Part 8: They Lied to You in Civics Class

The Highway Patrol’s Motion to Vacate was heard in Watsonville, which lies between Santa Cruz and Monterey. I arrived early for the hearing, scheduled for 2:00pm mid-September, 2010.

 

My husband had gone alone to the original Small Claims Hearing by himself and I was here without him, this time around.  My husband was recovering from Surgery. (The screws and metal rods that were put in after the 2007 accident, had been removed the day before.)

 

The Courtroom was really nice and it kind of reminded me of a church. It wasn’t Deep but it is was really wide, with very long bench type seats that reminded me of Church Pews.

 

If the Judge granted the motion to vacate on the ridiculous grounds of Mishap, Inadvertence, Malfeasance, and failure of the CHP’s crack Legal Team to realize the importance of showing up in court after they were served, the case would be heard on the spot, as if though the original hearing had never taken place.  I was prepared to argue against the motion and to present our original case, if need be. I had fretted over this for a couple weeks feeling like the CHP, as evidenced by their behavior towards me, didn’t lose in court, very often.

 

There was no doubt they were going to show up, this time, and I wanted to be ready.  I continued to research my case.  My solution to the problem of how to win this battle was right in front of me the whole time, but it took two weeks before I realized it.

 

If you’ve read this entire story… some of you will know exactly how I’m going to play my hand here. If you’re not sure…  you probably are trying to figure it out right now.  It took me two weeks,  but  the Legal Affairs Department at the CHP, never figured it out all.  They had access to the same documents, and they had the advantage of legal expertise,  so they really have no excuse.

 

When I entered the courtroom, I took a seat off to one side and waited, watching all the  people milling about, talking, and going in and out between the lobby and the courtroom.  To support my case, I had a folder on my lap with a single  page document and two copies, one for the Judge and one for the CHP representative, if need be.

 

A man dressed in a suit comes down the long row and takes the seat right next to me. He has a briefcase which he sets on the floor between his legs. Without ever looking at me, he reaches into the case and pulls out a 3″ stack of paper that has a big band around it.  He then sets the paper on his lap where I can’t miss it.  It has my Husband’s name written in large black Sharpie across the top sheet.
The large stack of paperwork was obviously meant to intimidate me.  The only way this guy could have known who I was, or what I looked like, was to have taken the time to pull up my DMV picture before coming to court.  The CHP, isn’t much for subtlety, apparently.

 

I was not intimidated; I was secretly amused at this ploy to rattle me before we went before the Judge. I didn’t react.  Instead I kept my hands in my lap, on top of my comparably skimpy folder, containing the three sheets of paper.  I felt calm and composed.

 

We might have sat like this for 5 minutes or so while he moved around, noisily sighing and fidgeting, trying to get my attention and I continued to sit as still as possible and never acknowledged him in any way.
Finally he speaks to me:

 

“Well, You Probably figured out that I’m here representing the CHP.”

 

“Yeah, that file with My husband’s name written in huge letters, was a pretty good clue.”

 

 

 

His name was Mr. Frost, and he had a personality to match.  He was an Attorney from the CHP Legal Affairs office in Sacramento, sent by Staff Attorney, John McDonough to represent the CHP’s interests in court.  I hadn’t expected a Lawyer — in Small Claims Court, attorneys are discouraged and people typically represent themselves.  I also  hadn’t expected them to send someone from Sacramento.  I figured they would be represented by someone from the Satellite CHP office in Aptos, or maybe San Jose, at the farthest.

 

The first thought I actually had was that it was costing them more to try to have this vacated than it would have cost them to just pay me.  I tallied it up as a 330 mile round trip in a state-owned vehicle or a rental car;   Gas and at least one meal on the expense report; a minimum of 6 hours to pay Mr. Frost for his time, which I know had to be a lot more that they pay the Patrol Officers ( 73.00 / hour).

 

I was very surprised, because this seemed a foolish waste of money.  I certainly wouldn’t spend more money than it would cost me to just pay the original $482.00.  Hell, from my perspective, they really only were going to be out 65.00 for my expenses, because 417.00 of it was my original Tax Return.  Furthermore, even if they did nothing but pay me what they were ordered to, they had since intercepted another 195.00 from yet another tax return. Unless I took them back to court and won my 195.00 back, they were still going to be ahead $130.00, even if they had just paid me the original judgement.
I would be mad if someone was spending my money this foolishly… Oh Wait…. I’m a Tax Payer. THIS IS MY MONEY — and yours too, if you pay taxes in California.  Our tax dollars at work for no good reason, that I can think of.

