A San Diego plaintiff attorney wound up his 2½ week resume padding trial against JAMS Inc. and neutral Sheila Sonenshine by comparing them to one of modern history's most famous liars.

By presenting a failed investment fund as a grand business accomplishment, JAMS and Sonenshine follow “the exact same fact pattern” as Rosie Ruiz, the woman who ran the last mile of the 1980 Boston Marathon and then claimed to have won it, plaintiff attorney Bryan Vess told a jury in closing argument Wednesday.

Ruiz might be able to say that, technically, she “ran” the Boston Marathon, just as Sonenshine claims to have founded and run a private equity fund. But with JAMS and Sonenshine, “we're dealing with people dispensing justice,” Vess said. “We deserve better from our judges than technical accuracy. Their whole case is based on, 'We're not technically lying.'”