Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
Nathan Fielder has a show called “The Rehearsal“. It’s a hard show to explain. You have to see it to believe it. I find it hard to understand how the show was green lit by executives on words or a script alone. It was green lit on the genious and creativity of Nathan Fielder.
The premise, is that Nathan is obsessed about a problem and he wants to get to the route of it in order to solve the problem or make it better. Nathan believes that everything in life would be easier, if you were able to rehearse it over, and over again, until you got it right. That makes sense, but it’s completely impractical which is what makes the show so entertaining. Nathan is so obsessed with the problem that he creates an exact simulation (to the minutest of details) and rehearses the scenario it over, and over again until he better understands what’s happening so that he can get to the route of the problem and solve it. He creates intricate sets which are the exact replicas of reality; hires actors to best simulate the reality of mundane situations; and repeats scenarios over and over again until he gets them right.
It’s a wonderful premise. In part, because it’s so unrealistic in terms of the levels of time, money, effort and energy which are invested into these otherwise mundane scenarios which an ordinary person would not think twice about.
Funny enough, personal injury lawyers do a lot of rehearsing with our clients. This is called client preparation. Our law firm runs “prep sessions” for our clients before big touchstone events in their cases so that they know what to expect and so that they can perform at their best.
But, no amount of preparation and rehearsing can get clients ready for reality. It’s just different. The energy is different. The pressure is different. There are unpredictable twists and turns the case can take which bring the file in a different direction than one would reasonably expect. Emergencies happen; along with strange stuff.
Here are a few examples of strange and unpredictable happenings from cases personal injury lawyer Brian Goldfinger has seen over the years. The lesson is that no amount of rehearsing or preparation can get you ready. You always have to be alert and on your toes. Expect the unexcepted.
Passing Out and Fainting (the medical emergency): The deponent, or lawyer expectantly passes out, or faints at an examination for discovery, or some other hearing. Perhaps the person is experiencing tightness in his/her chest. Maybe they are having uncontrollable nose bleeds due to some new medication. I can recall one examination for discovery where we had to call an ambulance to tend to the client because they had a panic attack and their blood pressure dropped. The person’s complexion turned pale as a ghost. We had to call for an ambulance and they were taken to hospital. I’m sure that plenty of personal injury lawyers have similar stories. On another occasion, the deponent couldn’t answer questions at all. They completely froze up, and began to break down in tears. We took a break to give the person time to settle their nerves. When the discovery resumed, it was the same result. We broke the discovery again; and then restarted, to the same result. That pattern continued for about 2-3 hours or so. These medical emergencies are more common than you might expect.
Discovery Goes Off the Rails: Discoveries can go off the rails for a lot of reasons. Lawyers argue and things get too heated. Instead of speaking, it’s all shouting and yelling. Deponent and Lawyer get too confrontational and argue. Things get personal. Lawyer and Reporters get confrontational and argue. Instead of answering the questions, the deponent decides to share intimate life details completely unrelated to the case or to the question because they have a captive audience. Deponent in a car accident case tells the police that her light was green to proceed. Deponent tells car insurer during their investigation that the light was green to proceed. Deponent told her lawyer at discovery prep that the light was green to proceed. All throughout the case, it was the deponent’s position that the light was green and safe to proceed. Then, at discovery, under oath, deponent changes their story and now the light was amber. Case goes flying off the rails.
Acts of God: Power outages, massive snowfalls, tornados, hurricane like winds, thunderstorms, internet failures, floods, sudden closures due to a medical pandemic (COVID: yes, places closed suddenly in the early days of COVID). I can recall being in a Court house in Toronto and people filing out mid day. I can also recall people coughing violently in the elevators around that time. No amount of rehearsing is going to get you ready for these types of events in your personal injury case.
The “I can’t make it, but I will send a Junior Lawyer or Articling Student to Fill In“: Senior partner on the case is double booked, or has something more important on his/her calendar. Perhaps they forgot or mislabelled the event altogether and only found out about it at the last moment. Instead, s/he sends in a junior lawyer or articling student who has been “briefed” (or not), on the case to fill in. Nothing is going to get accomplished because for all intents and purposes, that junior lawyer/articling student has limited or no authority to do anything but attend. If the partner could have sent in a coatrack in their place, they would have done so. The coatrack would have been cheaper; and would have been very useful for everyone’s coats.
I have attended discoveries/mediations/Court where there is no heat in the winter. Where there is no air conditioning in the summer. Where the Courthouse needed to be evacuated because of a security threat. Where the Courthouse wasn’t operational because they needed to fumigate and they sent everyone to a different government office a few minutes away. Fortunately, this was in a small town and not a big deal.
The point of sharing all of this is that you cannot rehearse the unrehearsable. You cannot predict the unpredictable. The best advice is to prepare as best you can, and to expect the unexpected. That way, you will be best prepared for the elements which you can control, while having the right mindset that anything can happen at these events.
