Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
How to defend myself in a Jury Trial
Please direct to show how I can defend myself in a jury trial. I am being sued and the plaintiff is demanding a jury trial. I am a real estate broker and the dispute is the Independent Contractors' Agreement with the designated brokers.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: How to defend myself in a Jury Trial
There is a saying that a lawyer who repressents himself has a fool for a client. Unless you are familiar with Objections and Motions in Limine, you may have trouble since a Judge holds a pro per to the same standard as an attorney. If you need help defending yourself at trial, please contact us.
Re: How to defend myself in a Jury Trial
It takes attorney's years to try to figure out how to handle a jury, so your wanting a crash course in very unrealistic. Even whatever information you are given will likely escape you under the stress of representing yourself. You need to get an attorney, assuming you have a significant amount of money at stake.
Do you have any insurance coverage, are there ay other defendants, were you working for someone so you were an employee and they must defend you? You need to see an attorney to find out what legal liability you have, what the plaintiff might be able to recover, what motions and discovery needs to be done, a general strategy for the case, what your defenses are and who you will need as a witness, whether you should try to settle the case, etc. That will cost you a fair amount of money, but if you try to represent yourself you may lose even more.
If you want to discuss this briefly, you can contact me next week [I assume you have not waited until the last day to ask this question]. I do not understand what the suit is about.