An Extraordinary Lawyer’s Subspace - Chapter 188



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【Episode 188 – Ordinary Witness Examination】

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you correctly.”

When Doug Pullman on the witness stand once again pretended not to hear, Roy Sanders gave him a look telling him not to.

It was because he was not a friend who could handle such shallow tricks.

“I missed that part because of the accent. Sorry, could you please repeat the question?”

Unfortunately, Doug Pullman didn’t seem to notice.

He still treats the lawyer who is interrogating him like a law school kid.

The only person who didn’t know that it was intentional and ineffective was Doug Pullman on the witness stand.

“The witness asked if I knew how many insurance claims had been denied during the seven years I was head of the claims department legal team.”

“When I was the head of the legal team? Are you asking me about that long time ago?”

“yes.”

“Haha- this is really difficult. Who would remember something that happened 15 years ago?”

“Is that your answer that you don’t know?”

“Yes. I can’t think of anything.”

Doug Pullman smiled almost mockingly at the plaintiff’s attorney standing before him.

However, the lawyer continued the questioning without showing any particular reaction.

“There are 3,211 cases. Do you know how many of them the legal team at the time advised not to pay?”

“You seem to know this already, so how about you remind me?”

“Excluding the 896 cases that the claims handling team independently decided on, there are 2,315 cases.”

“Is that so?”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see. Then, if I tell you some comparative figures, you might change your mind. During the seven years that the witness was the head of the legal team, the number of cases in which insurance payments were denied increased by 820% compared to the number of cases in which payments were denied during the seven years immediately prior to his tenure.”

“Really? I guess you’ve had a lot of insurance cases.”

“It might be possible in a year or two, but isn’t it a bit surprising that it has increased so steeply over the past seven years?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Even though it has increased more than eightfold?”

“Didn’t you say at the beginning? PIC Insurance has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. I don’t remember the exact percentage, but during the period I was the head of the legal department, PIC Insurance’s sales increased by nearly five times. Since the number of insurance sales has increased, it is only natural that the number of claims has increased.”

Doug Pullman answered leisurely.

“By that logic, the number of denied claims should have increased over the next seven years after the witness moved to the underwriting department, because PIC Insurance’s revenues continued to grow.”

“···.”

“It went down. The first year, it went down by about 5% of the total number of claims. Then it went down by 15%. By the end, it was down by almost 40%. What do you think about that?”

“I don’t know what those statistics mean for this case. There are many reasons why compensation payments may be denied, and there are many factors that go into statistics. Do you know how many claims PIC received during the COVID period? 1.75 million. That’s more than ten times the number of cases it normally receives in a year. Did you take that into account when you did your calculations?”

When questioning a witness, the matters to be questioned are to be conveyed to the witness in advance.

Questions I already knew I would get.

Doug Pullman answered as prepared by Roy Sanders of Kaiser Dutton Hill.

“I am asking about the length of time the witness served.”

“That’s why I said, the reasons for claim denials vary from claim to claim, and statistics are just phenomena. There are many factors that can affect causality.”

Up to this point, we have not deviated too far from Roy Sanders’ prediction.

however···

“’It varies from claim to claim and many different factors can come into play.’ Is that what you just said?”

“Oh, did I speak too quickly? Should I say it again? Slow down? So that you can understand?”

“You just need to confirm.”

“Reasons for denials vary from claim to claim and statistics can vary based on a variety of factors. Yes, that’s what I said.”

“Your Honor, I would like to submit evidence. This is a letter that the witness sent to his team when he was the head of the claims part legal team.”

In procedural law, the act of requesting new evidence or witnesses during a trial is called a trial by ambush and is, in principle, prohibited.

Because it violates the principle of good faith and defeats the purpose of conducting pre-litigation discovery procedures.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there is no way.

There are exceptions to the rule.

Skilled lawyers are adept at creating situations in which such rules can be applied naturally.

Just like what Beomsang did a little while ago.

“Objection, Your Honor. This question was not included in the pre-submitted question.”

“This is a document that directly contradicts the statement the witness just made. If he had answered the questions truthfully, there would have been no reason to submit it.”

“Objection! The plaintiff’s attorney is now claiming that the witness lied.”

“This is evidence submitted to confirm whether it is a lie or not.”

The judge considered arguments from both sides.

The conclusion of the consideration was Han Beom-sang’s victory.

It is subject to exceptions under the Litigation Procedure Act.

“What documents exactly are you submitting as evidence?”

“This is an official document from when the witness was the head of the claims part legal team, ‘educating’ employees that ‘there may be various claims, but all of them can be rejected for five reasons for refusal of payment.’”

‘There is such a document?’

“Your Honor, even if such a document exists, it cannot be used as evidence without first verifying its source. The defendant objects to its certification.”

