Part 7: CHP’s Absurd Motion to Vacate

Internal Affairs Investigates

I really didn’t expect my complaint with the CHP Internal Affairs Division to go anywhere, and it didn’t. As I said, it wasn’t organized or well thought out. I felt pushed  into making my initial complaint a Formal complaint. I  told Lieutenant Desmond that I didn’t need to make it formal,   I just wanted to collect on the Judgement.   He told me if I didn’t make  a Formal Complaint the investigation would be closed.  That would have put me back where I started, so I filled out the complaint form they sent me.
The complaint as written by Internal Affairs paraphrased my words saying that I had alleged Kelly Walker was evasive, and unprofessional during inquiries into my legal judgement. YA THINK? Just a tad more formal, than I had put it, but as they say “good enough for Government work“.
Kelly Walker was not important to me. She was merely a gate-keeper, who wasn’t quite up to the task.  It is quite possible to run interference for a boss and still come across as likeable and even helpful. See my post about the Deputy Chief at the Santa Cruz Police Department, if you want to see how its done.
Avoidance isn’t really a good tool for managing situations or people. When unable to avoid them, obvious lies are another bad choice. Yeah, I’d say she was unprofessional, allegedly!

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The Unspoken Message

One odd thing I noticed was that the people in Legal Affairs and Risk Management, were noticeably hostile towards me, during many of my phone inquires. I really have a hard time understanding that. They were absolutely acting like I didn’t deserve a second of their time and like I was screwing over the Highway Patrol in general, and them personally. This seemed to be inexplicably personal to them — they were angry at me, and it showed.  This started before I contacted Internal Affairs for help.  From my point of view the hostility was misplaced and undeserved.  It’s creepy, when you think about it.
This narrow-minded way of thinking, seems central to the culture of the California Highway Patrol: They are above the law, and they resent anybody who tries to infringe on their entitlement.  How else can you explain losing a lawsuit and refusing to comply with a court order? They didn’t think I deserved to challenge their authority in court; They were angry at me for putting them in this position;  I had threatened their power and their Right to always be RIGHT.  They had no intention of rewarding or reinforcing me for this. 
There was an unspoken message conveyed through all this hostility.  I’m  fairly intuitive and my perception of the message still feels right to me, almost 5 years later.  The message was one of indignation:

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?  HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL”

That so many employees seem to buy into and uphold this warped perception, which is so removed from the intended role of the Highway Patrol, seems strangely,  indoctrinated to me. Maybe this unquestioning loyalty (regardless of morality) is unique to law enforcement agencies (i.e. the blue line).  I thought it was very weird.

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Balance of Power

The California Highway Patrol behaves in a way that is both self-serving and arrogant.  As an Agency, they seem to be unable or unwilling to hide it. The scary thing is that when Government stops hiding illegal or immoral acts, it’s because they no longer have to. They’ve consolidated enough power to do as they wish and no one can stop them. The CHP is well insulated by California’s Justice System and the Legislature. They aren’t too concerned about acting outside the law. It is a rare occasion when they are held accountable for bad acts.
Our Federal Government is headed that way. They still act embarrassed when they get caught doing something illegal, but nothing changes.  It continues and we just get used to it. Our Government is turning into the monster the Constitution tried to protect us from.  The system that was meant to check and balance Government power, has been so diluted, its impotent.

The Federal Government is currently under-checked and dangerously out of balance. The Legislature has never been more ineffective. The Judicial system is neither blind nor impartial. The Security Agencies have run amok, using secrecy to shield illegal acts and no one seems able or willing to rein them in.  The violations that have been exposed are the tip of the iceberg.

The only thing that government seems to fear at all, is a free press.  Under the Obama administration there have been extraordinary measures to muzzle those that would report or expose immoral, illegal and self-serving government activity. The free internet, whistle blowers and reporters are in the cross-hairs. 

When  a voracious non native species, with no natural enemies, is introduced into an environment it either fundamentally changes or destroys that environment and is harmful to native inhabitants. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are natural enemies to Government Abuse of Power.  If the government is successful in its efforts to limit those freedoms, they’ve essentially vanquished their last natural enemy.  It will be harmful  to the inhabitants. We can’t let that happen.

