Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140489
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
The 83-year-old King of Torts said he was fooled by Jacqueline Johnson's claims she could no longer play the church organ after slipping in greasy sauce at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in San Diego and hurting her hand.
Belli and San Diego attorney John Learnard were embarrassed in a San Diego courtroom March 7 when Johnson bolted out the door after defense lawyers showed she had collected $500,000 in Florida on a nearly identical claim against McDonald's.
"She had beautiful eyes and a wonderful smile. She was sparkling, a good talker, sincere. She said she played the organ in church and now she couldn't go back with her bad arm. I thought, `If I didn't win this case, the Lord would punish me,' " Belli said Wednesday.
Belli has been involved in many more famous cases. His clients have included evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker and Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald. In an interview with The Associated Press four years ago, Belli estimated he had won at least $100 million in awards since he began practicing in 1933.
"It's the first time in 60 years," he said of this latest aborted case. "So it shows how honest my clients are. This is the first time someone has not been who she said she was."
The woman alleged in her suit that on Oct. 15, 1989, while with her husband in San Diego to attend a funeral, she slipped on a restaurant floor slick with barbecue sauce.
Lawyers for the restaurant's insurance company were prepared to pay Johnson a substantial sum up to two weeks before the trial, Learnard said.
Johnson and her husband, Charles, decided to go to trial, hoping a Superior Court jury would award more.
by CNB