attorney misconduct

[mtpockets]

What is the name of your state? CA

Opposing counsel manufactured evidence, listed nonexistent documents on the TRC Report, backdated documents, and added and deleted exhibits during the trial. One of the exhibits he added was inserted in the middle, so he renumbered the exhibits.

My attorney seemed unconcerned about these shenanigans, so I decided to review the court file after the trial was over. The official Trial Exhibit List contains a letter that is allegedly from me. However, I did not write any letters.

Is it too late to do anything? If not, what can I do?What is the name of your state?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

and what is your PROOF?

 

[mtpockets]

Can't prove a negative

The court record will indicate that many changes were made to the Trial Exhibit List between the TRC and the trial.

As for the documents, I think the person who submits the document has to authenticate it.

Assuming I could obtain a copy of what was submitted, what can I do?

 

[TeresaP.]

When was your trial date? I am going through a lot of the same kind of garbage. You have 6 months to ask the Judge to Set Aside Judgement or in the Alternative Set a New Trial, this is under Civil Code Procedure 473. You may also be able to do an apeal if you are within 60 days of the actual judgement. You should also write a letter to the court clerk and the opposing party telling them to preserve evidence for one year. And you can ask the clerk what their procedures are for obtaining an original document for analytses, if you cannot get anywhere with the clerk then formally request the opposing parties permission to do forensic tests on the letter you supposedly wrote, if they do not agree you may have to ask the judge. If you do all this through an attorney it will be very expensive, so dont do it unless it substantially effected an adverse judgement against you.

 

[mtpockets]

Thanks

I have never seen the letter from me. I am trying to get a copy, but do not expect to get one. It is not too late to appeal, but I am not sure this is an appealable issue.

 

[TeresaP.]

If the letter was not actually used against you at trial, then you could not appeal based on the falsification of the letter. However, if he got a judgement against you and the letter was important in obtaining that judgement then you could appeal based on it. Otherwise, he is just sitting with a worthless piece of paper that does not hurt you in anyway.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

The court record will indicate that many changes were made to the Trial Exhibit List between the TRC and the trial.

As for the documents, I think the person who submits the document has to authenticate it.

Assuming I could obtain a copy of what was submitted, what can I do?

You assume wrong.

 

[mtpockets]

no luck

No luck getting a copy of the letter. I can't say whether I was harmed by it without seeing it. However, the plaintiff must have had a reason for sneaking it into the Trial Exhibit Book.

Was my attorney at fault for not objecting? He may not have even seen the fake letter. I think the plaintiff may have handed it to the clerk with another letter that was being submitted as rebuttal evidence.

The reason for my question is that I understand that I cannot appeal if my attorney made a mistake. However, I may be able to appeal if court procedures were not followed.

I researched the code section mentioned by an earlier poster. I am not sure I can use it since the trial is already over.

But back to my original question: Since I did not write any letters, whatever was snuck into the record had to have been a forgery. How does one deal with something of this nature?

Thank you for your previous answers.

(To BB: I know that you don'r believe me. Pretend that you do. These things happen from time to time, and I am sure others would like to know the answer.)

 

[TeresaP.]

If the court has the letter then it is public record and yes you can get a copy************** if however the other side has the letter and the court did not get it then you will have a harder time getting the letter. In addition to CCP 473, do some research on CCP 655-663.2 and CCP 914. Search prior cases about this, but be sure to do the Notice of Appeal or intent for new trial within the time frames or you will lose your rights************** provided the letter did in fact "substantially" prejudice you at trial and you were substantially hurt by it.