 

It obviously was NEVER about the money. They did not want to give me back my tax return and they were going to spend what ever it cost to keep them from having to do that.

This was about my challenging their authority. It was about them being above the law.  It was about them being entitled to an unfair advantage, every step of the way. It was about having all the power and having the Right to disregard my Rights.

 

They were mad and they were not going to let me get away with this, and it didn’t matter if it cost them more to keep me from winning than it cost them to be let me win. This was a power play, they wanted  to show me how little I knew, if I really thought I could beat the CHP in court.

 

Mr. Frost pulled something from his stack of papers and said:

I might as well give this to you now, the judge will make us discuss things before he hears the case anyway. So here….

 

and as he hands me the paper he says:

“this is why you are going to lose.”

 

I looked it over for a second and recognized it as the paper, that has the  legal statutes that they outrageously interpret as authorization for  CHP to collect DUI Accident Recovery Costs, without any DUI conviction.

 

I pulled a sheet of paper and handed it to him, and as I did I said :

“And This is why you’re going to lose.”

 

He knew what it was within a few seconds.  And, I kid you not, the blood literally drained from his face. Then he practically ran out of the courtroom, tugging his cell phone out of his jacket pocket as he went.

 

He came back about 20 minutes later, while the Judge was explaining courtroom procedures and etiquette to the crowded room.  This time it was Mr. Frost who was staring straight ahead.

 

We were called right away., we  were sworn in and after promising to tell the truth,   I never said another word until we were out of the courtroom. Not a single word.

The conversation that took place was all between Mr. Frost and the Judge.
The Judge said:

Welcome Mr. Frost. You do realize this is Small Claims Court, Don’t You?
Yes, Your Honor
Then you know that we do things a little different here, then what you boys are used to. Did you realize that you only have 30 days to appeal a Small Claims Judgement?
Yes, your Honor, Ms. (my last name) made me aware of it just a few minutes ago.

I’ll admit, he sounded pretty defeated.

 

Then the Judge  (I do not remember his name, but I sure remember his face and is words) gave a little speech about the circumstances we found ourselves in.  I was appalled by it… I still am.

The Judge said:

“I am really sorry about this…. I tried, I really did… I lost sleep over this last night…. I looked everywhere. I spent hours going through the cases, trying to find some way…. some precedence,  that would give some way…. any way at all…… that would allow me to do this for you. I want to grant your motion and Vacate the Judgement for you, but I just can’t , my hands are tied… I just don’t see any way I can do this for you.  I’d really like to help you out here, and it’s not for lack of trying on my part — Its just the law is clear on it. Small Claims is different. Please give your boss (John McDonough) my regards and tell him how sorry I am. I  wish I could have done this for him.”

 

Motion Denied/blockquote>

I paraphrased the Judges words, but its very close to what he said and it makes me sick. I had no idea. I thought Judges had to behave and act impartially. This Judge didn’t EVEN pretend to be impartial. He told a huge courtroom full of people that:

looking for a way to find in the CHP’s favor, had literally kept him up at night.

He hadn’t even heard the case.

 

Now it all becomes clear why the CHP was willing to use any grounds just to get back in front of a Judge… Maybe any Judge… or maybe they hand picked the court for this particular Judge. It doesn’t matter. (If they did it once they can do it again.)  What matters is this: The actual merits of the case are unimportant. The CHP was right, I should never have won my case.   They can mistreat you, take your money, falsify reports…. and they don’t have to face any consequences. Because those unfair laws on the books that allow them to do so many things that are clearly wrong, are upheld in court.

 

The most amazing thing, was this particular Judge wasn’t even concerned with propriety. He didn’t see any reason to hide the fact that he wasn’t impartial, or that the deck was stacked and the system rigged.  I call that ALARMING!!
IS THIS COMMON KNOWLEDGE?  Is this the way it works?  It sure isn’t what I learned in civics class, about how government is supposed to behave. It makes me sick, that this stuff goes on and they are so comfortable with it, that they don’t even try to hide it.

The MESSAGE WAS CLEAR:  The facts or merits of the case are not important.

The California Highway Patrol doesn’t just think they are above the law, they are above the law.

 

When we got to the lobby I asked Mr. Frost:

“So… NOW are you going to pay me?”

 

“Oh… haven’t you heard? The State of California’s broke… we don’t have any money.”

 

You have yourself a real nice drive back to Sacramento!

 

I have realized that you will want to know if and how I got paid.  They CHP pulled a couple more small stunts on us.  8 more months went by… and I am going to have to do one more short post to to finish the story. Sorry… I’m ready to be done with it too.

 

thank you  for reading