Marietta Injury Lawyer Blog

A darker side of international business was recently exposed when the Associated Press obtained a recording of a lawyer, Jorge Hernandez Martin, for Baxter International, a leading U.S. drug manufacturer, offering to pay an opposing expert in a lawsuit if he would leave the country on a key court date to undermine the case. Ironically, Baxter International champions itself as a promoter of global anti-corruption efforts. The lawyer in the recording, Jorge Hernandez Marin, told the expert to buy a ticket to New York with his wife and then call and lie to the judge telling him his son had broken a leg in an accident and that would be why the expert could not accept the assignment.

The expert the lawyer was discussing this plan with was Rafael Aspura Alvarez, an expert witness for the company Translog, a trucking company, which is involved in a 25 million dollar suit with a Baxter in Mexico in which the pharmaceutical company alleges that Translog, because of ongoing financial problems, did not meet the terms of their contract by refusing to pick up and deliver critical supplies to kidney disease patients so were therefore forced to find other shippers. Translog counter this contending the contract gave their company exclusive rights to transport Baxter drugs in Mexico therefore it was violated. During the meeting the lawyer also offers him a trip to Las Vegas if he would rather go there rather than New York, and also tells him that he will double whatever the other side is paying him.

Continue reading "Drug Company Lawyer Caught Bribing Expert Witness in Multi-Million Dollar Litigation" »

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." Jury duty, like voting, is a right and privilege of every citizen. Every day people are empowered to decide important issues that potential impact everyone in our community.

An alarming story came out in the The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Sunday that almost half of jurors summoned for jury duty in Fulton County fail to show. A crackdown has begun on jurors who skip jury duty by the Fulton County courts, but has so far provided little response. Last month, the Superior Court sent out 15,000 letters to no show jurors and warned them of contempt of court charges, $500 fines, and 20-day jail stays if they didn't reschedule or explain themselves. To date only 48 percent of people receiving the letters have either called or written back.

When jurors do respond the most common reasons given for skipping were: "I never got the summons, "I traveled out of state," and "I moved." Regardless of the reason this is a very serious problem that is very costly for Fulton County and ultimately you the taxpayer. Furthermore, it's important to remember that our entire system of justice comes down to one person: you, the juror. Taking the time to serve as a juror, to listen to all the evidence and to decide honestly and fairly is perhaps the most important duty a private citizen can perform. There is no question that everyone's time is valuable, and that taking the time to serve as a juror might seem inconvenient, but it is time well spent, as our justice system depends on it. Citizens of this country enjoy freedoms and legal rights many in other countries only dream of. The protection of our rights and liberties is achieved through a strong court system, and serving as a juror is a cornerstone of the system.

Hopefully the crack down on no-show jurors will lead to an improvement in the overall number of people who are showing up for jury duty, and the trend in Fulton County will not spread to other areas of the metro Atlanta area. Fulton County Lawyers, prosecutors and judges depend on jurors for the system to work. Jurors bring the common sense and values of the community into the courtroom to resolve disputes and it is important the entire community be represented for our justice system to work effectively.

Mark Twain once wrote "nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." John Stossel recently presented a program on Fox News vilifying the American Civil Justice System and Trial Lawyers and promoting "tort reform". The Tort Reform movement, led by people like Mr. Stossel, believes we should restrict the constitutional right to trial by jury to honest Americans because of a few isolated incidents of frivolous lawsuits. However, when Mr. Stossel needs to use the civil justice system it's okay.

Based on what happened in the video below, Mr. Stossel sued wrestler David Schultz and the World Wrestling Federation and settled his case for a healthy sum.

Continue reading "John Stossel; In Favor of The Civil Justice System Before He Was Against It" »

In recent litigation, a Bank of America official, Renee Hertzler, admitted that she signed an average of 8,000 foreclosure documents every month and typically would never read them. We are currently seeing a troubling pattern of banks wrongfully evicting homeowners without proper documentation supporting the foreclosure.The average homeowner doesn't understand the process, doesn't know what proof the bank should produce, and can easily get rolled over by a powerful company like Bank of America. The video above is a wrongful foreclosure with an ironic happy ending.

Five months ago Bank of America filed for foreclosure on a Florida couple that owned their home outright. Although this couple had purchased the home from Bank of America in cash, the bank still mistakenly sought to evict the couple through the foreclosure process. As often happens to plaintiffs that file completely frivolous cases, the Judge ordered Bank of America to pay the couples' legal fees after the case was dismissed.

