Undoing the Court's Mistakes

While we could like to believe that the Court is infallible, it is not. The machine entrusted with solving the problems of the rest of society is itself one of the most broken. For over 30 years I have watched this steady decline, and I literally spend about 1/3 of my practice getting the court to follow the law. It's a lot hard than you'd think.

Under-trained, under-supervised, and overburdened court clerks are often unfamiliar with the "fancy footwork" I generate for you, and they do the standard things they are most familiar with, oblivious to the law. If you quote them the law, they stare blankly at you. Even the supervisors and Court Managers are unfamiliar with some of the papers you may file in your case. Add to that the often biased and corrupt commissioners and judges to whom the case is referred, and you see why being a tenant fighting for your rights under the law is so hard. The opposing lawyers are nothing compared to the court staff who have the power and too often the inclination to throw your rights out the window. Eviction cases are generally assigned to the bottom of the judicial totem pole, along with traffic tickets and small claims court.

In an effort to address this, we have a few options. One is where I contact the court to see if this can be corrected in a simple fashion, particularly where it is the clerk's mistake. That works about half the time. Otherwise, there are various motions and appeals which need to be taken, at additional expense but usually with good results.