On another aspect: Negative comments have been made in regard to one of the 3-ABN lawyers....
Agreed. Negativity should have no place here.
While the MN law firm may have some lawyers on their staff who are stronger than others, they are all competent.
Gregory,
Are you stating that they are all competent as your opinion or as a fact? Do you have personal experience working with the lawyers at this firm? How do you know that they are competent? I'm not doubting that they are and have no clue as to the ramifications/importance of all the tactics used by both sides. Your thoughts?
Competence to practice law is determined by ones completion of a course of study in Juris Prudence, successfully "overcoming" the Bar Exam for ones respective state and admission to the bar. Further accomplishment is recognized by ones becoming an associate or partner in a firm. All of the lawyers practicing with the firm in Minnesotta seem to have met all the criteria to establish a right
to be recognized as "competent". To state otherwise is unwise gloating, a manifestation of pride that should be contained and controlled.
The best firm in the world will have problems with cases that foundationally are
"factually challenged" or the prepondernce of the evidence stacks up against you as the case develops. This is a client problem, not a law firm problem and the firm will advocate for its client the best it can in the hopes of developing enough edge to at least negotiate a reasonable final settlement of the case.
Then there occasionally comes along those pig headed and indefatiguable defendants that just will not be reasoned with and see no need to negotiate,
surrender or otherwise be reasonable. It is best summed up as the unstoppable object headed for a collision course with the immovable object!!! There will, and must be, an explosion at some point and both will end up as dust particles spraying 360 degrees three dimentionally into the void of space. Spectators on both sides will view it as a spectacular display and one group will claim the unstoppable object won and the others will claim the immovable object won.
Neither will, in fact, serve any further purpose other than an occasional Leonid Shower as a belated show of glory totally irrelevant to the flow of the universe.
The lawyers will have made their billable hours and tolled the fees as they were required to do by their respective clients. Ultimately, it is irrelevant whether they win, lose or draw, the "competent" lawyers will be further ahead, regardless of the outcome. Do you think they really care about the "TRUTH"? Ney, never, they care about advocasy and providing "competent" counsel to their client. If the client has a "challenged" case, competent counsel will deal with it the best they can. They cannot help it if they have been "factually challenged" and are likely to utilize "factually challenged" information as the basis for working the harder and longer to overcome the adversitites of a case.
The point is, lawyers can only deal with the deck of cards as shuffled, and with the hand they have been dealt. If someone is willing to pay for someone elses clearly "factually challenged" claims, the better for Law Firm and Plaintiff, after all, what does either have to loose, regardless of how the die roll.
As defendants we are somewhat fortunate as we have been able to pick our battles and play the game to our advantage. We have the interior lines and we have the preponderonce of the evidence in our favor. Add to this our having peeked and knowing that there was an IRS Criminal Investigation going on collaterally and it was the equivalent of playing with a loaded deck. Not that we didn't try to share our peek a boo information, but arrogance begats arrogance and no-one listened!!! So, in ignorance, they played against a stacked deck and
ignored all the warning signs, failed to watch and count the cards played and then bet big on a lossing hand, apparently hoping to bluff!!! And they are still bluffing!!!
So, the point is you simply need to recognize that the problem the attorneys face is that they have been dealt a bad hand, apparently were not told the deck was stacked against them and now are stuck with the consequences. They have been and will continue to get paid handsomely to continue the bluff.
Sooner or later the defendants have no choice but to up the ante significantly and will call their bluff. Unfortunately, the Plaintiffs will have paid handsomely regardless of how the chips may fall!!! While Bob and I will have little to claim, others will line up and take the winnings.
Is that "incompetence"
Ney, never from counsels perspective. The Directors, officers and Members of 3ABN will be a bit chagrined and will rue the day they opted out of due process at various points, but, they have the money and will simply pay and still have money to play another day. Sadly, in the end, ironically, the client will frequently blame counsel for undesireable outcomes when in reality it was about "factually challenged" inputs. A hard and expensive lesson, probably never really learned...and counsel will "competently" pursue advocacy!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy