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Trial Cont'd: . . . she then started to whine a little and said she was "at a loss for how to proceed". That she had provided me with most of the info I asked for. She then followed it with, “I guess the Plaintiff is unable to proceed with anything other than what we’ve already provided.” Then there was a pause and silence. I stood there and realized this must have been her pretty much resting her case on her opening statement/argument. I was waiting for something like, “Your honor, this is Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1, copies of credit card agreements” or “Plaintiff’s Exhibit #2 a copy of the bill of sale”. . .nothing! After I realized she was done I figured I’d use a great little tool brought to my attention by MustangGrrL027: the Motion for a Directed Verdict. I remembered reading her victory thread from her case with /\/\idland and the directed verdict technique. I had looked up the court rule and how I needed to present it and how it had been used in my state. From reading the MI rules of civil procedure, a motion for directed verdict is to be used at the close of the opposing party’s evidence. At that point you can ask the court/jury to render a decision in your favor right then and there based only on the evidence presented to that point. If the court agrees it renders a decision in favor of the defendant right then and there and the defendant doesn’t even have to argue or present their opposing evidence. If the court does not agree a directed verdict is warranted, the trial just continues as normal and you present your arguments and evidence. I was already planning on trying a motion for a directed verdict but I was waiting for the attorney to present her evidence. I planned to object and orally argue a motion to strike for everything as she went along. I was prepared as possible with applicable court rules and case law in support. After we were finished with that I planned to ask for a directed verdict based on the fact that most of her evidence was inadmissible and the plaintiff failed to support its claim with any prima facie evidence. We never got that far. She just put up a half a$$ed opening statement and didn’t really present ANY evidence. After her little “unable to proceed” comment I summoned what little confidence I had and said, “Your honor I move for a Directed Verdict based on the grounds that the Plaintiff hasn’t provided ANY evidence to prove ANYTHING at this point”. The motion for a directed verdict really seemed to make her mad. Her response was simply, “your honor we have”. WTF? THAT was her big objection and opposition to my motion? I had even paused to make sure she wasn’t going to continue on. Sorry but last I checked you never even officially entered anything into evidence at trial. After the judge was pretty much saying things were over she decided to continue on and argued that this was a trial that had to be based on the pleadings due to the nature of the case. She also whined that there had to be more to a defense than a defendant saying, “not me”. I was prepared to fire back with a description of this was much more than a simple case of me saying “not me”. I was going to say how they haven’t even proven they had standing to bring the action, how there was no one there to authenticate any of their documentation, how my answer properly listed applicable defenses and affirmative defenses, how each was a very good defense to every one of their allegations, how I outlined all my valid arguments in my opposition to their motion for summary disposition if they had bothered to read it, and how there also has to be more to the basis of a lawsuit than the plaintiff’s own word saying “yeah sure he owes this and this amount”. None of it was necessary. The judge said something to the effect of, “The Defendant has already denied knowledge or recollection of everything along the way. He’s submitted a counter affidavit. You’ve had an opportunity to question the defendant and I believe his response was he doesn’t recall this card or this debt. Based on that I’m going to grant the Defendant’s Motion and I find no cause of action.” Boy did that tick her off! It’s amazing how some of these so called “professionals” can throw a mild temper tantrum in the middle of court. There was a lot of heavy sighing, head shaking, and slamming shut of her file folders. I wanted to be elated but I was just sort of numb. It didn’t really hit me what I had just accomplished until I was halfway home. So there you have it. Not pretty but it at least temporarily kept these wolves at bay. As mad as she was I wouldn't be surprised if they refile it. I'm already prepared if they do!

There is a standard discovery form with specific questions for Contract cases, you might get a member to recommend that form to you. When I get back in my office I will post the number of the form. It has some very good questions.