Stupid deposition tricks
Joe Jacobson represented a banker who had been sued by numerous farmers who claimed that the banker was in cahoots with an insurance agent who had defrauded the farmers by selling them bogus investments. The banker’s bank had lent the farmers money against their farms, which the farmers used to buy the “investments.”
Joe was taking the deposition of one of the farmers, the lead plaintiff. The farmer’s lawyer, however, was not sitting at the deposition table. Instead, he was sitting at a desk at the other end of the room, opening and answering his mail.
Joe took advantage of the opportunity to ask the farmer about his conversations with the lawyer. No objections were made because the lawyer was not paying attention. Joe got the farmer to admit that he had no claim against the banker, but that his lawyer had advised him and the other plaintiffs to sue the banker to slow down the foreclosure of their farms.
The farmer was very honest and forthright.
A summary judgment motion followed and the case was settled with the plaintiffs dismissing their claims against the bank and the banker and paying our attorneys’ fees.
♦ ♦ ♦
Jonathan Andres represented one of the partners in a small, local newspaper. This partner was a schoolteacher. The other partner, who ran the paper, had locked him out of the business and had stopped paying him his share of the income.
The journalist partner was a bit squirrelly, and Jonathan decided it would be best to take his videotaped deposition. During the questioning, the witness kept looking at the videocamera with an odd expression, and finally asked Jonathan why it was there. Jonathan explained that the deposition was being videotaped so that the jury could watch his testimony at trial.
“The jury is going to watch this video?”, the defendant asked. Jonathan said yes. The defendant then looked straight at the camera and said:
Ladies and gentlement of the jury. I don’t care about this case. I don’t give a damn. Do whatever you want, because I don’t care.
The case settled.