Witness Indicted for Perjury

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

People lie in civil cases. They really do. Unlike what you see on TV, witnesses can usually lie in non-criminal cases and get away with it. Prosecutors just are not interested in going after folks who lie in a civil case. They have too many more serious cases to deal with. But, one woman in Houston learned that sometimes, the prosecutor will take notice when proving the lie is easy enough.

Amy Fisher lied for her employer in a wage lawsuit. The case went to court in federal court in Houston. A key issue was whether salespersons were outside sales or inside sales. If they were outside salespersons, they they would be exempt from overtime requirements. Ms. Fisher must have exaggerated some amount regarding the extent to which sales persons conducted sales outside. She was the only sales associate to testify at trial for Meritage Homes Corp. She apparently testified in deposition earlier the same day in which she testified at trial. The plaintiff was alleging that sales associates spend most of their time selling homes inside a model home. Ms. Fisher apparently disagreed. But, her testimony was shaky enough that the trial ended soon after she testified.

The Defendant had planned to call some six witnesses on the following day after Ms. Fisher testified. That would have been the seventh day of a lengthy class action trial. Yet, parties suddenly settled the next day without Meritage calling any of those six witnesses. See Lipnicki v. Meritage Homes Corp., No. 10-CV-605 (S.D. Tex. 11/18/2014). One can assume Ms. Fisher was caught in some pretty clear lies forcing the employer to settle much sooner than it had intended. Yes, those things do happen. But, catching a witness in a lie is so rare that it makes the news. See KSTAR news report. Whatever the evidence was against Amy Fisher, it must have been pretty clear for the U.S. Attorney to take notice.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.

from Texas Bar Today http://ift.tt/1GcjMyE
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