I contacted a legal group last year after a motorcycle vs car wreck. I listened to the guy and answered questions, no problem. However, I hung up the phone on the guy when he told me "Remember. We don't sue people. We sue insurance companies."
It's scary that people think that way.
I know someone who was in a car accident, and had continuing pain. He went to see a lawyer to be on the safe side, and the lawyer referred him to a physical therapy company in the same building.
At his first appointment, they rubbed his neck for five minutes and billed the insurance company for several hundred dollars.
My friend got a new lawyer...and genuine physical therapy.
I've been on two jury pools, and was impaneled once. It was something out of "Twelve Angry Men"...there were two holdouts (for innocent). One had general concerns about the case itself, which I could respect. Came out during deliberations that other person had a law degree, and he kept insisting that the evidence was inadmissable (without which, of course, the prosecution had no case). During jury selection, the prosecutor had asked if anyone had ever been *admitted* to the bar...and our holdout had never passed the bar exam. The DA had asked the wrong question.
Second case was domestic violence. There were 140 people in the jury pool, I was juror #136, and had been one person away from getting selected. Most of the dismissals were due to DV involving friends and family.
One weird aspect: the accused (young white male) had a female lawyer. Every time she addressed a prospective juror, she stood behind her client with her hands resting on his shoulders. Obviously trying to send a message that the man was not someone to be scared of, but it was just a tad...creepy.
Ron Wanttaja
