After breakfast, Link put on a suit and tie. This is respect for the court and the judges.

Because some states in the United States stipulate that whether it is a defendant or a plaintiff, a man must wear a suit when he goes to court. In some states, it is customary to wear suits only for funerals, weddings and court visits. Yes, meaning, going to court can be sad or joyful.

When he arrived in front of the courthouse in a car renting a hotel, a group of reporters rushed over and almost blocked the car's path.

The doors and windows of the car were also slammed.

Of the three lawyers, only Matthew was in the same car as him. He asked Matthew, "Is this case so much that people are paying attention to?"

"No one paid attention. But Hull Donald seems to want more attention. He and his lawyer continued to give interviews after the court date was set. Again, you have to fight back. The more people who know, the more people who pay attention. ”

"Well, I also have a credit for it. "With the windows closed, he could see outside, but he couldn't see inside the car. He sneered. "I'm afraid most of these media were invited by Hull Donald. ”

Matthew smiled wryly and said, "This is his home turf." ”

There is also regional discrimination in the United States. There are great differences in lifestyles between Easterners and Westerners, and there are cases where they do not recognize each other. And the states of the United States even have the meaning of a country, not a province.

The east has a large population and a lot of media. The media in the East are of course more supportive of Easterners. In particular, they may have also gotten their hands on Hull Donald's money.

But Matthew has another opinion: "You know, when we were collecting evidence, we found that a lot of the media in the East reported on Hull Donald's remarks in an inappropriate way. They are also worried that if Hul Donald is convicted of defamation, you will continue to sue them. ”

"I do have that idea, too. "He did claim on his social networking site that he was going to sue those media outlets.

Of course, he is not trying to prosecute all the media outlets that have reported or quoted Hull Donald's remarks. Some media outlets are smarter and just quote and don't comment on it.

But some media outlets are different. Not only quoted, but also made his own obviously tendentious remarks on it, making inappropriate reports about Link and Blue Lagoon wines. Then they use false news to report inappropriately and cause harm to the people being reported. They constitute a suspicion of defamation. If Link were to sue them, there was still a good chance that they would be incriminated.

Matthew smiled and said, "Yes." So they can't afford not to pay attention, and they want Hull Donald to be innocent. As long as you lose the case, the odds of you suing them will be low. But they also know that Hull Donald is not immune to defamation. ”

The car stopped in front of the courthouse, and the two bodyguards and Matthew got out of the car first. Then Link opened the door, and then escorted Link towards the courthouse with the court's security guards along the way.

Link ignored the reporters' requests for interviews, no matter how sharp or deliberately biased the questions were.

As they squeezed through the crowd of reporters and went to the front of the Grand Courthouse. Another car came, and Hul Donald and his lawyers got out of it.

Link took one look, turned around and walked into the courthouse.

He had been sitting in the waiting room for more than twenty minutes when Hul Donald walked in. I think I was interviewed outside, and it wasn't short.

The court informed that the trial would start at nine o'clock, but by half past nine, it had not yet received a notice that it would go to court.

Both the defendant and the plaintiff were in a waiting room. But neither group seemed to see each other. It's just that it's a whisper when it speaks.

"Before the trial, the judge gets acquainted with the case again, so the trial is usually delayed. Matthew saw that Link was waiting impatiently, and whispered in his ear.

Link, of course, knew that there was no room for any inappropriate behavior at this time. When you enter the court, you must abide by the rules of the court. Whether you are an official or a wealthy person, if you violate this rule, you will be in contempt of court, and the fine will be light, and you may even go to jail.

At around 9:45, they were finally called to appear in court.

Today, the court will hear their case. When they came out, the observers were already entering the courtroom. Jury members also began to take their seats.

Not long after, the judge arrived, and everyone stood up. This is also the rule of the courts. Anyone who is still sitting without breaking their foot will be kicked out of the courtroom and will be at home waiting to receive a summons.

The judge in charge of this case is an old lady. His hair was all white, and he looked about seventy years old.

However, judges in the United States are for life, and as long as they are alive and have not been proven to have diseases that are not suitable for the work of judges, they can continue to sit in the position of judges even if they are 100 years old as long as they wish, and no one can force a healthy judge to retire. So this female judge is actually not old.

After the judge announces the opening of the trial, the first thing is to determine the identity of the plaintiff and the defendant. And asked for the last time if there was any possibility of an out-of-court settlement between the two parties. Of course, that's just a routine question. It's all at this time, who wants to settle out of court?

Lawyers from both sides took turns making their first submissions on the case. The purpose of the initial argument was to get the attorneys representing the plaintiff and the defendant to present their views on the evidence to the jury. Most of this evidence is already corroborated, and it is usually not argued in court. Therefore, this round of statements is also very important, and it is necessary to correctly describe the views of important evidence. If you don't express it well, you are likely to have an unfavorable opinion on the jury.

