What a week!
This just may have been the longest week of my life. A 2 day trial turned into a 3 day trial, which in and of itself doesn't sound bad. But when the trial is in a surrounding city and far far away, an extra trip is no fun. Add to that the stress, anxiety, worry, lack of sleep and appetite and you have the makings of a mini-storm.
As it was, I had to squeeze into my monkey suits for 3 days. I did that by taking the waist of my skirts and lifting them up over my belly, high high up. The good thing is that since they are suit skirts, they're normally below the knee. With my altered style, the skirt fit right around the knees. Perfect. What was not perfect was having to be on my feet for more than 12 hours each day, in heels. It's all I had to go with my suits. THEN, of course, regular panty hose don't fit, so it was thigh highs for me. YES, thigh highs. (mental picture.)
Our trial was nerve wracking. At stake were LIFETIME income benefits for our client. That is, weekly payments for the rest of his life, til death, he's 51 years old now.
He was injured a long time ago. Sept. 14, 1991 to be exact. Before that, he was a Champion Quarter Horse trainer. He has a room full of trophies, saddles, buckles, awards, you name it. He was also a cattle purchaser, travelling to Mexico with thousands of dollars all the time to buy large heads of cattle. He was internationally known on the rodeo circuit. Travelling extensively throughout the USA to Vegas, Oklahoma, Texas etc. as a calf roping champion. He was featured in many magazines, etc. for his talents, even patent-ing a calf roping device to use for training. He was a winner all around.
The ranch he lived & worked on eventually built an arena on the property where it held many calf-roping and other rodeo events. The arena was named, in part, after him. JMR Arena. He was the "M" in JMR.
His background, he was brought by the owner of "S" ranchm, Mr. J to the ranch when he was 16 years old to work as a ranch hand. He lived on the ranch, as many in this career do, and worked on the ranch for more than 24 years when his accident occurred. After Mr. J passed away, JS, his daughter, inherited the ranch. She is 15 years older than M and was his employer & friend for as long as M has been on the ranch. They considered M family....
It was September 14, 1991. M was directed with two others to travel 7 miles to round up calves for an event celebrating a friend of the family.
M was on horse when apparently the horse became spooked and reared up, hitting M in the face. This caused him to fall back (flip back) off of the horse, landing on the hard ground hitting his head, neck, back and the horse trampelled on his groin (testicles to be exact). M lost consciousness but awoke and was walked back to the horse trailer where two other ranch hands called JS to tell her what had happened. M was taken to the ER that evening, tests performed and sent home. That day would mark the end of M's career.
Fastforward 14 years & we find ourselves sitting in a Conroe courtroom, jury selection pending, opening arguments and an expected 2 days of trial.
M injured his neck and back. He's had testicular problems on & off as well. But the main reason we came to court was for the traumatic brain injury that M sustained during the accident. This injury would lead him to be labeled as "mentally deficient" or in the eyes of the law, to incurable imbecility. Such was the burden we had to prove to this jury of 12. Definitely not a jury of his peers, but we had Homecourt advantage. Lots of prospective jurors had heard of the S ranch or the JMR arena, so we definitely had people familiar with this industry and the perils that often accompany riding, roping and training horses.....
We won 11-1. In a civil court, we only need 10 out of 12 jurors. We did one better. M sat there after the verdict, of course not knowing what any of it meant. JS was there, I had to turn around and smile for her to realize what the judge had just read aloud in open court....
M will receive lifetime income benefits for his injuries. This will help ease the concern JS and he had about "what would happen to him" after JS passes on. She's 66 now.
Of course all of this said, the Insurance company has the right to appeal. My guess is that they will.....to be continued...
C
As it was, I had to squeeze into my monkey suits for 3 days. I did that by taking the waist of my skirts and lifting them up over my belly, high high up. The good thing is that since they are suit skirts, they're normally below the knee. With my altered style, the skirt fit right around the knees. Perfect. What was not perfect was having to be on my feet for more than 12 hours each day, in heels. It's all I had to go with my suits. THEN, of course, regular panty hose don't fit, so it was thigh highs for me. YES, thigh highs. (mental picture.)
Our trial was nerve wracking. At stake were LIFETIME income benefits for our client. That is, weekly payments for the rest of his life, til death, he's 51 years old now.
He was injured a long time ago. Sept. 14, 1991 to be exact. Before that, he was a Champion Quarter Horse trainer. He has a room full of trophies, saddles, buckles, awards, you name it. He was also a cattle purchaser, travelling to Mexico with thousands of dollars all the time to buy large heads of cattle. He was internationally known on the rodeo circuit. Travelling extensively throughout the USA to Vegas, Oklahoma, Texas etc. as a calf roping champion. He was featured in many magazines, etc. for his talents, even patent-ing a calf roping device to use for training. He was a winner all around.
The ranch he lived & worked on eventually built an arena on the property where it held many calf-roping and other rodeo events. The arena was named, in part, after him. JMR Arena. He was the "M" in JMR.
His background, he was brought by the owner of "S" ranchm, Mr. J to the ranch when he was 16 years old to work as a ranch hand. He lived on the ranch, as many in this career do, and worked on the ranch for more than 24 years when his accident occurred. After Mr. J passed away, JS, his daughter, inherited the ranch. She is 15 years older than M and was his employer & friend for as long as M has been on the ranch. They considered M family....
It was September 14, 1991. M was directed with two others to travel 7 miles to round up calves for an event celebrating a friend of the family.
M was on horse when apparently the horse became spooked and reared up, hitting M in the face. This caused him to fall back (flip back) off of the horse, landing on the hard ground hitting his head, neck, back and the horse trampelled on his groin (testicles to be exact). M lost consciousness but awoke and was walked back to the horse trailer where two other ranch hands called JS to tell her what had happened. M was taken to the ER that evening, tests performed and sent home. That day would mark the end of M's career.
Fastforward 14 years & we find ourselves sitting in a Conroe courtroom, jury selection pending, opening arguments and an expected 2 days of trial.
M injured his neck and back. He's had testicular problems on & off as well. But the main reason we came to court was for the traumatic brain injury that M sustained during the accident. This injury would lead him to be labeled as "mentally deficient" or in the eyes of the law, to incurable imbecility. Such was the burden we had to prove to this jury of 12. Definitely not a jury of his peers, but we had Homecourt advantage. Lots of prospective jurors had heard of the S ranch or the JMR arena, so we definitely had people familiar with this industry and the perils that often accompany riding, roping and training horses.....
We won 11-1. In a civil court, we only need 10 out of 12 jurors. We did one better. M sat there after the verdict, of course not knowing what any of it meant. JS was there, I had to turn around and smile for her to realize what the judge had just read aloud in open court....
M will receive lifetime income benefits for his injuries. This will help ease the concern JS and he had about "what would happen to him" after JS passes on. She's 66 now.
Of course all of this said, the Insurance company has the right to appeal. My guess is that they will.....to be continued...
C
posted by Mom of Multiples | 6:45 AM
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