If censorship is successful, the Feds will be just like the CHP: Arrogant, Above the Law and so insulated they don’t even have to act embarrassed when corruption, or any other bad act is exposed.
If these CHP employees think its wrong for a Judge to order their employer (large organization, with big budget)  to return money they seized from an individual, they really ought to see how it feels to be the individual whose money was seized,  bypassing the Judge altogether.  I can tell you right now… that feels like a violation and is a much better reason to be upset.
To see these employees upset when their employer is court ordered to give the money back…. ? Cry me a river.   Boo Hoo!  They had no right to be angry with me. I did everything legally and by the book. They likewise had no right to make collecting on the judgement such a nightmare.
And the delaying, the stalling, the rudeness … it’s not over yet!

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Internal Affairs Concludes the Investigation

Clearly Kelly Walker was only part (and not the most important part) of my Complaint to Internal Affairs. If you missed it, you can find it here.

The letter informing me of the outcome of the investigation said they didn’t find substantial evidence to support my allegations regarding Staff Services Manager, Kelly Walker……bla bla bla.  They never even addressed the part of the complaint that had to do with the Legal Affairs Department ducking a Court Order.  Unfortunately, I was getting used to that.

But in some respects the Internal Affairs Investigation was helpful. R. Jones, a Captain in the Office of Investigation assigned K. A. Hunter, Legal Affairs Commander and supervisor to Kelly Walker to look into the matter and resolve any issues. It was through Hunter that I was FINALLY given the name and number of Staff Attorney, John McDonough.

I left him a message near the end of June or early July (I think). When he called me back on a Friday afternoon, I really wasn’t expecting to like the man.  But he was funny and charming. He made me laugh.  (A talent he should share with Kelly Walker.)

If you are the Staff Attorney for the CHP and you have to explain why your client (who is duty bound to uphold the law) is breaking the law, a little charm sure can’t hurt.

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Finally, I Get Some Answers

The big question:

WHAT IS HOLDING UP PAYMENT OF MY COURT ORDERED JUDGEMENT OF $482.00?

We are looking to have the Judgement Vacated. We will be going back before the Judge on the matter.

OH REALLY…. AND ON WHAT GROUNDS?

On the Grounds we were never served.

Really? Because I paid the court $25.00 to serve you. And they gave me a receipt showing Proof of Service.

What address did you use?

Joe Farrell, Attorney General for State of California, at the AG’s Office in Sacramento.

See, you served the Attorney General. You didn’t serve the California Highway Patrol, so we didn’t ever receive it. You needed to serve us for it to be a valid service.

Well that’s funny because…. right on the State of California web site, in the section called “Small Claims Court Self Help” it says :

“IF YOU ARE SUING the California Highway Patrol,  serve them at the Office of the Attorney General. “

Then it gives the address. — The same address I had the court serve you at.

WHAT? Where is this Website…. ? Hold on let me get my legal assistant on that, and I’ll get back to you.

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Motion to Vacate

The CHP Legal Affairs Department, and John McDonough, specifically, filed a Motion to Vacate the Judgement six months, TO THE DAY,  that the original judgement was filed. We were due back in court near the end of September 2010, where the Judge would hear the Motion.

The reason they gave? It was absurd.  I had a very hard time believing that such a legal maneuver could really exist or be taken seriously in a court of law.
The grounds they used to ask for the Judgement to be vacated were:  Mishap, Inadvertence,  Malfeasance, and failure to realize the importance of showing up for the hearing.

WHAT? I had no idea what that even meant, so I had to look into it. 

First of all, It is absurd to even suggest that the legal arm of the CHP doesn’t realize the importance of showing up in court to defend against a claim.  These people are lawyers.  Most small claims participants have no legal training at all.  When we get served, even without legal training, we know enough to realize that if we don’t go, and mount a defense, you are going to lose. It isn’t possible that this high powered legal team did not realize the importance of being served.  It is not grounds for the Judge to Vacate the original Judgement.

