Ladies and Gentlemen in jury selection we discussed justice. We discussed how in our American system of justice, in a case involving personal injury, justice is provided by way of monetary compensation.

Now ladies and gentlemen there are many roads to justice in King County. There are small roads leading to various municipal courts in the county. There are larger roads leading to our county district courts. But the road that leads to the King County Superior Court is a major interstate highway.

The road to justice to the King County Superior is traveled by people who seek the highest form of justice in King County. There is only one court that dispenses the highest form of justice in King County. That court, ladies and gentlemen, is the King County Superior Court.

And you ladies and gentlemen are a King County Superior Court Jury. Your voice defines justice in King County.  The road to justice in King County ends with you.

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A couple of jury trials ago when I was preparing for closing argument my sense on the case was defendant had used several nonsense defenses. As I racked my brain for a phrase that would represent  what I believed were nonsense defenses I remembered a Ronald Reagan /Jimmy Carter debate where Reagan used the phrase “There he goes again” to refer to what he believed were nonsense arguments by Carter. While I am not a Reagan fan I like the phrase. This gave birth to what I now call the Ronald Reagan:

Ladies and gentlemen last night when reviewing our trial and thinking of defendant’s arguments [set forth summary of arguments] I was reminded of a Reagan/ Carter debate years ago. In the debate Ronald Reagan used the phrase “There he goes again” to illustrate  Carter arguments Reagan considered  nonsense.

Well ladies and gentlemen we have “There he goes again” arguments in our trial. These arguments don’t make sense to me, and I know you have been paying attention during the  trial, so I believe  the defense arguments don’t make sense to you either. That’s because they are “There he goes again” arguments.

Now you will soon be retiring into the jury room  to discuss the case.  And when you are in the jury room remember the “There he goes again” defense arguments. And remind each other that is a “There he goes again” argument. And we know what to do with  “There he goes again” arguments. Send the “There he goes again” arguments of defense to defeat.

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A few jury trials ago I was faced with an empty chair defense in an automobile collision case. The defense was an (empty chair) driver negligently waived defendant to cross two lanes of traffic causing or contributing to the collision. The verdict form allowed by the court had a percentage of negligence line for the empty chair. The need to deal with this defense gave rise to “Unaccountability Lane.”

Now ladies and gentlemen we come to jury instruction number 16. This is the waiving driver instruction. Ladies and gentlemen this is the instruction defense wants you to use to find defendant unaccountable for it’s negligence.

Well ladies and gentlemen I looked on a road map of Snohomish County last night and you know there is no “Unaccountability Lane” in Snohomish County. That’s because in Snohomish County we are accountable for our actions.

So ladies and gentlemen you know what to do with the waiving driver defense- waive it out of Snohomish County because we have no Unaccountability Lane in Snohomish County. In fact ladies and gentlemen the argument needs to be waived out of state, because in Washington just like Snohomish County we are accountable for our negligence.

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