45 Times People Did Shady And Unethical Things To Try To Win A Case

There was one guy who owed $464 million in bond and his lawyers said he couldn’t pay it and didn’t have the money to pay it. He then went on to say he did in fact have the money but didn’t want to pay it so they appealed hoping to lower it. The day of the deadline, a court announced they’d be lowering the bond to $175 million. It was a crazy loophole, he escaped consequences.

My grandpa was a lawyer for an oil company a few decades ago. They had a huge federal case one time, and he simply went up to the judges and told them they didn't have jurisdiction. The oil was drilled in Texas and refined in Texas, had never left the state of Texas. So there was no interstate commerce, and the federal court had no jurisdiction. He got the case thrown out "on bonk".

Not a lawyer, but in my court case my attacker talked and talked and talked for over 36 hours combined until the judge was just fed up and dismissed it all. So, I guess if you just make the judge bored enough, you win.

My client was pulled over for DUI at which point the police officers realized his registration had also expired. They wrote two tickets to him, one for each fellony. However, they’ve put 3:01 AM on the registration expiration ticket on which they also noted they had to forbid him to use this car further and 3:02 AM on the DUI ticket. I argued that he couldn’t have driven a car drunk at 3:02 because he and his car were not on the road since 3:01. He was cleared of the DUI charge (much bigger issue than registration expiration).

Lawyer asked me to charge a prospective client extra because of their accent. For both our sakes I ignored him.

In the 80s my boss's best friend did major mortgage fraud. He was a RE attorney. He wasn't paying off mortgages but was pocketing the money and making the monthly payments. It all blew up when someone tried to buy a new home and the old mortgage was on his credit. Guy ran, left the country, leaving his wife and kids behind. He was never caught.

Use the office to host his Pro-Life meetings and place an anti-euthanisa billboard on the building.

IANAL but two come to mind.

For a period of time in my state if you got a speeding ticket you could have a hearing and request the radar technician to testify that the equipment had been calibrated correctly. Given that there were only two technicians qualified in the state they basically never showed up, and the ticket would get thrown out.

Another - a local cop got charged for catching the wrong size fish, basically poaching. Since he lied to the game officer in his statement, all prior convictions that relied on his testimony became easy appeal cases.

Marvel successfully argued that mutants are not people so X-men action figures get a cheaper tariff.

I am a lawyer. I specialize in tax and litigation (civil, not criminal tax). The biggest loophole is money. Can you pay your lawyer to be as creative and annoying as you can. It's literally that simple.

Trump is a very good example of this. Bog down the court with motion practice, beg for continuances, and throw absolutely everything possible you can because you can. You won't see a Public Defender or a Low Income Clinic attorney do this. There is simply not enough of them.

Not a lawyer, but close to one. In law school in Finland, they were taught about a case where a man was on trial for failing to pay back a loan.

His lawyer argued that he shouldn’t be convicted of delinquency (no idea what the actual terms are in English, bear with me) because he never had intended to pay the loan back in the first place.

And he won the case.

The reason was because the prosecutor had made a mistake: he had prosecuted the man only for the lesser charge of being delinquent in making payments, and forgot to write up the alternative charge of outright fraud.

So the court had to rule that there was reasonable doubt whether the man actually committed the act he was on trial for.

I know someone who was arrested for occupying/trespassing a bank during an Occupy Wall Street protest. Since the bank had received a huge public bailout and hadn't yet repaid its debt to the U.S. government, my friend's lawyer was able to argue that the bank was public property, and got the case thrown out.

Not a lawyer but...... I was once cited for riding a jet ski without a life jacket. (yes, I know, spare me the lecture) I will preface this story by saying, legal innocence is not the same thing as being truly innocent. Legal innocence is if the state cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the act youre entitled relief from punishment. I do not lie nor would I ever lie in court to attain the outcome desired. I would rather be punished than lie. I never say I didnt run the stop sign, I just prove that the officer/deputys vantagepoint was did not allow for them to conclusively determine whether I ran the stop sign. Never do I go in and state I didnt run the stop sign. That behavior would make me a dirty rat.

I forgot to pay the ticket on time and it automatically defaulted to a challenge. Being the studious individual I am. I read the entire statute on PWC's. There was no way out of my ticket, until I got the very last line. It said that for a professional performer engaged, participating or practicing for a sanctioned event. Boat parade, race, tournament etc One didnt need to have a life jacket on. So I signed up for 2 professional jet ski races, pay on the day of the race.

