Now for part two of Boobus Americanus and the legal system. I have worked in the legal field in the State of California for a long time. And I have dealt with some people that are interesting to say the least.
As mentioned in part one of this series I have worked with numerous people who were representing themselves in Court. I will describe some of the situations below.
Just last year I worked with an older gentleman who was being sued by a collection agency for around $9,000.00 or so. He had been contacted by a different collection agency almost a year before he contacted me, they had offered to settle the account for $1,800.00. He did not take them up on their offer. When he contacted me he wanted to object on the basis that the collection agency had bought the account for pennies on the dollar. He actually thought that would fly. Needless to say I had to tell him that would not work. I did prepare his answer and some discovery questions and demands to the collection agency for information and documents.
He later contacted me again and wanted to countersue and take the case to federal court! He also brought up his original objection again. It was then that I realized that this guy would not stop believing that somehow he could win his case because the collection agency bought the debt for pennies on the dollar. And he also wanted to move the case to federal court as well!! I politely told him that I would be unable to assist him any further and that he should contact an attorney.
Months later I received an e-mail from him stating that he had in fact retained an attorney but that the attorney had let him down. And his trial date was about a week away. Frankly I did not even respond to his e-mail. That may sound mean but I do not agree.
This guy should have used his head. First off, he and his wife were collecting Social Security benefits, which are exempt from garnishment on a civil judgment under both California and Federal law. In fact, the Court waived his filing fee because he and his wife only received about $1,500.00 a month. Anyone who has lived in California recently can tell you that is only enough to live in your car in California, an old car at that.
This guy should have told the collection agency to go pound sand. Go ahead and get your judgment. Good luck collecting on it. But instead he wanted to take the case to federal court no less!
And the people who are “smart” are in many cases the worst. They think their IQ of 190+ means they know everything. Not true. The law is what it is and the fact is that someone who expects it to be “rational” all of the time is going to be sorely disappointed. Just because you want the law to be a certain thing does not make it so. The law was written by imperfect humans. And it is also interpreted by imperfect humans. If someone cannot grasp that I do not care how “smart” they are. I would prefer not to deal with them. After all my IQ is only about 140, and that is on a good day.
And then there are the people like the woman I was trying to collect a judgment for. She thought that Duane “Dog” Chapman was going to find the guy and bring him to justice! Sort of like CSI-Los Angeles County!! Give me a break. People like that think the whole world is exactly like it is shown on television. She is like many people I have dealt with who have totally unrealistic expectations.
Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system as well as other discussions of Boobus Americanus.
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