Chapter 472

“What do you mean?” the ‘Mechanic’ asked. He was being played by one of the associates from the firm - you were pretty sure his name was Chuck ... something.

“A previous witness has identified the plaintiff’s vehicle as being adorned with a fabric hood cover depicting the American flag,” Eric said. “When you were examining the vehicle, did you see any signs of that?”

“Oh,” the ‘Mechanic’ said. “Huh. Was that what those fabric scraps and the twine were?”

Eric raised his eyebrows. “Could you expand on what you did see in that area?”

“Um, yeah,” he said. “The front end had some damage to the front bumper on both sides, but the actual hood and engine block were - most of the damage was on the sides and rear of the minivan. When it got to me the hood had a piece of twine looping around it near the back of it closest to the windshield, and that had scraps of fabric stuck to it. That could have been what you’re describing if it had been-”

“Objection,” Samantha said quickly. “Witness is speculating, Your Honour.”

“Sustained,” Judge Mathews nodded, turning to the ‘mechanic.’ “Please keep your answers to only what you actually saw.”

“Yes, Your Honour,” the ‘mechanic agreed.

“Thank you, Your Honour,” both Eric and Samantha said.

“You said you found twine looped around the hood,” Eric continued his questioning. “Is this something you’ve ever come across before?”

“Not that I can remember,” the ‘Mechanic’ answered.

“But your report didn’t include it,” Eric said. “Why was that?”

“Well, it didn’t look like it was some sort of repair job because it wasn’t actually attached to anything,” he answered. “And it didn’t look like damage, necessarily. At least not to the body of the vehicle.”

“In your expert opinion,” Eric said. “Would you consider the loop of twine and the fabric to have likely gotten to the position you found it during the accident, or would it have needed to be placed there deliberately?”

Samantha clearly wanted to object again, but you could tell she wasn’t sure for what. The plaintiffs had introduced the Mechanic as an expert witness on the vehicle, they couldn’t call him into question now.

“It would have needed to be placed there deliberately,” the ‘mechanic’ answered.

“Thank you so much for your time, sir,” Eric said. “No further questions for this witness, Your Honour.”

Again, Eric and your team had managed to divert what seemed to be a key witness for the plaintiffs into one for your defence. The insurance policy was airtight unless they managed to find something utterly wild to challenge it, and now you had double confirmation that the Jacobs’ had modified their vehicle with cosmetic additions. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs had managed to paint the Jacobs in a decent light in terms of their character at the scene of the accident, and confirmed that the vehicle was a write-off and should have been replaced if their policy was valid. They’d also brought into question, possibly, that the Jacobs had signed the policy without knowing the details but you had already submitted case law in your opening motions that should have negated that issue, not that the plaintiffs were necessarily aware of that.

Amanda didn’t redirect the witness, so the Mechanic was excused and you could see Judge Mathews checking his watch. “Alright, we’re reaching the end of day,” he said. “We’ll pick up again tomorrow at 9:30 AM. Court is now adjourned.” He tapped his gavel and stood up, straightening his suit jacket and sighing.

It felt a little early to have wrapped it up for the day, but you guessed that as a retired Judge he either had other things going on in the evening ... or he just wanted to enjoy being retired. You, Eric and the girls quickly started packing away your folders and notes and the Plaintiff team was doing the same. Just as you were finishing up Garrison came up on stage and over to you all.