HRLegalNews.com » A $29,000 lesson: Don’t say this in front of a judge

A $29,000 lesson: Don’t say this in front of a judge

April 9, 2008 by Sam Narisi
Posted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Recent Decisions

If a company gets dragged into court, there are ways HR and top-level execs can try to mitigate the damage. Apparently, saying the “f-word” 73 times during a deposition hearing isn’t one of them.

After a financial institution was sued, the CEO had to spend nearly 12 hours in deposition. That’s enough to make anyone a little hot under the collar. But, according to judge, the way this guy responded was “abusive, destructive and evasive.”

What did he do? He dropped the f-bomb or variations of it 73 times over the course of the proceedings. Some gems included saying to the judge, “Don’t speak for anybody in here except yourself, f*** face,” and telling his lawyer to “Earn your f****** money, a**hole.”

In addition to not making the best impression on the judge hearing his case, the guy got his company slapped with a $29,000 fine for violating the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s $397.26 per dirty word.

Not exactly dropping a quarter in the swear jar, huh?

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2 Responses to “A $29,000 lesson: Don’t say this in front of a judge”

  1. Lois Says:

    This falls under the category: Things we’d like to say, and the 29,000 reasons why we don’t!

  2. Tom Says:

    This reads like an article from The Onion. Once again, truth is stranger than fiction.


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