Now for a story about how a plaintiffs lawyer plucked defeat from the jaws of victory. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sets out the facts in its April 4 decision in Gilster v. Primebank. The opinion lays it out: It was a hard-fought sexual harassment/retaliation case with some egregious allegations. After a six-day jury trial, the plaintiff’s verdict was $40,000 for past emotional distress, $200,000 for future emotional distress and a whopping $600,000 in punitive damages.
But the plaintiff’s lawyer forgot two things: First, in closing argument, a lawyer cannot make herself a witness. Second, a jury pretty much has made up its mind by closing. (The idea that jury deliberation is what leads to a verdict is pretty much fiction.)
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