ICYMI: BAD FAITH IS HIS MIDDLE NAME: Michael Mann Sanctioned for False Testimony, Bad Faith.
My wife and I attended several days in court, near the end of the Michael Mann v. Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg trial in Washington, D.C. We witnessed a dramatic moment, when Mann’s lawyers had introduced into evidence a document, which was blown up for the jury and about which Mann testified, that contained a list of grants that Mann allegedly didn’t get as a result of the defendants’ purported defamation. The value of one of those grants, per the exhibit, was $9 million.
On cross-examination by Simberg’s lawyer, Victoria Weatherford*, it turned out that the exhibit reflected sworn interrogatory answers that had been served by Mann, but later superseded by revised answers, also given under oath. The $9 million had been reduced to $112,000. To say that Weatherford’s cross-examination was effective is an understatement. And Mann didn’t get away with the misrepresentation, as the jury found only nominal damages of $1.
But still, the false evidence had been presented, and defendants moved for sanctions to be imposed on Mann and his lawyers. Earlier today, more than a year after the events, Judge Alfred Irving entered a long order ruling on the defendants’ sanctions motion. It is embedded below. The facts are rather complicated, but the judge’s conclusions are unequivocal.
Good. Plus: “For the lawyers, the Court’s finding that they acted in bad faith and knowingly presented false evidence to the jury is crushing. As to Michael Mann, he has damaged his own reputation through dishonesty and misrepresentations under oath, far more than it ever could have been damaged by Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn.”