Excuse me, but I'm sick to death of liars, cheats and frauds in this valley, and thankful to finally see a judge do what should have been done ages ago: teach people it's WRONG to lie, and they can't get away with it.
I had to battle someone in court last year myself, and the insurance company, which was NOT a good neighbor, btw, dragged it out for seven years until all the witnesses had moved or forgotten the circumstances.
They hired a stable of lawyers and got the use of the BYU Law School while I had only an inept contingency lawyer who had probably never won a case in his life. I had sustained severe injuries, which they never disputed, but after their defense, which was simply Blame The Victim, the jury went in believing the lies they were told-that I'm bipolar-(I'm not, but I was once medicated with a bipolar medication, and their clever lawyer twisted his question in such a way I could only answer yes on the stand. My timid little lawyer was afraid to cross, even when I begged him to let me clarify so the jury would know I'm not mentally ill. He said, "We don't want to remind them."
Their own witness lied when he said he was "unaware" of the damage as he drove in a different entrance, and then a few sentences later said, "Oh, yes; I do remember marking it with caution tape."
They lied about the other FOUR people who had tripped on the same part of exposed and unmarked concrete construction. They said I was the only one. They made the jury believe I wasn't paying attention, and it was my fault. You know what? Even if that WAS true (it wasn't) it makes NO DIFFERENCE! I paid that SAME insurance company for 27 years to have full coverage in case anyone, for ANY reason, was EVER injured on my property, or heaven-forbid drown in my pool. (My inflatable vinyl pool.) Yet when I was injured, what was the jury told? They were told that big, bad, clumsy me got hurt, and was trying to get "a poor, struggling Mom and Pop firm" to pay my medical bills. I was not allowed to say they had hired scab labor who didn't protect the work area. I was not allowed to clarify that I wasn't suing them, I was suing their large corporate insurance company. (That could prejudice the jury and result in a higher monetary award for me, it was explained. The jury must never even hear the word, "insurance" or my case would be thrown out, I was told.) That same insurance company had PROMISED to pay my medical bills until they discovered not only was the sidewalk on which I tripped covered by the same insurance COMPANY, but also by the same insurance AGENT.
I was dead then, and I didn't even know it. Filled with righteous indignation, I believed in truth, justice, and the American way. I knew in the end, everything would work out right...
They lied. The jury never heard the truth. The judge never heard the truth. I wrote him a letter the court refused to deliver to him. I was told if I tried to tell him or approached him in any way, I would be accused of stalking the judge, and I would go to jail.
Lies hurt.
Lies hurt EVERY day.
I lost my case. I lost seven years of my life. I lost myself.
Oh, and to add insult to my continuing, daily pain from these injuries, they have put a lien against the only thing I have left to pay the nearly $3,000 in court fees; my family home.
I'm trying to forgive them and move on like Eckhart Tolle and Spencer W. Kimball advised. I'm trying not to think of the college tuition I can't pay for my children, or how they are working to pay for their own missions.
I've got Farmer's Insurance now with Jeff Davis. Great Insurance. I highly recommend it to everyone. Met Life is pretty good, too.
Also, if you are ever hurt really bad, and faced with suing a giant insurance company to cover your medical, surgical and doctor bills? Forget it. There is no honor, and no justice. You can't win in a country where lies are OK "as long as it's business."
