Friend is stuck in a truly fscked up situation *updated*

[ProviaFan]

<< Isn't suicide illegal? If it is and this guy dies, then I don't believe they can sue. (I am not a lawyer, this is only my speculation) >>


IANAL, but I don't think suicide is illegal. I mean, even if it were, who would be punished for it?

 

[SpecialEd]

<< IANAL, but I don't think suicide is illegal. I mean, even if it were, who would be punished for it? >>




not all crimes have punishments. Suicide is definitely iilegal and if one attemps suicide and fails, they don't just let you back on the streets without some consulation and therapy. People that are a danger to themselves get confined too.

 

[LH]

Suicide attempts are illegal, they earn you a trip to your local mental ward for 3-7 days(only thing a state can do without a court order).

 

[Kev]

look on the bright side, at least this psychotic sh*thead killed himself and not her.

 

[rahvin]

Just get a good lawyer and pay to get defended. She should really report the assault by her mother as well.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

that is a really messed up story....


just a few thoughts...




<< his family is suing her for "willful infliction of mental anguish" >>



This will be hard to prove with just one tape. Sounds like she did many things to break contact with this person. His family has it backwards probably because they are grieving, maybe because they are trying profit off their son's ill fate.



<< the second time she physically attacked Amanda and left several bruises. I told her tonight to immediately call the police and file charges against sh!thead's mother, but I'm not sure if she has yet. >>



Did she ever call the police? she needs too. Hopefully she has pics of the bruises too.




<< She's 23 years old... >>



This will be a stressful period, but she is old enough to handle it.

 

[LoTecha]

First of all, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm just basing my opinion on my own logic.

I think there's more to this story than meets the eye. This case seems pretty one-sided in Amanda's favor. Normally, it would be her word vs. his to describe the relationship between the two of them, but since he's in a coma, the main testimony about their relationship is going to come from Amanda and perhaps close members of both parties' families. Considering the BF's mother has made threatening phone calls against Amanda, that already cuts on her credibility.

Second, in order for there to be "willful infliction of mental anguish," I would think it would have to be Amanda who contacted the BF, not her blocking his calls and trying to get away from him. If he's the one harrassing her, I doubt she could be the one willfully inflicting mental anguish.

I can see no real reason why that first lawyer she spoke to would say it didn't look good - most lawyers would want the business and are willing to take on almost any case. Thus, I'm thinking there's more to this case than meets the eye...

 

[Azraele]

Wow.



<< i hope and am confident your friend will be okay, she hasnt done anything wrong at ALL >>


I wish I had your confidence. We're living in a world where if someone steals a car and wrecks it, they sue and win, where a burglar who cuts himself on glass as he breaks it to gain entry into a home will sue and win. There are too many of these cases where the bad guy wins for the dumbest reasons for me to be confident that things will go well for her. I wish her the best.

Reitz: Be there for her and her family and keep us updated.

 

[microAmp]

Email this thread to her parents

Hope your friend doesn't get fvcked.

 

[Shockwave]

<< He left the tape of the call with a suicide note, blaming everything on Amanda.

>>



One word

Entrapment

 

[ViperVin2]

that is a sad boyfriend and family

i hope she gets through the ordeal without too much trouble

 

[Poncherelli]

i didnt get to read through all the responses so i'm not sure if it was mentioned, but isn't it illegal to tape record someone without their knowledge and consent. I know here in MD it is, thats why Linda Tripp got in trouble during the Lewinski scandal, she tape recorded phone messages illegally. So she may want to bring that up with the laywer too.

 

[GL]

Your friend should claim emotional self defense. This guy was a stalker and any emotional harm she could have done to him was only in retaliation for the emotional and potentially physical abuse he inflicted on her.

I can't believe this would even get to trial...geez, I heard Bush mentioning that the U.S. is too sue-happy...this would be a perfect example to prove his point.

 

[d1abolic]

Ok, why the hell did he kill himself? What a moron.

 

[Saul]

Dude,
First of all you gotta hope this douche bag doesn't die, if he does i fear that your friend will be in bigger trouble then she already might be. Also it is really important that your friend press charges of assualt on the shmuck's cvnt mother. I hope that your friend doesn't live with any guilt or legal trouble, because from what I can tell it doesn't sound like she deserves any. Best of luck.
-Saul

 

[Dually]

Any good lawyer could get her off. She is a victem of this situation.

 

[gtsukada]

first off isn't it illegal to tape a conversation without the other persons consent? so even if they did have it as evidence wouldn't it be thrown out in court?

 

[BuckleDownBen]

Go to some legal clinic and get some good free legal advice. Lawyers are always looking to rack up fees, thats what they do for a living. They are so heartless they'll tell you anything to scare you into paying them a few thousand bucks. The previous two statements are generalizations of course but I think you'll find they are true more often than not. I don't think public defenders defend against civil suits, but I would go talk to them anyways, since if the guy dies, his family will try to get criminal charges filed as well. Your local university probably has a free legal clinic. That would be the first place I would go. I can gaurantee you'll get better advice there than calling a guy out of a phone book. I would also go to the cops and say that you are afraid of this guy's mother.

I also am not a lawyer.

 

[narzy]

file charges agenst the mother emediatly it will lessen the blow if any to her in a lawsuit and work agenst the bastards family as to their credibility and mental stability. get phone records of this idot calling her / trying to call her. you will probably need the police to obtain these records but they are availible. get her one kick ass lawer. she is not responsible for his actions period in my view. however the courts have a way of pinning it on people as she didn't call the police when he became suicidel, also have her lawer possibly interject this as a setup.

