Yes, and it’s rare. I’ve seen it happen, but you can count those times on one hand with a finger or two left over.
ETA: It’s not rare for a party to request a mistrial. That happens all the time. Judges get frustrated with that.
Perhaps like this?
Now, I got my law degree from L&O University, and I can put up with some things in the interests of good drama.
But one thing I hate in L&O especially is 1) objections without reason. At least in Perry Mason, Ham Burger would always say “that question is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial!” but McCoy is just “Objection!” “Sustained!”, and 2) during an objection the obviously-grandstanding defense attorney (usually Shambala Green or Vanessa Galiano) would just keep speechifying before the judge could even rule, thereby getting her point in anyway. If I were the judge I’d have her in contempt so fast. “You wait for my ruling!” That gets old.
Some judges are very strict about “speaking objections.” (They’re against them) They require lawyers to either just say “objection,” or “Objection Rule 403.” Without such guidance from the bench, lawyers find ways to do improper things with their objections. “Objection, that witness was nowhere near the intersection when that happened!”
Interesting!
I wish sometimes I could be on a jury to see the real life.
I also wish I were a judge, but they’d soon find out I don’t have a law degree!
It’s a lot more boring in real life.
Quite true. (Been a juror several times.)
Civil trials I assume?
Are you telling me that attorneys don’t routinely leaping out of their seat and yell an outraged, “OBJECTION, your Honor!” and then engage in a shouting debate with opposing counsel in front of the jury?
I know, it’s hard to believe. It’s almost as if it’s two professionals doing a job.
No, they do that sans judge and jury in pretrial depositions. [shudder] I’ve proofread far too many transcripts riddled with that stuff.
Previously criminal (four or five, it’s been a full life that way), but the last one was my first civil trial. The plaintiff attorney suggested a few times too often that if the jury felt the suit was completely without merit, we should award his client nothing. We took an hour to decide to take him up on it.
I like to imagine that the more senior attorneys like to screw with the first-year associates: “Alright, Timmy, we need you to really sell this objection. Leap out of your chair, pound on the table. Make the judge feel how outraged you are. You’ve seen Law and Order. It’s the only way we’re gonna win this case!”
I was making a little joke about your user name.
No, we don’t do that. We try not to have anyone on our team piss off the judge or create needless issues. (But I can see why you’d like to imagine that. It does sound entertaining)
How frequently do you make a motion for sanctions?
Judge’s tend to hate lawyer squabbles. If you’re asking about me, personally, it’s very rare for me to ask for sanctions. Usually only when defendant is caught intentionally withholding information they were required to provide.
If someone has pissed off the judge, he or she can impose sanctions without me bringing it up. (it happened in my last trial). In my practice, court imposed sanctions are rare. For example, I’ve only been sanctioned once in 35+ years (and it wasn’t entirely my fault). I ask for sanctions more often than that. Some rules (for discovery abuse, for example) make it almost mandatory for the court to consider it:
Cool, thanks.
I was involved in a trial when I sued my ex after she failed to do some things the divorce decree required. My attorneys included me in a group email discussion with the ex’s attorney.
I made a joke reply that slightly denigrated opposing counsel (he royally fucked up and I joked about it). He replied directly to me, not cc’ing my attorneys. His reply mentioned kicking my ass.
My guys asked for and got sanctions!
Family law is contentious. In my area of practice, threats of physical violence are thankfully rare. But, yes, that sounds like a good reason to sanction an attorney.
…and to kick his ass!
