March 18, 2013
Over the last 35+ years, that question has been asked of me more times than I care to remember. It is frequently asked by a disappointed prospective client who I have just rejected as a client. The short answer to the question is, the client does not have a good case. Experienced attorneys do not “pass” on “good cases.” Unfortunately, the clients are frequently not told why their case is not a good case.
Contrary to popular belief, collecting money through filing a lawsuit is not a simple matter. A “good case” is one where solid evidence exists which will lead a jury to reach a favorable verdict for the plaintiff and will render a significant judgment against the defendant. In addition, a “good case” requires all the elements of a negligence claim, plus a “deep pocket”. So what does all of this really mean? I’ll explain these different aspects in a 3-part series. So our first article is:
Solid evidence
The term solid evidence conjures up different images for different people. To me, solid evidence is evidence which will readily convince the jury that the plaintiff’s story is true. The client may believe that because he saw what happened, the jury will simply believe him. He knows what the facts are because he was there. Unfortunately, most witnesses believe they are credible and that their story is believable. Juries frequently find otherwise. Hence, as an attorney, I must make a judgment call on the “believability” of the evidence.
Some witnesses simply have no credibility, because they have a past history of lying, were not in a position to actually know what they believe they saw or their ability to testify is grossly deficient. Because it is the jury’s job to decide who is lying and who is not, an honest witness who testifies poorly can be disbelieved while a crooked witness who testifies well can be found by the jury to be credible.
Eyewitness testimony is typically unreliable. I prefer photographs or videotapes of the event. Though the testimony of 3 nuns about how an accident occurred will likely trump the testimony of 15 convicted liars and the plaintiff and his wife, a single photograph or a piece of video tape will be more convincing than the testimony of all the witnesses. In my years of experience, photographic evidence is much more believable than most any other type of evidence. Photographic evidence is typically “solid evidence”.
Stay tuned next week for more on the elements of a lawsuit.