Ternaugh Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 Jury duty's over (1 1/2 days of jury selection, 6 1/2 days of trial, one day of deliberation). The case was a personal injury based upon a minor car accident (rear end collision at a stop sign, defendant admitted to foot slipping on brake a bit after being stopped, only damage to vehicles was a bent license plate and broken license plate frame on the rear car from the front car's trailer hitch box mount), and our only real question during deliberation was could we believe the plaintiff. The plaintiff's lawyers asked for damages, future damages, and pain and suffering totaling around $11.5 million. After a morning of deliberating back and forth whether we should pay the plaintiff for the initial treatments (around $5,000), most of us finally decided that too much of his testimony was suspect. We returned a verdict in favor of the defendant, who was the driver and the local company he worked for at the time. Afterward, we talked with the defense team (the plaintiff's lawyers apparently didn't want to talk to us). Many of the questions that the defense team had were how we interpreted their performance, what they could do better in the future, and how we arrived at our decision. There was a lot of information that we learned from them that we weren't allowed to know during the trial. Plaintiff was originally fine after initial treatment (pain relievers, muscle relaxants, some chiropractic--all paid by insurance), but decided to find a lawyer months afterward when a friend told him that he was hit by a commercial vehicle, and could make a lot of money. We found out a bunch about how certain doctors are known in the community for padding their costs for treatment when working on liens (for pay when the case is settled/won), that the plaintiff had turned down a settlement offer for $500,000 from insurance, and that he had gone through over a half-dozen lawyers before this trial. Both the lawyers and the judge were edgy during jury selection, and we found out that there was actually a previous trial, which resulted in a mistrial, when one of the 20 prospective jurors in the box decided to stand up and start spouting off opinions about lawyers and lawsuits. And if we had decided to return a verdict for the original $5000 of treatment, we found out afterward that it would have made the defendants liable for legal costs, which would have been somewhere in the area of half a million dollars. In the end, I'm glad that I served, and I'm satisfied with the verdict that we returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 Not allowed to know he had been fine for a month after initial treatment? Inconceivable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 My wife's a former trial lawyer (in the vernacular: plaintiff's lawyer), so I have heard stories like this from her. Hard to imagine that counsel didn't tell the guy to take the $500k offer. He just got greedy. Good decision by the jury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 Sounds like counsel did tell him to take the $500k, six times. He just kept shopping until he found a lawyer looking for a lottery ticket. It's interesting what information is and is not withheld from juries. But typically there's a good reason. In my case, since the main witness was under immunity from prosecution, there were a lot of details about how that works that couldn't be revealed--safehouses, undercover police identities, and so on. Just be glad your case took one week and not six like mine did. Six weeks puts a really big hole in your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 Google made my day tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 Nearly three hours on the train to get to Reading and then just over three hours to get back. Saw the mob for the first time since I left London. One round of Dredd and one round of Firefly which does take some time. Two bottles of champagne consumed. And got pressies ! tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 I just saw a hummingbird out my window! Ternaugh, tkdguy, Cancer and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Another night of absinthe and opera. I played it safe choosing the main course, however. I should have ordered the octopus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Got a big surprise this morning. The head pastor called and he's snowed in where he went for a funeral the other day. I'm preaching tomorrow. I have never finished sermon prep this fast! Burrito Boy, Bazza, tkdguy and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I got to hang out with "the girl" today. Best day ever! tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Got a big surprise this morning. The head pastor called and he's snowed in where he went for a funeral the other day. I'm preaching tomorrow. I have never finished sermon prep this fast! Well, how did it go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Britain has defeated Belgium to win the Davis Cup. And one of the Klitschko's has been defeated by Tyson Fury to give Britain it's first heavyweight champion in years. And its unified. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Congrats to UK & Andy Murray. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Well, how did it go? Was a good sermon with a nice response. Ephesians 6, Armor of God. tkdguy and Burrito Boy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted December 6, 2015 Report Share Posted December 6, 2015 I weighed myself last night and came in at 184 pounds. That means I've lost a total of 78 pounds. Pariah, aylwin13 and tkdguy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted December 7, 2015 Report Share Posted December 7, 2015 I just spent three hours chatting online with my ex-girlfriend. If I ever move to Ohio... tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 M********r U****d are out of the Champions League and Arsenal and Chelsea are through to the next round. Arsenal needed to win away from home by over two goals and won 3-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 Almost as good as seeing Argentina lose 4-0, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 I get to host A. for the whole weekend. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 14, 2015 Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 Managed to snatch a walk by the beach with A. before she's off on yet another adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 14, 2015 Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 Weather was clear enough to see a couple of Geminids last night. Before the mosquitoes came out. L. Marcus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 The president is coming! (Crossposting to the cranky thread. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 I'm posting this because I want to give praise to my boys, but I can't post this to Facebook. You'll see why. On Sunday, we got word that the parents of a family at church had just lost their overtime hours at their jobs. They have 4 children still at home (and the father has 4 living with their mother). As such, they have to scale back Christmas for the kids. My wife and I decided to help them. She told our boys yesterday morning about this, three of the kids are in the same Sunday school class. She then said, "Would you like to help them?" These two boys, 6 and 8, got their money envelopes, pulled out 50 cents to keep for their Royal Ranger dues, and gave her the rest of the money. death tribble, Burrito Boy, Ternaugh and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 16, 2015 Report Share Posted December 16, 2015 Got my grades in, with 20 hours to spare. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appt early, but otherwise I intend to idle. Then back to tasks on Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted December 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Got some Christmas shopping done. Nobody had to die. Good day Good day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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