The Seattle Times reports that a King County jury reached a unanimous verdict for the defendant after a seven day personal injury trial, taking only 15 minutes to reach a verdict. Disclaimer: The only thing I know about this case is what I read in the newspaper so I am using this as an illustration and making assumptions in an effort to learn from this event. The newspaper reports that plaintiff was a 51 year old woman who sued the city…
On April 18, 2015 I published an article from Don Keenan’s blog on short trials because I thought it had such a profound truth which I agreed with. Unfortunately, I gave the credit for the article to my friend Don when the author was my friend David Ball. So, I write this to correct my error and give credit to David where it belongs and my thanks to Don for publishing it. Sorry, David. Great article.
An outstanding Seattle plaintiff’s trial lawyer & I have been discussing the common objection made during cross examination that the question is “argumentative” because of a trial we have a common interest in where the judge sustains cross examination questions that directly challenge the witnesses testimony as untruthful where the objection of “argumentative” is made. My position is that cross examination is confrontational and a testing ground for witness credibility by challenging the witness. I believe that judges who sustain an objection to the…