There is no justice in this small ohio town

[classychazy]

What is the name of your state?Ohio
On May 16 2000 my life was forever changed due to a car accident. A young man pulled in front of me & I hit him going 55 miles per hour. I was seriously injured and am now permently crippled. I finally got my day in court in August 2003 I was 36,000.00 dollaars in debet and was told by my attorney this was a slam dunk case because I was at NO FAULT AT ALL.Yet I got verdict for 12,000.00 for my self 800.00 for my 5 year old daughter 1,800.00 for my 7 year old son all were in the car with me. My husband got a 1,000.00 but he was not in the car. We appeled to the judge to throw the jury verdict out he refused to do so.I found out later on that the judges best friend was my jury foreman and that a local judges wife was also a member of my jury and a woman who can't stand my husbands father was also a member of my jury. My attorney's told me all this was not a conflict of intrest that judges work with there freinds all the time. They also told me it would be a waste of time & money to appeal the verdict to a higher court basically I was told I got screwed and nothing legally could be done about it. Well I have learned in the last week that my long term prognosis is awful due to the damage done to my nerves in my right arm I have developed refex sympathic dystropy and may end up in a wheelchair by the time I am in my late 40's. I am finacial devested and emotionally exhausted can anyone give me some advice ?

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Get into counseling.
Get into a rehab program for job retraining through your department of rehabilation,
Apply for disability if your doctors say you are disabled, we don't use the word crippled anymore.
If you had such a slam dunk case, it should have settled out of court, what are you leaving out?

 

[classychazy]

I am not leaving anything out and i am on disability and I am in counseling the only thing I did wrong that day was be on the road with a 19 year kid who was late for a job. People do still used crippled now a day's I take no offense to it and this man DID cripple me I got screwed by the jury and the judge my father daughter attorny team did an excellent job representing me the reason we went to court was because of nationwides attorney made it impossable to settle it. She even went as far as tring to have my 3 year old daughter to take an AIDS test and have pap done to check for STD.Thank god the judge would not allow this. So unless you have anything construtive to tell me then let someone else help me out Thank you.

 

[stephenk]

Did you ever get a second legal opinion on the merits of an appeal? Why post now, over 18 months after the trial?

"I found out later on that the judges best friend was my jury foreman and that a local judges wife was also a member of my jury and a woman who can't stand my husbands father was also a member of my jury."

Why do you believe being a friend of the trial judge and the wife of another judge makes them against your position? When the jury was being selected, weren't the prospective jurors asked if they knew anyone involved in the case or anyone who is employed in a legal profession?

 

[classychazy]

Well as far as waiting so long I have been seriously ill and basically emotionally washed out. I did spend over 3 months tring to get our local media to cover my story but noone around here would touch the issue because of who the foreman of my jury & the judge was. Yes my attornies did ask in open court whether there was anyone who knew us they all denied they did I later found out that was not the truth with the judges wife my cousin who was with me that day in the car who nationwide did settle with out of court came to testify aat my trial told me on the she testified having that woman(the judges wife ) was a huge mistake because she & her husband had lost 4 trials in his court in the last 2 years and this judge hated her and her husband. I do have documentation of the one juror who said she did'nt know our family I have the complaint she filed with a local hospital against my father n law. They work together yet she denied knowning anyone in the family.This is a very small town and my attorney said in 33 years of practicing law he had never seen anything like this happen in case like mine. We never did get a second opinion from another attorney we were told over and over again by other people in town not to piss this judge off or he would make our lives a living hell,but I have come to the conclusion that I am already living in hell I can't even ansewer the phone because I still owe over 30,000.00 in medical cost and when I get up every mourning (on the nights I do sleep)in so much pain I can barly funtion I put on a smile for my kid's but I just want to sit and cry.My doctor recemended getting my story out to anyone who would listen so that's what I am tring to do.

 

[care716]

Small town Ohio
Thought about writing some examples of the "law 'round here" but it's too long and you still wouldn't believe it.
Suffice it to say, only those of us from small towns in Ohio could read that post, believe it, and not be the least bit suprised. Justice, right and wrong...those aren't concepts known here. It's all about "who you know" and what your last name is.
I worked with the courts and still am in shock over some of the things I saw. One quick example...lady goes to court pursuing domestic violence charge against husband. She looks like she was beat by a hammer, has photos, dr. reports and on top of that when she filed the charges she went into a domestic violence shelter. The husband was given the secret location of the shelter where she was held by his sister(clerk of courts) broke down the door, threatened everyone and took her by force and beat her some more requiring hospitalization. All that even with the pretty little CPO she got when she filed charges. He walked out with court costs, temporary custody of kids(later won full custody). No extra info left out here I sat in the court room, Judge refused to hear testimony from the persons at the shelter. His sister was well-liked by the Judge and one of the highlights of the Judges rulings was when he called the abuser by a family nickname and yelled at the lady for crying.
Welcome to Ohio....

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state?Ohio
On May 16 2000 my life was forever changed due to a car accident. A young man pulled in front of me & I hit him going 55 miles per hour. I was seriously injured and am now permently crippled. I finally got my day in court in August 2003 I was 36,000.00 dollaars in debet and was told by my attorney this was a slam dunk case because I was at NO FAULT AT ALL.Yet I got verdict for 12,000.00 for my self 800.00 for my 5 year old daughter 1,800.00 for my 7 year old son all were in the car with me. My husband got a 1,000.00 but he was not in the car. We appeled to the judge to throw the jury verdict out he refused to do so.I found out later on that the judges best friend was my jury foreman and that a local judges wife was also a member of my jury and a woman who can't stand my husbands father was also a member of my jury. My attorney's told me all this was not a conflict of intrest that judges work with there freinds all the time. They also told me it would be a waste of time & money to appeal the verdict to a higher court basically I was told I got screwed and nothing legally could be done about it. Well I have learned in the last week that my long term prognosis is awful due to the damage done to my nerves in my right arm I have developed refex sympathic dystropy and may end up in a wheelchair by the time I am in my late 40's. I am finacial devested and emotionally exhausted can anyone give me some advice ?

Q: I finally got my day in court in August 2003

A: I suspect your time for appeal has run and there is nothing you can do.