Sunday, August 20, 2023

Sad Truth: Lawyers Sometimes Have to Argue Stupid Shit On Behalf of Their Clients

What may be a realistic legal argument can sound really stupid politically.

The Newport News Education Association President condemned the premise of the school division’s motion to dismiss Abigail Zwerner’s pending $40 million lawsuit.

The motion was filed last week by attorneys representing the School Board and argues that Zwerner, who was shot in her classroom at Richneck Elementary in January by a 6-year-old student, is only entitled to file a worker’s compensation claim because the injury she sustained from the shooting is a “workplace injury,” and that the shooting was a hazard of the job.

I suspect that they have a fair chance of getting the judge to agree. Students violently attack teachers frequently. The chances of being shot in a school shooting are very low (just under 131,000 K-12 schools in the country and there were fifty-one school shootings last year), but the perception is there and the judge may agree with it.

A good lawyer would ask their client if they wanted that argument made. It would be malpractice to not make such an argument without the client's vetoing it.

On the other hand, there are stupid clients. You know to whom I am referring.

H/T

1 comment:

  1. My State (? still) has a Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Employers must pay an assessment to fund its operations and display certificates attesting that they have done so.

    Those certificates state, in proud black print, that anyone who suffers any workplace injury will be deemed to have been under the influence of illegal drugs. The burden of proof to the contrary is on the victim. So unless you have sufficient wits about you, after having been injured in the workplace, to demand a toxicology screen first before anything, your claim will not even be considered.

    If you work from home and fall down your own stairs, private insurance automatically subrogates to the BWC.

    I'm sorry, you were saying something about "stupid sh1t"? Always adduce sadism before stupidity.

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