STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS in BEATING LAWYERS
MASSACHUSETTS CONDUCTS WITCH TRIALS -
BAN STATE AND COURT PURITANICAL PRACTICES
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS in BEATING LAWYERS
Strategy 1 for Success. CATCH HER ATTORNEY LYING. Now I am going to provide the real secrets of being a good PRO SE litigant and why you can beat the lawyers often enough. Your first advantage is that you know the details of your case better than anyone else since you lived it. My X's attorney is always confusing the facts of her case with the many other cases he is working on. When he screws up the facts, call it to the courts attention and provide the proof to support it. He loses credibility and you look better. I guarantee you, if you watch him, you can catch him. Report it to the Judge, write it in a motion, and tell the Bar Association about it. I now possess a letter in which the EX's Attorney Sanford Durland admits he lied in court. He had to write it to the Judge. After I caught him lying, I wrote the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court about it. He told me to write the Bar about it. Naturally my letter to the Bar begins "The Chief Justice has recommended I contact you." That gets their attention. I mention this letter and pull it out often in court. The judge says that was the past and doesn't matter today. But I believe it does damage when her attorney pleads the FIFTH! In case you face this lawyer in court, I publish it here. Ask him if that is his signature. Watch him turn deep red. Works every time. Enjoy.
Strategy 2 for Success. TIGHT LEASH SCHEDULE. Most attorneys live a chinese fire drill life. Hopping from courtroom to courtroom, driving from courthouse to courthouse, courthouse to office, and writing motions in between. Take advantage of this fact. They will drop the ball a lot if you give them a chance. Again you only have to worry about your case and not many other cases. You care about your case a lot more than that witch's attorney does. Always keep the attorney on a tightly scheduled calendar.Do not give him extra leadtime. If Civil Procedure Rule 6 says 7 days notice to schedule a hearing plus 3 days more if you mail it, mail the notice to him exactly 10 days before. Remember the Rulebook says, service by mail is complete upon mailing. If you mail it at 11 PM, it still counts as a day, and it won't go out until the next day. Or deliver it by hand to his office if it is convenient ( 7 days before hearing.) Now the attorney has to produce an opposition motion within less than 7 days and get a copy back to you and the court. If he does not write anything, then he has nothing to show for his side on appeal. Make him hustle, pull those puppet strings!
Corollary 1 to Strategy 2. SLOPPY WORK. Lawyers living the chinese fire drill are often late getting motions or work completed in a timely fashion. They will hope you do not notice. Or if you do notice that you will not know enough to say anything. If you say nothing, you forfeit your right to ever complain about this technicality (Civil Procedure Rule 12.) When responding to motions filed by the femi-nazi, after the oath the first words out of your mouth should be "Your honor, there is an insufficiency of process and an insufficiency of service of process." This means the attorney either did it the wrong way or he did it late. Service by hand is not leaving it at the front door; it means put it into your hand!!! If the paper work is not signed, stamped, notorized, or sealed properly, it is no good and only fire starter. You can get an amazing number of complaints and motions trashed this way. The judge shakes his head and the attorney turns red. He has to charge 3 hours court time (maybe $450) to the witch and he screwed it all up. He looks incompetent. And guess what. He is!! Watch the witch turn red when she realizes you and the attorney just got hosed her. I actually have a letter somewhere in which an attorney makes threats of some sort if I don't quit doing this to him. Obviously this is really driving him nuts. Attorneys often practice sloppy law by agreement with their cohorts, but if you go strictly by the rules, you can beat them with their sloppiness.
Corollary 2 to Strategy 2 If the attorney files a Motion For Short Order of Notice and Return requesting less than the required number of days, do not let him get away with it. This is a tactic to undercut the above Corollary. You are a Pro Se and have to follow the rules in a timely manner and you expect a professional to do the same. This gives him an unfair advantage since you have less time to respond. "Your honor, this abridges my due process. I am Pro Se. I have meager legal resources. It's not fair to shortchange me on time to prepare a proper response before the hearing." If the judge shoots you down, you now have more meat for the appeal. This is an abuse of discretion.
STRATEGY
3 for Success. Note that many lawyers are very arrogant, particularly when they come up against a pro se
litigant. And secondly, judges are lawyers. Take advantage of this
fact. It is very easy to be more informed. Many of these people have not
cracked a law book since they passed the bar. Review the applicable
rules and read the applicable statutes. Many of these attorneys and judges know
these laws by heart until they come up against an informed Pro Se, you. Having
just read the law and rules, you know them better.
A few simple
examples. Prior to a hearing, a senior partner of a law firm with his
name in the title told me he had never been opposed by a Pro Se. Clearly
dealing with me was beneath his dignity. Further if I would drop this frivilous
case against his client, he would forgo making me pay the (implied huge)
billing fees because clearly I would lose. Having read the law, MGL 231 Sec.
6F, I knew it did not apply to Pro Se plaintiffs, and told him this.
(The legislature does not expect Pro Se litigants to do it properly or
correctly all the time and does not wish to penalize us.) A few minutes
late I noticed him sneak behind the judge's desk and pull a MGL
statute book. I didn't hear a word from him after that, but I have not seen him
in court since then. (However a recent Supreme Judicial Court case has
given probate court judges additional discretion in assigning costs to Pro Se
litigants regardless of this statute. I am appealing this.)
The judge
dismissed my case and I appealed. I was uncertain whether or not I wished
to pursue it. While I was thinking about it, a deadline passed, and the
decision was made by default. In the meantime , a related action in Probate
Court made me feel I should pursue the appeal. By then 3 opposition
attorneys were trying get my appeal dismissed since I had not pursued it
timely. The two senior partners wrote motions to dismiss the appeal to the
Appeals Court. Only the young attorney knew the proper procedure was to seek
the dismissal at the originating Superior Court. MORALE: If the
attorney's name is on the top of the letterhead, you may be better off, and
most certainly should not be intimidated. Arrogance is a great friend. I
wrote a letter congratulating the younger attorney much to the dismay of the
senior partners who had to send a copy to their clients.
Since one of these
firms is the home of Cheryl Jacques, the ultra-liberal femi-nazi
anti-male anti-gun anti-report card legislator, this was something of a
moral victory for me. Now to kill her report card bill.
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When the law is against
you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, argue the law. When
both are against you, attack the plaintiff. |
@2003 J.W. Wright III . All rights
reserved.