Day: August 24, 2008

TMI as legal strategy? WaPo provides food for thought.

After complaining about the incredible number of exhibits and attachments to the latest State Farm motion in McIntosh, the story on TMI – “too much information” – in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post caught my eye. According to the guest columnist writing for the Post, TMI is…

…burying us in extraneous data that prevent important facts and knowledge from reaching a broad audience.

Lawyers are familiar with this phenomenon. In fact, they use it to their advantage: They know that if you want to hide damaging information about a case, there’s nothing like a document dump to do the trick. You make the facts freely available — along with so much irrelevant data that no one will ever find them.

Almost makes me want to give it another try – but just almost on a Sunday afternoon more inviting to an afternoon nap.

Renfroe seeks disqualification of Rigsby sisters as witnesses in qui tam case

Renfroe’s Response to the Rigsbys’ Motion for Clarification was the other “Friday night special” I pulled late yesterday. Ordinarily, I would have posted the document as soon as I finished reading; but, I don’t ordinarily have to read a document as many times as I’ve read this one.

Read along with me and see if you don’t agree this one is a piece of work. We’ll start with this “refresher”:

Relators have filed a motion for “clarification” of the Court’s April 4, 2008 order [Docket No. 1173] in McIntosh v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., No. 1:06cv1080-LTS-RHW (S.D. Miss.) (hereinafter “McIntosh Order”) ostensibly “to clarify” that the order “does not preclude the Relators from testifying in this case.”

Before we move on, let’s do another refresher and look at denial, the most primitive of all defense mechanisms and distortion, another primitive defense mechanism.

Refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening; arguing against an anxiety-provoking stimulus by stating it doesn’t exist; resolution of emotional conflict and reduction of anxiety by refusing to perceive or consciously acknowledge the more unpleasant aspects of external reality. (denial)

A gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs. (distortion)

Renfroe uses defense mechanism IMO because the reality of their legitimate defense is so painful – they Continue reading “Renfroe seeks disqualification of Rigsby sisters as witnesses in qui tam case”