Day on Torts
Ford Motor Company apparently says one thing in the courtroom and another thing in press conferences.
This news article says that Ford’s PR people keep saying that Ford did dynamic testing of its vehicles but that its witnesses at a recent trial said they did not. When asked to explain the discrepency, the Ford folks refused comment.
And now, of course, Ford is trying to seal the courtroom records.
It sort of reminds me about that story about how the lawyer prepped and re-prepped a witness for his testimony and the testimony was going to be “x”. They even talked about it in the hall immediately before the witness went on the stand. The witness went in to the courtroom and said “z”. Later, the lawyer asked him why he said “x” in the previous prep and in the hallway before testifying and then changed to “z” on the witness stand. The witness said: “I wasn’t under oath in the hallway.”
If I had one of these cases, I would depose the folks giving the press conferences and ask them the factual basis for their statements. My guess is that would lead to some great proof that could help give rise to a substantial punitive damage award.