# Lawyer: Emails exonerate Ben Roethlisberger **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 19, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989 "2009-08-19T20:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/21 "2009-08-24T14:39:55Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I guess you learn something every day. You mean the pleadings that you file in court do not fall under any perjury statutes? I can misrepresent myself and the facts of what I am saying without fear of punishment? Court pleadings are filed on your behalf by your attorney, so you can’t get in trouble for their content. Your attorney can, I think. Think about it this way: while there are cases where both parties genuinely believe they’re in the right, there are an awful lot of civil suits where one side or the other is lying. Sometimes people have to build their entire case (or defense) around lying. ETA: In any case, it’s extremely difficult to _prove_ willful fraud or misrepresentation. Ignorance of the law is no excuse in criminal proceedings, but ignorance period is a very good excuse in civil ones. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/22 "2009-08-24T14:50:54Z")
So, if I file a lawsuit saying that Really Not All That Bright did on August 24, 2009 at 10:49am Eastern time come to my place of work and did physically assault me and call me names, and after everything comes out I admit that I made the whole thing up, I didn’t break any criminal law by filing a statement with a court that I knew was 100% false? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/23 "2009-08-24T15:00:20Z")
Again, the complaint is not _your_ statement, strictly speaking. If my attorney deposed you, and you said the same thing again under oath, _then_ you’d be in trouble. That said, at least in Florida, it’s virtually impossible to get the state attorney to actually charge you with anything in that sort of scenario unless they’re presented with a _fait accompli_- ie. I/my lawyers gather all the evidence for them and hand it to them on a plate with watercress around it. I would almost certainly file a counter-claim, though- assuming that (1) I didn’t actually beat you up and call you Nancy, and (2) you had any assets worth going after. Have you got a nice house? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/24 "2009-08-24T15:25:19Z")
Once again, it’s not a crime to file a frivolous lawsuit. Why should it be? All you’re doing is asking for money. It’s possible to countersue for something like defamation, but that’s still a civil complaint, not a criminal one. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/25 "2009-08-24T15:45:12Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Once again, it’s not a crime to file a frivolous lawsuit. Why should it be? … I can think of many reasons. Wasting the court’s time, public funds, other peoples’ time and their funds, to name the obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/26 "2009-08-24T15:48:41Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I can think of many reasons. Wasting the court’s time, public funds, other peoples’ time and their funds, to name the obvious. If you file a frivolous case and lose you can be required to pay the other person’s court costs, and if you make a habit of it, the court can tell you they will not be bothering with your filings anymore. ETA: And of course you can always be countersued. Beyond that I think we’d need a lawyer to answer this. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/27 "2009-08-24T15:54:55Z")
FTR, you _can_ be criminally penalized for frivolous claims made in US Tax Courts. Well, frivolous arguments, since you don’t make claims in tax court as far as I’m aware. I only bring that up since **jtgain** mentioned bankruptcy filings. I think the penalties are purely monetary though. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/28 "2009-08-24T16:10:52Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I can think of many reasons. Wasting the court’s time, public funds, other peoples’ time and their funds, to name the obvious. There are civil remedies for that. Would you really want to swamp an already greatly overburdened criminal system with prosecutions for frivolous lawsuits? Would you really want to put people in a position where they would have to be afraid of trying to sue powerful individuals or corporations for fear of _criminal_ repercussions? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/29 "2009-08-25T05:34:22Z")
There’s malicious prosecution/abuse of process, but you have to go through the suit, have it resolved in your favor, and prove that the person filing it did so with intent to mess with you (that’s a legal term). And the penalties there are still civil. Nobody goes to jail. ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/30 "2009-08-25T14:50:14Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There are civil remedies for that. Would you really want to swamp an already greatly overburdened criminal system with prosecutions for frivolous lawsuits? Would you really want to put people in a position where they would have to be afraid of trying to sue powerful individuals or corporations for fear of _criminal_ repercussions? Yes. Absolutely yes. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989/31 "2009-08-25T16:26:18Z")
Sidenote: He was so much hotter with the goatee ::sigh:: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawyer-emails-exonerate-ben-roethlisberger/506989.md?page=1)