【Chapter 028 – A Trivial Lawsuit (5)】
The offices of Davidson, Dunn, & Hamilton Law Firm.
After the deposition (out-of-court testimony) for the
"Max, how was it?"
"What?"
"You said you had the deposition today?"
"Ah, don't even talk about it."
"Was there a problem? Didn't you say the opposing lawyers were law school students?"
"That's the problem."
"Why?"
"Ah, they think they're some kind of prosecutors. They came at me like they were interrogating a damn criminal suspect."
"Hahaha. That's just kids being kids."
"Kids? They'd be cute if they were kids. Two guys came, and one of them was old. Something about being a Korean lawyer, whatever."
"Sounds pathetic, from what I'm hearing."
"It's beyond pathetic. You know what one of them did in the middle of the deposition? Suddenly handed me coffee and said, 'Please try this. Do you know what temperature this coffee is?' Can you believe this shit?"
"Hahaha—they've watched too many dramas. Why didn't they throw an empty envelope and ask to settle? Heh."
"That would've at least been entertaining. If their questions had actually been sharp, I wouldn't be saying anything. They only pretended to be sharp and ended up admitting causation themselves. They said with their own mouths that the burn on my tongue was related to ruining the trial."
"Ooh—that's going to hurt later in court."
"We've got to crush them."
"Go easy. They're students."
"Sam, incompetent kids like that shouldn't become lawyers."
"Didn't you say one of them was a Korean lawyer?"
"I guess even someone like that can be a lawyer in Korea. Ah, instead of that, Sam, didn't you say you're close with Judge Coldwell? Can you move my trial date?"
"Trial date? If I ask, he'll consider it, but you know we can't change it without the other side's consent."
"It's just for pressure. I was going to pressure them a bit and wrap it up with a settlement before the trial, but that's not going to work. We'll have to talk settlement after the trial."
"Oh my, I'm starting to feel sorry for the kids."
"This is the price for getting on Maxwell Donahue's bad side. Anyway, just find out if we can move the trial date."
"Okay."
---*---
A deposition is one of the procedures in civil procedure law, referring to an out-of-court witness examination.
Civil litigation conducted under the American legal system proceeds through discovery—a process of clarifying each party's claims and listing evidence before trial—and the deposition is one part of the discovery process.
As it is an out-of-court witness examination, it is not a questioning procedure conducted before a judge; instead, it proceeds with a court reporter present to record the deposition.
The location is also usually either an office designated by the court or the office of the litigation representative.
To a layperson unfamiliar with law, it may seem like just another procedure one nods along to, but strictly speaking, the deposition is a peculiar procedure found only in North American civil litigation.
The reason is that, despite being an out-of-court witness examination, it proceeds under oath just as if the witness were testifying in court, and because false statements can be punished as perjury.
"How did this happen? Why did you proceed with the case like this? Why didn't you tell me! I must have told you last time. If I let you take this case, you have to follow my instructions. But this… do both of you think this is some kind of school mock trial? If something goes wrong, not only you two but even the school could be sued for negligence."
After returning from Maxwell Donahue's deposition, a request to change the trial date arrived from the court.
Professor Alastair Mitchell called us in to ask about the proceedings, and after seeing the deposition record, he was furious.
"We conducted the deposition after fully explaining to the client and obtaining consent."
"Pathetic, Jeheon! Does Mr. Heon think he's a lawyer already? Get a hold of yourself! Mr. Heon is still a student, a first-year who just entered law school at that. I'm disappointed, Mr. Donguk. If Jeheon lacks experience, you, Donguk, who has litigation experience, should have stopped him! I only permitted you to take the case because I trusted you…"
"I'm sorry."
At the professor's rebuke, Donguk reflexively bowed his head.
"That's enough. As of today, I will be resigning from this case, so know that. And I won't be coaching moot court anymore either, so know that!"
"Professor Mitchell."
"That's enough. I don't want to hear excuses, so both of you get out immediately."
"It's not an excuse. Even if you say you won't do it, we will continue to handle this case."
We had to.
It was a case we could win. And above all, ending it like this would be an irresponsible act.
"What did you say just now, Heon? Ha! You really think you're some kind of lawyer. You should be grateful it ends at this… If you continue like this, I will inform the Dean and initiate disciplinary proceedings."
"If that is what must be done, it cannot be helped, but we still plan to continue representing the lawsuit according to the client's request."
"Student Jeheon!"
