PART 2 – The Defendant speaks
Judge Justice then turned and looked toward the Defendant's table and asked: "Is
the defense ready to present its opening statement?" The attorney for the Defendant came to his feet and responded,
"Your Honor, rather than making an opening statement the Plaintiff's counsel presented his whole case, therefore
I request a 30 minute recess in order to confer with my client." Judge Justice replied: "As it is nearing
lunchtime anyway, the Court will stand in recess until 1:30 p.m." Then he rapped his gavel on the desk once
and retired to the judge's chamber.
The attorney for the Defendant led the entourage out of the Courthouse and across the street to the Hotel where
the Defendant's representatives were being housed and into the banquet room, which had been reserved for their
lunch. After all had visited one of the three bars that had been provided, passed through the buffet line and found
a seat, the lead attorney cleared his throat and began: "Well now, there you have it! We knew in advance the
Physical Evidence they were going to submit to the Court and we had their Witness List, however we just did not
know how they intended to tie the two together. Was anyone surprised that they chose to take the approach they
indicated in their statement or surprised that they intend to attack what we do to solicit potential clients, what
we use to entice them come to our places of business, what we say to them during our presentations and the intense
vigor we exert to compel them to make the decision we want?"
There was an immediate surge of noise from the crowd as many of those assembled indicated that they wanted to
speak. The group became somewhat unruly as several attempted to shout down the others. Finally the attorney was
able to regain some order and then he stated: "As we had previously determined, we cannot offer up a defense
which has been determined by a committee of hundreds. We are due back in Court in 20 minutes and we need to quickly
confer with the anointed three so that we can quickly adjust our opening statement to insure that it addresses
the statements made by the Plaintiff's counsel."
At about 1:30 those present were milling about the Courtroom and a low rumble could be heard. Suddenly the sound
of a door opening and the Judge appeared. "All rise!" shouted the Bailiff, "The Court will come
to order, Judge Justice is on the bench." The Judge looked toward those assembled and instructed: "You
may be seated!" then turned to the Bailiff and asked: "Where were we Wilson?" The Bailiff replied:
"The defense was about to make its opening statement, Your Honor." The Judge looked toward the defendants'
table and asked: "Are you ready to proceed?"
Counsel for the Defendants rose and began: "Your Honor, let us first state for the record our apology to the
Court and yourself for being required to waste valuable time with such frivolous matters. We offer this apology
because, while the Plaintiff's counsel spent most of his opening statement outlining their case and talking about
the things and people to be presented to this court, he never mentioned any evidence to unlawful acts perpetrated
by the defendants. He went on about video recordings of people working street side locations in tourist destinations
and yes, some of those people were our people, however, he did not point to any unlawful act. He told the Court
about audio recordings of telephone conservations between people and yes, some of those voices were our voices,
however, he did not point to any unlawful act. He alluded to testimony from experts who would indicate worldwide
calling patterns and yes, some of our calls fit those patterns, however he pointed to no unlawful acts.
"My learned colleague talked of items such as "Vacation Certificates", "Diamond Pendants",
and "Designer Luggage" as if they were contraband or some other illegal things. He mentioned envelopes,
their contents and testimony from Postal employees about their numbers and all kinds of other smoke, however he
did not point to any unlawful acts. He further clouded the issues by bring up training materials and books supposedly
used by the defendant's representatives as if they were evil things and vague reference to others individuals who
were not party to these proceedings. Finally, Your Honor, he used words such as: feelings, yearnings, shaming,
browbeating, isolations, double & triple teaming, and heat, yet never once did he point to a law that indicated
feelings as being illegal or for that matter, shaming, double teaming or heat. He informed the Court about charts
& graphs which hypothetically indicated offenses committed by the defendants representatives, however did not
mention any charts & graphs which indicated unlawful acts by those same said defendants.
"In conclusion, the Defendants' Counsel, rather than summarizing the laws of this Country which the Defendant
had violated, placed before the Court an issue of the Code of Ethics established by an Association in which the
defendant holds membership. Again my opponent did not point to a specific violation of this Code of Ethics by my
client and even had he, such a violation would not necessarily be against the law this Court has jurisdiction over.
"Your Honor, we will present evidence and testimony that those whom I represent before this Court are honest
businessmen and businesswomen who risk much to create thousands upon thousands of jobs and those jobs produce millions
of millions (if not billions) for our economy. We will provide data which will prove conclusively that these, the
defendants, by and large produce products for the typical American family and that well over 80% of them are very
satisfied with that product. We will produce research, which indicates decisively that the numbers of families
that do not currently own the product my clients produce but intend to do so in the near future is growing rapidly.
In light of this evidence, Your Honor, I am sure that you will conclude that the Plaintiff has no case. How could
they if the overwhelming number of those who own the product are satisfied and many, many more want to own it?
"Your Honor, I am almost finished with my opening statement, however, I have just one...
Final Thought
I am sure that counsel for the Plaintiff, in attempting to make his case, will be able to produce some evidence
where the consumer perceives they have been harmed. How could this not be so when millions upon millions of those
same said consumers interface with the industry in any given year? It was once said: "You can please all the
people some of the time, you can please some of the people all of the time, however, you cannot please all the
people all the time!" Because of this situation, my clients do receive some complaints and when they do, they
always research the situation carefully and these findings (when the complaints are deemed to have been justified)
almost always fall into one category.
"The fact is that most of these substantiated complaints are directed at individuals in the industry that
are Independent Contractors. Many are not aware, Your Honor, that most of my clients retain such Independent Contractors
rather than workers. Workers are considered employees if the company they work for has the right to direct and
control the way they work -- including the details of when, where and how the job is accomplished. In contrast,
with Independent Contractors, the company they work for does not manage how they work, except to accept or reject
their final results. Because of the sheer nature of this "independence" my clients cannot "control"
these individuals.
"Consequently, Your Honor, the defendant in Case # 2002 is prepared to file a Motion with the Court
for Dismissal Without Prejudice predicated on the fact that the Plaintiff should have brought this action against
those Independent Contractors. If there is a culprit in this case, it is they!"
(See: The Trial, Part 1)
