Question: What sort of person tries to mislead a judge in court?
Answer: The type of person that is stupid enough to update a social networking site with evidence that contradicts their testimony.
Eric Sedie of Corte Madera, California, had his $2.5m personal injury lawsuit to dramatically reduced to $297,624.66 by US Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte due “inconsistencies.” There was no doubt that Eric Sedie had indeed sustained real injuries in 2006 during a collision with a United States Postal Service truck. What was disputed was the impact of the injuries, which Sedie claimed made his life “hell on earth.”
Judge Laporte found that “testimony revealed a pattern of exaggerations and inconsistencies” and in particular identified a MySpace entry “in which he described painting as a frustrating activity when his arm hairs would get caught in paint” – despite claiming he was unable to paint. Sedie was in fact lucky that Judge Laporte did not throw out the entire case.
The wrong lesson to take from this is that you need to avoid activities that will leave photographic or other evidence that you are lying in court, such as updating your MySpace or Facebook account. A cynical person who is just interested in gaining the maximum compensation might simply abstain from various activities until the claim has been settled (which can be fairly fast now, due to the benefits of the Injuries Board Ireland). No activity means no evidence of activity. This is particularly true in whiplash injury claims, where whiplash symptoms are often difficult to prove so the case often depends on evidence about restricted work and social activities.
The correct lesson is that honesty is best policy. Not because you might get caught and get no injury compensation. In the unlikely event that a personal injury claim actually goes to court, lies and inconsistencies will be probably spotted by the judge. The reason for honesty is that dishonesty is simply morally wrong.
MySpace and other social media sites such as Facebook will continue to be used by defence lawyers in personal injury claims.