Thinking of fighting your speeding, red light, or other traffic ticket? It’s not a bad idea. A certain percentage of cases get thrown out because the police officer fails to appear at court, so you might as well roll the dice if you think you have a plausible defense. This page includes books and videos …
Your case is only as good as your ability and the ability of your witnesses to testify clearly in court. It is said that communication is 70% nonverbal. In other words, when you are testifying, only 30% of your meaning is coming from the words you are using, with another whopping 70% of your communication …
So, you loaned someone $15,000 and they never paid you back. All your efforts to pursuade the deadbeat to pay you back have fallen on deaf ears, so you have decided you are going to have to sue. Just how do you do that? You could go to Small Claims Court and sue, but the …
The calls usually go something like this. “I just found out that there is a judgment against me. They were claiming I owed them $25,000 for an unpaid credit card, but this judgment is for $87,252!”, the caller exclaims. “Were you ever served with the complaint?”, I ask. “Well, not really. They came to my …
Every profession has it’s own unique procedures and lexicon. If I went to a plumbers’ convention, I’m sure I wouldn’t know half of what they were talking about. I have to remind myself of this periodically, because during a conversation with a prospective client I’ll use basic legal terms like “summons”, “complaint” and “answer”, assuming …
This following video provides a very nice summary of defamation law. The person on the video never identifies himself, and I don’t know if he is even an attorney, but he provides an accurate summary of defamation law, both libel and slander. However, I disagree with his statement that defamation litigation needs to be …
This series of YouTube videos, dealing with family court, was published by the Indiana Supreme Court and therefore may not be directly applicable to California. However, the series is well done and will provide a general overview of the family court process, so you’ll have a better idea of what your attorney is doing. …
Interrogatories are one of the discovery methods used during litigation. They are crucial to litigation, and perhaps second in importance only to your deposition. Stated simply, the other side sends you questions about the facts of the case, and you are required to answer those questions under oath. If you fail to answer or give …
Judge Judy is not a real judge, but this video from her show realistically demonstrates how a judge will react to your attire. It’s hard enough to prevail in court, don’t handicap yourself by dressing inappropriately. (Sorry that whomever posted it used such an unfortunate title.) At least Judge Judy made her displeasure known. I once …
If you are about to have your deposition taken in a lawsuit, you need to know that this is likely the most important pre-trial aspect of the case. Let me begin with a very basic discussion of how a deposition is taken and used. A deposition is much like testifying in court, but with no …