Okay. I'm game for a few work tales:
In the court reporting (stenographer) field we are privvy to a lot of weird stuff in an assortment of cases. And sometimes the testimony is just odd:
"Q: And could you please tell us exactly what it is that you don't know?"
- - -
I was taking down the arraignments in court one day when the occupants from the holding cell came in. One guy (Joe X) upon being arraigned insisted that it wasn't him and gave the name of his friend, Sam Y. BAD move. The clerk ran the new name in the data base. It turns out his friend had warrants and was looking at a lot more time than Joe X was setting up for. So the judge gave him the option of deciding who he wanted to be and all day to think about it....and that if he was going to be Sam Y and not Joe X there would be additional time (a day or two in custody) and expense involved for fingerprinting. At the end of the day Joe X was brought into the courtroom (now all suited up in those flattering orange jail jumpsuit) and came to the realization that if he were to claim to be Sam Y that the charges for being Joe X would still be out there unresolved. Amazing what a little think time in the tank can do.... And, of course, the moral is you never know what sort of skeletons are rattling around in your neighbor's closet.
- - -
I travel a bit and do depositions in either the S.F. Bay Area or here in Las Vegas. As such I get to see the insides of some pretty fancy offices (you would not believe the casino bigwigs...why do they even go home? And one law firm in S.F. could double as an art gallery...an original Wayne Theibaud in the ladies room?) and on occasion get to go to some homes, too. I've had very memorable location depos:
1) I was in Sacramento at the time and, during winter about 15 years back, was sent to a doctor's office. Mind you, this was back when I had the ranch and so my usual mode of transportation was a Ford F-150 truck. Arrived at the office and parked. Well, outside the rain deluged and suddenly it was a flood situation in the parking lot. I could hear the office staff scurrying about and I peeked out the door into the hallway....Somebody hand opened the front door and a wall of water was heading down the hallway to the doctor's office. I said "Quick! All files on the floor on the desk!" and soon we were in our chairs amidst 3" of water. The attorneys were adamant that the depo go forward as there was an upcoming arbitration, although by this time the doc was severely stressed and probably wasn't giving her best testimony. The piece de resistance, though, was the doc's sports car was parked on the downhill side of the parking lot and we all could hear the car alarm going off...until it finally glub-glubbed from going underwater. By this time the doc was a total wreck. The depo finished and the attorneys who was really kind of rude throughout this disaster asked if I would carry her to her car! (Sorry, not in my job description) I waded out to my truck (setting up high) and was able to drive home.
2) Another Sierra foothill job had me going to an attorney's office only to find out we'd be going on a field trip that day. Well, it turned out it was to a remote hilltop home and, unpredictable weather, it had snowed the night before and so we had to snowshoe in.... Me in my turtleneck dress and all schlepping my equipment up the unplowed driveway that no car could navigate. We get into the cabin and the deponent is an elderly lady in the last stages of terminal cancer. Her hospital bed was set up in the living room (warmest room in the house). I set up my equipment by the wood burning stove and noticed the morphine drip and thought to myself "Oh, great. Here comes a bunch o' garble." She mustered for the afternoon. As it turns out, she spoke like a Rhodes scholar. Despite her backwoods existence, she was the most eloquent speaker I have ever had the pleasure of recording. Very poignant as I'm taking down the testimony and realizing that these were probably some of the last words she would ever speak and, truly, the value of my career of being a record-keeper came into focus. Her attorney informed me she passed away a few days later.
3) Another country job had me going out to a foothills ranch with the attorneys to take a deposition in a dog-caused injury case. So the testimony goes on and on, blah, blah, blah. The depo finishes and the attorneys go out to the driveway to talk a bit about the case and I pack up my equipment to go home. I exit with my stuff, am walking to the car, when the dog in question rounds the corner and enthusiastically jumps on me. Oops! Well, there goes the defense. Luckily, I worked with large horses and my dog at home was a St. Bernard and this was a small-ish Aussie-sized dog, so it was kind of like being slammed by nothing for me. I kind of recall getting a call later not to transcribe my notes as the case had been settled.
- - -
We have A LOT of out-of-town clients in Las Vegas. (The Vegas Valley's second biggest industry is retirement and so a lot of expert witnesses from snowy climes move here). It is always funny when a Friday depo is scheduled because the attorneys will often arrive in the office with suitcases and golf clubs sometimes with wives or girlfriends in tow and sometimes not....yeah, right, a work weekend. And sometimes they take the slogan of "What happens here stays here" a little too literally. Especially the southern attorneys who, for some bizarre reason, think that most Las Vegas court reporters stripped their way throught reporting school and are looking for a Sugar Daddy attorney to occupy their weekend. (Truth be told, of the hundreds of reporters here I've only met one that did work the pole and she is disgusted by the "How about we go out for drinks?" dialogue that sometimes ensues as she left that behind at the club and is now a happily married mother of three) They'll often say "And send me over a cute reporter." "Yes, sir. We'll send you our best." That is the cue for my office to either send me (I'm cute, but a greying rather pudgy sr., college-educated medical/legal and can run circles protocol and manners-wise around most) or to send my fellow reporter who, admittedly, bears a striking resemblance to Captain Kangaroo.
(I swear, though, the more I work with attorneys the more I want to raise goats.....)
Anyway, enough blathering.... Court reporters *never* are supposed to speak during work (unless asked for readback) and so we tend to go on and on when given a chance to finally opine....
I'm sure somebody else out there has some interesting snippets to share....
