Lawyer Defends Speeding Ticket with Expert and PowerPoint

This is a funny story (via Overlawyered, via the AP). A Portland, Oregon lawyer blamed his BMW 535xi for a speeding ticket, claiming that he couldn’t know that he was speeding.

C. Akin Blitz said he was just trying to get ahead of a line of cars following a motorhome over a mountain pass on U.S. Highway 26 — that he had no idea his BMW 535xi was going 76 mph in a 55 mph zone because of its handling characteristics.

Funny, right? But the funnier part is that he made a PowerPoint presentation and offered expert testimony from a mechanic. Now that is funny. Just the same, the judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay a fine.

While this is funny, what is not so funny is this: I’ll bet you jurors would award less in a personal injury case if they read this article before giving their verdict. Americans are getting these kinds of stories by the barrel. And it just does not help personal injury victims.