I arrive to court and had to wait outside with all the DUI people because they wrote my time down incorrectly. The PD is waiting along with the SA. I ask him how a motion to dismiss works and he tells me i need to go downstairs to the clerks office and fill out a form, and then states that they will never grant a motion to dismiss without the office being present. In the clerks office I am greeted with good morning. I responded with my request for the form which immediately pisses her off that I didnt address her good morning. I apologize, respond and then ask for the motion form. She refuses to give it to me and says the judge will not grant my motion without the office being present. I tell her as courteously as possible that my argument may not require the officer to be present and because shes a member of the opposing party I cant tell her what my defense will be. This angers her greatly and she refuses to give me the paperwork needed. I return to the courtroom and tell the PD this and he shrugs his shoulders and provides no other response.

I sit through DUI/misdemeanor proceedings and Im the last person their. The judge inquires as to my presence and the stenographer tells her, my time was incorrectly recorded but that the gentleman is here to request a motion to dismiss. The SA is looking through his accordian and paying very little attention throughout. The judge addresses me and I formally request my motion to dismiss while expressing a confused body language. I also state they wouldnt give me the form downstairs so this is why Im doing it this way.

The SA is still filing through his accordian and I state that I am requesting a motion to dismiss based on the professional performer exemption. The SA closes his accordian but is still looking at his papers. I try to physically hand the printed statute and race registrations to the judge which draws the ire of the bailiff, the stenographers, and the SA. The PD looks embarassed, and gestures that he didnt put me up to this. I then realize my error and hand it to the bailiff. After much silent body language, I realize the judge is unfamiliar with the statute and wants me to read the section I was using in my defense. She almost laughed in the middle of my reading. I guess she was imagining Eviel Knievel or something. Upon finishing, her face shifted to skepticism and she remained silent for about 30 seconds. The SA is now at full attention and angry. I could tell they thought I was liar and a charlatan, and she replied that this is not how the law was intended to be interpreted. She looks over to the SA and he says he hasnt received my file since this was just an arraignment and says "furthermore I am completely against a dismissal without the officer being present" I wasnt backing down, so she thinks for minute and says," lemme ask you this, were you registered the day you received the citation?" I shuffle the papers around nervously and notice no dates on the papers to prove I wasnt. As tempted as I was, I told hung my head and said, no your honor I was not. The judge satisfied that she has defeated me begins to reach for her gavel. Trying to save face that I wasnt here to pull shenanigans I defend my attempt by stating "your honor I wasnt aware that participation was defined by when an applicant was registered". Judge pounds her gavel and says motion to dismiss granted" Im shocked, the SA is shocked and pissed. Everyone is looking at me to say something. In my confusion I thought that I was supposed to say something enlightening or inspiring. So I tell the court I always believe in safety and the notion of wearing a life jacket etc etc. Until the bailiff stops me. Confused I look around and everyone is now mad at me. The SA angrily states "you won already!!" Then it hits me and say, "thank you your honor"

While driving home I reflect upon what happened and then it hits me. The judge thought I was stating in the declaratory that participation isnt defined by when an applicant is registered!

I had a friend who altered a trip permit for his car, changing the date to extend the time of the permit. He was pulled over and got a ticket for altering a trip permit in X county.

My friend showed up at the county courthouse and argued that they couldn't prove he altered the permit in that county. Only that he had been caught in that county with the altered trip permit.

Technically correct for the win!

Wife got a speeding ticket. The cop put the wrong color of the her car on the documents. I wrote in to the court to dismiss and they did.

An attorney at my old work asked a paralegal to notarize something but signing a previous date. It was some kinda document that would’ve helped his client…like “see he did already do this beforehand, see how it was notarized on this date?” I don’t remember what it was exactly. I just overheard him ask her all low key…she refused saying she could get in trouble. He like sheepishly backed off but also with this smirking attitude like, “are you serious? a goody two shoes.” like she refused to sneak a candy bar into the movie theater or something.

Creep. He was a real jerk too. Really sloppy and with no sense of due diligence. I hope he gets busted for something one day.

Well, almost all the attorneys I’ve ever worked with pad their bills. And the expenses they claim are often untrue - I mean, not every single lunch or dinner you have with buddies is “client networking.” One attorney at a firm where I worked had a habit of sleeping with his clients while they were clients, which got him into some trouble, but he didn’t lose his license to practice law.

Change my time entries to his time entries (I literally had another attorney sign whatever needed to be signed bc said attorney couldn’t bother to roll in the door until 4pm every day, at the earliest).

Years ago I worked as a bookkeeper at a small firm (8 total staff and attorneys other than owner). Owner told me to cut him a check for 60k and not tell anyone. He wanted to fund his Vegas vacation, but at the same time told a sob story about how he couldn’t afford year end bonuses for anyone.

I left and they went under within a year. Not sure if a coincidence…

I worked in matrimonial/family law (shudders, never again) and the attorney would pocket cash retainers and not record them/give them to the bookkeeper, then threaten to cancel payroll because he didn’t have enough to cover payroll, meanwhile he took in nearly $20K in cash that week.