Monday, Apr. 12, 2004
Lawyer visit, posted at 5:42 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com So met with a lawyer today about the lawsuit regarding the lying man who is suing me.By the way, if you're unclear about what happened, man who is suing me entered my backyard without permission or reason in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 22, 2003. He made a great deal of noise, banging on the outside of the house and yelling and provoking the dogs inside and down the block to bark loudly. My housemate opened the door, holding onto his dog and accidentally letting my dog, Holden, outside. Holden chased man who is suing me and jumped on him. man who is suing me was not invited into the yard, nor did he knock on the front door. He was deep in the backyard, out of view of his colleague and at least 50 feet from the trash pickup area. In the previous months, city workers have approached the back deck in order to obtain bribes.
man who is suing me acted in a belligerent manner upon entering the yard without permission or reason, banging on the house and yelling. He provoked the dogs into barking. A reasonable person acting responsibly would have knocked on the front door if he needed a response from residents of the home.
Holden has no propensity for violence, has never bit anyone before, and is actually a very genial, friendly dog. Doctor reports show no skin breakage because of the "bite." man who is suing me shouldn't have been in the yard. I was out of the city when said incident occurred. And, the unethical personal injury lawyer who is representing him has shown no effort in returning calls (5 calls to him, none returned) or resolving this amicably. I don't think he deserves a penny, but I'd settle just to avoid court.
And, to top it all off, man who is suing me (if you didn't check the link) is a crackhouse owner who owes the city $25,000 in back taxes and fines for his properties and was sentenced to six months in jail for his actions last year.
Anyhow, I visited a lawyer today. Went alright. Nice guy. He won't take my case, though, as it would cost me $2500 and he would feel bad about taking my money. You see, he wouldn't ever half-ass any case (his words, which is one reason I liked him), so he would put hours and hours into it and win it, but he wouldn't want to take the money of a poor teacher.
Despite the news, I left the meeting feeling good. He scoffed at the guy's claims, and told me he would have been embarrassed to be the other lawyer and go to court with the facts he has. Medical records show the guy wasn't even bitten, and it was clearly a nuisance lawsuit. He doesn't think the guy has a chance at all, and says that even if I lose, I can appeal pretty easily. He even recommended that I represent myself if I couldn't find a free or cheap lawyer, which I might do because, from the sounds of things, a lawyer might cost me a ton of money that I certainly don't have. I'm still trying to afford prescription goggles so I can coach baseball without the omnipresent fear of a baseball to the eyes permanently blinding me. Keeping my sight is worth more than $10,000. I've got one lead with a friend of a friend's sister that might work out, a "nice guy" who was told by the friend's sister about my case and would be willing to take it on perhaps and would meet with me on my schedule, which right now with school and baseball starting up again tomorrow is basically jam-packed from 5am until 7pm every day. I hope it works out.
I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. The trial is May 6.