TTSOML #97: Offers Of $40,000 Pay-Out

The Abbey was unable to shake me as quickly as they thought they might. My case was going through, in Marion county. Some things were being dismissed, but not everything, and besides which, it was taking over a year and costing them money. If I continued to put up the fight I was giving them, it could cost them a lot more. Not to mention, I told them I had the handwritten letters from Br. Ansgar and emails with threats expressed. I also had proof I was being singled out by police for harassment when I wasn't doing anything wrong.

I started the defamation case in Multnomah county as well. After my first hearing, although I lost a significant point I shouldn't have lost, I presented myself well, and to a packed house. The courtroom was full. After the hearing, I was approached by the WW attorneys who said he wanted to talk to me and work something out. Then I burst into tears and he changed his mind. I think he observed I might be close to "cracking" and wasn't holding up as well as I put on for show, to the entire audience in the courtroom.

In the meantime, I was talking to Christa and she was asking me how much I'd settle for. I initially said maybe $40,000 and it would have been less before, but now it was taking up more of my time, and college. All of a sudden, out of the blue, I was approached by a young attorney when I was studying legal books at Lewis & Clark Law Library.

I didn't assume anything at the time, but I later discovered, from my research, that this guy was from the same law class as John Kaempf. They'd gone to law school at Lewis & Clark Law College together. Same year.

This guy said he wanted to help me and might be willing to take my case if I was interested in settling. He thought $40,000 sounded reasonable. I ran into him, one day, at the courthouse, reading through my file. I had decided, without telling anyone, that I was going to look through my file myself and make sure everything was there. This was in Multnomah county.

I had overheard John Kaempf telling the WW lawyers and other attorneys for my case that he would "take care of everything". If anyone was the ringleader, it was Kaempf. Whittemore was right there backing him, but after I had added Whittemore to my claim for defamation, he was sort of out of the technical loop, though I'm sure still involved behind the scenes.

So this guy got information from me, wanting to know what I had on them. I told him a bit but told him I didn't reveal to everyone what I had. I invited him to my apartment, to look through some of my file. He wanted a copy of my file and of my evidence, and of the emails from the monks but I didn't want to hand this out. I told him I would let him look at some of the emails from the monks, at my house, if he wanted to come over.

So he came over. I ordered pizza and Chianti. I was probably visibly buzzed after half a glass. I remember finding my filing slip receipt which showed the exact date I filed my claims. I held it up and said, "Oh look! this brings back memories!" It had some sentimental value. The day I took my abusers to court, all by myself. This lawyer looked very uncomfortable. I was already somewhat suspicious about him, wondering if he was sent by someone, but I actually left him in my apartment while I went to get pizza. I figured he didn't know if I had a camera or not and that he probably wouldn't dare do anything while I was gone for a few minutes.

When I came back, he was still reading the emails and letters. It was clear he knew they were somewhat important. It was the same reaction I'd received from the Archdiocese lawyer who took my case. Sort of first trying to argue with me that the emails meant something else, and then realizing they weren't going to convince me otherwise, and neither would anyone else be convinced by their interpretation. They were fairly clear cut and showed I was telling the truth about everything in my claims.

I had a fucking good case and I wrote a fucking good complaint. Twice. And they knew it. There was a chance, if they couldn't get me down, as they hadn't been able to do, that something would get pushed through. If the evidence started coming out, they were going to lose and they knew it. I knew it, or I wouldn't have had confidence to file it myself in the first place.

So he says, with a weighted down sigh, that he's going to think about it and get back to me. He was Italian and Catholic. I didn't care. I wanted to see where he was coming from and what his angle was. His attempt to get information out of me was also a way for me to gain information about who was involved in all of this. So, if he was on their side, I figured I'd find out.

And I did.

He called me up and said he would work for me if I could agree to a $40,000 settlement. He said he thought he wouldn't have a problem with this. He said he wanted to meet me for coffee and had something to discuss with me in person. So I met him for coffee at the Starbucks near Terwilliger.

By this time I knew Christa was somehow involved. She had told me about a connection to Whittemore after the WW article came out, and too many things were leaked. I started testing my theory. I told her all about my contacts with this young lawyer, whose name I've written down somewhere but can't remember off the top of my head right this moment.

He tells me he wants to take my case but that he wants to change one of my legal theories with regards to my claim filed about the Abbey in Salem, Oregon. He went on and on about how he thought it would work better with the judge. I didn't just take his word for it, although I pretended to be in agreement. I also kept my mouth shut, and didn't say anything to Christa about my reservations and concerns about changing the legal theory. Instead, I told her, I thought it was a good idea and that I might use it. Then, I went to the law library and did the case law research myself. What I discovered, was that it was a surefire way to lose my entire case. There was already precedent with regard to the legal theory and I would lose everything if I took it. I'll come back to this post at some point and elaborate on the details.

So I found out it would be unwise, but I didn't tell anyone, not ONE person, what I knew. I kept it to myself. I told this young attorney that I'd changed my mind about the $40,000 though, and that I was thinking $60,000 came closer to the mark. He seemed upset by this, as did Christa, and then all bets were off. But I think they thought I was going to change my legal theory on my own even if I didn't have a lawyer helping me.

It went to the next hearing. John Kaemp was standing there, before the judge, and made mention to his Honor, about how my theory didn't "work" but maybe if I were using this other theory it would have held up, but I didn't use the other theory. Keampf was trying to psych me into changing my legal theory on the spot to match what he thought I would think fit better or would fly. Kaempf looked over at me and I looked straight ahead at the judge and said something about "actually, your Honor, the case law already shows..." and I explained to the judge how Kaempf was wrong and described in detail what the case law was and how this theory wouldn't hold up and would fail and how my original theory was correct. I still remember Kaempf, hands down, looking at me with shock. He completely forgot himself and his composure. He had no idea what was coming and that I'd done the research on this and formed my opinion. Probably, because he was getting info from Christa and she was telling them I was buying the whole thing.

But I shot it down. After that hearing, Kaempf just stared as I gathered my things, and walked out the door. I actually won that hearing. I made points, and I got what I needed to move forward. The problem was, I didn't realize they were throwing my case and every other case into the big Archdiocese Bankruptcy melting pot. I would never have a chance to prove what I knew and win my case.

After this, Christa seemed mad at me. I had a lot of comments about the number "40" after that. I don't know how to explain, but so many references, because they withdrew their idea of settling with me. I did tell Christa, at one point, how maybe I should have taken the $40,000 (the other attorney offered this and said a confidentiality agreement would be required, that I not write about everything, but he'd handle things). When things fell apart with my cases, because I became inexplicably physically ill and couldn't keep up, random people kept bringing up this $40,000 and $40 this and that, and made inuendos. It was sort of a way to rub it in, I think, but although I noticed, it didn't get to me.

People tried to play mind games. They wanted me to make the connections that were there, but sound nutty if I tried to explain it to anyone else.

They were destined to lose and to get ahead, they played foul. I directly turned down an offer of $40,000 in exchange for my silence. They weren't very happy about it. I was proceeding with the lawsuits and they knew I had shit on them.

I also knew, after that, that Kaempf had contact with Christa and this other lawyer. He didn't just come up with this remote and obscure legal theory on his own. He was trying to play into what he thought I was already thinking. They were trying to mix me up and confuse me and persuade me to take a legal theory which would bring my whole case down. I didn't fall for it, and instead, I got the information I was looking for.

There was a connection between these parties and I knew it. I still had questions about Christa, but they were eventually answered. And then that's when my computer stuff and everything else got bad.