15 cases when defense lawyers brought deceivers to light (16 photos)

These stories from legal practice are amazing evidence of how people are ready for any deception just to get their way. But sometimes, right during testimony in court, they can be brought to light. As they say, don’t dig a hole for someone else, you will fall into it yourself.





So here are some first-hand stories.

1.



“The plaintiff claimed that he was so seriously injured in the car accident that he was unable to work, do any normal activities, or pick up his young children from school, and then posted a photo of himself participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge on his public Facebook profile. If you don't know what it is: he simply lifted a huge bucket of ice water over his head and poured it on himself. His lawyer had no idea about this publication."

2.





"I had a problem with my cell phone provider and my cell phone was not getting a signal about where my cottage was, even though their map showed it as an area with full signal. I went back to the provider and told them my problem." and they gave me another phone - with the same results. I took the phone and charger because they were useless to me at the time (this was over 20 years ago). there was an image of a phone screen with no stripes on it as I stood on my veranda. Their lawyer argued that the photo could have been taken anywhere. And then the judge intervened in the dispute and said: “I know where your cottage is, I have it. there is a cottage nearby. I changed the provider because there was almost no signal from this provider." In general, the judge tore them to shreds. It was a good day".

3.



"I represented a woman in court who was fighting for custody of her children. The children's father wanted full custody and argued that their mother was unfit as a parent. The mother, in turn, also wanted full custody because her ex-husband was violent towards to her and the children. During cross-examination, my father's lawyer painted my client in a bad light, and I began to worry. My father's witness was a close family friend. He painted him in a better light, and then mentioned that he had a chicken coop. I thought this was strange and started asking questions. It turned out that this man was breeding birds for illegal cockfights. Moreover, he took his minor children to these fights, and when the children behaved badly, he forced them to go and feed the evil birds. , who scratched the children’s hands and pecked at them. The children were horrified by them. As the witness talked about this, the face of the opposing lawyer turned pale and stretched out. The mother of the children received full custody.”

4.



“I had a client whose $60,000 car was ruined by a service shop that put in the wrong oil. We couldn’t prove it right away and directly: the engine exploded, the oil spilled out, and there was no evidence left. So I subpoenaed their bank accounts. accounts, found out that they were buying oil from Costco. Called Costco and found out the prices for the last two years. Then I calculated the amount they were spending, did some math, and based on the numbers they found, they simply could not buy the oil they were buying. which was suitable for this car, they lost the case."

5.



"I was suing a landlord who didn't make proper repairs in order to force the tenant to move out. The hardest thing to prove is that it was bad intentions and not just idiocy. In this case, legal standards and laws and the relevant authorities were involved, so I asked their records. It turned out that the landlord left a voicemail calling the enforcement department. He asked to hold the fines and said that they would make repairs as soon as the tenant was forced to leave the house. It was an easy case."

6.



"I had a client who was accused of speeding and had to be chased by the police. The police officer who initially spotted the car thought it was going about 145 km/h, but actually couldn't measure it accurately. What we did: we marked the place where the chase began and the place where it ended. This is about 3.2 km. Then we looked at the police log, it turned out that the chase lasted about 3.5 minutes. The average speed of this chase was 56 km/h. After this, my client was very quickly acquitted."

7.



“I defended in court a plumber who had torn up a tile floor to replace a pipe. He put new tiles on top, but warned the owners not to walk on them for 48 hours. He also stressed that children or dogs should not be allowed to walk on the tiles while they didn’t set. They walked on these tiles, but in court they stated that the defects were caused by incorrect installation. We had an expert who made a report, and this report confirmed the correctness of the installation. The crazy homeowners nevertheless appeared in court. included a series of photographs. In one of the photographs, there was a tile tilted upward in the background. In the background, you could clearly see how the dog’s paw was pressing on the other end of the tile. They dug a hole for themselves.”

8.



“They told me this case. The lawyer described the theft. “From the footprints it seems that he did not go down to the basement.” To which the client replied: “In fact, we went down.”

9.



