Strange burning pressure...

I don't mean to be gross or inappropriate (well actually I do, but only for the sake of humor), but I just settled a case that was supposed to go to trial next week and I feel like I have a burning pressure in my anal area from some rulings from the judge.

All kidding aside, I really wanted to take this case to trial. As we all know, more than 95% of all the cases that are actually filed (not including all the ones that are settled before filing a lawsuit) get settled without going to trial.

I suppose that all in all, that may be acceptable to the client to prevent the costs of litigation and to ensure a guaranteed result. However, I get frustrated with the "non-biased" jurist not only rules against me on evidentiary issues, but actually TELLS the opposing counsel HOW to get the evidence in the record.

In other words, from the bench, the judge tells the plaintiff's attorney that there is more than "one way to skin a cat" and goes on to tell him how to ask the question, "For example, perhaps you could ask...." I can honestly say, that I have never had a judge tell me how to present a case. I have never asked a judge to tell me how to present a case, but in over 25 years of litigating bench and jury trials, I have had many judges tell me what I CANNOT do or that what I attempted to was  stupid (literally). Yet, no judge has been "kind enough" to tell me how to win a case.

Why is that?

I assume it is because they want the apparent "underdog" to have the best chance to win. Of course, not all judges are like that. In fact, there are very few who have ever taken over the case and told the attorney HOW to present his/her case (except in a few bench trials when it was obvious the attorney had no idea what to do).

Oh well, this is what I do. I defend companies that get sued. I do the best I can to aggressively defend their interests and look for ways to resolve disputes in the most cost-efective manner. Some of my clients may argue that I have not kept the costs down as much as they would like, but I genuinely try. Sometimes there a cases that are just very odd and require more work than others.

In defending cases, I have learned that judges are not always fair. There are times when the best I can do is make the objections, create a record and move on.

It's very frustrating, but this is  not going to be the last time that I feel like someone has inserted some foreign object in a place not designed to have something inserted.

Have a great day!