"Professor, you called us in and never once asked why we did what we did. We deeply regret not being able to come to you beforehand and explain our plan. However, Maxwell Donahue scheduled the deposition extremely urgently, and you were unreachable due to other engagements. Did you happen to see the document attached to the email I sent you?"
"Email?"
"You haven't seen it. It was the statement of the key witness in this case, Samantha Chen. Samantha Chen is the person who dined with Maxwell Donahue at
I handed the professor a copy of Samantha Chen's statement along with my answer.
Professor Mitchell took the copy from my hand with a displeased expression and immediately began reading it.
Silence lingered while the professor reviewed the contents of the statement.
Donguk and I waited silently until the professor finished his review.
The professor's face gradually turned red. Not from anger. It was a flush born of embarrassment. The embarrassment of realizing he had lost his temper prematurely.
Even after finishing the statement, Professor Alastair Mitchell remained silent for a long while.
And when he finally opened his mouth…
"This is a statement that could be very helpful to this case. How did you obtain it?"
It was praise.
"We identified her through CCTV footage."
"You… you did well."
"Thank you."
"However, even so, proceeding with the deposition without my permission… ahem… was not a very good idea."
"I apologize."
"I will let it slide just this once."
"Thank you. Then may we continue handling the case, Professor?"
"Ahem… yes. If I had known there was a statement like this… in any case, let us continue."
Professor Mitchell had hastily lost his temper, assuming we were inexperienced because we were first-years.
It wasn't just Professor Mitchell who thought that way.
Maxwell Donahue was the same.
That was why he had thought us ridiculous when he saw us at the deposition.
We had deliberately played the part of students, but…
In fact, we could have ended the case by shoving Samantha Chen's statement in their faces.
We couldn't do that.
If we did, it would result in the owner of
A plan was needed to avoid five years of painful litigation while still securing the compensation to be received later, and to that end, obtaining a false statement from him during this deposition was absolutely necessary.
"Jeheon, the professor seems to be placated, so are you going to suggest a settlement now?"
"No. Let's go to trial. After being disregarded to this extent, we have to show them."
That you shouldn't look down on a regressor.
---*---
On the day of the trial,
New York State Court.
"All rise. Judge Sonya Coldwell is entering."
At the bailiff's instruction, everyone in attendance rose from their seats, and shortly after, the judge entered.
"You may all be seated. Are all parties present for today's trial?"
After the judge's greeting, the court bailiff confirmed the case name and case number.
Just as the plaintiff's attorney was about to begin explaining the case overview,
"Your Honor."
"What is it, counsel for the defense?"
"Before the trial begins, we move to submit evidence that we were unable to submit during the discovery phase. It is the statement of the key witness in this case, Samantha Chen."
A Trivial Lawsuit (6)
The highlight of courtroom dramas is probably something like this.
｢A case backed into a corner, the final remaining trial,
In an unwinnable situation, the protagonist lawyer summons an unexpected key witness!
The opposing lawyer's face stiffens as if they've seen the grim reaper…｣
"Jeheon, but will the court accept Samantha Chen's statement as evidence?"
Unfortunately, something like the above rarely happens in reality.
Especially in common law jurisdictions that require all evidence and claims to be disclosed during discovery before trial, submitting previously undisclosed evidence or summoning a witness mid-trial is criticized as a "trial by ambush" and is strictly controlled.
Therefore, if evidence was maliciously concealed during discovery, the admission of that evidence or testimony may be denied.
That said, it is not entirely impossible to submit new evidence or summon witnesses during trial.
Evidence or witnesses that could not be obtained during the discovery process may be submitted, and especially in civil litigation, much depends on the judge's discretion.
"Actually, we already knew about Samantha Chen's statement when we took Maxwell's deposition."
"Probably not."
"Then wouldn't it be better to submit it now?"
"But then Maxwell might threaten her, or do something to try to win Samantha Chen over. Or he might try to change the trial date again."
"Well, he is the type to shamelessly lie like that during a deposition… Still, what I'm worried about is if an inflexible judge comes out and grumbles about why we're submitting this now and refuses to admit the evidence. In a Korean lawsuit it would obviously be allowed, but I heard American lawsuits are strict."
"It will be fine."
"Really? How can you be sure?"
"We're law school students. 'Everything about us is still inexperienced.'"
Everyone is thinking that. That is our advantage.
"And as I said, this way a record remains in the trial, and Maxwell won't try to approach Samantha Chen to do something about it."
"That's true."
"Besides, our goal is a settlement anyway."
"But really, are you going to demand 7,100,000 dollars in the settlement?"
"Yes."