{"id":9917,"date":"2012-08-21T14:09:01","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T18:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=9917"},"modified":"2012-08-21T14:09:01","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T18:09:01","slug":"a-suit-familiar-and-remarkable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=9917","title":{"rendered":"“A Suit Familiar and Remarkable”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you read the above-entitled piece, by Benjamin Weiser,<\/a> on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times<\/em> Metropolitan Section?<\/p>\n

I hope so \u2014 especially if you are a plaintiff, or expectant plaintiff. The protagonist, a New York songwriter named Peggy Harley, brought her own case to court. Weiser (a Times<\/em> journalist who is a lawyer) introduces his piece, thusly: “The lawsuit traversed familiar ground: lesser-known songwriter sues established artist, claiming that her work was poached and turned into a hit song.”<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing, because, although Harley actually won her case, it is a high-decibel lesson in what not<\/em> to do, how not<\/em> to behave while you pursue a lawsuit. Indeed, Harley won only because a judge eventually listened to two CD’s, one of Harley’s song and one of the song she claimed was ripped from hers, and decided that Harley was right.<\/p>\n

Harley did not hire a lawyer. She pursued this case herself. And she behaved foolishly, in what reads like a state of counterproductive hostility to the entire legal system that she requested make her whole.<\/p>\n

Although the piece does summarize, in its odd way, general court proceedings in cases such as these, Harley made so many avoidable mistakes, she was sanctioned by a judge and charged with paying the legal bill of one defendant. As Weiser writes,<\/p>\n

One particularly exasperated judge observed: “The world is going to end someday, and my job is to try to see that this case gets adjudicated before the world ends.”<\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re contemplating a side career in plaintiff-cy, read the whole thing. Take notes. I will be testing you on “how many mistakes did this plaintiff make?” and “how many conventional court procedures are mentioned here?” later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you read the above-entitled piece, by Benjamin Weiser, on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times Metropolitan Section? I hope so \u2014 especially if you are a plaintiff, or expectant plaintiff. The protagonist, a New York songwriter named … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t