The combination of Mishap, Inadvertence, and Malfeasance is seldom used by an Attorney. It is the equivalent to an admission of incompetence and alludes to  deliberate wrongful action on the part of an Attorney in carrying out their duties.

This is like an Attorney, who is throwing himself on the mercy of court and pleading with the Judge: (Picture the back of a hand, pressed open to forehead with palm facing outward, blinking back big crocodile tears) Oh woe is me, Your Honor, I have made a mess of this. Please don’t allow my client to suffer for my mistakes.

As you can imagine , lawyer jokes aside… Attorneys aren’t scrambling all over themselves to fall on their own swords, calling attention to their incompetence in open court. Not that Lawyers aren’t known for altruistic behavior and self sacrifice for the benefit of their clients. John McDonough, must have been a rare lawyer indeed to make that kind of sacrifice for his poor misrepresented client, the little ‘ol CHP. In reality it was just a BS excuse to get back in front of the Judge.

Unlike most Lawyers who would never risk using this as grounds to vacate, Mr McDonough wasn’t running the risk of  being disciplined, sanctioned or disbarred by making this type of astounding admission for the record and open court.  He wasn’t even going to keep future business at bay, by telling the world he was a bad lawyer.  This was all just an excuse to put us back in front of the Judge.
Furthermore isn’t some incompetent Lawyer, poorly representing the CHP. He is on their Payroll. If he screwed up, they screwed up. He is part of the organization that is the CHP. He does not have a client who was poorly represented. He is the client. He works strictly for the CHP, representing only their interests in all legal matters. He is the Legal Face of the CHP.
The CHP has enough tax dollars to pick and choose among lawyers. They are embroiled in law suits all the time.  If our case fell through the cracks, it was because a Small Claims case meant NOTHING to them. It was insignificant. It only became significant when we won. The CHP doesn’t have to show up in court, because of the substantial hurdles a plaintiff has to get over before the court will hear their case.   It is as the Judge told my husband, when he found our paperwork in order:

“This Never Happens.”

And because nobody ever has the paperwork to prove they can legally sue, the Judge automatically dismisses the case, without any need for the CHP to be present. They don’t show up, because they don’t have to. The Judgement in our favor, was a huge surprise to them.  Apparently, with all their legal resources, they were ill-equipped to deal with Small Claims Court or a Judgement NOT in their favor.  And they were… FURIOUS.
I hope my readers are starting to get the picture of what we were up against here. If you think they have acted like bad losers and have been petty and childish so far…. I am NOT DONE.
The conclusion of this story will appear in the next post.  Things are not as they seem in California.   After I tell you what the CHP did next,  if you live in California, you’ll think they owe you some money now, too . Nobody should be spending our tax dollars this way…. If wasting our money isn’t a crime, it should be. It’s also amusing if you like your humor along the lines of WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? or Americas Dumbest Criminals, you’ll get a kick out of it.
The last post also exposes one more bad act, this one not done by the CHP.  It is , however so blatant and chilling, I think, that everything the CHP did to us, pales by comparison. The CHP, definitely doesn’t have an exclusive on behaving badly.

NOTE To Readers:
Throughout the eight posts that tell this story, I put the real names of the people who handled our case at the CHP. One of those people is almost certainly the person who submitted our name to a government watch list, knowing that it would lead to ongoing stalking, monitoring and constant harassment.  It started four years ago, and continues today.

We aren’t on this list because we are terrorists or a threat to anybody. Our crime was embarrassing the CHP and exercising our legal rights effectively. We threatened the ABOVE THE LAW status that the CHP takes for granted, and we are being punished for it, with no legal recourse.

That is the reason I write this blog,

SceneNSantaCruz

One more thing:

I have never posted any videos of any kind. If you see a video that indicates it came from me or has anything to do with my blog Justifiably Disturbed, you can be certain that it I had nothing to do with it.  If the day comes for me to post videos, you will see them on this blog before you see them on YouTube.