[TenTec] Electric safety

[Carter]

Richards wrote:
>  Amen.
>
>  I my case, I was the lawyer... and the expert never won! (But then it
>  was not between me or him... I was working for a client, and ...
>  oddly enough... I THOUGHT we were there to find the TRUTH...  not
>  just prove a case.)

Let me add an Amen to your Amen. I agree that -truth- is the name of the 
game -- and fortunately, for the cases I was involved with we truly were 
in the right; the Plaintiff just figured the telco had deep pockets.
After testifying in a case before the state Public Service Commission 
(that we won, by the way), the Assistant Attorney General complimented 
me. I said it was easy when you had the law on your side -- the Laws of 
Physics!   :-)

>  Many lawyers make the HUGE MISTAKE of thinking it is about THEM for
>  some reason... and I have many times witnessed where the expert seems
>  to be on trial, and the lawyer is out to prove his limited
>  knowledge.

Sounds familiar! Although I sometimes wondered how much of their bluster 
was just to razzle-dazzle their client and make him think he was getting 
his money's worth.

>  But a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing and juries much
>  prefer humility and cooperation and courtesy.  Te fact is, I am just
>  there to tell a story.  And it is not MY story, either.
>
>  So I applaud you guys because I have been there and watched what you
>  are referring to  - and I won my cases because we were on the same
>  page as the experts.  Just trying to tell a story, and let the jury
>  decide what really happened, and who was at fault.   An expert is
>  only someone who has such specialized knowledge sufficient to allow
>  him to render an opinion - and not be bound to just telling the
>  facts.  Otherwise, as the one feller said, it  is "Just the facts,
>  ma'am"  for everyone.
>
>  So, yes, I have watched too many sparring matches between lawyer and
>  witness, which does the client a huge mis-service, actually,  as it
>  appears to the jury like a desperate attempt to tell fiction.

Well, what do you do when you see a juror sleeping? Ran into that once 
and it greatly concerned me...although we won that one too.
>
>  ====================== Richards - K8JHR  ================
>
>  On 2/19/2010 7:17 AM, Carter wrote:
>
>
> >> The real fun came from the cases where some lawyer thought he
> >> could show me up on cross-examination.  Not once did the lawyer
> >> win.
> > Been there, done that!
> >
> > I was the forensic expert for a large telcom and spent my share of
> > time in court...and no, not once did the opposing lawyer win. They
> > all mostly seem to have forgotten the lawyer's Golden Rule of never
> >  asking a question to which they don't know the answer.   :-)