Step on the Ball

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At one time or another, we have all been admonished by the cliché “get on the ball.” During my teenage years, my summer and weekend jobs were to work in our family logging operation as a swamper, choker setter and chaser. During the summer, logging operations were often shut down when the relative humidity drops and the danger of forest fires rises. In order to maximize production, logging crews would start just before dawn and work until mid-afternoon. After 6 or 8 hours of swinging a double bladed axe or pulling 80 pound chokers and hooks, I could often be found standing around with my hands in my pockets hoping the work day would soon end. When my dad discovered me in this attitude, I knew I would hear a logger’s version of “get your hands out of your pockets and get on the ball.” While the actual language is too graphic to repeat here, the meaning was clear: get busy and do your job.

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A decade or so later, after college and graduate school, I was in flight school trying to learn how to recover from a stall and tail spin. There is an old saying among pilots that flying is 95 percent boredom and 5 percent sheer terror. Tail spin recovery falls in the latter 5%.

Planes have a minimum required speed to stay aloft. This is called the stall speed. If the aircraft flies slower than this speed, there is insufficient lift to support the plane and it simply falls out of the sky. Usually flying just above stall speed and attempting a steep turn will cause the plane to stall. Recovery requires a counter-intuitive action of pushing the yoke forward as one would do in a dive. This drops the nose, increases airspeed and reduces the angle of attack thereby increasing lift. If the aircraft starts to spin, yaw or lateral movement is corrected by the rudder. The amount of rudder movement is indicated by a turn and bank indicator similar to the one shown at the left. The amount of bank is depicted by the position of the black ball in the tube at the bottom. To correct the yaw or skid you step on the rudder pedal on the same side as the position of the ball; You Step On The Ball. Again this is counter-intuitive. You are stepping on the rudder pedal on the low side of the cockpit. However, the two corrective actions: dropping the nose and stepping on the ball, will increase both air speed and correct attitude thereby increasing lift. You are not as likely to fall to the ground.

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This brings us to our pithy application to the law.

I think there has been a pandemic of “hands-in-the-pockets” syndrome. In the past six months about 45% of my new cases that are at least 3 years old and some more than that. I have a couple that are pushing the 5-year statute of limitation for prosecuting the case. Often extensive delays in developing the case result in lost evidence, missing witnesses, subsequent changes to the accident site and loss of recall of events. I have one case involving a minor which is now 8 years post accident. Fortunately, in this case, the conditions of the accident site were preserved on film; however, dimensions must be made by photogrammetrics and some cannot be determined at all. To have the best chance at success, the case has to be documented and evaluated as soon as possible.

Each case has its own stall speed. Discovery and preparation must in constant motion. Cases just sitting on the shelf often have missed procedural deadlines some of which can be fatal to the case. Personal injury cases must be pushed along in a timely manner; they do not float gently through the air like a child’s balloon, but glide like a brick unless a real effort to advance them is sustained. If the case is in a stall and spinning out of control, it is time to push on the yoke and step on the ball; mercilessly evaluate the case; find the missing pieces and gain control once more. (I will be happy to send an email copy of my case evaluation checklist from Slip and Fall Practice. Just send an email to Turnbow@turnbow.com or post a comment with the request.)

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