Can a settled case ever be reopened???

[trumpet1]

What is the name of your state? AL

Without getting into a whole lot of detail, can a lawsuit in which the defendant decided to settle (due to the lack of a good lawyer and due to fear imposed if any other action was taken) ever be reopened or appealled if , during the past year, overwhelming evidence of support in favor of the defendant were to surface???? No one-on-one, face-to-face mediation ever occurred. Again , due to the incompetence of the defendant's lawyer.

[justalayman]

define: settled

[trumpet1]

Originally Posted by justalayman

define: settled

Definition of settling: Usually settling means two lawyers having a cup of coffee with hash browns and eggs at Waffle House and deciding that to do the least amount of work today and get paid a whole lot of money for doing NOTHING is called settling. I, the defendant, should have represented myself.
That is also my reason for despising lawyers. 98% of all lawyers give the rest of them a bad name.

[trumpet1]

Their is a way to reopen the case and that is IF the plaintiff opens his/her mouth about the details of the settlement. Tape recordings of his/her admission of the details of the settlement would cause the plaintiff to have to surrender all of the ill-gotten gains in the settlement. The trick is getting the plaintiff ( in this case, the actual criminal) to confess the details.
Due to American lawyers and their greed, the U.S.A. acronym now stands for Unbelievable Sea of Absurdity.

[tranquility]

No. "Settled" would be the plaintiff and the defendant signing a document agreeing with the terms discussed by the lawyers over waffles. Did you sign such an agreement? If you did, why would you blame your attorney for *his* actions when *you* are the one who did the only act which was legally enforceable against you.

[trumpet1]

I screwed up. I should not have signed it. It's just that I had a lame, wimpy lawyer who would not defend me and help me prove myself. I have never been sued before, and still shouldn't have. I run a very busy schedule with a lot of responsibilities and the time and anxiety of going to court would have dragged me down and ruined a lot of lives. The problem is the leverage of lawyers (they use their high exorbitant fees to corner everyone into a settlement). It's a losing situation no matter which way you go if you are the defendant in the situation I was going through. I guess you live and learn. I guess I'm just haunted by my actions of signing the settlement agreement but, like I said, I didn't go into details.

[seniorjudge]

Okay, you hate lawyers.

Now, tell us what the case was about and what the settlement was about.

[trumpet1]

I was set up to appear guilty of 1) sexual harrassment which I DID NOT DO , 2) invasion of privacy (which she did), 3) assault and battery which was a simple pat on the back, more like a "high five" gesture.
The fact of the matter is, the lawyer coached her to pry sexual emails that I had gotten from various friends out of my email account which was left open in my personal office. I always delete the emails but she knew how to retrieve them later. She invaded my privacy!!!! She would then send them to her home computer as if I had done it.
She was the one that committed sexual harrassment as I saw her rub her breasts right in front of me and I did not make a big deal over it. I just laughed and walked away. I was NOT offended but I also was slightly shocked. She also said many sexual comments around the office to the other women and no one else made a big deal over it. The problem is, no one wanted to get involved in my defense
All I know is I was hit with a suit out of nowhere and everyone in the office was shocked. My sister and my wife both work in my office which is only a 2500 square foot office. Do you really think I could get away with s.h. in this environment??? I don't think so. Apparently though she and her lawyer must have gotten just enough flimsy evidence against me which I'm sure she set me up to get it (like a conversation that she started and got me to saying something that was innocent to most folks but just enough meat to the subject to slam me). Now you see why I hate lawyers. I never got a warning. I was never approached in any way that I ever did anything or said anything offensive. I THINK THIS IS A ****ED UP SYSTEM AND THAT LAWYERS AND BITCHES ARE CAPITALIZING ON THIS BULL**** AND IT NEEDS TO COME TO A STOP. Don't get me wrong, I do think that sexual harrassment is something that is serious and should be punishable but not in set up cases like what happened to me. I was scared to death because I had no idea what kind of stuff they had created against me. I honestly feel that she knew she was about to get caught embezzling money from my business and she pulled this stunt in order to divert attention away from it. I found proof with a computer technician that she definitely invaded into my computer to create this mess. I never harrassed her in any way. In fact, I helped her out in need on many occasions (deaths, times of financial trouble, I put up with a lot of poor work ethics, etc). This is all an epidemic that started with Clinton/Lewinsky crap. Since then, S.H. cases have shot out the roof ONLY because of copycat litigation. This is a shame and a disgrace that lawyers can't be on trial for coaching clients to force this kind of lawsuit onto others.

