters ’73, a personal injury litigator in the Fresno firm of Miles, Sears & Eanni.

Watters is dismayed by the drop off in trials and believes lawyers often shy away from trial out of inexperience and lack of confidence, a reticence that begets a cycle in which they never gain the experience because they don’t go to trial. "A lot of lawyers don’t want to go to trial. They’re not equipped to go to trial. They’re afraid of going to trial; they haven’t done it," he says, underscoring a point he made on campus while receiving an Alumni Special Achievement award this year. "It’s good to resolve cases but there are some cases that should go to trial. What if you represent someone who is paralyzed and say it’s a product liability case, an airplane crash, defective seats, and your client’s paralyzed? They make you an offer that would barely cover the medical bills and expenses." If there is a cogent case to be made for liability, the attorney must so advise his client, he says. "The lawyer has to recommend to his or her client to go to trial because the risks of trial are outweighed by the benefits of going in those circumstances."

The competition of the courtroom is what drives Watters, who has racked up 74 trials to verdict in federal and state court. "I like to take risks in cases where I think it will benefit my client," he says. Whether it’s going up against a Finland firm for a worker’s death in a rock-crushing machine, fighting for airplane crash victims, or setting a product liability legal precedent when a mechanical grain harvester smashed a man’s arm, Watters is proud of the multi-million dollar awards he wins, as well as the smaller amounts that still hold companies to account.