Comments on: Walk away

By: Jay Strickland

Jay Strickland — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:07:28 +0000

I tried a jury trial in which the plaintiff claimed total disability and wore a back brace and claimed he could not bend over and needed surgery. I had a video of the plaintiff carrying a window air conditioner from his car to the bar where he was working. He got six figures from the jury. In another matter I had video of an alleged blind plaintiff carrying a child and a 4 x 4 post through the woods without any trouble. I did not disclose the video because I wanted additional confirmation. I don’t think the defense attorneys were wrong at all.

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:02:42 +0000

“defense lawyers are under no obligation to provide evidence to the plantiff, even in civil cases”

Well, unless the information falls within a discovery request propounded by the plaintiff. If the plaintiff’s attorney didn’t craft any requests that would have captured a videotape of the plaintiff, that seems like a major lapse on his part.

By: d-day

d-day — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:45:53 +0000

If you don’t wait until the time period for disclosure and discovery expires, producing the video will just make the plaintiff amend her theory and evidence to say that there was a misunderstanding, as in “oh I was only PARTIALLY paralyzed or TEMPORARILY paralyzed . . . sorry for the misunderstanding.” You have to wait until they fully commit to their theory and evidence, which they aren’t necessarily bound to until discovery is done (in practice). Anything in the meantime can be backed-off of, spun, or claimed as a mistake. In fact, that looks like that’s exactly what the plaintiff’s attorney tried to do here by filing the deposition correction notices.

By: David Wilson

David Wilson — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:35:42 +0000

I think non-lawyers would be surprised at how often video footage of allegedly badly injured plaintiffs behaving in a perfectly normal manner fail to persuade either judge or jury that the injury isn’t as serious as alleged. I have heard – but not seen – that sometimes surveillance video will show a personal injury plaintiff hopping out of his or her car and walking without a limp over to… buy drugs from a dealer.

By: Ryan Frank

Ryan Frank — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:11:43 +0000

I also wonder about the 2 year wait, but I have to say the article seems to be equating both sides lawyers….

“Lawyers on both sides are facing ethical questions about their own conduct in the case”

Last time I checked, defense lawyers are under no obligation to provide evidence to the plantiff, even in civil cases. The court may order then to produce specific items, but they can’t demand ‘show us what you have’.

By: Eric @ New York Personal Injury Law Blog

Eric @ New York Personal Injury Law Blog — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:41:49 +0000

But despite this, when confronted with the evidence, Lawlor didn’t exactly roll over and admit error:

But Lawlor and his law firm did not withdraw from the case or ask that the case be dismissed. Lawlor unsuccessfully argued against the defense motion to dismiss based on fraud. He also filed errata sheets to Davis-Johnson’s two depositions seeking to change her testimony.

You neglected to point out that the plaintiff’s attorney sought an ethics opinion on how to proceed after finding out about the fraud. Also, from the article, a part that you didn’t quote:

They have asked for and received an opinion from the Bar on how to proceed. Lawlor said the opinion indicated to him he should continue to represent his client in the case.

“She committed fraud on the court,” Lawlor said in an interview. “She committed fraud on me. She committed fraud on my firm, on the doctors. She committed fraud on just about everybody except the defense lawyers.” His firm, he said, had spent “well into the six figures” on the case.

Blaming plaintiff’s counsel for how he proceeded, after himself being defrauded and then obtaining an ethics opinion for what to do, seems like a cheap shot to me.

–ET