Amy Goodusky
Amy F. Goodusky, a former paralegal, rock 'n' roll singer and horseback riding instructor, is of counsel at O'Brien, Tanski & Young in Hartford.
Legal Ease
Snarls, Evasiveness Make Potential Juror Memorable
Monday, June 29, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Recently, I attended jury selection as the stunt double of one of the partners at my firm. On this occasion, I encountered a situation that I had seldom bumped up against: the truly hostile venireman.
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Truth, The Whole Truth And ... Oh, Never Mind
Monday, June 22, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Recently, I attended a status conference. As always, in accordance with tradition and in an endeavor to avert a pointy e-mail from the client asking me what happened, I typed a letter describing the events. The letter did not tell the whole story. As I hunted and pecked with the requisite three fingers, I thought that I would like to recount what really happened. The first thing I omitted was my conversation with the marshals going through courthouse security. I had some carrot pieces in my vest pocket which I had inadvertently neglected to give to the horses the previous afternoon. I was obliged to dump them into the yellow plastic bucket. The marshal remarked that he understood why there was a herd of rabbits outside.
Legal Ease
A Little Rock Would Jazz Up Courtrooms
Monday, June 15, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Having made my living in the music business before I turned to law, songs are often on my mind. In fact, my internal radio is almost always playing. In moments of inactivity, while waiting for the exhortation to rise for the short calendar call, or in the dentist's office, to avoid dreading the drill's expensive whine, I think about music. In particular, I think that trials should have a soundtrack. First I imagined how we would accomplish this. PowerPoint is now a standard feature of courtroom presentations, along with light boxes for viewing CT scans, video playback of expert witnesses contradicting themselves and each other live and on-screen, and myriad technological devices making the spectacle more interesting to the observers than days of dry, technical testimony punctuated only by the occasional vociferous or blasÉ objection.
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When Brain Backfires, Just Keep On Talking
Monday, June 8, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
I am getting older. Not that I am unique in this regard, mind you, but the message was recently brought home to me that my memory does not work as well as it once did. I was on the phone with an expert witness. He had cheerfully agreed to review a medical malpractice claim I am defending for approximately half the value of my fat-free individual retirement account. He was calling to give his opinion. Luckily, it favored my client, but I digress.
Legal Ease
A Litigation Fable With No Happy Ending
Monday, June 1, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Would you like to know why health care costs so much? Once upon a time, there was a Hospital doing business in darkest Connecticut. A person presenting for treatment there became disgruntled. The disgruntled one huffed and puffed, and arrived at the following notion: "I'll sue the bastards!" She leapt upon her stallion and galloped south to Stamford, where the wild attorneys grow by dozens in the bulrushes and the rules of the court do not apply.
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Lawyer Gives Her Doctors A Real Pain In the Neck
Monday, May 25, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I refer, of course, to a feature of being employed to defend medical malpractice claims, and the type of dangerous knowledge required by it: medical knowledge. I used to think this maxim meant that a little knowledge about whatever medical condition or disease, surgical procedure, diagnosis, treatment or complication would be dangerous to my opposing counsel. I think differently now. My minuscule acumen for medicine is really more dangerous to me than to them.
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What You Say Can Be Held Against You
Monday, April 27, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Don't look now, but you may become a defendant in a lawsuit, especially if you are married. I am not speaking of divorce. This is personal injury law at its finest. Let me rephrase my introduction. You may be a defendant in a lawsuit if you are married, if you confide something to your spouse that provokes him or her, and if you also thereafter fail to allow for the possibility that your dearest might act on the provocation in an injurious manner. See Benoit, v. Edington, 2008 WL 4150267.
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So What Were Those Jurors Really Thinking?
Monday, April 20, 2009 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Practicing law is a delightful way to make a living for a person who hates to ask questions, in the way that being a working musician is a great profession for a codependent. Some days, as a medical malpractice defense attorney, it seems as if asking questions is all I do. There is written discovery. There are requests for admissions. Depositions follow. We have voir dire examination, wherein we ask complete strangers about such things as their spiritual beliefs, reading preferences, marital history and food allergies. As I prepared for a forthcoming trial, I ruminated about what I would really like to ask the jury. My post-verdict questions would look like this.