In the court reporting (stenographer) field we are privvy to a lot of weird stuff in an assortment of cases. And sometimes the testimony is just odd:
"Q: And could you please tell us exactly what it is that you don't know?"
- - -
I was taking down the arraignments in court one day when the occupants from the holding cell came in. One guy (Joe X) upon being arraigned insisted that it wasn't him and gave the name of his friend, Sam Y. BAD move. The clerk ran the new name in the data base. It turns out his friend had warrants and was looking at a lot more time than Joe X was setting up for. So the judge gave him the option of deciding who he wanted to be and all day to think about it....and that if he was going to be Sam Y and not Joe X there would be additional time (a day or two in custody) and expense involved for fingerprinting. At the end of the day Joe X was brought into the courtroom (now all suited up in those flattering orange jail jumpsuit) and came to the realization that if he were to claim to be Sam Y that the charges for being Joe X would still be out there unresolved. Amazing what a little think time in the tank can do.... And, of course, the moral is you never know what sort of skeletons are rattling around in your neighbor's closet.
- - -
I travel a bit and do depositions in either the S.F. Bay Area or here in Las Vegas. As such I get to see the insides of some pretty fancy offices (you would not believe the casino bigwigs...why do they even go home? And one law firm in S.F. could double as an art gallery...an original Wayne Theibaud in the ladies room?) and on occasion get to go to some homes, too. I've had very memorable location depos:
1) I was in Sacramento at the time and, during winter about 15 years back, was sent to a doctor's office. Mind you, this was back when I had the ranch and so my usual mode of transportation was a Ford F-150 truck. Arrived at the office and parked. Well, outside the rain deluged and suddenly it was a flood situation in the parking lot. I could hear the office staff scurrying about and I peeked out the door into the hallway....Somebody hand opened the front door and a wall of water was heading down the hallway to the doctor's office. I said "Quick! All files on the floor on the desk!" and soon we were in our chairs amidst 3" of water. The attorneys were adamant that the depo go forward as there was an upcoming arbitration, although by this time the doc was severely stressed and probably wasn't giving her best testimony. The piece de resistance, though, was the doc's sports car was parked on the downhill side of the parking lot and we all could hear the car alarm going off...until it finally glub-glubbed from going underwater. By this time the doc was a total wreck. The depo finished and the attorneys who was really kind of rude throughout this disaster asked if I would carry her to her car! (Sorry, not in my job description) I waded out to my truck (setting up high) and was able to drive home.
2) Another Sierra foothill job had me going to an attorney's office only to find out we'd be going on a field trip that day. Well, it turned out it was to a remote hilltop home and, unpredictable weather, it had snowed the night before and so we had to snowshoe in.... Me in my turtleneck dress and all schlepping my equipment up the unplowed driveway that no car could navigate. We get into the cabin and the deponent is an elderly lady in the last stages of terminal cancer. Her hospital bed was set up in the living room (warmest room in the house). I set up my equipment by the wood burning stove and noticed the morphine drip and thought to myself "Oh, great. Here comes a bunch o' garble." She mustered for the afternoon. As it turns out, she spoke like a Rhodes scholar. Despite her backwoods existence, she was the most eloquent speaker I have ever had the pleasure of recording. Very poignant as I'm taking down the testimony and realizing that these were probably some of the last words she would ever speak and, truly, the value of my career of being a record-keeper came into focus. Her attorney informed me she passed away a few days later.
3) Another country job had me going out to a foothills ranch with the attorneys to take a deposition in a dog-caused injury case. So the testimony goes on and on, blah, blah, blah. The depo finishes and the attorneys go out to the driveway to talk a bit about the case and I pack up my equipment to go home. I exit with my stuff, am walking to the car, when the dog in question rounds the corner and enthusiastically jumps on me. Oops! Well, there goes the defense. Luckily, I worked with large horses and my dog at home was a St. Bernard and this was a small-ish Aussie-sized dog, so it was kind of like being slammed by nothing for me. I kind of recall getting a call later not to transcribe my notes as the case had been settled.
- - -
We have A LOT of out-of-town clients in Las Vegas. (The Vegas Valley's second biggest industry is retirement and so a lot of expert witnesses from snowy climes move here). It is always funny when a Friday depo is scheduled because the attorneys will often arrive in the office with suitcases and golf clubs sometimes with wives or girlfriends in tow and sometimes not....yeah, right, a work weekend. And sometimes they take the slogan of "What happens here stays here" a little too literally. Especially the southern attorneys who, for some bizarre reason, think that most Las Vegas court reporters stripped their way throught reporting school and are looking for a Sugar Daddy attorney to occupy their weekend. (Truth be told, of the hundreds of reporters here I've only met one that did work the pole and she is disgusted by the "How about we go out for drinks?" dialogue that sometimes ensues as she left that behind at the club and is now a happily married mother of three) They'll often say "And send me over a cute reporter." "Yes, sir. We'll send you our best." That is the cue for my office to either send me (I'm cute, but a greying rather pudgy sr., college-educated medical/legal and can run circles protocol and manners-wise around most) or to send my fellow reporter who, admittedly, bears a striking resemblance to Captain Kangaroo.
(I swear, though, the more I work with attorneys the more I want to raise goats.....)
Anyway, enough blathering.... Court reporters *never* are supposed to speak during work (unless asked for readback) and so we tend to go on and on when given a chance to finally opine....
I'm sure somebody else out there has some interesting snippets to share....
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