Monday, February 16, 2009

My Town Monday: COURT!!!



This is the first San Diego Courthouse. Well, actually it's a replica. The original was built in 1847, but burned in the Old Town fire of 1872. You can visit this replica courthouse for free at Old Town Historic Park. It's open daily, 10-5. Seriously, if you are EVER in San Diego, you want to visit Old Town for shopping, eating, gazing. You'll get a sense of what the town square was like back in the 1800s.




In more RECENT news, this is the courthouse DH and I went to for our Small Claims case against the Twenty-Two-Year-Old-Who-Totaled-DH's-Car-And-Lied-About-Running-The-Red-Light.

It was our first time in Small Claims court. I basically went in the role of supportive wife. And mystery writer. And nosey citizen. And annoyed citizen that a liar could perjure herself and might actually get away with it. And, still, I was a bundle of nerves.

Here are my thoughts about the experience. There is A LOT of tension in Small Claims Court. A lot. It's like the entire courtroom is saran-wrapped in it. There is A LOT of lying going on Small Claims court. Enough to give you a stomach ache. Your best bet to prepare your statement ahead of time. Be succinct and articulate. The lawyer-Acting-As-Judge hears a TON of cases in a day, so make your case easy on the ears. Take the time to prepare some evidence, too.

Also, if you ever need story ideas, go hang out in Small Claims Court. The place is rife with them.

DH put together a binder with his statement, her statement, photos I took of the intersection and more. Yes, yes, he included those photos I took of the damage to her car when I played Sherlock Holmes and snuck over to her apartment building. Those photos may even have clinched the case because DH used them to show how her running a red light was the only way to explain the damage to both cars.

This is where the winners go to celebrate with a coffee and a hot dog. Yes! We won! JUSTICE PREVAILED!

Now that you've heard my good news, please trundle over to Travis Erwin's blog. He's our Fearless Leader for My Town Mondays. Along with his own MTM, he'll have a list of participants.

EDITED TO ADD ANSWER TO BINA OF JUST ANOTHER DAY'S QUESTION: How did the Twenty-Two-Year-Old-Who-Totaled-DH's-Car-And-Lied-About-Running-The-Red-Light react to the verdict?

short answer: I don't know.

long answer: The lawyer-judge (because in Small Claims Court your "judge" is a lawyer with 10+ years experience) listened to DH's side, listened to the other side, asked a bunch of questions, then said she needed to think about it some more and we'd get the verdict IN THE MAIL! Seriously! We sat through FIVE cases before ours. And no one breathed anything about verdicts coming via the postman. Anyway, the Twenty-Two-Year-Old questioned the mail thing. The lawyer-judge said again (somewhat snappishly) that she needed more time to render a decision.

And, honestly? I think it was at THAT second the Twenty-Two-Year-Old suddenly realized that repeating "It's just his word against mine" and looking smary might not cut it.

In terms of payment: She did have liability. So, Geico will send us a check for the value of DH's car, the towing charges, the cost of a rental car and the court costs. In fact, they cut the check yesterday. So, perhaps we'll receive it today. When the postman knocks....for the second time. :) Ha!



sources:
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/societies/firstcourthouse/
my life

38 comments:

  1. What a relief!

    And, what a great idea for a blog! "Hanging out in Court...."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on winning the case. The judge must have known that you had Sherry Baldwin on your side.

    Incidentally, I watched your trailer. Very cool. You'll have to give us the inside scoop on how it all came together as a blog entry. You haven't already, have you?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, thank you for watching the trailer. I've watched it myself...A COUPLE OF TIMES! :) Hmm...no I've never done a blog post on it....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Way to go, Sherlock!
    Congratulations - and how nice to know the good guys win a few.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barrie Sherlock to the rescue!

    Congrats on winning the case!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations on a good job of research, preparation, and delivery... because those are the basics of success in court.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats on the win. What a great idea for a post, "My Town Mondays."

    thanks for visiting the blog today.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you won your case!!

    And I loved tension "like the entire courtroom is saran wrapped in it".. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats! Those young things who think they can lie themselves out of any situation probably had a lot of practice at home.

    Sitting in court as prep for a story or getting ideas sounds like a blast. Might be why court shows are so popular on daytime TV.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm your newest stalker and I am off to amazon this second to buy your book! I'll be back to read in a minute (read in a day or two) when I have a second!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations on winning your court case, Barrie, but couldn't you and your husband have celebrated in one of the restaurants at Old Town? Surely, your win was worth more than a hot dog!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Teresa, two words:
    No time. :)

    seriously, we had to rush home for the kids getting out of school. But we did have celebration/Valentine's Day sushi this weekend. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations. So glad the young thing didn't get away with it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm so glad you won! You all did your homework perfectly!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Preparedness is essential in dealing with the State. I like the original courthouse better although justice would have been harder to come by in there.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Preparedness is essential in dealing with the State. I like the original courthouse better although justice would have been harder to come by in there.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice job! Don't you feel good about it? You won, fair and square and the law triumphed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Congratulations! It is always nice to hear that justice prevailed!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good for you, Barrie. I hope that
    Twenty-Two-Year-Old-Who-Totaled-DH's-Car-And-Lied-About-Running-The-Red-Light becomes Twenty-Two Year Old... Who Pays!
    I'm glad you and your husband got to celebrate in style. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. That's awesome you won! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congrats. Great to know truth can prevail.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So smart of you to take those pictures! I'm so glad that you won.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Liberty coffee and hotdogs...God bless America!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Congratulations on winning, Barrie. Sometimes justice is served, in this case, with coffee and hot dogs!

    Linda / Lyndi

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's amazing how few people even seem to have a passing familiarity with the idea of truth

    ReplyDelete
  26. Barrie, it's always good to be prepared when going to court to present a case. Your hard work paid off.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Glad to hear you won! You guys went very well prepared, which is key.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Yeah! I've been waiting to hear the outcome. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  29. This is life imitating art when before it was art imitating life ... Sherry Holmes, great work. What a role model you are to your kids. Stand up for yer rights!

    ReplyDelete
  30. how did you shrink the book trailer video to fit in the side panel? Cool!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I've learned so much! I just hope it's knowledge I'll never have to use. And by the by, I've actually been to Historic San Diego! Finally!! The kids and I really enjoyed it, especially, of course, the old fashioned candy.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Now Barrie. I am GLAD you won and I had no doubt you would, but you have to tell us how the girl reacted and what she has to do. Pay for the damage and then some? How long does she have to pay? Was she mad? WHAT!!!! I need details!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Bina: You always ask such great questions! I edited the post to answer this one. :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Archavist: I changed the width to 210" and the height to 181" in both places in the code. Because that is what PJ Hoover (http://pjhoover.blogspot.com/) told me to do. She's uber smart.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Woo Hoo! I am SO happy for you guys! See, justice did prevail!

    ReplyDelete
  36. What a story! Perhaps I SHOULD be hanging around small claims courts.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Holy Moley... if I ever find myself in such a predicament I may ask you for advice... it's amazing the dishonesty that goes on in our legal system... I'm gleefully ignorant (for the most part) until it happens to me!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Victory in small claims! Good for you and DH. I hope Geico comes through with a humongo check and that TTYOWTDHCALARTRL has learned some valuable life lessons about truth and smarminess.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are always welcome!