Harry Dunn Case Update: New Team of Lawyers Appointed (at the Request of the Old Team of Lawyers)

My favorite lawyer, hands-down, is Saul Goodman. But he isn't available for the civil suit that I've been following, the one launched by the parents of Harry Dunn in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

This week it was out with the old, in with the new, as the old team of lawyers requested that the judge in the case allow them to separate themselves from the plaintiffs. This is the second time the Dunn family has changed lawyers in mid-course, the first time being after they lost their case before the UK High Court. Of course, this time the reason for separation might be a little different than mere disappointment over a failed argument. Because the old team took the initiative to separate themselves from the Dunn family, it would seem there was a serious disagreement between the parties.

What could that disagreement have been about? Since a civil suit can really only be about monetary damages, some might assume the old team became frustrated by the family's refusal to settle, maybe because the family is above all else obsessed with the pipe dream of forcing the defendant to return to the UK for trial despite her diplomatic immunity.

Possibly the disagreement was over something else, but I don't completely dismiss the monetary motive. There won't be much monetary damages awarded in the case of an unemployed 19 year-old with no dependents, however, that cold reality is in contrast to the warm and fuzzy million dollar payday which the family's carnival barker was talking up last year.

With a U.S. criminal trial out of question since the accident occurred in Britain, the family is pursuing a civil case, Seiger said, adding that it would seek “significant” damages.

“In the U.S. you can sue for millions of dollars if someone spills some hot coffee on your hand at McDonalds,” he said.

The McDonald's lawsuit? That guy is so consistently wrong that I marvel how he keeps his con going. FYI, here's a debunking of the spilled coffee canard.

And so the civil suit goes on, just with another delay, presumably, as the new team gets acquainted with the client it has taken on. Can they persuade the family to settle for something that is in the general vicinity of reality? Probably not.