Settlement Affidavit: Fill & Download for Free

I am the author of a treatise on a certain type of federal practice and spend a lot of word space on effective ways to present litigation from the various parties’ viewpoints. On occasion, I have seen techniques carried out by others that struck me as above what could be expected from just experience and applied knowledge. Where it is possible, I ask the person for their consent, and name them in a footnote. In one of these, I was on the opposing side. This was early in my career as a litigator, and I was almost handed my head by an acknowledged master in my field.I had only recently begun my own practice, my mentor having been appointed to a federal court of appeals and having left no one behind of her caliber to continue to teach me. I accepted a case which was my first experience of being hired by another law firm specifically to lead the trial, and I was well aware of the results of a poor job.The client was a general contractor who had been hired to build a tilt-wall shopping center for a man who owned a bank and a number of other businesses. Winning the case was critical. What the owner had done was refuse to pay the final bill, which included the monies owed to a number of small subcontractors, as well as the general. As a result, a lot of small businesses were in danger of collapsing, including that of the general. The problem was that the owner really didn’t seem to care at all about the possibility of being sued. He told me directly that “no one has ever gotten to me, and you won’t be the first”. [No, it wasn’t Trump.] At the time, I was so new that I didn’t know to do a quiet background review to see what there was behind the owner’s attitude, and the client, who was at the time eager to get what was to him the biggest job he’d ever had, hadn’t done it either.The then relatively new Bankruptcy Code included a process by which any creditor could initiate a proceeding asking the bankruptcy court to adjudge someone a debtor in bankruptcy if that person was not “generally paying his debts as they mature.” Since the owner was clear that he could hold up a civil suit for debt for quite a while by alleging poor work product and so on, and the client and subs were in desperate need of payment to save their businesses, I suggested in a meeting with the lawyers working with the individuals involved that we bring an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding against the owner. I pointed out that with something like that pending, all the owner’s credit would be frozen, including with his own bank, and then the owner too would be suffering from the delay in payment. Everyone liked that, so I put the paperwork together and filed it.The owner hired the best and largest bankruptcy firm in town, headed up by a fellow widely viewed as a master in the field. I knew right away that any mistake or weakness would be seen as such and exploited. At the time I was only on my own for about six months, and was so scared that I began eating Pepto-Bismal tablets by the box. I had to wear high-necked, long-sleeved blouses in Texas heat because I had a rash across my chest and on the backs of my arms from nerves. But I knew how important it was never to appear worried, so I made sure the rash and pink powder was covered up.Then the master showed how he had earned his rank. Keep in mind the issue: whether the owner was generally paying his debts as they came due. The master filed what is called a motion for summary judgment on the point asking for dismissal and an award of monetary sanctions for a bad-faith involuntary bankruptcy filing. His evidence seemed impeccable: an affidavit by the owner purporting to list all of his debts, and backed by affidavits from every creditor on that list saying that the obligation was current. And under the rules of procedure, I had less than two weeks to find some way to refute that. So, after a pause for private panic, I assured everyone that I could beat it. Some time later, I included the master’s approach in my book because of the heat it put on the other side. If the motion was denied, the case still had to go to trial, but if it were granted, the case would be over without a trial and sanctions were most likely.The one piece of encouragement I managed to find was that the owner seemed so confident and experienced in his technique in cheating the contractor and subs. I believed he had deliberately chosen small, relatively new businesses because 1) they would be eager to get future business so would do a great job for the least money, and 2) they could be easily driven out of business and the debt would never be collected.I called a war council and began questioning the client and some of the subs again, not about the claims themselves, but about what industry gossip or knowledge they may have about the guy. One of them mentioned that he had heard that the man had another business name than the personal one we were dealing with, and even remembered what it was. I ran a credit and asset check on the name, and there it all was - a large tax lien, several