Roy Sanders counters once again.

but,

“Your Honor, this is a document that was included in the materials provided by the opposing counsel, Kaiser Dutton Hill, during the discovery proceedings.”

‘What! There was such a document there!!’

Han Beom-sang answered as if he had been waiting for someone to protest.

“Then I guess there’s no problem admitting it. Does the defendant’s attorney still have any objections?”

Roy Sanderson has nothing more to say.

These were the documents he had been instructed to provide during the pre-trial exchange of evidence proceedings.

“···.”

“Then, I will allow the plaintiff’s attorney to submit evidence. Defendant, please check after today’s hearing and refute any discrepancies with your claims. Mr. Han, please continue with the questioning.”

The trial started to go wrong from there.

“Witness, do you remember this document? It’s the document you wrote and gave to your team members. You may not remember, so read it carefully. ‘There may be various claims, but there are only five reasons for refusal of payment.’ That’s a great statement. Isn’t it?”

Doug Pullman was an insurance attorney with a notorious reputation even before he joined the firm.

And there was a clear connection between his arrival and the growth of PIC Insurance.

Although it may be difficult to prove causality, the PIC’s claims handling manual that he systematically developed and introduced made it easy(?) for PIC to refuse to pay compensation.

There was a reason why he was promoted to the position of General Counsel of PIC Insurance just 12 years after joining the company.

“I think I circulated a document like that. I don’t remember the contents though.”

He was promoted to head of the underwriting department in recognition of his performance as head of the legal team.

After taking office as head of the terms and conditions design department, he added toxic clauses to make it easier to refuse payment, and designed the terms and conditions to be so complicated that inexperienced and incompetent lawyers would be confused.

Under his leadership, the PIC Non-life Insurance policy terms and conditions were revised several times, resulting in the current textbook-like terms and conditions that other insurance companies began to follow.

Doug Pullman was proud of his accomplishments.

That was his weakness.

“You said you felt like you had turned it around? You don’t remember the content well? That’s strange. You gave a speech on similar content at the Insurance Association seminar last year.”

“Objection, Your Honor.”

“Your Honor, I was just trying to refresh your memory because you said you couldn’t remember. If you want, I can provide you with a brochure containing the speech and the statements of the panelists who attended your seminar as reference materials.”

The judge looked at Roy Sanders, who had raised an objection.

Roy Sanders bowed his head.

The opponent came in fully prepared.

There is absolutely no room to squeeze in.

“Mr. Han.”

“Yes, witness.”

“Including my time at the law firm, I’ve been working in the insurance industry for over 30 years. I attend more than four or five seminars a year, and I speak as a panelist once or twice. Sometimes I attend three or four.”

“So you’re saying you don’t remember the speech you gave last year?”

A moment when you have to make a poor excuse that you don’t remember.

Doug Pullman’s expression, which had been relaxed the whole time, began to darken.

“I remember roughly, but I don’t know exactly. So, didn’t I say yes?”

“You said you thought you had passed it on, but you said you didn’t remember the content. But that seems a little strange. If you had given a seminar speech last year with similar content, it should have been the opposite. It seems more natural to remember the content, even if you don’t remember passing it on.”

His face grew darker.

“So, what do you want to check? Do I remember or not? No, but let’s say I do. What does that have to do with this case?”

Beom-sang smiled broadly at Doug Pullman’s question.

I asked the question you wanted to ask.

“Witness, you really don’t remember.”

“?”

“There is another instruction that the witness gave to the legal team members when he circulated the document.”

“···.”

No one is perfect from the start.

The PIC non-life insurance policy, which is considered excellent from the insurer’s perspective, was also created after going through dozens of revisions over a long period of time.

The same goes for Doug Pullman, a renowned attorney representing the insurer.

In order to achieve success, he often crossed lines that should not be crossed in the early stages.

“You set a quota, the number of claims that can be accepted per employee per month. For the sake of performance, without any consideration of the validity or allowability of each claim.”

“That never happened! That never happened!”

“I object!”

Doug Pullman on the witness stand, immediately denying the accusations.

At the same time, Roy Sanders also stood up and shouted his objection.

“If you don’t remember, I’ll remind you.”

On the other hand, Han Beom-sang is calm.

He returned to his seat, picked up the document he had put down earlier, and approached the witness stand again.

As he was about to show the document to Doug Pullman, Roy Sanders once again stood up.

“I object, Your Honor! The plaintiff’s attorney keeps trying to present evidence that we did not agree to, using the excuse of recalling memories! This is clearly an ambush trial. If Your Honor admits this again without our consent, I hereby inform you that the defendant may file a motion to suspend the trial and request a retrial!”

It came out strong.

