Small Town Stories
I was in a car accident when I was 16. It was totally my fault. It was summer and it had rained for the first time in a while, so the streets were really slippery. I was going around a practically 90-degree curve and slid slightly over the center line because I hit my brakes too hard. I was going somewhere between 15-20 mph at the time of the accident.
I hit the front/side of the oncoming car with the front/side of my car. There was very little damage done to either vehicle and the officers who came to the scene did not ticket me. But that was just the start of my nightmare. This absolute witch sued. First, she tried to sue my parents since my insurance was on their policy, but that got thrown out.
Then she sued me. My insurance company provided me with my lawyer, who was a very detailed, thorough guy as far as I could tell. They tried several times to settle with her, but she refused. By the time this went to court, I had just turned 18. I literally had to sit at the defendant’s table all day. I kid you not, the woman I hit claimed she was injured in the accident and could no longer feel her pinky toe.
Her lawyer showed up late, looking like Chris Farley when he slept in a van down by the river. His suit jacket looked like it had been wadded up somewhere. This woman went to all the doctors she could, and each and every doctor’s note presented by her said “she claims she can’t feel her pinky toe, but testing shows no issues”. Then she ramped it up.
She claimed emotional duress because she could only wear sneakers because of her injury. She limped around in the courthouse, but I happened to see her out the window during the lunch break and she literally sprinted to her car. While I sat at the defendant’s table on trial all day, I saw several jurors sleeping and the foreman using a rolled-up piece of paper like a telescope to look around the courtroom while someone was testifying.
The judge instructed the jury to not take insurance into account, which is to say they were not allowed to know if I had insurance and were not allowed to assume that I did. They just looked at me, a scared 18-year-old, and made a stunning decision. They decided that this woman’s pinky-toe claim was worth $250,000. Even her own lawyer was shocked.
That was the day I completely lost faith in our justice system. She actually wasn’t even asking for that much money; I was reminded by my grandma that she actually sued for $100,000 and the jury awarded her $250,000. This lawsuit was solely for “pain and suffering” as my insurance had already paid out for her medical bills and to repair the scratch on her car.
Her only complaint was that she could no longer feel her right pinky toe due to the accident—nothing else. She said not feeling her right pinky toe prevented her from walking normally and wearing high heels. Her lawyer brought all of her doctor notes into evidence and they literally all ended with “we could find nothing wrong with her”. Then there was another beautiful detail.
The case went to court the summer after I graduated high school. The county courthouse was in the town adjacent to mine, and both towns were small, though they were the biggest ones in the county. The trial began with jury selection, and I had to sit there while they asked anyone who knew me in any way to dismiss themselves. I was a cheerleader, and it was a small town, so at least half the people left because they had seen me around or just knew who I was.
This was in the late 90s, so my home phone then was blown up by people I knew calling to ask why their mom/dad/sister/uncle/cousin saw me on trial that day. The answering machine was completely full by the time I got home after court. There were even a few who thought it was a murder case (no idea who I supposedly did in). So that was fun. Thanks, lady.
Story credit: Reddit / BiffyMcGillicutty