Looking for advice: I have a termination trial starting on Monday, we've alleged termination on egg carrier and two sperm donors. The "mother" is probably the much more deserving of termination, although surely Will Rogers never met the two "Dads." We can get agreed PMC for the two, and that still leaves termination against "Mom" on two other kids, who are the biological children of one we can't find.

So the question is this: On the assumption that the attorneys for the dads will make their clients look better by attacking the mother (and I think they will have to do this, based on the facts of the case) would it be better to leave them in the case, or do agreed PMC? Depending on how the evidence goes, I would probably not argue strenuously for termination of the dads, but adamantly for termination of mother. Any inputs, experiences, etc., would be helpful.

It certainly would be a much cleaner, more straightforward case if you got PMC on the dads and just tried the mom to the jury. You will have cut the number of litigants (and attorneys) in half. I tried a CPS case once with the same number of opponents as you are currently facing: 3. It was hell. Consider voir dire: depending on how your judge views party alignment, your opponents could very well have three times your number of strikes. Thus, every single remotely pro-termination juror could get burned. If it was just State v. Mom, then many of those good jurors would not get knocked out. Plus, consider the sheer tedium of 3 cross exams of each of your witnesses, etc. It gets old (and confusing) fast.

Your point about the attorney's for the dads making an effort to "dirty-up" mom to make their guys look good is well taken, but...I would not rely on them. Maybe they will just sit back an do nothing, or be so bomastic as to make mom look sympathetic; you never know. Do you really don't need allies like that? I am sure you are more than capable of dirtying up mom all by yourself.

Also, if you settled with the dads, they would likely be much more friendly (and thus, useful) witnesses against mom, who seems like the most deserving of termination anyway.

Good luck!