If you were watching here back in 2009, you might remember when I mentioned how a deputy sheriff from Prince George's County served a court order of possession evicting me, my stuff and some others staying there, out of the place where I was staying because the landlord stopped paying for his mortgage.
Earlier, I had hired a guy named Stan Swetnam - he contacted me - in which I paid him a fee and a monthly retainer, and his job was to advise me of anything happening so that I'd have time to move my stuff out and leave.
He failed to do a goddamn thing. Had he done his job, which I discovered later basically meant checking the court file once or twice a week, I would have had more than a month's notice of the pending order.
Worse, he knew I was handicapped because when he invited me to come by his office and see his record of his great results in keeping people from getting their stuff dumped on their front lawn, I discover I can't because he's on the second floor of a building with no elevator. His associate brought over the contract.
There are a lot of things I could have done because I'd have had quite a bit of money instead of spending it on things (for example, I could have skipped the electric bill, they wouldn't be turning it off for at least 30 days). I would have had plenty of time to do everything. Hell, even if I had just had a week I could have done something to mitigate the disaster.
I could have rented a car, rented a truck, hired a couple of day laborers from in front of Home Depot, one with a drivers' license, had them move everything I own into storage, then I could have actively found a new place that I could have moved to. Or if I had trouble finding one, rent a motel for a week or so. I would have had lots of choices and things I could have done.
Well, no, I sit around, fat dumb and happy thinking Stan Swenam, the man I contracted with and was paying a monthly fee to do just one thing, was actually doing what I was paying him to do. He wasn't, and as a result my stuff gets unceremoneously dumped on the front lawn.
The only reason
I wasn't unceremoneously dumped on the front lawn is that the sheriff's department apparently can't simply dump a handicapped person on the street. So they end up getting Metro Access to come get me and I get taken to a temporary Homeless Shelter.
This tells you the kind of pull the county has. Metro Access requires one day advance notice. No exceptions. But the people at the county offices got Metro Access to pick me up in a couple hours. In the mean time, for the same reason, the sheriff's office also can't just abandon me either, so they call up another deputy who just sat in her car and watched until Metro Access shows up.
Note that the vuiltures stayed away while the cops were there. And some of the people I knew that were staying there, did absolutely nothing to help when others came by and stole anything of mine they thought would be valuable. I tried to explain that I can do something, arrange to have a truck and a few other things if I can have some help to do this, but nobody wants to do a damn thing but complain and blame me for the eviction.
I came back a few times to get stuff as I could carry it. I saved a few things - you can't take a whole lot to a homeless shelter - and I was able to recover some of the stuff I had I guess wasn't worth stealing, like my clothes and I retrieved a few other things.
Someone I knew, knew who swiped some of my computers, so with a short and not extremely expensive discussion he got them to ransom the ones they had back to me (someone else stole a couple others), so at least I had my files.
I seethed over this over the last three years. In fact, once I got a new place (where I am now), I think I more-or-less did the equivalent of an alcoholic going on a bender: I crawled into my room, pulled the cork in after me, and hid there for the next year or so. I don't think I did much of anything beyond eat, sleep, shit, watch TV and bathe occasionally, plus go out every so often to get food.
Eventually I came out what was probably a depression and decided to close down the pity party I'd been holding. I came back from the dead. I bought a new monitor to replace the one I had. I had the landlord order Internet from Comcast since he can add it to the existing cable service at a cheaper price than if I order internet alone, and I pay him for the extra charge. I've since bought two new computers and I've brought myself up to trying new things. I've bought three new cameras to make up for the really nice one I had that got broken during the move.
I did some software projects for people and made a little money. I became an election judge in 2008 and again this year. (I was at Maryland's primary election in April. I'll be serving at the General Election on November 6.) So I've been busy.
Maryland's limit on suing people is three years. I have more-or-less gotten past the whole thing. But it still bothered me that I had been betrayed, lied to and cheated. Then I thought, let it go, there's no point in commiserating over basically the fee I paid Stan Swetnam, about a thousand bucks, and go on with my life.
Then I realized, he's the proximate cause of my losing a lot of possessions: computers, a monitor, office supplies, phone system, furniture, a TV, a video display, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, reference books and so many other things. I could sue him over the value of those things, too.
