FROM A BACKWOODS SOUTHERN LAWYER
By Franklin Edenfield
Funny things can happen during a trial. Funny as in ha-ha and funny as in just weird. Here are two real life examples of both:
• The first case I ever tried involved a head-on collision on a dirt road where the defendant admitted that he had drifted into my client’s lane of travel,
but thought he shouldn’t have to pay because my client’s insurance company had repaired his vehicle. The judge, of course, charged that the uniform
rules of the road required all vehicles on the highways of the State of Georgia to stay to the right of the center line except when passing a slower
moving vehicle.
Everyone involved thought that the jury would only take a few minutes to return a verdict for the plaintiff, but after three hours of deliberations the
judge brought them back into the courtroom to determine why it was taking so long. The foreperson said they needed to be recharged on the uniform
rules of the road and after the recharge, an elderly gentleman on the front row stood up and pointed his finger at the foreperson and said, “See, I told
you it said highway, not dirt road.” When the judge recharged that the uniform rules applied to any public thoroughfare, whether it be dirt or paved, the
jury retired and returned a verdict for the plaintiff in about ten minutes. That taught me to never take even the most simple propositions for granted.
• In the “weird” category, I was defending a road wreck case where the plaintiff had actually been involved in two accidents and had previously
testified at another trial that all of his injuries had happened in the accident which did not involve my client. However, when the first jury did not
award him what he thought was fair or sufficient, he decided to pursue a suit against my client and, of course, we introduced his testimony from the
previous trial.
The plaintiff was a notorious suit filer who was known for suing any time he thought he had been wronged.
In this case he actually represented himself because he could not find any lawyer willing to take the case in light of his previous testimony. He
actually did a fairly competent job until we reached the closing argument stage. At the beginning of his argument he said, “Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, I now want you to now bow your heads and we are going to pray together that I receive justice in this court today.” The judge, of course,
immediately intervened and told him that was not going to happen. The plaintiff was silent for a moment or two and suddenly his eyes rolled into the
back of head and he began chanting and dancing around the courtroom “speaking in tongues.” The judge, who was a longtime friend of mine, and I
both looked at each other and shrugged because we both understood that this theater simply had to run its course.
After a few minutes as several members of the jury were openly laughing, and the plaintiff literally froze and would not speak, respond, or move.
The judge instructed a couple of deputy sheriffs to remove him from the courtroom; sent the jury back to deliberate, and the trial was over within a
few minutes and the plaintiff was still acting as if he were in a trance.
Please send any of your questions and remember that $5.00 taxi ride is the cheapest DUI you’ll never get.
TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | MARCH 2020 27