Lesson 2 Mastery Assignment
By: Krissy Cannady
Charges
John and Lucy were a happy couple with a son, Patrick, and a newborn baby girl, Lila. A year or so passed and their marriage started to fall apart; Lucy moved out and stayed with a friend. John knew it was time, so he hired a lawyer who filed a complaint. When the court receive the complaint they sent a summons out to Lucy. When Lucy received the summons she was devastated and responded by having her own attorney answer to the complaint. Both of their lawyers started looking into the evidence of the case and exchanged pleadings but they weren't enough to settle the suit. Because both parents wanted full custody of the children, they had to go through a pretrial conference. The couple barely spoke, and only when needed. They were very well prepared for the trial. But before trial, They tried mediation. A third party, not biased towards a side, tried to help them come to an agreement with the case. When that didn't work they tried arbitration, but they chose to do a non-binding session. The third party in this case decided both parents should get equal, fair custody, but neither parties would settle.
Trial
The Plaintiff, John, and the defendant, Lucy finally went to trial. They both presented their evidence and waited on the Jury to consult. The jury thought the preponderance of evidence went to John because he had kept the kids when Lucy just left them at home. He also provided strong evidence saying that Lucy could get a little violent and sometimes would drink and drive. Lucy on the other hand had weak evidence as to why she should get full custody except for the fact that she had a good job. Eventually the verdict was announced: John would get full-time custody and Lucy would have visitation rights until the children were old enough to legally make the decision as to who they would live with. Being unhappy with the outcome, Lucy tried to appeal their decision and take the case to a higher court but they pushed it aside.