The best argument

Sun April 18, 2021

I have spent the day, from first getting up in the morning to maybe around 9:30, 10 this evening working on my presentation for my court hearing on Tuesday about the gazebo.  The gazebo, you ask?  If you were following the saga of Lorraine takes landlord’s agent to court you would know that I was given written permission to place a gazebo in the yard in front of my home as per my lease’s directive.  Then two weeks later the permission was rescinded.  That was definitely not nice.  In the process, agent, landlord approval sought my eviction.  In the meantime Covid 19 made its appearance and the courts were closed.

The courts slowly reopened in stages.  First came the eviction case.  I sought a motion to continue, to which I asked if the eviction could be held off till my gazebo case was heard because one of the complaints was about the gazebo and my garden.  It was denied.  Eviction in Maine and most states starts with a summary proceeding in which you will, most likely, be evicted.  Truly, the set up is one in which you don’t know who will testify against you; the only evidence you’re allowed to offer is your spoken testimony; your documents will not be applied.  You are a sitting duck accused by a slew of people who are double-crossing you and you are totally crushed by the venom pointed at you when your turn comes to testify.  It’s a bad situation; even most tenants with lawyers have a slim chance.  It’s a landlord’s court.  From there one moves on to a real trial with a jury, that is if you’ve got a legitimate case.  I was lucky that the judge in my summary proceeding, toward the end of the trial, issued a procedural order which allowed me to remove the case to federal court. There I obtained a favorable ruling that would help me with the eviction and gazebo case, but the case was remanded to the eviction court to make final decision.  I won.

I find myself picking up the gazebo case at this point.  What I lack in legal acumen I make up for with evidence.  Both judges in eviction and fed case commented about all the documents I they were handed with, Over a hundred, said the fed judge.  The hearing on Tuesday is a pretrial conference in which the judge is looking to look at the motions both parties made for a summary judgment in which the facts presented are able to settle the case.  The judge wants to settle this and avoid the trial.  I have a half hour to make my presentation.  Hopefully I have the best argument

.The favorite essay this past month has been Milgram Experiment