ah, justice

[jinian]

We need superheroes. The case I went to court for today, to testify as a witness to a traffic accident in which a taxi hit a man in the crosswalk, was dismissed on a technicality. The judge knew we'd be pissed off, I could tell; he explained very carefully to us that basically he had no way of continuing the case, and that the ticket's dismissal wouldn't affect the injured man's lawsuit against the cab company. (Frivolous lawsuits make me mad, but this guy clearly needs some recourse. I don't know.) The problem? The police officer filling out the ticket had neglected to write down which code the prosecuting statute was in. Argh.

I will receive ten bucks by mail, later, as a witness fee. Sheesh.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

do I get recourse for the trauma of seeing you witness the accident? I'm sorry nothing good came of all of that, and I hope the guy gets something satisfying. buy yourself something nice with the $10!

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I get serious heebie-jeebies at the "eliminate frivolous lawsuits!" thing, especially when it comes from the GOP, because guess who decides what lawsuits are "frivolous"? That'd be the people with lots of money, who can hire lawyers who can ensure that cases against them are tossed out as "frivolous." It's just another way to take power away from people who aren't rich and well-connected, IMO, not that I'm biased or anything.

And yes, that sucks rocks. I'm sorry. *hughughughug* Meh.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Maybe "frivolous" was the wrong word, but I do think that people sue inappropriately too often. If their cases are like this one, it may be the only thing they can do, but it's still crummy that someone who does something stupid themselves can sue whoever owns the property on which they did it. I guess we just have to leave it up to the courts to say who's in the wrong. The judge I saw yesterday seemed to be a good person, and he was careful to tell people as much of his processing as was appropriate, so I'd trust him to decide. (But not all judges, hmm. Maybe I should start visiting courtrooms before I vote on judicial positions.)

In completely unrelated news, there are still a lot of plums here. Come over at some point. :)