OK lawyers, here's a new one for you

[ESF]

A professional contact of my husband's recently moved to the area to accept a prestigious job. We'll call him C.  We've been spending time with C and his wife, and they are awesome, and my H's relationship with C is more friendly.  C has suggested several times that we have dinner with some of his other coworkers and their spouses, as they'd be good contacts for my H.  

C has invited us to a dinner party at his house on Saturday night. We accepted a few weeks ago.

I remembered today that a few months ago, C wanted to introduce me to a friend he thought would be really interested in my work.   It then came out that this person's spouse is a vice president at a company against which I have a lawsuit, and was the corporate representative; I attended the deposition.  The lawsuit is technically ongoing but in the final stages of settlement.  I joked that if we had dinner with them, the spouse would have to clear it with the company's lawyer first.  That was the last I heard of it.

I had forgotten about it until now.

What is this person is there?!?!  We don't know who else is attending.  I don't know if C ever told his coworker about the coincidence or if he forgot about it.  

I don't want to put my husband in the position of telling C that we can't come if this other person is there.  But  I seriously cannot imagine the awkwardness, let alone the arguably possible unethical nature of it all.

How would you handle this?

[v]

I don't see anything wrong or potentially unethical about having dinner with this person. Just don't talk about the case except to joke about the circumstances.

If it was the judge there would be an issue, but opposing party's witness? Nah.

(Oh, and I should add that I once worked on a case where one of the opposing party's key witnesses was someone I spent Thanksgiving with every year.  Sadly, disclosing that to the partners did not get me off of that disaster of a case.)

[Susie]

I agree, although I'm glad not to respond first since this isn't an issue I run into. (There really is no "other side" in my practice.) Both of you being dinner guests at a 3rd person's house (who is not involved with the case at all) seems pretty innocuous, especially assuming you're not talking shop at dinner.

As far as awkwardness, I wouldn't expect that much. Business is business. And if you're saying you "attended" the deposition, I'm guessing there wasn't much interaction between you two. It's not like you badgered him or anything that would reflect on you personally.

[genet313]

This sounds like a MPRE question that I don't really know the answer to now and I probably didn't know the answer to then given my barely passing score.  

Is there multiple choice available? 

[ESF]

OK thanks. It's definitely one of those things were I was like, "am I overreacting or under reacting?" It seemed not big enough to cancel dinner, but also still potentially a bit of an ethical quagmire.

I suspect even though I wasn't the one asking the questions, this person probably doesn't like me very much. People tend to love to ask me about my job, so even if we aren't talking about this person's company, I fear making things uncomfortable if other guests who don't know the back story start probing. I will come stockpiled with lighthearted change-the-subject jokes in the event that happens.

[nonsenseabound]

I would not talk about the case and I would not be alone with her to avoid any potential issues.

[ESF]

Nov 24, 2014 20:04:48 GMT -5 nonsenseabound said:

I would not talk about the case and I would not be alone with her to avoid any potential issues.

Fortunately, I HATE talking about this case.  It is the case that makes me die inside when I have to work on it.   

My husband is going to get a list of instructions of things not to mention and to assist in minimizing time next to her and helping to avoid any situation where I might be alone with her.

[v]

Why would you assume that the person doesn't like you very much? If s/he is their 30(b)(6), I'd imagine that this wasn't the person's first rodeo and that s/he knows that you were just doing your job, just like they were. I'd also imagine that the fact that you have this mutual friend is going to matter a lot more to him/her in forming an opinion of you than the fact that you were sitting in the room when someone who wasn't you maybe was a dick to him/her. And if, worst-case scenario, the person is silly enough to hold the dep against you -- well, at the dinner you can show them that you aren't a dick.

Just don't talk about the case except to laugh about what a small world it is, and you'll be fine. This isn't a big deal and I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll have to socialize with the "enemy."

[ESF]

Nov 24, 2014 20:48:55 GMT -5 toriwc said:

Now that this frivolity is taken care of, I'd like to know the plan for your make up for the event

Well, my time meeting her was pre-Sephora addition, so maybe she won't recognize me! LOL.

[DirtySouth]

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Just don't talk about the case.