My Day in Court
Or should I say my two-and-a-half minutes? At 1:30 today I had to be in courtroom E5, having been summoned as a "witness" to the car accident in which I was rear-ended while stopped at a red light, two Septembers ago. At the time, the police officer on the scene said the woman at the wheel of the car that drove into mine had "used (my) car to stop, instead of her brakes". I asked her myself what had happened, enquiring if she had been worried or preoccupied, if she'd had something on her mind. Her response was simply, "No, I just drove into you."
After that encounter, I had to go through months of physiotherapy to get my neck, shoulder and the small of my back returned to a normal range of mobility and comfort level. I had to go through all the fuss and nonsense of having my car fixed, and the annoyance of having my insurance company notify me that they were not going to renew my car insurance because I had been in "too many accidents". After a phone call made to point out to them that I was NOT at fault for the incident, they changed their mind, and renewed my policy after all. Still, before it was finally all over, it had been quite the experience.
Today, I dutifully answered the court summons and was there sitting out in the hall when they called me into the courtroom. Little Miss who had plowed into me was, however, nowhere to be seen. She was represented by counsel and he told the court that she was off in Japan today. A little thing like her incompetence behind the wheel and the resultant pain and inconvenience it put me through was certainly nowhere near important enough to interfere with her vacation plans, obviously. A woman (I'm assuming a lawyer) read a really, really brief summary of the incident and a man (representing little Miss Japan) explained that she was pleading guilty to a charge lesser than the careless driving that the officer on the scene had said she would be charged with. His honour, the judge, nodded wisely and accepted it all. I was acknowledged as being "the witness present" and then told I could leave. I was given no opportunity to say anything. Nothing of my "witness" status was actually allowed to impede the speed with which the whole thing was swept under the judicial rug. I came away from courtroom E5 one very disgruntled witness, indeed.
After that encounter, I had to go through months of physiotherapy to get my neck, shoulder and the small of my back returned to a normal range of mobility and comfort level. I had to go through all the fuss and nonsense of having my car fixed, and the annoyance of having my insurance company notify me that they were not going to renew my car insurance because I had been in "too many accidents". After a phone call made to point out to them that I was NOT at fault for the incident, they changed their mind, and renewed my policy after all. Still, before it was finally all over, it had been quite the experience.
Today, I dutifully answered the court summons and was there sitting out in the hall when they called me into the courtroom. Little Miss who had plowed into me was, however, nowhere to be seen. She was represented by counsel and he told the court that she was off in Japan today. A little thing like her incompetence behind the wheel and the resultant pain and inconvenience it put me through was certainly nowhere near important enough to interfere with her vacation plans, obviously. A woman (I'm assuming a lawyer) read a really, really brief summary of the incident and a man (representing little Miss Japan) explained that she was pleading guilty to a charge lesser than the careless driving that the officer on the scene had said she would be charged with. His honour, the judge, nodded wisely and accepted it all. I was acknowledged as being "the witness present" and then told I could leave. I was given no opportunity to say anything. Nothing of my "witness" status was actually allowed to impede the speed with which the whole thing was swept under the judicial rug. I came away from courtroom E5 one very disgruntled witness, indeed.
2 Comments:
Makes you wonder that if this was the forgone conclusion, why didn't they just dispel with all the pretense, set expectations early, and not waste your time.
You should have had a lawyer. I work in Insurance and I advise my clients that if they are not happy with the other party's treatment of their case, they should retain the services of the meaniest, snakiest lawyer they can find.
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