I Was On Trial Once...

[ChiciB1]

A very STUPID lady wanted to go to trial regarding a rather minor traffic accident that in fact I got the ticket for. It went on for FOUR years before we finally got to court. My insurance offered her a settlement which got smaller each time.

What "was" fun though was that I was included in picking the jury, as was her side.

The thing was a farce to be sure, but when it went to jury we waited, waited, waited & waited. So long that because I was the defendant, my lawyers & I were scratching our heads. How in the world could this woman even expect to get $500.000 for what she claimed was an injury that impacted her in a way that she could no longer function as she once had. No broken bones, very little follow up therapy for whatever, and the fact neither of us even elected to have ambulance take us to the hospital. Also, she was on her way to see her doctor for a yearly check-up, which she actually decided against and went to work instead!!

To avoid hitting a squirrel I braked quickly and hit the right front tire and bumper on impact. At the time I was 58 years old, and was a little sore the next day. She was 38 and a heavy woman, I have weighed between 118-120 probably since high school barring pregnancies. At trial I almost didn't recognize her, she had gained about 80 more lbs. Weird THAT! Her point here was that she gained the weight because she could no longer take walks or engage in the activities that she previously did with her kids.

So we waited and then WORRIED! Why did we worry? Because the my lawyers told me that the longer the jury is out, the worse it was for me, "the" defendant in most cases.

I know, a long story to make my point, which is this... please let's hope that this jury takes a long time to decide the outcome of this GZ/TM trial. The end of the day is okay with me.

BTW, they ruled in my favor and I was told later that it took so long because they argued over the fact they some wanted to give her only $1.00! A slap in her face for even wasting the court's time.

[Travis_0004]

1. Longer trials take longer to deliberate

At this point, less than 8 hours of actual deliberation, we really can't assume anything.

It took 9 days before the jury found robert blake not guilty.

[ChiciB1]

4. Now You Just Made My Heart Sink! n/t

[warrior1]

2. I sat on a case similar to that

The plaintiff husband who wasn't in the car wanted pain and suffering for the lack of physical contact he wasn't having with his wife the plaintiff. They had a weird living arrangement, she didn't live with him and he didn't share any of his assets. Needless to say in the beginning of deliberations we voted on his part first. We all said he will get Zero money.

In her part, we all were so confused with the plaintiff's lawyers in what they wanted to fine for her that we ended up with something under $10,000.

I later found out from the defendant lawyer that the judge threw out our findings and the eventually settled the case.

It should have never come to a trial.

[ChiciB1]

3. Mine Shouldn't Have Either.

It kind of blew my mind at first. Also, I forgot to add, that IF they had awarded her that $1.00 it could have had a huge impact on my driving record.

BTW, I live in Florida.