Something different at Status Conference

[Oarman1954]

Well I had my status conference today and it went really well. The magistrate was about 10 minutes late so the OC's attorney had to wait for a while. When we got started he immediately stated that the hearing was to see how far along we were in discovery. The Plaintiff said their discovery was complete.

I said that the Defense still had ongoing discovery in that plaintiff had been served with a notice to take deposition of the witness that signed the affidavit. As of today, no deposition has been scheduled, and as such discovery is ongoing.

Their attorney sort of stuttered then said..."If it is not a problem for Defendant, Plaintiff wishes to change the witness, as the person that signed the affidavit will not be the witness at trial".

What the heck?? I replied that NO, it was not okay, and that the person that attested to the accuracy of the records must be the same person that will be their witness at trial. At that point the magistrate looked at the affidavit and agreed with me.

She stuttered some more and then repeated what she had already said. The magistrate called her on it, and said " If you knew the person that signed the affidavit was not going to appear at trial, why did you not have the witness that is going to appear at trial sign the affidavit??"

She stammered and said a few words that made no sense, then said " I guess we will have to withdraw our motion for summary judgment until this has been resolved, unless you will just so order it".

The magistrate said he would not, that they would have to file the proper paperwork. He then gave us another 7 weeks to get it done. Their attorney asked if I would be willing to cancel the date I had set for the deposition until they could provide me with the new witness and affidavit. I agreed.

Their attorney then said " I cannot call Plaintiff as there is a cease and desist order on this account." Magistrate pointed out that since I am acting as my own attorney they have the right to contact me as long as it is in reference to this case". ( I even knew this...thanks to all of you)

I pointed out that I had sent a letter removing the cease and desist order at the beginning of the proceedings. Their attorney mumbled something, and then said they would have to recheck their file for the paperwork. The magistrate let that slide although he had already pointed out they had the right to contact me.

The magistrate set some new dates for another status conference, pretrial and trial. Their attorney then said they wanted to make sure I had their telephone number in the event I wanted to try to settle the matter. He rattled off the telephone number (on all the paperwork) and said that would suffice.

That was the end of the conversation with the OC's attorney.

So although I may not have a real shot at winning this, I thoroughly enjoyed

the small smackdown they got this afternoon.

After it was over the Magistrate complimented me on how I handled myself and said I brought up exactly the issues that needed brought up, and that he could not believe they tried to pull that stunt!!

Thanks to everyone on this forum but especially nascar,seadragon,nobk4me,coltfan1972,calawyer,legaleagle,usagi555,BV80 and xcaliber for all your help, wisdom, and excellent suggestions!

Edited January 25, 2012 by Oarman1954

[Coltfan1972]

The magistrate called her on it, and said " If you knew the person that signed the affidavit was not going to appear at trial, why did you not have the witness that is going to appear at trial sign the affidavit??"

I can answer that Your Honor. Because they thought I was stupid and they could just throw some B.S. affidavit at me. Then I would immedialty go huddle in a corner, in the fetal postion, and cry my eyes out in fear.

In other words Your Honor, they tried to insult my intellegence and they just got their a$$ handed to them, pro-se style.

Next question?

[1stStep]

Nice work!

[Oarman1954]

I had a lot of help! Thanks everyone!

[First Timer]

Having the magistrate see that you are taking it seriously will go a long way when you actually get to court. I personally believe that many judges silently root for defendants to properly bring solid arguments with good case law in trial so that they can feel comfortable ruling for them. They know these debt collectos ae scumbags. They just need a good reason to rule against them.

[Oarman1954]

I actually know the magistrate as I have been before him many times for evictions that we have had to do. He was very helpful in explaining how these suits go, and the usual outcomes, all off the record. He says my OC is very aggressive and actually files liens on your home if they cannot get garnishments or levy bank accounts. He says the OC almost always prevails. Not good news to be sure but I appreciated his candor.

[Coltfan1972]

I personally believe that many judges silently root for defendants to properly bring solid arguments with good case law in trial so that they can feel comfortable ruling for them. They know these debt collectos ae scumbags. They just need a good reason to rule against them.

I agree 100% !!! I saw it happen. The judge was fair right down the middle, but it did seem he got some pleasure when you could slap the other side around when they made crazy arguments, to the point of looking shocked one time.

He was fair to both sides, no complaints, but it did, very slightly smile a couple of times when I was arguing my side. He did find slight humor when I presented him with the bill that he owed me one million dollars, because "I had it in writing."

[Rivertime]

He did find slight humor when I presented him with the bill that he owed me one million dollars, because "I had it in writing."

So let me get this straight!!!!

Did you actually doctor up some bogus documents to show as an example how easy it is to create false documents???

I was thinking of doing just that, showing a "copy" of a document from the JDB saying they apologize for the inconvenience and offering to pay me a million dollars for all the trouble they've put me through and have it signed by their attorney. VERY easy to do in PhotoShop as long as you only need to show a "Copy"!

Just a thought at being absurd to point out the absurdity of allowing a "copy" into evidence without actual live testimony to back it up!

Coltfan1972, did you do that????

Gotta love it!!!

rt

[usagi555]

Excellant news Oarman1954. I'm glad that you were able to prevail here.

[legaleagle]

Yeah, he did it, you'll find that he did a lot of things in court that sound weird. He's very aggressive. He also knows how to do this without making trouble for himself, which is the key. However, you MUST understand the context of what he did. You cannot go into court and introduce a document as evidence without explaining what its purpose is. If you want to make a point by showing the judge a document that says he owes you a million dollars, you had better tell him that you are doing this to make a point and by no means should the document be construed as actual sworn evidence. Make sure the judge has a sense of humor, some of them do not. You should see my cardholder agreement that says the law of Saudi Arabia applies, where interest is illegal. Hey, they can print one out and mail it, so can I. Doubt I'll have to use it though, judging from the competencey level of opposing counsel.

[Coltfan1972]

Coltfan1972, did you do that????

It's all timing. You don't want to bust out some bogus documents and start throwing them around. That's a good way to go to jail. What had happened is multiple rounds of discovery. The other side was basing their whole arguments of rolling their eyes and trying to make me look stupid becuase "here it is in writing, what more proof do you need." So I had them on record and arguing over and over that amounts, bill of sales, and other financial matters were in writing, therefore, no need for a witness because they basically "looked" official.

It was THEN I bustd out the paper and the Judge XXXX owes Colftfan one million dollars. I then said, according to their arguments, all I have to do is walk next door to Judge XXXX, after I sue you, and say here it is Your Honor, Judge XXXX owes me one million dollars, it's in writing. Please order a judgment and then I can collect from Judge XXX.

I had already been to numeours hearings and basically won every argument I had presented or defeated all of their arguments. In other words, built some credibility with the judge (one of the reasons I hammer against affirmative defenses so much, lose all credibility by using a laundry list). It's a legit argument all day long, but you need to make sure you have the right judge and right foundation laid before you go busting out the acutal written documents. It's very, very technically a fraudulent document. Just make it clear there is no criminal intent.

For any argument you make that is going to work in your favor, if you can get the other side arguing the exact same way and then your argument destroys them, it's great. How could the other side argue with me. You mean their hearsay needs to be admissible but mine is obviously garbage? No, both of our hearsay is complete and total garbage was my argument. My hearsay proves nothing just like their's proves nothing. Talk about an irate atty leaving the courtroom !! Now that is the true joy I got. I knew I was winning that argument, 100%, without or without show boating. I just wanted some salt in the wound.

[BV80]

Great job! You did your research and stood your ground. Way to go on standing up to the attorney regarding the witness!