"You Lookin' For Justice In The Courts?"
"Corn can't expect justice from a court composed of chickens." ~ African Proverb
We attended a meeting of property rights folks last night, where a discussion ensued about why property owners facing land use code violations, can't get a jury trial. Three land use attorneys had been invited to the meeting to give their perspective on the issue. It was a lively meeting where debates went back on forth about the meaning of a "jury of your peers", state law, federal law, criminal versus civil violations, etc., etc., etc. They talked about changing the law in certain areas to help landowners get a fairer shake in the legal process. They talked about the inequities of eminent domain abuse by government and how lower and higher courts have ruled on the issue of whether government can take property by eminent domain (of course they can) and what due process and just compensation really mean. What they mean is, "Government wins." Several cases were visited about how the courts and government run rough shod over the people and their "supposed" constitutional rights. It became readily apparent that court decisions tend to run all over the map. Hardly a recipe for equal treatment under the law ..... is it?
But one big giant issue was barely even touched on in the meeting and that was the exorbitant cost of the American justice system. It has exhausted the savings and bankrupted the tens of thousands who have had the misfortune of either being sued, or trying to sue government, or a private party, for some injustice inflicted upon them, or defend against something they were supposed to have done wrong.
The judicial system can be best described by the following statement: "The justice system and the courts are a stacked deck and a closed club where a bunch of over-paid ($250 to 600 per hour) men and women run the club ..... judges, lawyers and clerks. Judges and lawyers are members of the state bar association, also a closed club. There are a "zillion" rules to follow and only the lawyers and judges know the rules. It is essentally, legally sanctioned, corrupt racketeering. The insiders protect their own with a vengeance. You are an outsider and you don't know the rules, so you can't play in their club and you are not welcome if you try."
Then there is the "jury pool". A jury is described, in the profession, "as a bunch of men and women who couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to get out of jury duty." A jury of your peers? Hardly!
[NOTE: By the way, if you want to get out of jury duty, just send them a letter, when you receive their notice to appear and tell them in the letter, that you hate judges and attorneys, the legal system is absolutely corrupt and you will do everything in your power to either taint, or hang the jury. The judge, by law, will have to excuse you.]
The fact is, and any honest lawyer will tell you this, going to court is a crap shoot, at best and any particular outcome is totally unpredictable. Judges let convicted child rapists go free. Mobsters get out on technicalities and are free to rob, main and murder again. Monetary settlements, way beyond common sense and reason, are awarded to undeserving plaintiffs. Worthy plaintiffs or defendants are denied justice in the hands of corrupt lawyers, judges and juries. Attorneys win and lose over conflicting court precedents and case law. Justice is truly blind and the law is conflicting, contradictory and purposely complicated. Lawyers go on ambulance-chasing expeditions for massive class action lawsuits for medical malpractice, or other events where a class of the so-called injured can gather together in a class action. The truth is, if you are not part of the system and you aren't, then you are the "corn" and the judicial system is populated by "chickens."
We can tell you story after story of where the judicial system became a financial black hole and an emotionally draining, frustrating and stressful experience for those who sought or were confronted with so-called justice in the courts. It is especially hard on rural landowners who come up against draconian land use and environmental laws that are spawned in the distorted minds of brainwashed city dwellers and the environmental waco representatives they elect to the halls of government. It appears that this intolerable condition is only going to get worse.
Then there is the ubiquitous frivolous lawsuit. If you have ever been a victim of one of these, it has no doubt left a real sour taste in your mouth. We were one of those victims.
We sold a medical building containing over 20 or so doctors, to an investor who had a bunch of money he wanted to invest. He was experienced in managing income properties but an idiot when trying to manage a covey of doctors. In three weeks he had the doctors mad at him. In three years 10 of the doctors moved out of his building and went to another clinic, purportedly in the hopes of finding more amenable management and cheaper rent. The investor's income from the building plummeted and suddenly he found himself $10,000 a month in the hole where before he was enjoying a 14% cash-on-cash return.
So what did the aggrieved investor do? He hired a junk-yard-dog lawyer to sue us personally and the doctors, alleging we conspired to defraud him because we all knew that the doctors were going to move out in three years and leave him with a half-empty building. The allegation was blatantly false! There was no conspiracy and what happened in the three years was almost wholly the investor's fault. But he wanted to find a scapegoat for his transgressions and set his sights on those whom he thought brought him the grief.
