April 09, 2004

Holy Wars

Today started off on a normal foot. I went to the office (yes, I know today is Good Friday, but I had to depose a doctor in one of my cases and the doctor moved out of state at the end of 2003. He was in town for Easter weekend, and was agreeable to being deposed then. I figure that if God is going to strike me dead for working on Good Friday, he'll have to do it at the local Catholic Church, since that's where I will have spent at least 15 hours this weekend). Now, where was I?

Oh yes, at the office. Where all good stories start.

The deposition began smoothly enough, and I was taking the lead (asking most of the questions), which I always enjoy (it keeps me from falling asleep). Unfortunately, one of my least favorite lawyers was in attendance at this deposition. She is a very nice woman who has practiced law longer than I, but she has this really annoying habit of acting like a 12 year old all the time. I think that she truly believes that giggling incessantly, passing notes during depositions, making crazy hand gestures and generally being disruptive are cute, girly things to do. All of these things just make me want to take my shoe off and slap her in the head with it.

Apparently, I'm not alone in this feeling. One and a half hours into the deposition (mercifully near the end), the doctor stopped in the middle of his answer and said, "I'm sorry but I just have to say something. If you people want to act up and cut up and be disrespectful, then you need to do it outside. I can't believe the way you're treating me, and I would never treat anyone like this. I need to go outside and regain my composure." And he left the conference room.

At this point, there was stunned silence. We took a ten minute break and the doctor came back into the room and continued answering questions, but was much calmer. Happily, the disruptive woman calmed down and was fairly quiet throughout the remainder of the deposition.

I was really starting to like this guy. He had actually quieted down one of the more annoying members of my ilk (lawyers) and had maintained his civility in the process. Cool. Then, the plaintiff's attorney started asking him questions. This particular doctor had treated the plaintiff for mesothelioma -- cancer of the lining of the lung. The attorney for the (now deceased) plaintiff asked the doctor to describe what the plaintiff had likely suffered while he endured his illness. The doctor described the plaintiff's suffering as being like what Christ endured before he was crucified on the cross, only it lasted much longer. The doctor then began crying -- sobbing in fact -- and we had to end the deposition because he was so upset.

I was at this point so confused I no longer knew what to think. Once cool doctor, who silences noisy lawyer invokes name of religious figure and begins weeping during deposition. Folks, that's just weird.

After the deposition was all over, he regained his composure (again) enough to tell some of us who stuck around that he plans to write a nasty letter to the offending lawyer's law firm, as well as to the state bar association, describing her conduct. I wonder if he'll compare her to Judas?

Posted by Kitty at April 9, 2004 06:40 PM

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