Court Observation Assignment
Jessica Chiang
Student ID #1361045
Management 200 B: Ken Myer
Court Observation Assignment
On May 7th, 2014 Wednesday, I visited the King County Superior Court in the afternoon. Although criminal trials sound a lot more interesting, the basic law I learned is based on civil law more, therefore I decided to observe the one and only civil trial on that day: “Chism v. Tri-State Construction” trialed by Judge Ken Schubert.
The plaintiff, Geoffrey Chism, represented by attorneys Lindsay Halm and Thomas Breen. The defendant, Tri-State Construction Board of Executives including Ronald Agostino, Tom Agostino and Larry Agostino represented by attorneys Jillian Barron and Larry Agostino.
To begin with, Chism was hired in the beginning of 2009. In October 2011 Ronald Agostino became the President. He granted a compensation of $500,000 to Chism through an oral promise, an express contract. The trial began by Chism suing Tri-State Construction for not giving him the right amount of compensation that they initially agreed on. However, Tri-State Construction made a counterclaim stating that Chism did not did his job properly, thus does not deserve the compensation agreed upon previously. As a result, the burden of proof now shifts to the plaintiff, Chism, to proof that he actually did his job properly not as what Tri-State Construction stated. The general trial proceeding was carried out as the following: the afternoon session of the trial started by Judge Schubert, plaintiff’s attorney and defendant’s attorney discussing the approval of new evidences provided to the trial and other information that either side doesn’t want the juries to know before any discussion. When everything is settled Judge Ken brought the juries back to the courtroom “To honor the juries, Please stand up.” Everyone in the courtroom stood up to welcome the juries back and then the actual trial began. There are 15 juries composed of different races, ages and gender. Each holding a pen and a notebook,
Student ID #1361045
Management 200 B: Ken Myer
Court Observation Assignment
On May 7th, 2014 Wednesday, I visited the King County Superior Court in the afternoon. Although criminal trials sound a lot more interesting, the basic law I learned is based on civil law more, therefore I decided to observe the one and only civil trial on that day: “Chism v. Tri-State Construction” trialed by Judge Ken Schubert.
The plaintiff, Geoffrey Chism, represented by attorneys Lindsay Halm and Thomas Breen. The defendant, Tri-State Construction Board of Executives including Ronald Agostino, Tom Agostino and Larry Agostino represented by attorneys Jillian Barron and Larry Agostino.
To begin with, Chism was hired in the beginning of 2009. In October 2011 Ronald Agostino became the President. He granted a compensation of $500,000 to Chism through an oral promise, an express contract. The trial began by Chism suing Tri-State Construction for not giving him the right amount of compensation that they initially agreed on. However, Tri-State Construction made a counterclaim stating that Chism did not did his job properly, thus does not deserve the compensation agreed upon previously. As a result, the burden of proof now shifts to the plaintiff, Chism, to proof that he actually did his job properly not as what Tri-State Construction stated. The general trial proceeding was carried out as the following: the afternoon session of the trial started by Judge Schubert, plaintiff’s attorney and defendant’s attorney discussing the approval of new evidences provided to the trial and other information that either side doesn’t want the juries to know before any discussion. When everything is settled Judge Ken brought the juries back to the courtroom “To honor the juries, Please stand up.” Everyone in the courtroom stood up to welcome the juries back and then the actual trial began. There are 15 juries composed of different races, ages and gender. Each holding a pen and a notebook,