Any atty's here? Q about litigation & adult webmastering
 

I am currently in litigation re: a car accident during which I was a passenger in the car that was hit and not at fault. My attorney is in the "discoveries" phase (at least that's what his secretary says) and now the attorney for the other party wants to know my full work history. I know this might sound as a stupid question, but I never went to court before so I have no idea how this works. Would it impact my case negatively in any way if they discovered that I work in adult? Is it sufficient if I say I am self employed and work in "internet advertising" or should I fully disclose the full nature of my work? And if I don't disclose the full nature and just state "internet advertising" (without mentioning that it's adult), how would the other party's attorney find out if it was or wasn't? Is this pertinent information?

I really don't care at all if they know that I work in adult, I am not embarassed. But I put a premium on my privacy and I also never expected it to go on for so long.

Talk to your attorney and follow his/her advice. Never ever lie in the legal process but only disclose the minimum information necessary to answer the question.

Its a standard question in Form Interrogatories that the other side files during Discovery phase of litigation. Ask your attorney re relevancy and impact on your case.

Thanks Probono and $5 Submissions for your advice. My atty does not know yet, he did ask me what I did last yr at a meeting and I just semi-explained internet advertising. I know I read somewhere that you went to law school Probono. From your experience, would that type of employment info make an impact on a traffic accident case/personal injury case, and if so how? If I were to disclose the minimum, I would just tell them advertising, but they don't need to know what kind of advertising right? I also didn't expect it to last this long. This crap has been dragging on for over a year already. I am just thinking of pulling out alltogether, but my atty is working on a contingency basis...

bumping here

Internet advertising & web design IS the most basic and 100% honest description of what you do. There's no need to go any further with an explanation.

self-employed shall suffice.

This is america, you wont be ruled against becuase you market pr0n

maybe in china, but not here

K, thanks a lot. I am in the US btw, so hopefully if we ever have to go to trial (which I hope we don't) I hope they don't hold it against me (if they know). Besides it's personal injury case, not something major like a felony, plus I am not even at fault, I was just a passenger in the car that got hit.

I don't think you would have to let them know you promote adult. Internet marketing/sales should be good enough. But what do I know?

My mom used to be a parallegal for firm that used to deal with this.


1. It never took this long for a case to settle.

2. You yourself dont usually go to the court hearing.

3. They dont bring up your emplyment history

I have no idea why it's dragging out long, but it's been over a year. The atty's office said that they are exchanging info with the defendant's lawyer (I'm the plaintiff) and they want my address info for the last 5 yrs, employment info and info regarding restrictions on my drivers license, even though I wasn't even a driver, only a passenger.

It is taking long because the insurance co of the guy that hit me won't accept liability or settle. So this is the next step I guess. I hope they don't dig too much into me and start investigating me and all that. I don't have anything to hide, but I still prefer not to have anyone digging deep. If this drags on any longer, I am just going to pull out. Do you know how it works with stopping the case alltogether if my atty is working on a contingency basis?

I would guess they are looking to
#1 make sure you don't have a history of filing claims, etc.
#2 assess your occupation/career to make a case for/against any dollar
amounts claimed for lost wages or impact on ability to work in the future.

:2 cents:

I already told my atty I do NOT want to make a case for lost wages, I told him I was fine in that aspect. I only want compensation for the medical expenses, my neck hurt like hell afterwards and I had bad whiplash. I don't care about lost wages; there were none. I am not even making claims against that. The driver (my friend) did, since her car was a total loss. It makes me nervous to have people digging about me. This is also the first claim I've made, I've never even filed one before, ever.

I used to work in PI law, and I can assure you that the odds of you ever going to court are about 1:500 at least. Very rarely do they not settle out of court.

To answer your question just tell them you do Internet marketing if you want . . . but they don't care if you do porn sites.

exactly what he said :)

They can't even begin to talk until medical treatment is completed. Cases that get as far as discovery can easily take over a year from the date of loss.

Thanks a lot for you insight, it is very helpful. Can you also pls tell me if they would contact my previous employers before I was self-employed? They want my employment history for 5 years, including the employers address and even salary info.

Also, what would happen if I tell my atty I want to pull out if he is working on a contigency basis? My atty did tell me that he went to court for personal injury cases before, but this were major cases, some worth 100k, mine is very minor and a small case.

My atty is not very pc literate. I just told him that I do marketing and sometimes people market for "cell phones" or other mainstream products and just earn comission. I never told him it was for memberships to adult websites. I guess he won't have to know.