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JUDGE YELLS at LAWYER "YOU'RE IN CONTEMPT OF COURT!" NY Attorney Gerry Oginski Explains - YouTube
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How many times does an attorney have to do
something horrible in court in order to be
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held in contempt by the judge?
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You wanna know the answer?
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Come join with me for a moment as I share
with you some great information.
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Hi, I'm Gerry Oginski, I'm a New York medical
malpractice and personal injury attorney.
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There is no set definable number of times
an attorney has to do something bad or improper
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in order to be held in contempt by the judge.
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Now, what does it mean to be held in contempt?
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Here's the process.
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Let's say an attorney is at trial.
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It's a medical malpractice trial for example.
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Now he says something that is inappropriate.
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There's a certain level of decorum that goes
on in the court room.
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The attorneys are required to be dressed professionally.
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That's a requirement.
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If we walked in, in a T-shirt and shorts,
the judge is going to yell at us.
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"Counselor, you're disrespecting me, you're
disrespecting the institution, you're disrespecting
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the court.
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Go home and get dressed."
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That's what the judge is going to say.
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And that's not a good thing to walk into court
in a T-shirt and shorts as the attorney.
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Now, let's say the judge has made a ruling
about a piece of evidence that cannot come
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in.
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The attorney keeps holding up that document
that he wants to introduce into evidence that
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the judge has already ruled cannot come in.
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The defense attorney jumps up and objects,
the judge again admonishes the attorney saying,
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"Counselor, I told you not to talk about that."
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And now, a few minutes later, the attorney
does it again, and again, and again, the same
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outburst occurs, the same drama occurs.
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The defense attorney jumps up like a yo-yo
out of his seat, with a spring in his chair.
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He may screams and yells, the judge again
now is getting angrier and angrier at the
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attorney and finally, he turns around and
says, "Counselor, you do it again I'm going
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to hold you in contempt."
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So what exactly does that mean?
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It means you are disrespecting the judge.
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It means you are disrespecting his rulings
and when you do that, now there's a whole
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host of possibilities that can occur.
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What the judge is basically saying is, "Stop
it.
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You're doing something legally improper.
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You're doing something unethical and now if
you continue to do that, I am going to punish
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you."
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That's what it means to be held in contempt.
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The judge has many options available to him
in order to enforce that punishment.
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You walk into any courtroom in New York, there
will always be a court officer in the courtroom.
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That's the power.
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That's the enforcement here.
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The judge also has the ability to dismiss
the case.
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The judge has the ability to fine and sanction
the attorney monetary penalties in the sum
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of thousands and thousands of dollars.
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He can tell the attorney that he is going
to be personally responsible for thousands
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of dollars in fees and in penalties all because
he has failed to listen to the court.
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He's failed to listen to the judge's rulings.
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He's failed to abide by the attorney's professional
code of conduct.
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And all of that can occur.
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The judge can also refer the attorney to the
grievance committee and now they can go ahead
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and investigate this attorney's actions during
the course of this trial.
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If this rises to the criminal level, now the
judge can turn around and say, "Hey, I'm going
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to refer you to the district attorney's office,"
and then the district attorney will go ahead
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and investigate whether or not his actions
rise to the level of criminal conduct.
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The judge has many options available to him.
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The point was, what does it mean to be held
in contempt?
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It means you've done something wrong.
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In all these civil trials involving an accident
matter, a medical malpractice matter or even
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a wrongful death matter that are held in court
at trial, these are all jury trials or at
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least almost all of them are jury trials.
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Which means if the attorney is throwing a
tantrum, if the attorney continues to disregard
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what the judge is saying, how do you think
the jury sees the attorney?
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What do you think the jury ... what do you
think is going on in their mind when they
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see an attorney who's so rebellious to the
judge's authority?
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Do you think they're going to favor his side?
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Do you think they're going to lean in favor
of his client's claim?
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In all likelihood the answer is no.
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Why?
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Because they look to the judge as the authority
in the courtroom and he is the authority in
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the courtroom.
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What the judge says, goes.
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How dare the attorney disregard what the judge
told him to do.
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Not just once, not twice, not three times
... four, five, six times.
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The attorney didn't listen.
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Did he not get it?
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Did he not process that this was improper?
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Again, how is the jury going to perceive this
attorney's actions?
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Now the attorney can always turn around say
the judge was treating him unfairly.
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Sure, that can always happen.
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That can happen and the attorney has to make
a record to preserve whatever is occurring
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in court so that now he may have to appeal
that issue later on if he loses the case.
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From the standpoint of the trial, how is it
going to look if now the judge turns around,
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starts yelling and screaming at him and says,
"You violated my orders.
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You didn't listen to me and now you're going
to suffer the consequences.
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I'm going to hold you in contempt."
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Is one option that he can be put in jail?
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Yeah, that's an extreme option, it doesn't
really happen in civil cases and you don't
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really see that occurring from the medical
malpractice or accident or wrongful death
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trial standpoint.
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So why do I share this great inside look into
how this works?
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I share it with you to help you understand
exactly how this process works and what it
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means to be held in contempt.
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I recognize and I understand you're watching
this video because you likely have questions
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or concerns about your own matter.
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If your matter did happen here in New York
and you're thinking about bringing a lawsuit
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but haven't done so yet because you still
have questions that need to be answered, what
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I invite you to do is pick up the phone and
call me.
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I can answer your legal questions.
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I answer questions like yours every single
day and I'd love to talk to you.
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You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email
at [email protected].
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That's it for today's video, I'm Gerry Oginski,
have a fantastic day.
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