Saturday, December 04, 2010

Allowing a court-ordered report as evidence

A reader asks about any specific indications that the judge may be leaning against me.

One minor procedural issue concerned a 2005 report. It was ordered by the court, at my ex-wife's request, but she has been complaining about it ever since. At our current trial, the judge granted motions to prohibit my witnesses from reviewing or commenting on the report. But then the judge granted her motions to let her own witnesses use the report! At the end of the hearing on Tuesday, I said, "Let me get this straight. None of my witnesses can read the report, but [my ex-wife's] witnesses can read the report. Is that correct?"

At that point, the judge reversed herself and said that the report could be entered into evidence so that any of the witnesses could read it and comment on it.

I do not really expect some 5-year-old report to make a big difference in my case, but it was disturbing that the judge was so eager to keep this report from my witnesses. There was just no good reason to block use of the report. It was not that the report was old, because an older report was being used. It was just that my ex-wife was whining about the report.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

part of the bias is perhaps because your ex is a lawyer and the judge is just extending the usual professional courtesy to her and not you since you're "not one of the tribe"? These sharks stick together and rarely will you ever get one reprimanded by the bar association.

Anonymous said...

I've been trying to determine where the last decision was made in your case. Do you get to see your kids currently? If so, how much and when was the decision made. More importantly, I hope you end up with the 50/50 you deserve. Good luck.

BTW, I hate saying good luck b/c we know this should not be based on luck. But since it apparently won't be based on facts its the best one can hope for.

Anonymous said...

That judge is dangerous. She is not fair or unbiased. She makes a decision about someone and that is it.