"My client's house burned down when a fuel tank used for heating exploded. It was clearly the oil service company's fault, but his insurance company (very well known and respected) refused to pay for the damage, citing a ridiculous technicality in their policy. Essentially , the policy covered damage caused by the oil heater, but they claimed that the storage tank exploded, and it was separate from the heater, and they were not obligated to pay for this. In general, they denied my client's claim for $1.2 million. Then I intervened. . During the conversation with the claims assessor, I ask how she came to the conclusion that the storage tank is not part of the heater, or at least not connected to it. She states that this was told to her by their “expert engineer”. I checked the background of this person and found out that he had neither an engineering education nor relevant experience. So the insurance company had to not only pay my client 1.2 million, but also pay over 500 thousand as a fee for their dishonesty."

10.



"I'm not a lawyer, but a videographer, but I have a story for you. A gentleman was seeking damages from his employer after he fell at work. He claimed he couldn't raise his right arm above his shoulder as a result of the fall. I was hired to videotape testifying in court. Does anyone know what the first thing they ask you to do during testimony? “Please raise your right hand and repeat after me...” And - lo and behold - the plaintiff easily raises his right hand above his shoulder, without visible discomfort. But no one understands the meaning of what he just did. Both lawyers then watched the recording, and the plaintiff himself did not notice either. Then, for 4 hours, the plaintiff answered questions. he is instructed several times to show his range of motion, and he pretends that he cannot raise his arm above shoulder level. Then he is taken away, his lawyer leaves, and I call the other side's lawyer and show him the first 2 minutes of the recording. The lawyer whispers to me excitedly. Case closed, you just saved us tens of thousands of dollars." I received a $5,000 award, but the claim was rejected."

eleven.



"My brother is a divorce attorney. His most memorable case was when he represented a guy in a divorce battle, and the guy was accused of horribly abusing children. There were very graphic and detailed testimonies of young children against their dad. It looked very dark." . Then my brother notices that in the transcript of the testimony there is a question from one of the children at the end: “Did I do everything right?” And a phrase was used from acting jargon, which is usually used by those who study acting. , in the end it turned out that the wife hired an acting teacher and paid him for “training interrogations” of her children. The DVD was preserved. The children were trained for hours on what they would need to say in court about dad. My brother says that it was his only one. "Perry Mason moment" over 20 years of practice. And that guy got sole custody of the kids."

12.



"My client had a minor accident in a casino parking lot. His truck was hit by a woman while backing up. According to him, the lady parked and went to the casino, where she spent several hours. In her testimony, she stated that she was in so much pain after the collision that she immediately went home and then went to the hospital. I asked if she visited the casino often and if she had a reward card. She was happy to tell me that she had gold status and even showed the card. I subpoenaed her. her reward card reports, and these data provided evidence that she continued to play slot machines for several hours after the accident."

13.



"Plaintiff had an x-ray taken of his supposedly broken arm. The x-ray looked strange to me and the dates didn't make sense (I worked at an academic medical center). I looked into the case carefully and discovered that plaintiff was a radiologist at another hospital. After that it was all over." .

14.



“I represented an employer in a FMLA claim. The plaintiff quit, claiming a hostile work environment, and then started her own company as a competitor to my client. In her testimony, the plaintiff described how sick she was when she went on FMLA leave and how horribly she was treated by my client. Her new company had a Facebook page where she admitted to posting several photos. them immediately after they were made. After these confessions of hers were entered into the record, I showed photographs of her walking around the facility where her new business was located, smiling and having fun with her friends. The date of those photographs was correct. the time when she was on vacation, which my client granted her."

15.



"Cross-examination of the individual building contractor who contracted with my client to build a home on a lump sum basis (i.e., a set price, not a "cost plus" meaning the cost of materials plus X% as a builder's fee). The contractor claimed to have invested in the construction of the house 20% more labor and materials than provided for in the contract, and filed a lawsuit to recover his costs. It turned out that even at the stage of discussions (by email) with the client, when the total cost was discussed, the contractor knew that he was not. will be able to build the required house for a set price. The dialogue went something like this:

- Did you indicate price X?

- Yes

- Did you know that you couldn’t build a house for that price?

- Yes

- Did you know that the customer was guided by this cost?

- Yes

- Did you know that otherwise he would not have signed the contract?

- Yes

- And you told the homeowner's lender (the bank) that you can do it for X amount?

- Yes

Guys, this is a classic, textbook scam, and he had no idea about it. The builder faced significant penalties. Five minutes of testimony refuted all his arguments and destroyed his case."