When Bank of America refused to pay the judgment for attorney's fees, the bank learned what it felt like first hand to get foreclosed on. The couple's attorney, Todd Allen, showed up at the bank with a moving truck and ordered Sheriff's deputies to seize furniture, computers, and even the money in the drawer. "They've ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, " attorney Allen told reporters. Within an hour, the bank manager handed over a check covering the attorney's fees. This Georgia lawyer hopes the bank will learn from this experience and be more careful when filing foreclosures next time, but somehow I doubt it.

As a Georgia Civil Lawyer I've taken hundreds of depositions, but it has been a long time since I've read a transcript as entertaining as what I recently read in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. The deposition was taken in a case filed by title companies against Cuyahoga County in Northern Ohio. At issue in the case is whether deeds and other documents at the county recorder's office should be made readily available at a reasonable cost.

Below is an excerpt from the deposition transcript of the head of information technology for a county office. The plaintiff's lawyer wanted to know whether the county recorder's office had a photocopier. According to the Plain-Dealer it took nearly 10 pages of court transcript to figure that out. I imagine the Plaintiff's lawyer needed several aspirin after this line of questioning was completed.

---

Plaintiff's lawyer: During your tenure in the computer department at the Recorder's office, has the Recorder's office had photocopying machines?

Defense lawyer: Objection.

PL: Any photocopying machine?

Witness: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

PL: Let me be -- let me make sure I understand your question. You don't have an understanding of what a photocopying machine is?

Witness: No. I want to make sure that I answer your question correctly.

DL: Dave, I'll object to the tone of the question. You make it sound like it's unbelievable to you that he wouldn't know what the definition of a photocopy machine is.

PL: I didn't ask him to define it. I asked him if he had any.

Witness: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

PL: Let me be clear. The term "photocopying machine" is so ambiguous that you can't picture in your mind what a photocopying machine is in an office setting?

Witness: I just want to make sure I answer your question correctly.

PL: Well, we'll find out. If you can say yes or no, I can do follow-ups, but it seems -- if you really don't know in an office setting what a photocopying machine is, I'd like the Ohio Supreme Court to hear you say so.

Witness: I just want to make sure I answer your question correctly.

Continue reading "How to Give a Deposition in a Civil Case; Don't Act Like This Guy." »

Last night the Cobb County Bar and State Bar of Georgia lost a true legal legend, George T. Smith. He was one of the first lawyers to welcome me to the bar when I arrived in Marietta as a baby lawyer, over a decade ago. George T. was in his early 80s then and an active member of the bar. He was humble, pleasant, and sharp as a razor.

Known as one of the most versatile men in Georgia politics, George T. had one of the most impressive legal resumes imaginable having served at the highest levels of all three branches of government; Georgia Supreme Court Justice, former Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, and Lieutenant Governor. He died last night at age 93. According to his law partner, Tom Browning, George T. was still practicing law until six weeks ago and last year he tried a jury trial. He truly was an inspiring figure.

As a practicing personal injury attorney, I can attest that truth is often stranger than fiction. A recent example is the fascinating story about the personal crusade of a California lawyer dentist determined to convince the world President Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii. Her name is Orly Taitz, DDS, Esq. Last year year she filed a restraining order in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, to prevent her client, Capt. Connie Rhodes, a U.S. Army physician, from being deployed to Iraq. Apparently, Dr. Taitz's argument is Obama is illegally serving as President and does not have the authority to deploy American troops.

As one might expect, Taitz's argument was not well received by U.S. District Judge Clay Land and her case was dismissed. In response to Judge Land's ruling Taitz publicly declared his decision "an act of treason" and filed a motion for a rehearing. Probably not a wise move. The Judge dimissed the motion and ordered Taitz to pay $20,000 in sanctions stating: "Counsel's pattern of conduct conclusively establishes that she did not mistakenly violate a provision of law. She knowingly violated Rule 11. Her response to the Court's show cause order is breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional."

Taitz appealed the sanctions order all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, August 16th, the Supreme Court rejected her application without comment. Personally, I think she is lucky that she is only facing $20,000 in sanctions for her conduct in this case. If she enjoys practicing law, she would be wise to pay the fine and move on, but we shall see.