As far as I'm concerned they can all rot in Hell

[las365]

Gee, I can't imagine why your lawyer would think it was better for you to settle your case rather than proceed with that defense. You wuz robbed!

I'm not a lawyer, but I am a bitch.

[trumpet1]

Originally Posted by las365

Gee, I can't imagine why your lawyer would think it was better for you to settle your case rather than proceed with that defense. You wuz robbed!

I'm not a lawyer, but I am a bitch.

LOL I doubt you're a bitch. The one I was dealing with apparently is a redneck. People still can't believe this happened. I just try to get over it with each day. If I were guilty, I would have been over it a long time ago. It's when you're innocent that it haunts you continuously because it makes you bitter and makes you never want to help those in need ever again. I'm a good person. I go way out of the way to help people. I guess I'm just too nice and gullible and this is what happens to those who are nice.

[las365]

Now, that's better! I get what you are saying. I don't mean for this to sound dismissive, but sometimes its better to just chalk it up to a learning experience and let it go. It's probably impossible for you to undo the settlement, and even if you did have a valid claim against your former lawyer for professional malpractice (which sounds doubtful, no offense), a suit against him would be expensive, time consuming, and keep you mired in the situation.

The best suggestion I can give to you is to try to not let it make you bitter and move on.

[trumpet1]

Originally Posted by las365

Now, that's better! I get what you are saying. I don't mean for this to sound dismissive, but sometimes its better to just chalk it up to a learning experience and let it go. It's probably impossible for you to undo the settlement, and even if you did have a valid claim against your former lawyer for professional malpractice (which sounds doubtful, no offense), a suit against him would be expensive, time consuming, and keep you mired in the situation.

The best suggestion I can give to you is to try to not let it make you bitter and move on.

I never was planning on filing a claim against my former lawyer. It's her lawyer that needs suing and convicted of unethical behaviour. I'm just angry that my lawyer never took an offensive posture of defense for me. He just threw scare tactics, damage control tactics and things like that at me and my wife. He never said a single encouraging word for me. I presented him with over 50 pieces of evidence or other valid reasons to invalidate her claims and he never pursued my ideas or researched anything on my behalf. I really wanted to hear first hand just what did I really do to create this S.H. lawsuit. I still to this day have no idea what I really did. Lawyer fees and the fear of the unknown completely dictated my decision. Nothing much of substance in the case was ever revealed to me. I was corporately blackmailed and I'm absolutely assurred that this kind of unethical legal behaviour is going on day in and day out involving respectful, well paid, independent self-employed professionals. If I were a high school janitor making around $20K a year, this would have never happened, but because I am a certain source of monetary funds, the crooked lawyer said "Hey, let's get 'em!" I know that is what goes on in cases like this.

As far as chalking it up and trying to get over it....that's all I can do. I'm sure they will get what's coming to them someday. Karma is a bitch.

[trumpet1]

I'm really thinking more and more that if you are a defendant, you're better off not hiring a lawyer. You really get nowhere using a lawyer. Just confusion and fear. If you're innocent, just let the plaintiff's lawyer do all the work and stand your ground. Hopefully a decent jury will see the truth. I know that I made a mistake hiring a lawyer in my case. At least I could have seen and heard what evidence they scraped together and I could've done a little work to defend myself. Now that I look back on it, I think I would have been able to reverse the roles in the case ..... I would have looked like the plaintiff and she would have turned into a defendant if I could have been in control of this in a courtroom. I have many witnesses on my behalf now. That's why I wish their was a way to get this case reopened. I know it would have to be in an indirect way though. For example, could I, or someone collateral to me, claim emotional damage as a result of all this??? For example, could one of my employees open up a claim against her? Remember, I said she made sexual comments and gestures around others in the office. Of course it would have to be a personal complaint against her because they can't say it was involving my workplace because I'm responsible for S.H. under my roof even if I know nothing about it. That too is an unfair law that needs changing.

[trumpet1]

This may seem like a stupid question but let me ask this: When this settlement occured, did I also settle with her lawyer (the plaintiff) or was it only with her?