 

[chrisjor]

I will wait for the movie on the Lifetime channel or some other Women's channel. You may want to refine your story a little before you actually attempt to sell the script.......Good Luck.

 

[Fritzo]

<< My girlfriend's best friend Amanda is stuck in the middle of a really sh!tty situation right now. About seven months ago, she started dating some clown who goes to school at WVU (she's in grad school in SW PA). She dated him for about a month and a half (maybe two), and broke it off with him for good after he told her one night that she's too fat to be attractive (she's not), that he was settling for her, and that she's too slutty (she's a 23 year old virgin whose wardrobe looks like it was approved by Pat Robertson).

For the next four months or so, Amanda was continually harrassed by this guy to the point that she blocked him from calling both her school number and her parents' number, changed her email address, and considered a restraining order (which in hindsight would have been a great idea). At around 4:30 AM last Friday morning, he called her from a payphone and said he was going to kill himself if she hung up on him. After arguing for several minutes, she hung up on him, and later that morning she left for her parents' for the weekend. Apparently, her ex-boyfriend recorded the phone call.

On Friday evening (about 20 hours after he called her), her ex-boyfriend tried to kill himself by mixing alcohol with a huge overdose of pills (I'm not sure exactly what he took). He's in the hospital right now, in a coma, and should be dead by the end of the week. He left the tape of the call with a suicide note, blaming everything on Amanda.

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, she was served with a subpoena; his family is suing her for "willful infliction of mental anguish" or some sh!t like that (I forget exactly how it was worded). Everyone is fully expecting it will be expanded to include wrongful death, once that fucker finally dies. She's being forced to disclose all of her financial records--probably so his family can fingure out exactly how much they can try to take her for.

Her ex-boyfriend's mother called her several times on Sunday and Monday, usually threatening her and telling her to rot in hell. She actually showed up twice at Amanda's apartment at school; the first time she was just verbally abusive, the second time she physically attacked Amanda and left several bruises. I told her tonight to immediately call the police and file charges against sh!thead's mother, but I'm not sure if she has yet.

The lawyer she spoke to today said she's basically fscked; she's got an appointment with another one tomorrow afternoon. She's 23 years old, and one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Now she's dealing with the guilt of an ex-boyfriend killing himself (he's not dead yet, but his liver's failing so he might as well be), the fear of being attacked/hurt by his family, and a lawsuit that will seriously hurt her whether she wins or not.

Damn...what the hell is wrong with people? I seriously hope this guy is feeling incredible pain right now. If I believed in Hell, I'd be rooting for him to wind up there once he dies. :disgust: >>



1. If he dies, one less butt head. No loss.
2. If she filed a police report after the attack, it would be an open and shut case (especially if she took pictures of the wounds). If no police report was filed, there's no case.
3. If the mother continually harrasses her, have her get a video camera and tape the altercations. This will help put her in the pokey and be grounds for a restraining order.

 

[DigDug]

Sit tight. They are suing for "Itentional Infliction of Emotional Distress". FIrst, this is a civil claim (Since Amanda has done nothing criminal) - at most is a fine. BUT, the case has no chance. The tort claim is one of the hardest to prove, and was only recently recognize in civil law (last 20 years?). Because it is such an easy thing to make up, and there is inherently much difficult in establishing where one has actually caused the emotional distress and whether the distress is so outrageous that it "is outside the bounds" of societal decency (that's the definition), proving such a claim is next to impossible in this situation.

The few cases that have recovered damages on this claim have been where mobsters threatened to kill a guy if he didn't sign over money, where a young guy basically scared the bejesus out of an old lady - the reality is that there is just no satisfactory measure, but this is hardly a sob-story case that would otherwise tilt the court to even allowing it to go forward.
I bet it will be dismissed.

 

[jjones]

I'm no lawyer but based upon observations pointed out by Blip Blop, and that there should be substantial evidence of her breaking contact with this person prior to the event, it would appear that this case has no chance. In fact, there is probably evidence on the recorded conversation supporting the break of contact and the persistence of the soon-to-be deceased in pursuing the defendent.

The biggest PITA I see for your friend is paying for the defense lawyer. In any case, that sucks and it's too bad this kind of thing can even be litigated.

 

[veryape]

I have to be honest with you and tell you that I don't believe you for a second. First of all, he would have had to eat many many pills to destroy his liver to the point of failing like you say it is. It is possible to destroy the liver to the point where it will fail in the future, but usually it just makes the liver less functionate, not totally functionate to where you will die immediately. I have a brother who tried to kill himself with pills and his liver is totally fine, not to mention the fact that I have hepatitis c, and you make it sound as if I have no chance to survive with a compromised liver. Also, no lawyer would tell her she didn't stand much of a chance, because there isn't even precidence for such a case, except for laws like Canada has such as Good Samaritan laws where you are obligated to at least dial 911 if someone is in need of help and you are obligated to help as much as you are capable, but in the US we don't even have those laws. You my friend are full of crap.

If this story is true, you have my apologies. It wouldn't hurt if you could prove it by showing the newspaper clipping that would have been printed about the attempted suicide. Or the arcticle about this precident setting lawsuit, which most certainly would be a hot topic in any town's newspaper.

Call me a skeptic, but I don't believe much that I read on the net because i've seen so many people proved wrong it's not even funny. People just feel the need to lie needlessly on the internet.

 

[kami]

reitz? how about an update?