Stood up by the Judge
June 05, 2008
Now that George Clooney and his girlfriend have gone separate ways, it seems to me that it would be easier to arrange a date with him (for myself, of course) than with a county judge. I doubt George would stand me up as much as the judges have been doing over the past SEVEN months.
November, 30, 2007: Filed a “Motion to Enforce Property and Support Settlement Agreement” because mr. ex had been continually harassing me, not paying his share of the bills, not buying food for his daughters, and obstructing the sale of the home.
February 8, 2008: Court date assigned to hear the motion. On the day before the hearing, Mr. Lawyer said that I, surprise surprise, got a judge who he considers inconsistent and feared that he wouldn’t see the logic of my case, since this judge's logic wasn’t observed by many. Okay. If, from your twenty years of experience, you offer me that advice, I’ll go with it. He stated, ever so confidently, we’ll get another date in a week or so. His years of experience didn’t enable him to foresee that he has a special client on his hands for whom that cancellation would cause events—dates—to spiral months into the future without having a hearing.
February 22: There I am, in the courtroom of the judge who had told my lawyer that he wants to hear the case and that it can be done in a half-hour. But no, I guess he was in a special mood that day, because the judge decided that, oh no, this case is too involved for a mere thirty minutes, we need the family court special: three hours devoted to the trials and tribulations of our situation. How special I felt. Did I say that mr. ex called Mr. Lawyer a liar in court? With his thirty seconds to stand up and say something he managed to sully the dignity of the place, and really piss off my lawyer. Lovely,all lovely. Whose divorce is this: mine, or my lawyer and mr. ex’s?
New papers had to be filed, because, well, that’s the way things go.
April 17: Lovely, lovely April day to see the judge. The date was written on pieces of paper; days off of work were taken; a suitable outfit was picked out; three sets of copies of months of supermarket receipts were made to prove that, indeed, I am buying food for my daughters; three copies of the bills I had paid with nary a 50% from him were made to prove that, yes, I am an upstanding woman of the world BUT some careless clerk or clumsy judge forgot to write my name on the big fancy Docket Diary and so there was no courtroom, no judge--no one to hear my case even in a hallway. There was nothing for me to do but go back to the bathroom and throw up in aggravation and angst.
April 27: An order was entered in the court to close the case. On April 17 mr. ex managed to see a judge and, supposedly, told him that I had not shown up, that my lawyer had not shown up, and so the case should be closed. I mean really, the nerve of that woman to file a motion and then not show up even though she filed the suit and the case is not listed on the docket and there is no sign-in sheet. Judge, dear, dear Judge saw reason in what the man said, and, without consulting my lawyer, and with a stroke of his fancy pen signed case closed.
May: Filed a “Motion to Reconsider” in the beginning of May. This five-page document includes such legal phrases as: due process, deprivation of property, opportunity for hearing, order adversely affects Plaintiff’s rights to life, liberty and property without due process of law, denied access to the courts to have a merit adjudication, and miscarriage of justice. Let’s see if the judge can see through all of those words to say: Yes, we made a mistake, sorry, let’s hear your case now.
May 23: My lawyer said that this was the date, then, about a week later he said, no the date is May 30th.
May 30: After having known of this date for more than two weeks, mr. ex suddenly says that he can’t make it. Mr. Lawyer (who is still under the impression that the earth is round and revolves around the sun, in other words, that things are logical) said that the judge will probably hear us on that date and mr. ex will have to participate via phone. Sure. Needless to say, the judge cancelled the date a week prior and rescheduled.
June 6: Oops, on June 3 the judge decided that he just can’t make it this date. Is it golf season? Did mr. ex call again explaining his busy schedule? I’m still taking the day off. You will find me with a big box of Whoppers watching the earliest showing of Sex and the City. After that, maybe I’ll get a band-aid (go shopping, I mean).
June 20: The new date, for which I have few expectations because this court date is not even to consider that he has cursed me, has not paid upkeep of the home, has threatened to kill people, has not paid to fix the air conditioner which he guards at 65 degrees, has steadfastly refused to lower the price of the home even though it has been on the market for a year now, and has embittered the life of she who has sought the help of the system, not to mention his daughters who get no break from the tensions. No, this new and improved date is just to see if the court will open the file which it closed because it didn’t properly schedule the April 17th court date. Who knows what will happen even if they decide to rectify their mistake; it’s almost summer, it’s almost time to golf round the court calendar.
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