I couldn’t be dragged along any longer.

Even if what he just said were true, it couldn’t have collapsed like this.

but···

“This is the document I submitted a little while ago.”

“?”

“I think you misunderstood. This is what is written in the latter part of the document that the court accepted as evidence earlier.”

!!!

“And, as I said earlier, that document was among the materials sent by Kaiser Dutton Hill during the discovery process.”

Roy Sanders wanted to close his eyes.

If only I could go back to three months ago when I close it and come back…

When Han Beom-sang requested the claim documents three months ago, I wish I had sent 10 years’ worth instead of 30 years’ worth…

If only I had carefully reviewed the contents back then…

This situation would not have happened.

Of course, that won’t happen…

He was riding in the saddle with full plate armor and a sturdy shield, but was knocked off his horse by a blow from his opponent.

Sanders never had a chance to properly extend his spear.

“Your Honor, I would like to submit as evidence 134 cases in which Doug Pullman, who was then the head of the legal team, refused to pay insurance money without just cause or settled through coercion or intimidation. This evidence was also already provided as part of the discovery materials, but the materials were so voluminous that I was only able to find them now. If the defense attorney wishes to assert the right to review them before agreeing to submit the evidence, I hereby inform the plaintiffs that this is not a problem.”

Lost.

Roy Sanders closed his eyes.

Even though I knew I couldn’t go back.

Because that was all he could do right now.

Doug Pullman’s old, cocky face now had a blue tint to it.

He was once sharp, but he forgot that he had lost his touch and ended up losing everything he had achieved.

If you think about it carefully, it wasn’t entirely his fault.

The opponent was ordinary.

A monster appears in New York

““A Major Insurance Fraud That Ran Over Decades”

by Tom Brandt, Manhattan Voice, NY

– This is the case that was exposed last Tuesday in the New York State Court on Center Street in Manhattan. It was alleged that PIC Insurance, the No. 1 insurance company selling property and casualty insurance in the United States, systematically defrauded customers of their insurance money for at least twenty-three years.

According to Beom Sang Han, pro bono attorney for insurance claimant Jae Hong Park······」

Articles poured out from major newspapers, including the Manhattan Voice.

A board meeting was held in the conference room at the top of PIC Insurance headquarters.

“What happened, Doug?”

Doug Pullman, the general counsel, looked down at the CEO’s question.

Even if I had ten mouths, I would have nothing to say.

“What the hell were you doing until things got to this point?”

When there was no answer, the vice president pressed him.

While the corruption that was recently revealed was not without their fault, the person responsible for allowing things to develop this way was Doug Pullman, the general counsel.

“It appears that documents that should not have been delivered during the claim process were delivered to the opposing party’s attorney.”

“What nonsense is that! Documents that should not have been delivered were delivered. Kaiser Dutton Hill made a mistake?”

That can’t be all it is.

Even though it was Roy Sanders’ strategy, it was the PIC Insurance employees who prepared the records anyway.

“There were also problems with internal communication within PIC.”

“But if there is something Kaiser Dutton needs to be held accountable for, then he should be held accountable. A law firm that spends billions of dollars on its work makes mistakes like that!”

The vice president, who did not know much about the law, kept trying to find the person in charge, but the experienced CEO sensed that there was something more important at the moment.

“So what do you think will happen? Is there a high chance of losing?”

I asked Doug Pullman, the general counsel.

“If we continue like this, the problem may become more serious.”

“How? You think the court will order you to pay $9.5 million in punitive damages?”

“That’s not the problem···.”

“If that’s not the problem?”

“I think I might be investigated under the RICO Act.”

RICO Act: The Corruption and Organized Crime Prevention Act.

If a company commits systematic corruption, its executives may be punished under the law.

“Does that mean we could be investigated by the SEC?”

The vice president intervened again.

“At this point, it’s almost certain that the SEC and NYDFS will investigate, and the DOJ or FBI may open a case.”

SEC: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

NYDFS: New York State Department of Financial Services and Finance

DOJ: US Department of Justice

FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation

Doug Pullman looked at the vice president and answered.

“what?!”

The vice president with wide eyes.

Everyone realized that his reaction was overdone, and that the situation was more serious than they had feared.

“Then, we’ll have to come to an agreement.”

Doug Pullman took a deep breath and exhaled at the representative’s words.

It was a board meeting called to seek his approval, but my lips wouldn’t move as I tried to answer.

He knows.

The moment he answered, his neck fell off as well.

It is the moment when his career, built over the past twenty years, comes to an end.

Still, the best he could do was to bow his head and leave quietly.

Because regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, as the legal director, he would be investigated.

To secure the cost of that arduous investigation and criminal trial,

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea.”

Here we need to take responsibility and step back.