In a personal injury action, in what circumstances will the Respondent's reply brief contain deficiencies in the Plaintiff's opening brief?

After defendant, in its respondent's brief, pointed out these shortcomings in plaintiffs' opening brief, plaintiffs attempted to correct the problem in their reply brief. Ordinarily, we will not consider points raised for the first time in a reply brief; this is a matter of fairness, because the respondent is deprived of the opportunity to effectively respond. (Reichardt v. Hoffman (1997) 52 Cal.App.4th 754, 764.) Because plaintiffs arguably raised the pertinent issues in the opening brief, although not with adequate specificity, we will not disregard the arguments made in the reply brief. We find them unpersuasive, however.