Monday, August 3, 2009

Are you crying? There's no crying in litigation!

The Nevada Supremes handed down a decision last week reversing a $500,000 award for punitive damages because the attorney was a bit of a cry baby softy.

The case was a Sec. 1983 action against the Imperial Palace for plaintiff's wrongful detention by Gaming Control Board agents. According to the opinion, attorney Robert A. Nersesian got a little emotional during his closing argument:
Continuing with his closing argument, [Nersesian] explained that he did not want to “pick on” security guards because “one of the things that makes some of this hard for me is my mother’s life was saved by [security guards].” According to Imperial Palace, Grosjean’s attorney started crying when he said this; no objection was raised, however.
...
Also during closing argument, [Nersesian] (while crying, according to Imperial Palace) described Imperial Palace’s conduct as “tyranny” and informed the jury, “this is where [the tyranny] has to stop. Please protect our Constitution. Please.”
"Objection, your honor! Counsel has a snot-bubble coming out of his nose!"

The theatrics didn't end there. Check out Nersesian's explanation to the jury as to why he gets so emotional:
"Every time I think about a violation of constitutional rights, I get butterflies. I get angry. You saw me yell a couple of minutes ago. . . . [I]t’s what I do, because I so passionately believe in this, and I think you saw that [plaintiff’s] passion matches, if not surpasses mine."
He should probably get that "butterfly" feeling checked out, that doesn't sound healthy. What if
he thought about Guantanamo Bay in a public place? Would he turn into the Incredible Hulk?

We wonder if Nersesian will shed a tear when he realizes that he lost his client $500,000.
That would make us cry.

(Thanks Tipster! - NSC Advance Opinion)

1 comment:

  1. So he was basically being a witness in the case by telling the jury that he only gets weepy when there's a violation, then he weeps, and the jury is supposed to infer that means clearly there was a violation? I guess it worked on the lame jurors. Come on...

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