The Prize Winning Irises- My First Trial

These were no ordinary irises that were wrongfully dug up from my client’s yard by his venomous neighbor. These were award winning, one-of-a-kind irises that could not be replaced.

Pulling out your neighbor’s prize winning iris plants is never a good idea if it is peace and harmony which is sought with the neighbor.

In the very first trial I ever had (Bob), two neighbors decided to go at it with all guns blazing. After the one neighbor pulled out the other’s irises, the fun was just beginning.

The next thing was for one of the neighbors to hang a sheet from the clothes line with pointed language addressed to the neighbor telling him what he could do with himself.

Then, the other neighbor would sit under the other’s kitchen window with a tape recorder. That was not well received.

One neighbor called the other neighbor’s wife a “bare assed tramp”, alleging that as she would care for her dog and bend over, the moon was exposed before sundown.

The best one of them all was a claim that one neighbor followed the other after the neighbor fled the neighborhood. After locating the moving neighbor, the neighbor’s dog was killed by an arrow that was aimed at the moving neighbor’s heart. The dog miraculously jumped up at the exact moment the arrow was fired and took it in the heart. Something like William Tell.

In any event, after these neighbors were done with each other they had sued each other for 15 separate torts (or legal wrongs). After a trial to the court, we won. The court denied any remedy for assault, battery, defamation, slander, invasion of privacy, etc. but awarded my client $150 for the prize irises that were destroyed.

The neighbor to my client came into my office, unannounced, and paid me the $150 in cash. She was crying and the last thing she told me was that my client was a “bad man”.

The lesson to this story is “Don’t mess with my client’s irises, or you will pay!”

Going to Southwest Minnesota

Once in a while it is nice to get some windshield time. Today I drove to Worthington to take the deposition of an eyewitness to a horrific car accident involving a brain injury to my client when the seatbelt in her car failed.

Life gets very hectic in any one’s office. It is a real treat to hit the road and just spend some time thinking and relaxing. We don’t get that time very often. Thank God for road trips.

Pam Am Flight 103

My very close friend and partner, Bruce Hanley, now with the Rider, Bennett firm, asked me to help him with representing a family in the Lockerbie Air Disaster in 1988.

Bruce is the best criminal lawyer in the state, with a prestigious reputation to match. The family he was representing had lost a son and brother on his 21st birthday, when he died coming home to visit his father, who was having heart surgery.

His death was caused by the unfortunate combination of lax security procedures at London’s Heathrow airport, and an aggressive terrorist attack by Libya. Bruce and I, together with associated counsel in New York, have litigated this case for the past 14 years against Pan Am and Libya.

I have been absolutely honored to represent this family, and although this has been one of the longest cases I’ve ever litigated, it’s still not over.

I have learned quite a bit while working on this case, and it’s become increasingly relevant as the aftermath of 9/11 has caused tightening security throughout the world.

On September 12, 2003, the U.N. Security Council voted to lift the sanctions on Libya. The United States and France abstained from the vote. With the lifting of the U.N. sanctions, it has cleared the way for the payment of $4,000,000 to each of the families losing a loved one on Pan Am 103. The minimum Libya will pay will be $5,000,000, or another $1,000,000 within the next eight months. In the event the United States lifts sanctions against Libya, the families will receive another $4,000,000. If the United States removes Libya from its terrorists list, the families will receive another $2,000,000. The most Libya will pay will be $10,000,000 per death.

Some people will say that 4, or 5 or 10 million is a lot of money. The point is, such people have no frame of reference until and unless they have sustained the loss. The families of the victims of Pan Am 103 have no peace, not even today. September 12, 2003 is not a joyous day. Rather, it is another day in the process of bringing closure to these senseless and terroristic, needless, innocent deaths.

The Cost of War in Iraq

Tim Baily, a fellow trial lawyer sent me a link today to a web site about the cost of the war.

So far the war has cost us 66 billion dollars. Think about how many children could be fed and clothed with this money. I do hope our nation can now protect the innocent whom we have sought to liberate.

Let us pray that our government has only been doing a rope a dope to date with the numerous snipers and Saddam and will now secure the country and get back to the business of protecting our nation’s borders and restoring the economy in this country.