I came to a point about thinking about it, and I decided that it wasn't fair to let him get away with screwing me over. I figured out that roughly June 1 would be the last day that I could file and be within the 3 year statute of limitations.
So I went on the website of the District Court, and filled in the paperwork - one page! - for the case of Paul Robinson v. Stan Swetnam of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. For the amount of damages I just picked the maximum for a small claims case: $5,000. If I total up all that I lost I'm sure it might even be more than that.
Since the 3rd was a Sunday, it meant my check was direct deposited on the 1st and thus I can just do my monthly financial arrangements. So I went to the credit union, got my rent check, my check to the credit card, my check to my storage facility, and two checks I've never had to have issued before.
One was for $28, the filing fee for a small claims filing of $5,000 or less. The second was for $40, the cost to have the Sheriff serve the defendant with the claim.
I went out to the courthouse, gave the cashier two copies of the complaint and the two checks totaling $68. That was on Friday, June 1. Since I was in the courthouse, I decided to stay and watch a few cases. I was in one courtroom watching civil cases being tried, then I went upstairs and sat and watched serious traffic cases (the ones where someone could go to jail).
When they get to the end of the proceedings the prosecutor asks me my name; I realized what he was doing (he wanted to make sure if I was there for a case that I didn't get marked as a no show and receive a bench warrant) and I explained I was just a spectator. Then later, the judge noticed the nice man who had been sitting in the back through the whole proceeding and asked, and I told him the same thing.
The judge was rather pleased about this, that they don't usually get visitors (I knew what he meant, most of the time the only people who show up are the defendants, the witnesses, the victim, the state's attorney and the cops. Sometimes not even the defendant; the judge must have issued at least 10 bench warrants for people who didn't show up for their trials.) I even got to ask him a few things.
It's a long way to go out to the courthouse, but it was fun watching and I might do it again some time. In fact, either the judge or the prosecutor, I forget which, suggested I might be interested in looking for more serious criminal cases if I was interested in watching stuff that was happening, as they tend to be more exciting than routine traffic cases.
I think I might just go out to Baltimore and watch some trials over there.
Update: I went up on the court's website and the case is there,
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/in ... oc=DSCIVIL
and the trial date was set today for August 7.
If you were watching here back in 2009, you might remember when I mentioned how a deputy sheriff from Prince George's County served a court order of possession evicting me, my stuff and some others staying there, out of the place where I was staying because the landlord stopped paying for his mortgage.
Earlier, I had hired a guy named Stan Swetnam - he contacted me - in which I paid him a fee and a monthly retainer, and his job was to advise me of anything happening so that I'd have time to move my stuff out and leave.
He failed to do a goddamn thing. Had he done his job, which I discovered later basically meant checking the court file once or twice a week, I would have had more than a month's notice of the pending order.
Worse, he knew I was handicapped because when he invited me to come by his office and see his record of his great results in keeping people from getting their stuff dumped on their front lawn, I discover I can't because he's on the second floor of a building with no elevator. His associate brought over the contract.
There are a lot of things I could have done because I'd have had quite a bit of money instead of spending it on things (for example, I could have skipped the electric bill, they wouldn't be turning it off for at least 30 days). I would have had plenty of time to do everything. Hell, even if I had just had a week I could have done something to mitigate the disaster.
I could have rented a car, rented a truck, hired a couple of day laborers from in front of Home Depot, one with a drivers' license, had them move everything I own into storage, then I could have actively found a new place that I could have moved to. Or if I had trouble finding one, rent a motel for a week or so. I would have had lots of choices and things I could have done.
Well, no, I sit around, fat dumb and happy thinking Stan Swenam, the man I contracted with and was paying a monthly fee to do just one thing, was actually doing what I was paying him to do. He wasn't, and as a result my stuff gets unceremoneously dumped on the front lawn.
The only reason [i]I[/i] wasn't unceremoneously dumped on the front lawn is that the sheriff's department apparently can't simply dump a handicapped person on the street. So they end up getting Metro Access to come get me and I get taken to a temporary Homeless Shelter.
This tells you the kind of pull the county has. Metro Access requires one day advance notice. No exceptions. But the people at the county offices got Metro Access to pick me up in a couple hours. In the mean time, for the same reason, the sheriff's office also can't just abandon me either, so they call up another deputy who just sat in her car and watched until Metro Access shows up.
