Missing Court File, What's up with THAT?!!

Greetings to all,

An elderly Christian family with whom I am associated, has been sued by an enviornmental agency. This is an interesting case because they are being sued for logging(treble damages for stumpage) a piece of property some 12 years ago, but the agency had no interest in the property until November of 2004.

So, they put in a counter-claim for damages, fraud, etc. (They knew it was too big to succeed with a motion to dismiss, since several others are being sued by the same agency). They used the information and case law out of Adventures In Legal Land on pages 95/96. From the beginning, they have simply asked the attorney, "Who specifically is bringing the suit and what standing do they have to do so?" Now, it went before the judge asking him to compel the attorney to present a witness/affidavit signed under pains and penalty of perjury by a competent fact witness, i.e. a specific complaining to this alleged cause of action, this being a "constitutional prerequisite" to ANY cause of action.

Here is the problem. Immediately after this paperwork went on record, the entire court file has turned up M.I.A., the excuse being that "Oh, the judge is reviewing it", or some other nonsense that he's a circuit judge and he'll be back in a few weeks. Yet, they check the court schedule, and he's on the docket and present when they requested to view the file. They have requested some ten times in over a month, and the court clerks just keep giving them the run around. There are three motions that have not been ruled on, it's been over a month this file has been missing and my friends are still being refused access to the file.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!! According to the rules I have read, the court file must always be available to, at least, the defendant. Does anyone know what they (the court) might be up to? I can't help but think this is intentional, and my friends will have waived something by not doing anything about it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how they might deal with this?

Sincerely,
truth

Originally Posted by truth

Greetings to all,

An elderly Christian family with whom I am associated, has been sued by an enviornmental agency. This is an interesting case because they are being sued for logging(treble damages for stumpage) a piece of property some 12 years ago, but the agency had no interest in the property until November of 2004.

So, they put in a counter-claim for damages, fraud, etc. (They knew it was too big to succeed with a motion to dismiss, since several others are being sued by the same agency). They used the information and case law out of Adventures In Legal Land on pages 95/96. From the beginning, they have simply asked the attorney, "Who specifically is bringing the suit and what standing do they have to do so?" Now, it went before the judge asking him to compel the attorney to present a witness/affidavit signed under pains and penalty of perjury by a competent fact witness, i.e. a specific complaining to this alleged cause of action, this being a "constitutional prerequisite" to ANY cause of action.

Here is the problem. Immediately after this paperwork went on record, the entire court file has turned up M.I.A., the excuse being that "Oh, the judge is reviewing it", or some other nonsense that he's a circuit judge and he'll be back in a few weeks. Yet, they check the court schedule, and he's on the docket and present when they requested to view the file. They have requested some ten times in over a month, and the court clerks just keep giving them the run around. There are three motions that have not been ruled on, it's been over a month this file has been missing and my friends are still being refused access to the file.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!! According to the rules I have read, the court file must always be available to, at least, the defendant. Does anyone know what they (the court) might be up to? I can't help but think this is intentional, and my friends will have waived something by not doing anything about it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how they might deal with this?

Sincerely,
truth

from a worldly perspective, I have often heard tell that a combination of tar and feathers will cause a stack of papers to stick together and stay in one place. Just a thought.

Jerry.

Good Day jerrypitts,

Yes, I couldn't agree with you more, and man, it's LONG OVERDUE!!!

However, I seem to recall that somewhere in Title 18 (FEDERAL), messing with or denying a court record to someone is a criminal offense. I did not know if, possibly a formal complaint to the A.G.'s office, might be an option.

Sincerely,
truth

Originally Posted by truth

Good Day jerrypitts,

Yes, I couldn't agree with you more, and man, it's LONG OVERDUE!!!

However, I seem to recall that somewhere in Title 18 (FEDERAL), messing with or denying a court record to someone is a criminal offense. I did not know if, possibly a formal complaint to the A.G.'s office, might be an option.

Sincerely,
truth

Just as well ask the fox to guard the chicken coop.

Jerry.

could be a victory if the judge puts it on eternal hold. do they want a victory or do they want to push it?

[iamfreeru2]

Originally Posted by francis

could be a victory if the judge puts it on eternal hold. do they want a victory or do they want to push it?

I'm with you Francis. I would leave this alone. If the judge does nothing with it it is a victory for the family that has been sued. I would just go check the file from time to time, but would not push it.

Thanks, and I would wholeheartedly agree, except that others are being sued under the same premise. And, although the judge has not ruled on three motions that are ripe, the attorney for the other side has put in a motion to compel for interrogatories. That part of the activity, I suppose, could be a smoke screen. At any rate, what a bunch of criminals!!!

Again, I suppose you (francis and iamfreeru2) are right, they should probably wait it out and keep a record of the absence. After all, any motions should be ruled on in sequence.

Sincerely,
truth

The answer is not to push or harp on the relief that has been granted but to offer the original action of the christian couple - the counterclaim to the other defendants and hopefully they will have the same relief. It seems to me freedom is found one at a time with the man or woman, we cannot beat the system in the sense of making it go away, we can only get ourselves out of each trap set by the system.