She knew what you meant.
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Itâs an important point. The prosecution was the state against MB for alleged attempted murder of LK by shooting her twice in the chest and attempted murder of RG shooting at him. During that trial the prosecutor proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he did the act (shooting LK twice in the chest) that otherwise would have been a crime except the defense proved by a preponderance of evidence that MB was insane at the time, the NGRI verdict. The prosecutor did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that MB tried to shoot RG, the NG verdict.
Now, the civil trial is brought by LK, not the state, to place a monetary amount to the damage caused by MB to her. MB appears to be mitigating that harm and the monetary amount he will have to pay by claiming that she drove him insane with a counter suit.
During the criminal trial, MBâs actions could only be brought out as they applied to the shootings. While the judge tried to protect the victim from a complete character assassination, information about her could be used.
Now, information on both can be brought out in court and likely will unless they settle. It could also take a very very long time for this to end as judgments could be appealed. The lawyers are the only winners. The lives of the plaintiff and the defendant are already disrupted.
The first was a crime. This is a civil monetary compensations for damages and fault can be determined by percentages.
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Wow. Gosh, youâve never posted this before! Goodness, where have I been for the past seven months? Rhetorical question by the way.
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Bzzzt, wrong again.
MB is correctly counterclaiming that he suffered damages caused by her. That is separate from his defense against her claims, which at this time is simply to deny her claims as all defendants would do in a civil action. It is now up to the plaintiff to prove that he had a duty to her, he breached that duty, that the breach of duty caused her harm, and that she suffered damages as the result of that harm. All four are required. If any one fails, the subsequent ones also fail.
MB must do the same for his claims against her. There is no presumption of fact related to anything you just stated.
A counterclaim is not a defense. It is something the plaintiff must defend against. If the facts in question for both the claim and counterclaim are the same, then both can be tried in the same proceeding. That does not mean they are not separate actions because they are.
An inconvenient truth, perhaps.
ETA: I donât know why I respond to these things. The lawyer in me has to argue, I guess.
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That line explains so much about a relative of mine! Lol.
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Not only can we not help it, we also canât answer the simplest questions definitively.
My headstone will probably read âit dependsâ at least if any one of my relatives has any say in it.
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This is a bit off topic but if a person is going to work in Washington DC as an attorney, what bar exam do they take? Is there one for DC?
I thought I would ask here rather than ask the person because I wanted to look smart and knowledgeable when I see them. 
My daughter says that all the time when I ask her a legal question 
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Yes, absolutely.
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Thanks!
That was my cardiology professorâs most frequent comment.
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I agree that a counterclaim is not a defense.
She recorded his conversations without his knowledge. But what were the damages to him that were caused by her recording of his conversations? What were the damages caused to him by her weird posts?
Whether said explicitly or left implicit, the main narrative on these threads is that her recording him and posting stuff on SM supposedly âcausedâ him to become insane, and therefore supposedly âcausedâ the shooting. According to this narrative, LK âcausedâ him to shoot her, âcausingâ the state of NJ to jail him for three years awaiting trial, âcausingâ the SS suspension, the loss of reputation and the inability to work.
If youâre disavowing this narrative as a defense against her claim against him, what damages did he sustain from the recordings? Or the SM posts?
You talk about her having âto prove a breach of dutyâ to her. He caused her injury by shooting her. Sheâll have to prove that he shot her, although sheâll only have to meet a lower level of proof than was successfully met by the prosecutor.
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Thank you!! Please keep responding and keeping us straight!
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She admitted to her goals in the trial. She admitted to knowing about the fear her actions were causing Micheal during the trial. His psychiatric experts directly testified to his levels of fear and their impact on his mental health. Not even the stateâs expert denied the fear. He also confirmed that any reasonable person would have been in some level of fear from her FB posts and that MHG was deathly afraid of LKâs father.
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The law of the state of New Jersey says that a person who records illegally owes damages to the person they recorded.
itâs not a negligence claim. It is a claim under the state law that specifically provides for civil damages for the person illegally recorded and it is separate from the crime of creating an illegal recording. The damages provided in the statute are at a minimum and can be exceeded if the plaintiff can prove their damages exceeded the statutory minimum.
This claim has nothing to do with his claim that she drove him insane or however you want to word that. You can sue someone for harassing you and causing damage to your business or distress to you or your clients. Civil harassment doesnât require that someone make you criminally insane. Itâs still a claim against another party.
And separate from all that he has the valid claim under the NJ statute that provides for damages in the case that he was recorded and/or the recordings were distributed or disclosed to others. He could make this claim completely separate from the counterclaims and has standing to do so. The term is permissive counterclaims.
People keep thinking this counterclaim is a defense or that any of its contents is a defense. Itâs not. Itâs simply required to be brought as a counterclaim instead of a separate action under Rule 13 of civil procedure.
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Also, no, the shooting is completely independent of establishing a duty to the plaintiff. While I think this may be the simplest of the 4 components, a jury still has to believe a duty exists for any of the subsequent prongs to be considered.
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In one of the earlier threads, the case with Morristown Medical Center and MB was mentioned. Under the case info, there is a Lack of Prosecution Dismissal Warning for 12/27/22. Does that mean the case will be dismissed and there will be one less case for MB to worry about or does it mean something else?
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This is an inactivity warning essentially saying that if nothing is filed to move the case forward by 12/27, the case will be dismissed without prejudice as the court presumes the lack of activity means the plaintiff is no longer interested in pursuing the case.
The case can generally be brought again but it has to start anew if itâs dismissed for lack of prosecution, so it doesnât necessarily go away forever.
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