Me:
Well, like my Dad always told me…
Just tell the truth Forrest.
The truth is easier to remember.
That’s usually my opening line in court.
For some strange reason I have spent an inordinate number of hours
over the last 7 years sworn-in and testifying while sitting with-in
a breath-mint’s-distance scent of the judge.
Judges love me.
Why wouldn’t they.
I exude law-and-order.
The kind of guy they would want testifying if they themselves were up on murder charges.
The attorney on the other side. Stop. Ignore.
Look, there is a reason my company makes sure that magically after 2.5-years and hundreds of hours of legal effort, I am the only and star witness that gets interrogated before a judge for an hour.
As the primary and only witness along with our/my lawyer I get a copy of the write up of the judge’s ruling. 2-3 pages typically
Example 1:
2019: $2-Million settlement had been arrived at before trial. Yes. An actual trial. This was for my company. The judge asked why had both parties not come to a settlement. A generous settlement had been offered.
The $2-Million offer was declined.
I had already been through 2 rounds of half-day testimony.
When testifying I always start with the following ice breaker, which puts everyone at ease
And usually makes the person in charge in this case the judge smile… like I said.
Me:
Well, like my Dad always told me…
Just tell the truth Forrest.
The truth is easier to remember.
(You already knows this…)
I testified for perhaps ½-an-hour before noon. (I really wanted this to wrap things up as I had to get back to work.) No. I would continue to be questioned after lunch. I had lunch with our company’s lawyer. He commented on what muscular forearms the court stenographer had.
“She must work-out.”
“You can see the veins in her forearms.”
I thought this unusual that our company lawyer (he was an Asian guy from San Francisco, she was a white woman from the Silicon Valley) was commenting on such a close observation of physical details on this particular woman. He had obviously been impressed by her and knew I worked out. I did not comment on during our lunch. I had not actually noticed.
When we resumed my testimony, I observed he was indeed correct.
I hadn’t been paying attention as I was focused on what I was saying in my testimony.
She did indeed workout. Had impressive forearms, arms, as well as the rest of her body.
She obviously went to the gym at least 5-7 times a week. She was only sitting perhaps 5 feet away from me, so I could confirm his observations.
During my testimony the judge had to stop me repeatedly to ask me to slow down and clarify/explain the technical term/thing I was saying/discussing. He was taking a lot of notes. (He did get most of it right in his final summation.) I’m just used to talking like that all the time at work in the Silicon Valley. I don’t get out much. Some of the technical things he said in his summation were not technically accurate, but he did very good job considering this was not his expertise.
His summation was not dependent on the absolute technical details, but what they implied.
He did a very good job understanding and making a decision as a judge.
During my testimony I had to repeatedly, like previously when I gave 3-hour affidavit, correct from a technical stand point the opposition’s attorney, our attorney, the judge, the court stenographer.
I was always very polite. I think everyone appreciated this… I was not just running rough-shod over anyone without the technical background.
At the end of my testimony nobody could think of any questions to ask.
They asked my lawyer if we would like an opportunity to cross-examine.
(ie. Ask me questions to make point for our company regarding our defense of case.)
He said he had nothing further to add.
He smiled.
He smiled and winked at me.
He knew that my testimony had completely destroyed their case and that they couldn’t
possibly refute anything I had said.
Basically, after a couple of hours of questions to which I responded like I talk every day we were done.
Everything I said was absolutely certain, and definitive and so technical in my explanation in why what they were suggesting was impossible there was no one who could dispute or challenge anything I said. (If they actually had an expert there, it would not have made a difference…it was just the simple truth. No expert could dispute what I was telling them.)
Just tell the truth Forrest.
The truth is easier to remember.
It is true Dad.
They could not decipher a lot of this, but my honest and forth-coming manner made my testimony more like a benevolent college professor explaining the best he could without an agenda.
I don’t think anyone, including their side felt I was ever being anything less than honest.
I wasn’t.
After my testimony, before I left the court… the court stenographer… little miss forearms, had some questions for me to make sure she got a number of the technical terms I used correct in her stenographer capture of verbiage. Originally, I was sitting maybe 3’ from the judge and 5’ from her. Now as she was asking clarifying, questions she was right next to me. Actually, in complete contact with me. Actually, leaning a bit againste me . Cramped quarters. Leaning harder as I proceeded to answer her questions.
She smelled good.
It was nice that she was not hostile or against me in court.
I would characterize her behavior as nice.
I find this kind of thing happens all the time.
Women like and make an effort for you to notice if they smell good.
She now works out at my gym.
Little miss forearms. Kelly.
I was dismissed.
Our lawyer called me a couple weeks later the offered $2-M settlement which was rejected and was replaced with the judge’s settlement $0. We had completely won. Someone lost $2-million dollars over the period of half a day because they had been greedy.
I got a copy of the judge’s decision later 2-3 pages.
Example 2:
2013: I testified for an hour.
Their lawyer cried.
The judge cried.
This settlement was for me personally and involved money.
The money was contingent upon me never discussing details of trial and settlement.
I and my lawyer received a copy of the write-up on the judge’s ruling (5-pages.. quite an effort) 3 days later.
nice
Written in Blue Mercury 