Never Lie For Your Client

As an attorney you do not, contrary to what is shown in movies and tv shows, lie on behalf of your client.

Doing so tends to backfire.

Today's story can also be known as The Perjury Case Continues.  To summarize if you don't want to click the link:

1. I represent the widow of the maker of a trust.  She;s the co-trustee along with the daughter of the widow from his first marriage.

2. The other co-trustee is the daughter of the widow (DOW) from the prior marriage.

3. DOW claimed my client had the handgun that now belongs to the trust.  Handgun is a rather nice old Colt .22 target semiauto pistol. DOW provably lied as DOW herself sold it in November.

4.  This doesn't look good for DOW.

So I do a nice letter to DOW's attorney, attaching the transfer form and noting that her client just committed a fraud upon the court and upon my client and this needs to be settled. If it is not, we will notify the court and petition to remove DOW as co-trustee for her fraud and her causing a loss in time and money defending against this false and rather serious claim, not to mention selling the firearms for far below their fair market value.

What does Unpleasant Lawyer reply: 

Perhaps you should reconsider jumping to conclusions.  An “LR” is not a handgun.

 

Unpleasant Lawyer

[Tell me you know nothing about firearms without telling me you know nothing about firearms] I respond:

        Unpleasant Lawyer:

That is a handgun registration form. 

 

 You will note the box marked pistol is checked.  .22LR is indeed a handgun caliber, also a rifle caliber, but in this case it is indeed a pistol and this is confirmed with the store.

 She replies:

It's a rifle

I'm rather amused and bemused at this point that someone can be this obtuse, not to mention unable to read a form the size of an index card printed in English and respond:

I’d bet you $100 it is not, but you'd lose, and lose badly.

 

Here’s a link to pictures of Colt Huntsman pistols for sale:  https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/pistols/colt-pistols-huntsman.c1384_p1_o6.cfm

 

Funny how those pistols match the exact pistol your client picked up at the house, isn't it?

 

.22 LR while it stands for Long Rifle is a a rifle and pistol caliber popular as a target shooting round in both handguns and rifles.

 

In this case, it is beyond a reasonable doubt that we are talking about a pistol.

 She responds:

You’re acting like a petty juvenile.

 

In any event, the handgun the widow kept is a completely different gun from anything my clients ever had.  She knows it.

Funny how the story changes, eh? So I respond:

You hate to admit you’re wrong eh?  Juvenile is you refusing to read the form showing it is a pistol and arguing it is a rifle in face of all the evidence including the make and model that it is not.

 

Now you’re trying to claim there is another pistol when that was the only pistol in the house, quit spinning for your client and trying to duck that she has committed perjury on this matter and get this resolved.

She responds

Again, you are behaving like a child and I’m not wasting my time on your bad behavior.  There were two handguns.  If you email me again taking that tone, I am deleting it and will not respond.  You can act like a professional or you can deal with the consequences.

She's lying and lying badly. Also, I daresay she's projecting badly.

Her email is the first time it's mentioned that there were "two handguns" after she finally seems to concede that the handgun is not in fact a rifle.  They have never admitted to the existence of a handgun being in their possession before, ever.

Maybe she was talking with her client while emailing, but I doubt it. It appears she is not just spinning but outright lying on behalf of her client.  Not a good look at all.

Petition to remove her lying client as a co-trustee has been drafted and will be filed imminently.  This is going to get good.