judgments, and the signed application the guy had to file with the state to use the name as a dba. It was wonderful!! Birds sang and rainbows appeared. I got all the paper into an admissible form and filed my answer without setting a hearing because I knew the master would know what the answer meant. The owner had lied to the master, and to the court, so couldn’t be trusted on anything again, and worse, had made the master look less than thorough himself. Plus it now looked as if we knew all along, and could win our case. At the least, there could be no monetary damages.I give the master credit. He didn’t even appear to blink. He just withdrew the motion (the motion and my answer remained part of the court’s files of course, so I could use the contents of the affidavits at trial) and set the thing for trial. I appreciated the implied recognition that issue was now joined, now to the death. I never knew whether the master told the owner he could now be prosecuted for commission of fraud on a court and, at the least, perjury, but I am sure the master knew.The morning of the commencement of the trial, we got our second big break in the judge assigned to the case. Not a particularly brilliant jurist, but a man of great morality who had little to no patience with liars. So I played a trump card. I asked a friend from law school who had gone to work with the U.S. Attorney’s office to find the time to come to the courtroom with her badge showing, and just sit in the front row of chairs behind the defense counsel’s table. I was hoping it would be thought to mean that the US Attorney was considering at least a perjury count against the owner. Then I called the owner to the stand as my first witness and kept walking up to the lie, but not quite on it. At the mid-morning break, the owner’s nerve broke. I advised the judge that the parties were in discussions to resolve the matter and could we not start again until after lunch? The judge knew something was up, but not what, so agreed to the long break.The client’s business attorneys handled the settlement, during which I was later told the master called me a “cold hearted <female dog>”, which to me was an acknowledgement of how effective (and lucky) I had been. I realized from the name-calling that the master thought I had known all along, rather than just blundered into an incredible piece of luck after the case was started. I was happy to be left in the ladies’ restroom with my box of Pepto tablets because I was running on pure adrenaline anyway and it was making my hands shake.The case settled for payment in full in exchange for dismissal. I went home a heroine, but much wiser than I had been. I never let the master know that it was only the fact that his client was a habitual liar that saved me. My client sent me roses, a final check, and a card addressing me as “CHB Williams”, and my career got a big, rather undeserved boost because everyone assumed I knew all along.The final check bounced, and my client seemed to have disappeared, but I was getting a lot of business off the reputation of that win, so did nothing to try to find him. Years later, his remains showed up in a concrete foundation. Apparently the foundation was shallow and as the body eroded, the resulting gap caused some structural problems, leading to the finding of the body, but that is all another story.

So that:We can hear some G's:Rahul GSonia GPriyanka GCWG2GCoalGateWe can have secularism around:Rohingya’s settlementAgain a affidavit in SC for non-existence of Lord RamHindu ExtremismLaw & Justice can prevailOpening of SC in night for tourists (sorry terrorists)Rohingya's case hearingHaving a photo of Jinnah is right but national flag is wrongStop wasting time for Ram Mandir issueReturn of independent status of CBI, expulsion of any corrupt official is good for movies onlyReturn of ballot paper as that's the tried & trusted full proof method to eliminate counterfeit, but using finger print is bad.Family business should continue, as we are fools and doomed/destined to believe in double role movies.It's good to curse the country as everything bad happened so far, happened in last 4.5 years, previously we we were having Maglev trains.Road, water & electricity discontinued, and we should get it back.Bringing cylinders on cycle/motorcycle is good for health, now that's get delivered @home, so we are missing chance to become John Cena.Resources of this country are for minorities, majority was always a dumb and will as well……We should curse ministry for accidents and none got the right to say if we steal some screens and also not to praise for better trains who need it anyway.Free medical for needy is bad, they should pay enormous money by selling all what they have to support otherwise needy.By building toilets a lot of opportunities of irrigation & manure got lost, bad for agricultural infrastructure & prosperity.Connected ECG, CT Scan, MRI machines will avoid data duplication and easy reference.This government always oppress backwards & minorities, how? Because opposition says so.Rafael should get proper scrutiny, even if it come out as Coffin scam, at least the truth will prevail.A lot of money wasted on cleanliness, cities should be like:

Oh, that was always my favorite kind of witness if they were for the opponent’s side, since they had just discredited every word of their testimony. I once won a rather dicey lawsuit on valuation of an operating business that owned a small chain of restaurants by showing that the opposition’s “expert” had been given the alleged value by his wife, who was a waitress in a competing restaurant. I might have prevailed anyway - I had my own, better credentialed expert - but when the guy lied about how he reached his number, the relative credentials didn’t matter.The first major trial I had was against a guy who owned a bank and was making real estate investments. My client had worked as the general on building a strip center and the guy was stiffing him on the final payment, claiming the work wasn’t good enough. I spoke with the guy, and he bragged to me that no one “had ever gotten to him” and that the “little lady” in front of him wasn’t going to change that. Okay, I’m good for a challenge. So instead of wasting time in state court, I brought an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding against him, shut down his credit, made him have to suspend participation in the bank’s management and a few other things.Then he went out and hired a master in the field - a man who owned the largest bankruptcy firm in town (and it was a bigggg town) and who was tough and smart. I’d read his book, and I was a relative newcomer. So the master thought, with some reason, that he could wipe the field with me. He filed a motion for dismissal and monetary sanctions for a baseless lawsuit, backed with an affidavit by the guy listing all of his supposed creditors, and with affidavits from each of them saying he was paying them as agreed. To maintain the suit, I had to show that he was “generally not paying his debts as they matured” and according to the motion, the only debt he wasn’t paying was the one to my client and that was because of shoddy work. And I had only 10 days to come up with support that would defeat the motion. So I huddled with the client, asking him all sorts of questions to try to get a lead.The client remembered that the guy had a nickname and I ran a check on the assumed names files of the state under several spellings of the nickname. And there it was - a tax lien, a judgment lien, all sorts of civil suits. He’d been dumping his bad debts there since he owned the bank under his legal name. I filed a written response, backed by admissible evidence, showing he had lied! The judge never saw it because neither the master nor myself asked for a hearing. I did, however, get the case set for a trial on the merits.On the trial day, I got a good draw on the judge, a man who tried very hard to understand and follow the law, and who was patient about hearing each side. I had asked a friend who was an Assistant US Attorney to come sit in the front of the audience side with her name badge on because I was hinting to the guy and the master that I might have brought a complaint for perjury. But I hadn’t, since if he was prosecuted, his assets would go to his criminal defense attorney and for costs, and my guy would never get paid. But the guy didn’t know that and I wanted the master and the guy to realize what the presence of an AUSA might mean.I have to give him points- I called him as my first witness and kept walking up to the perjury, then backing off, then hinting it again and backing off. He stood up to nearly two hours of that pressure. The judge sensed something was up, but I wasn’t giving him much of a hint as to what it might be. The master was doing a great job of appearing unworried. But at the midmorning break, the guy folded. His lawyers asked the client’s main lawyers for a conference, and the case was settled with my guy getting all his money, including my fees. I had broken out in hives and was eating Pepto-Bismal tablets, throughout. The master called me a “cold-hearted bitch” and I knew I had him. It was like being given some sort of post-graduate honors degree because everyone knew I had fluttered the master.We announced the settlement, reading and acknowledging the terms on the record, which required a dismissal of suit once the money was paid over (in cash). My client was so happy, and I made sure that the guy saw me hugging him.But it was only momentary. My check for my fees bounced. I tried to contact the client, and he was nowhere to be seen or heard from. A few years later, his remains were found encased in a cement foundation of a strip center, just like the one he’d built for the guy. The money was never found, but I got so much business from the notoriety from that case that I came out just fine. I don’t know if the judge ever figured the thing out, since we had just read the terms of the settlement into the record, and I dismissed the suit when the client said he had the money. But I like to think that I made a lasting impression on the guy, or at least made him use another alias.