Tales from the Courtroom Trenches: Cracking Under Pressure

Written by Steve Ballard

This edition of Tales from the Courtroom Trenches comes from the experiences of Steve Ballard; one of our senior associate lawyers who has been with us for the last four years. I asked Steve to join our firm after seeing him in action a number of times on I.C.B.C.’s side of the battle. In today’s story, Steve shares his perspective on how to end up on I.C.B.C.’s hit list and damage your own case…

When I had been a lawyer for about three years, I was invited by a senior lawyer for I.C.B.C. to attend at an examination for discovery, which is an opportunity for I.C.B.C. to ask you about your injuries and how the accident happened. I.C.B.C. uses this opportunity to assess the value of your claim and to evaluate what you would be like as a witness if the matter proceeds to a trial.

My job that day was simply to give my opinion about how “Mr. X” would come across as a witness if I.C.B.C. decided to have the case heard in front of a jury. The case was a very contentious one as the plaintiff was claiming that he had a brain injury and some of the evidence was quite contradictory. I wrote down that he seemed like a believable person, but that he came across as a bit of a smart [guy]. During a break in the proceedings, all of the lawyers, the witness, and the court reporter left the examination room. I flipped my notepad upside down before I left for the break.

Mr. X snuck into the room during the break and read my notes. None of the lawyers noticed this and we reconvened the proceedings. While the plaintiff was answering some particularly difficult questions, he suddenly lost control of himself, stood up and delivered a long irrelevant statement about how believable he was, stared straight at me and said, “Who are you to call me a smart [guy]?” I immediately realized he must have read my notes and I was shocked.

To make matters worse, Mr. X picked up a large oscillating fan and started around the large boardroom table in an obviously threatening manner. He was charging for me! I had time to quickly shed my suit jacket and was preparing to defend myself when Mr. X suddenly took the fan and started smashing himself in the head with it: he then fell over, crying under the table. It’s not often that this level of drama unfolds during legal proceedings so it caused quite a stir and Mr. X did some severe damage to his case. Fortunately, no one was hurt and we agreed to adjourn the proceedings for that day.

Many of our clients whose cases are filed in the Supreme Court will have to attend at an Examination for Discovery. Our advice to all of them is to be polite, remain calm, and to be respectful to the other lawyer, no matter what feelings you may have inside. If you are argumentative or try and manipulate the process by exaggerating your case, you are very likely to do more harm than good. We will prepare you thoroughly for each step in the proceedings and we recommend that you be honest, straightforward and polite.