Supreme Subversion

In a recent trial, the jury sent out a message wondering what is the most they could award. The attorneys for Ford decided to settle rather than wait for the verdict. This happens quite often that cases resolve based upon impressions attorneys get from the jury questions. Sometimes you guess right sometimes not. I have had a similar question "Can we award more than the Plaintiff requested?" the case did not settle and the jury awarded less than we asked for. When I asked them why they sent out the question they said it was just something we wanted to know. It has always been a risk to try a case, but the Texas Supreme Court has taken another major step to subvert the role of the juries in Texas. After Ford agreed to the settlement they spoke to the jury and discovered they probably would have won the trial. Did they chalk it up to a bad decision on their part and move on? No they appealed the case claiming possible juror misconduct or jury tampering. These types of claims are generally desperate laughable attempt to cover up the misjudgment by the party or attorneys, in this case even though the trial court and Corpus Court of Appeals found no basis to allow Ford to explore and make these claims, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously agreed to allow Ford to pursue their claims.

It is disturbing that this is the same Court which is arguing that Texas should to do away with elections for their positions because it would do away with the appearance of being swayed by contributors. Is it an appearance and who are their major contributors? I think you can guess.
How would making them less accountable to the citizens of Texas improve the Court?

What if the roles had been reversed? Does anyone believe that if the Plaintiff had settled for a minimum amount because the jury in the same case sent out a note asking if there was a minimum they had to award and they later learned that the jury verdict would have been for several million dollars that the Supreme Court would have ruled the same way.

Let me know what you think.