Socrates
was famously charged, convicted, and sentenced to death for the crime of “public
corruption.” Specifically, he was charged with corrupting the youth of Athens. It was believed by the jury that Socrates had
encouraged students to follow his chosen path, which was in conflict with the
Athenian form of democracy and the powers at be. In other words, Socrates ruffled the wrong
people’s feathers.
Attorneys can
also ruffle people’s feathers in the aggressive pursuit of a client’s cause and
will often pay a personal price doing so.
Years ago I represented a small business owner that was wrongfully sued
by an individual. I pursued the matter
with my usual attention to detail and aggressive-style litigation. After a few months of litigation with David Derringer, the
plaintiff, it became clear that he was so caught up in his
self-righteousness that he would never give up on the cause.
After winning
the action for the business owner, the disgruntled Derringer sued me, my
client, my client’s employees and a number of other individuals. In fact, he sued me not less than three times
— two federal court actions and one state court action. He took his matter all the way to the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals and the Arizona Court of Appeals. In fact, he even made a writ of certiorari to
the United States Supreme Court.
Obviously, the actions were defeated because they were baseless.
So,
how does this relate to Socrates? I was accused
of, among other things, public corruption.
Derringer has created a website dedicated to the bogus claims of public corruption
allegedly committed by me, Robert Sewell.
David Derringer,
wherever you are, I view your relentless pursuit of me as a badge of honor. I may not be Socrates, but I certainly
pursued a cause in which I believed and successfully defended against your
claims. Moreover, I will continue to
aggressively pursue my clients’ causes, even if it results in more ridiculous defamation
against my character.
