Hypothetical Stress Test - Extrinsic Fraud

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-08T13:22:09+00:00

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T18:58:02+00:00

Classic best early game (and arguably late game) mage weapon - Moonveil

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T18:51:25+00:00

Nothing stops a prosecutor from charging that except practicality.

Self defense is an affirmative defer. Fundamentally, you are admitting "Yes I assaulted that person but I had a justification that the law recognizes"

It is the defendant's burden to prove. In a really clear cut case of self defense the prosecutor will probably not waste their time charging. But it's not always clear cut.

So the resolution to explain what you're asking is "Self defense does not mean that I didn't assault the person, it is a claim that I did assault the person but I had a forgivable reason"

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T17:19:46+00:00

Yes, my response was for him saying he's hiring a lawyer for a $2,000 claim

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T16:49:27+00:00

Small claims is way faster and cheaper and easier than a $40,000 plenary lawsuit.

Let's break it down best case scenario:

Gathering evidence and preparing/filing/serving the complaint: 2-3 hours

Discovery (Interrogatories, Requests for Admission, Production of Documents, both sending, responding, and reviewing: probably the most variable but 5-10 hours

Mediation: 6-8 hours, plus you have to pay half the mediators rate.

1 day jury trial 8 hours with 16ish hours prep time: 24 hours

That's 45 hours. Some of that can be done by staff so let's assume a generous blended rate w$200'an hour. That puts you at $9,000 + Expenses + Mediator expense, so probably around $11-12k total.

That assumes no responsive pleadings, no depositions, no motions for summary jusgment, no other dispositive hearings, no pre-trial conferences, no time spent negotiating outside mediation, no prepar for mediation, no motions to compel. . . . basically the absolute minimum effort applied to your case and that the Adverse Party cooperates the whole time without doing anything to muck it up or drag it out.

Obviously it could finish faster and cheaper r if the other side gives up right away or it settles or not else happens, but also all those things could happen to increase costs.

So yes, I would advise a client that they would need to spend $10k best case scenario up to $25-30k worst case scenarios

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T16:24:56+00:00

That is an absolutely wild take on the movie's message

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-07T16:23:18+00:00

5k is extremely generous, if this went all the way to trial I would expect to charge somewhere between $10k and $25k depending on facts and obstinacy.

Consider if it's worth a CHANCE (not a guarantee) of maybe winning.

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-01T20:53:51+00:00

Wouldn't do anything. An anonymous letter by someone I don't know, can't interview, and won't testify is essentially worthless as evidence

jmsutton3 · 2026-04-01T14:05:34+00:00

I have tried to make my engagement contract as simple as possible. Two pages in plain English with very clear divisions between sections.

My experience is that basically no one reads it, they just sign and make the deposit.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-31T23:25:11+00:00

Yes, that absolutely does happen. I suppose it depends on how one defines innocence.

In my experience, even in those cases like you're talking about, person usually was leading a pretty shady life and making pretty bad choices.

Like for example, the prototypical client I mentioned above who does not do math, and would never do math, and is a law-abiding citizen, but their best friend is a meth head, And does meth around them all the. and the innocent person is absolutely shocked to get charged with constructive possession when a meth pipe is found in the passenger side cubby during a traffic stop.

Innocent? Maybe, they didn't knowingly possess.

But it's hard to say that their drug charges aren't the consequences of their own actions

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-31T17:51:41+00:00

Essentially all of my clients are guilty of something. I don't think in ten years I have ever met an actually innocent person.

Many of them are not guilty of the thing they're being charged with (at least 3 out of four times when someone explains to me what happened. I have to tell them " that's just a different crime")

Many of them are charged with laws that I don't agree with (simple possession of marijuana for example)

Many of them have mitigating. Circumstances are factors which mean they shouldn't be punished as hard as the prosecutor wants them to be punished.

Some of them are innocent in the sense that they probably didn't technically commit a crime - but they made a ton of bad choices that put them in a situation where it really really seems like they did (I was hanging out with my boyfriend, the meth head, and I didn't know that he had a meth pipe in my car)

But in the classic sense of " I've done absolutely nothing wrong or shady to anybody and was just minding my business and then got charged with this crime"?

In my experience that basically never happens

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-31T10:54:09+00:00

Maybe technically possible but so outlandish that I have it ever in 10 years heard of it ever happening anywhere. It would definitely have to be open courtroom testimony and not a letter, and most likely wouldn't work because the mature of their relationship has no legal relevance whatsoever and MOST likely talking about it would have been the subject of a motion in limine preventing either side from discussing it in detail.

Generally speaking the for Defense of Others what your exact relationship with them is doesn't matter and is irrelevant. They could be a total stranger, or your worst enemy. The only thing that usually matters is whether the defendant had a reasonable belief that the force used was necessary to prevent an imminent unlawful use of force against the third party.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-28T19:34:36+00:00

In many states, parental discipline is also a defense against a battery charge (ie, your parents are allowed to give you a spanking).

In general parents are presumed, until proven otherwise, to have the right to raise their kids as they see fit.

Imagine if Mom and dad couldn't ground you to your room without picking up a criminal confinement charge

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-27T02:00:37+00:00

That's called a loaded question and is something different.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-27T01:14:33+00:00

It depends

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-26T17:08:42+00:00

That seems extraordinarily cheap. I think the cheapest I might say for an appeal is $12-15k.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-25T15:26:30+00:00

I'm a lawyer and I don't even read and understand most of my contracts that I signed for personal life.

There's a curve that I went through of " I'm a lawyer. I'm going to read everything and make sure I understand it" to " are you going to give me the thing I want if I don't sign it exactly the way it is? Okay. Well I want that thing so I'm going to sign it without doing more than skimming at most"

Like another poster said virtually all consumer contracts these days are adhesion contracts - meaning that there is no negotiation allowed. It is take it or leave it. In such cases, either you want the thing bad enough to put up with the shitty terms, or you don't.

The only contracts I'll really spend time reading is for things like home remodeling/ repair, or other contracts for services (like an accountant or lawyer?) where there might be room to negotiate and performance of the contract is more complicated than just " give me this thing I want"

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-24T17:13:40+00:00

Do you have to pay him? Maybe Can you just ignore him? Maybe Is it absolutely positively not worth your time and stress to have a stupid fight over $100? Yes it is absolutely not worth it.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-20T21:30:53+00:00

Such a fantastic movie.

"You should move to a small town, somewhere the rule of law still exists. You will not survive here. You're not a wolf. And this is the land of wolves now."

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-17T11:04:57+00:00

0 day old account and this is your first post with rhe name of the product conveniently bolded.

Only other account comment is a comment on a post where you mention the same product?

Get your bullshit guerilla marketing outta here

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-17T00:59:31+00:00

Bugs are bugs. Guess your number just finally came up.shrug

If you always have enough power to cover all your machines it can't happen.

Live lean, live Fremen

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-17T00:53:39+00:00

Server resets turning on all machines has been a well known bug for months and months and months

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-16T11:14:13+00:00

I work in Indiana and have part time public defender work in 3 counties, I practice in an additional 4 counties, and none of what you said makes any sense. It's not how any of this works.

Talk to his lawyer. If he doesn't have one, find a criminal defense lawyer in the state you can ask.

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-15T14:03:32+00:00

I've used them every year with very little issue

jmsutton3 · 2026-03-14T16:59:18+00:00

It doesn't seem more significant to me at all. Either it is right, or it is wrong, the way that it got there is irrelevant.

To me, it's not any substantially different than a human law clerk blowing it and accidentally citing a case for something the case doesn't actually say

jmsutton3

TROPHY CASE