Judge in SCO Case Notes Lack of Evidence

In a follow-up to yesterday's story, Allen Zadr writes "Computer Business Online has an article up today entitled 'Judge astonished by SCO's lack of evidence against IBM'. From the article: "Viewed against the backdrop of SCO's plethora of public statements... it is astonishing that SCO has not offered any competent evidence..." This is exactly what Groklaw has been saying all along, and they have commentary on the news as well."

Comments

the real surprise

[marika]

The real surprise is that their shares are not going down faster. It annoys me.

Some Implications of Judge Kimball's Ruling

[anandpur]

Implications/Postmortem report at Groklaw
Attorney Reactions to the Kimball Order

Re:Here's what sad...

[fatboy]

The ticker symbol is SCOX

Re:Why do cases procede without evidence?

[KiltedKnight]

Why is it that civil cases take so much longer than criminal ones? Even the OJ Simpson criminal case finished 16 months after arrest, and people were all up in arms about how long it was dragging on, and yet this case has been going on for two years and it hasn't even go to the court room yet!

There's a couple of major differences between civil and criminal cases.

1. Jury size
   • Criminal: 12 + alternates
   • Civil: 6 (8?) + alternates
2. Evidence requirements
   • Criminal: very stringent; must be clear-cut
   • Civil: not quite as stringent; can have minor doubts; plaintiff only needs a preponderance of evidence
3. Verdict requirements
   • Criminal: Jury must be unanimous
   • Civil: 2/3 majority of the Jury

Things carry on longer in civil suits during the trial phase, but don't frequently take as long in the jury deliberations because of the differences in requirements. You can present most anything you think might help your case in the civil court. In the criminal court, if it's irrelevant or has too many doubts, you don't want to bring it forward, because it makes the prosecutor look desperate.