The outcome of the case was, we incurred over $35,000 in legal fees to defend against a totally frivolous lawsuit. Even though the investor lost his case, (he had no case) we still had to mortgage our home to pay our damn lawyer. You call that justice? The only justice we got was knowing the investor not only lost his $400,000 down payment, but almost $100,000 in legal fees he had to pay to his junk-yard-dog lawyer. We managed to get one of his lawyers fired by filing a 7-page complaint with the state bar association. The doctors ended up getting the building back because they were holding the paper on which the investor defaulted.
In another case we sued, without a lawyer (we couldn't afford one), a multi-national conglomerate for "intentional infliction of emotional distress." It's a legal term. We won't go into the gory details here, but we first went to the U. S. District Court and were promptly dismissed on procedural grounds. (Too many rules we didn't know) So we took the case to Superior court and finally settled out of court. (We were learning) Yeah, we beat the multi-national conglomerate, sort of, but only because we were a fly in their soup and they just wanted to get rid of us. We must have really ticked off their attorney though, because we filed two complaints with the state bar association against him. Attorneys don't like having to explain their actions to the state bar. It uses up too much un-paid time.
Justice? Hardly! It took over a year and a half of our time, studying court rules and filing motions and briefs. What did we get? A settlement that came no where near what it cost us in lost time to prosecute our case. However, had we hired a lawyer, we would have been driven into bankruptcy from the exercise.
All across America, individuals are either forced into court because they are being sued, or decided that their only course for redress was to sue someone else. Most have paid dearly for the experience. Many lose their entire savings, exhaust their borrowing power and many more lose all of their assets. Being wealthy is no guarantee of winning either, but it helps.
Unfortunately, rural landowners are a special case. They are being forced to bear almost the entire burden of environmental protection, while their city cousins get off virtually scot-free. New environmental laws, draconian land use regulations and code violations and eminent domain abuse, hit rural landowners especially hard. The city inhabitants, through their elected lawmakers, are trying to "clean up" the rural areas to radical city standards, based on very un-scientific, made-as-instructed criteria and UN's Agenda 21. Rural landowners are having a very difficult time fighting back against these rising and unconstitutional injustices. Some give up and pay the fines and penalties. Some even go to jail. Some go to court looking for "justice" and many of those go broke for their efforts, while their attorneys and court costs bleed them dry.
Most are not aware that they can fight these injustices by themselves, if they just knew how. Using the law, the internet, a lot of courage and sometimes the power of the many, they can regain their pride, self-respect and their dignity by actually confronting and defeating government, local, state or federal, that has turned from servant to master and an arrogant master at that. We have prepared three videos, a power point presentation and loads of resource material for the property owner, city or rural, to take on government without having to hire an expensive lawyer and go to court. We call this time-tested, valuable information, "The NARLO Offense" and it is available on our website at www.narlo.org, or on our sister website at: www.narloltd.com.
Just the other day we were having a conversation with a young bank teller and we were lamenting the rise in paper work, licenses, permits and regulations to do anything these days. Her response was, "well that is just the way it is," and then added, "and if we resist the way it is, we are just anarchists." And of course with that logic the tea partiers must be anarchists, or racists, or both. It appears that logic, reason and common sense have gone the way of the Dodo bird, especially in the government-indoctrinated young. In contrast to this appeasing mindset, Barry Goldwater said, in part, "extremism, in the defense of liberty, is not a vice." We whole heartedly agree with Goldwater.
One of the ways in which the people can take back their government, is to confront and relentless pursue that government. Government wastes our money, taxes us to death, and regulates the Hell out of us. If we, as Americans, have any hope of regaining our liberty, the government must be resisted every single day by millions of Americans, or government will eventually assume absolute power. If you don't believe that is where we are headed, your head is in the clouds, or in the sand. If you want to see government take away your freedoms, dissolve American sovereignty and merge us into a global monarchy, just keep your head where it is. However, if you don't want any of this to happen, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and start fighting back. For those with courage, "The NARLO Offense" is one way to start fighting back.
Ron Ewart, President
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL LANDOWNERS
P. O. Box 1031, Issaquah, WA 98027
425 837-5365 or 1 800 682-7848
By Ron Ewart, President
National Association of Rural Landowners
and nationally recognized author on freedom and property rights issues.
We are helping to spread freedom and liberty around the globe.
© Copyright March 4, 2011 - All Rights Reserved
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