TTSOML #74: My Research Efforts Pay Off

I had read an entire legal book about torts in Oregon, and statutes, and I also read one about Section 1983. I always read stuff on my own to be sure what someone was telling me was right.

Because everyone makes mistakes and even experts do, and sometimes, the experts, at least in my case, might have an agenda. I already knew what lengths had been gone to to intimidate and threaten me, and then write an article about me, and I knew they didn't want that getting out.

So I had been doing some reading myself. However, I'd never looked at a legal complaint before in my life and didn't know how to write one.

So I decided to call Slader and Gatti's office to see if they'd fax me a copy of a complaint and they refused. I then asked them if they would tell me a number for one of their cases which was already filed at a courthouse and then I'd use the number to request a copy from the courthouse. No one would even give me a number so I called the courthouse and a clerk looked some things up for me. So I went to the courthouse and tried to request a copy. Everyone knew I was trying to do this, and I first went to Salem to try to get a copy of one of Gatti's cases and the presiding judge had them checked out and wouldn't release them. So I went to the Multnomah county courthouse and got samples of Slader's work. I may have also somehow obtained one of Gatti's files there too. I believe I had samples from both lawyers.

I studied the complaints and also read up on how to write a complaint, to include only the facts necessary and so it "held up" against an automatic dismissal.

I had to have everything numbered though, and in a certain format and I didn't have this. I typed out a draft on my computer and printed it out, just a couple of days before the statutes expired. I had only something like one day left, and I didn't have it in proper format. I tried to do it on my computer and couldn't get it right. So I called some random lawyers again, and they recommended I go to a library, law office, or someplace that had the software for the draft. At the last minute someone recommended the Lewis & Clark Law School Library. So I didn't tell anyone where I was going, and I raced over there, and the librarians were not going to let me use the program, but I pleaded with them, and tried to be persuasive. They said no. I sat down and was stressed out when a law student asked what was going on. I told him what I was tryiing to do and he said I could do it on his computer--however it didn't work, so then he showed me where the computer lab was and walked me over there and had me sit down to draft my complaint. His name was Adam Segovia (pretty sure Segovia is the name but I'll double-check it--he had a mother who was Mexican and his father was white and worked in Naval intelligence). Yes, it was Segovia, because I remember thinking what an artistic name it was.

After I was already started, rearranging everything as I went along (even doing full-on cut and paste on the spur of the moment), a librarian came in to kick me off. I pleaded with her and they decided to allow me to finish.

So I finished, printed out my copies, and I did it in time, just before closing. I then had to file it on time and serve everyone.

I had decided to use the $1,000 for filing and service fees.