A Time to Write?

After a nearly three month hiatus, it might be time for me to start blogging again. I hope to post at least weekly.  I think that I can manage that. Since I really have nothing terribly substantial to say right now, I will start with a funny story that a good friend told me I should post on my blog.

My friend, let’s call him Brett, recently changed firms, moving from one well known BigLaw firm to another. Today, when I visited LinkedIn, the popular social/business networking site, it suggested that I send Brett a note congratulating him on his move. So I did.  Of course, I had to give him some terribly un-politically correct ribbing about his new title of “Special” Counsel.

Moments after hitting send, I received an “out-of-office” email reply from Brett’s email address at  his former firm notifying me that “Brett is no longer with the Firm.”

Yes.  They capitalized “Firm” as if there was only one “Firm”.  Or they were trying to subtly reveal that they were the titular Firm in that John Grisham novel. Or maybe that they were a front for a shady government black ops agency.

The Joys of Dealing With the Pro Se Party – Part 2

When we last left our hero (me), I was dealing with the pro se party from hell.  It took three different conversations with both me and the ADR office just to confirm whether he would even appear at the mediation.

The only two things he made clear were that he wasn’t gonna pay me and he wanted to come strapped.  That is, for the street-impaired, carrying a pistol.

I’m not sure his question about carrying in the Courthouse was a threat, more of a practical question from a man likely used to carrying a concealed weapon. This is Georgia.  Besides, in my experience, the people that make threats are the ones least likely to actually follow through with them.  Despite this, I alerted court security (and the insurance company lawyer).

The appointed time finally arrived.   The Sheriff’s Department quite generously, cautiously, and turns out, unnecessarily, assigned quite a large, armed deputy to shadow me.

The particulars of the mediation aren’t really important except to say it didn’t last very long.  For one thing, after I handed him the court referred mediation guidelines to review and sign, he told me he was illiterate.  I had no real reason to question his veracity, but when the defense told us the amount of the medical bills for this personal injury claim, he had no trouble quickly tripling that amount in his head to come up with a damages demand [Some lawyers use that as a very loose rule of thumb in Georgia to calculate damages].

Second, he had nothing with him.  I mean nothing.  No bills, no receipts, no records, no radiology reports, no police report.  Nothing.  Just the Notice telling him when and where to be, which he apparently figured out despite telling me he was illiterate.

Finally, he was either sadly mistaken or completely untruthful as he repeatedly claimed that he had not been compensated for his property damages.  The defense had all the necessary paperwork showing that he filed a claim but was not paid because he owed about as much on the truck as it was worth.

I am always wary of dealing with the typical pro se for various reasons.  First and foremost, just about anything I say can be wrongfully interpreted as legal advice or undue influence.  Secondly, as an experienced attorney, I am distrustful of anyone who can’t find a single lawyer to take his claim. I’ve seen some very dubious claims asserted by some very dubious attorneys.  But this guy took the cake.  He a) didn’t want to mediate the case in the first place; b) steadfastly refused to pay me; c) made a not-so-veiled threat about carrying a gun into the courthouse; and d)  claimed to be unable to read and sign any documents.

Thankfully, my practice of late has avoided any pro se parties.