The first thing to say, of course, is the plaintiff's lawyer. Matthew stood up, greeted the judge and jury as customary, and began his arguments

He presented the evidence he had collected one by one, and at the same time explained the source of the evidence, which proved that the plaintiff's claim was justified.

"This is a statistic from my client's private social media pages. According to this tally, 370,000 netizens from the United States posted more than 1.61 million comments with strong insults or personal attacks. All the rhetoric attacked me that my client was a thief and that the Blue Lagoon wine was stolen. And with obvious racist words.

He took a thick stack of printer paper and asked the court clerk to present it to the jury.

He looked at the jury and said, "These remarks came after the defendant publicly spread baseless slanderous remarks against my client and Blue Lagoon Wines." Moreover, the remarks in those comments are exactly the same as those made by the defendant to slander my client. It can be seen that these netizens were influenced by the defendant's remarks. ”

"At the same time, it is also proved that the defendant's remarks have caused great damage to my client's reputation and the brand of Blue Lagoon wines. This left my client with great psychological trauma. As a result, my client suffered from mild depression. ”

He said and took out a medical case: "After the defendant received a large number of comments from netizens, my client suffered from insomnia and emotional irritability. My client is a mentally strong man who once gambled a $4 billion gamble with a gambling king. And he won the final victory, while his opponent died of a cerebral hemorrhage because he could not bear the pressure. This shows that my client has a strong psychological capacity.

"Before the case, my client had a gentle and beautiful girlfriend and a lovely little daughter. Every week he takes his little daughter to Fox to play with other little ones. ”

"But after the case, the citizens of Fox proved that my client didn't take his daughter to town for three weeks in a row. And it can be proved that when he reappears in the town, the spirit and mood are different from the usual. ”

"This is the case of my client. A well-known psychiatrist in Huazhou diagnosed my client with the first symptoms of depression after being slandered. ”

Because of the abundance of evidence, Matthew's statement lasted for more than half an hour.

At this stage, the defendant's lawyer can only listen carefully and consider how to refute his views.

It was the first time for Matthew to take on such a big case, and he was quite excited. He methodically presents the evidence, Hull Donald's remarks against Link and Blue Lagoon in the media or on personal social networking sites, the public opinion and social repercussions, the damage caused to Link and Blue Lagoon wine, and the evidence that Hul Donald only used the same tactics against other competitors, all of which are vividly described without any stuck.

"In the end, he concluded that all the evidence proved that the defendant's unfounded defamatory remarks against my client were extremely serious defamation. It was all about promoting a wine that he was representing at the time. ”

"We can see that after he made those remarks, the wine sales he represented went up by more than 5% in a week. And before those remarks, the market reacted very lukewarmly to that wine. At the same time, Blue Lagoon's sales momentum changed from a rapidly rising trend, with sales falling by 15% in one week. ”

Only then did he tell the judge that his arguments had ended.

Next, there is Hull Donald's lawyer's submission. He has nothing to say about the overwhelming evidence of Hull Donald's defamation. He could only refute Link's depression and the sale of Blue Lagoon wine.

"As we all know, the plaintiff is the Las Vegas God of Gamblers. There is even a movie based on him. Being able to become a gambling god can indeed prove that his psychological endurance is very strong. But that also proves that he is under a lot of psychological pressure. We can also find that this is not the first time that the plaintiff has been under the pressure of public opinion as stated by the plaintiff's lawyer. Three years ago, the Federal Tax Service listed the plaintiff as a suspect in tax evasion, and he was subjected to greater public and social pressure than the remarks made by my client, and the pressure exerted on the plaintiff was also greater! Now, with less stress, he suffers from depression. Is that reasonable? Why isn't it because of other stresses?"

"At the same time, while the wines represented by my client happened to have an uptick in sales after those inappropriate remarks, the Blue Lagoon grapes happened to fall. The evidence and data provided by the plaintiff only intuitively show a market law. and does not prove that it is related to my client's remarks......"

Link sat in the plaintiff's seat, listening quietly to the other party's words, like a wooden man. In court, it's better not to open your mouth if you can. Because every word you say may become a point of attack for the other party. Especially at this time, Matthew told him many times that he could not refute the opposing lawyer's arguments.

Matthew listened to his argument and knew that the other party was trying to avoid the important and light. I want to push off Link's moral damages and punitive damages for unfair business competition.

That is, the other party is ready to accept the possibility of losing the case. But losing the case is also important. Whether the jury agrees with the plaintiff's claim in whole or in part varies widely.

However, at this time, although he knew that the other party was secretly changing concepts, according to the rules, he couldn't interrupt with words. He can only argue with the other party in the subsequent proceedings in which the evidence is presented.