Note that the vuiltures stayed away while the cops were there. And some of the people I knew that were staying there, did absolutely nothing to help when others came by and stole anything of mine they thought would be valuable. I tried to explain that I can do something, arrange to have a truck and a few other things if I can have some help to do this, but nobody wants to do a damn thing but complain and blame me for the eviction.
I came back a few times to get stuff as I could carry it. I saved a few things - you can't take a whole lot to a homeless shelter - and I was able to recover some of the stuff I had I guess wasn't worth stealing, like my clothes and I retrieved a few other things.
Someone I knew, knew who swiped some of my computers, so with a short and not extremely expensive discussion he got them to ransom the ones they had back to me (someone else stole a couple others), so at least I had my files.
I seethed over this over the last three years. In fact, once I got a new place (where I am now), I think I more-or-less did the equivalent of an alcoholic going on a bender: I crawled into my room, pulled the cork in after me, and hid there for the next year or so. I don't think I did much of anything beyond eat, sleep, shit, watch TV and bathe occasionally, plus go out every so often to get food.
Eventually I came out what was probably a depression and decided to close down the pity party I'd been holding. I came back from the dead. I bought a new monitor to replace the one I had. I had the landlord order Internet from Comcast since he can add it to the existing cable service at a cheaper price than if I order internet alone, and I pay him for the extra charge. I've since bought two new computers and I've brought myself up to trying new things. I've bought three new cameras to make up for the really nice one I had that got broken during the move.
I did some software projects for people and made a little money. I became an election judge in 2008 and again this year. (I was at Maryland's primary election in April. I'll be serving at the General Election on November 6.) So I've been busy.
Maryland's limit on suing people is three years. I have more-or-less gotten past the whole thing. But it still bothered me that I had been betrayed, lied to and cheated. Then I thought, let it go, there's no point in commiserating over basically the fee I paid Stan Swetnam, about a thousand bucks, and go on with my life.
Then I realized, he's the proximate cause of my losing a lot of possessions: computers, a monitor, office supplies, phone system, furniture, a TV, a video display, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, reference books and so many other things. I could sue him over the value of those things, too.
I came to a point about thinking about it, and I decided that it wasn't fair to let him get away with screwing me over. I figured out that roughly June 1 would be the last day that I could file and be within the 3 year statute of limitations.
So I went on the website of the District Court, and filled in the paperwork - one page! - for the case of Paul Robinson v. Stan Swetnam of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. For the amount of damages I just picked the maximum for a small claims case: $5,000. If I total up all that I lost I'm sure it might even be more than that.
Since the 3rd was a Sunday, it meant my check was direct deposited on the 1st and thus I can just do my monthly financial arrangements. So I went to the credit union, got my rent check, my check to the credit card, my check to my storage facility, and two checks I've never had to have issued before.
One was for $28, the filing fee for a small claims filing of $5,000 or less. The second was for $40, the cost to have the Sheriff serve the defendant with the claim.
I went out to the courthouse, gave the cashier two copies of the complaint and the two checks totaling $68. That was on Friday, June 1. Since I was in the courthouse, I decided to stay and watch a few cases. I was in one courtroom watching civil cases being tried, then I went upstairs and sat and watched serious traffic cases (the ones where someone could go to jail).
When they get to the end of the proceedings the prosecutor asks me my name; I realized what he was doing (he wanted to make sure if I was there for a case that I didn't get marked as a no show and receive a bench warrant) and I explained I was just a spectator. Then later, the judge noticed the nice man who had been sitting in the back through the whole proceeding and asked, and I told him the same thing.
The judge was rather pleased about this, that they don't usually get visitors (I knew what he meant, most of the time the only people who show up are the defendants, the witnesses, the victim, the state's attorney and the cops. Sometimes not even the defendant; the judge must have issued at least 10 bench warrants for people who didn't show up for their trials.) I even got to ask him a few things.
It's a long way to go out to the courthouse, but it was fun watching and I might do it again some time. In fact, either the judge or the prosecutor, I forget which, suggested I might be interested in looking for more serious criminal cases if I was interested in watching stuff that was happening, as they tend to be more exciting than routine traffic cases.
I think I might just go out to Baltimore and watch some trials over there.
Update: I went up on the court's website and the case is there,
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=050200158772012&loc=20&detailLoc=DSCIVIL
and the trial date was set today for August 7.