Ted doubts it. We read the email from the Congressman's office as we discuss the topic "The Merits vs. The Procedure". Ray is back with outrageous news about the complete lack of proper process in her child dependency case, on which ADA advocate took very careful notes. Kudos to Dreama for getting protest on the news, as she is gaining revolve on trying to achieve remedy for the bribery and corruption in her child welfare case.
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My argument is strong. Why can't I get it in front of the judge?
Hello world. I'm Alex Baker, your legal expert. Still held hostage on Planet Family Court. Welcome to another Ask Alex.
Today's episode. The Merits versus the Procedure. If there is one concept that I can get across that will help you try to untangle and move forward in your own legal quagmire, it is this.
Separate out in your mind the MERITS of your case from the PROCEDURE in your case. Over and over again, I see people with a good case get screwed over in court, not because they don't have a good case, but because they get beaten by the process.
The MERITS, you already know, more or less. The mertis are your facts and your arguments as to why you should get the Court Order that you want.
The PROCEDURE is what motions you have to bring, or what responses to their motions that you have to file, that will get your issues into the judge's mind. And the procedure comes first. The procedure is a set of obstacles they put up. It's the hoops that you have to jump through, just to get to a trial, or an evidentiary hearing. You want to get to the MERITS right away, but unfortunately, in our wonderful corrupt court system, it doesn't work that way.
What you need to do is start with the result you want to achieve, and work backwards. Maybe you want a particular Court Order. If so, begin by writing a proposed order. Maybe you want the D A to file criminal charges. Maybe you want Congress to launch an investigation into something. You're going to need to make an argument that reaches the conclusion that you want the judge, or the D A, or the Congressperson to reach.
But whatever your goal, if it involves the government, then they have set up a procedure that you have to go through. Procedure comes first, and they don't make it easy. They should, but they don't. And if you cant hack through the procedure, they won't consider the merits. They should, but they won't.
So that's the thought for the day. Separating out, in your mind, the MERITS from the PROCEDURE. Start with your goal, understand the merits of your argument, but then ask, OK, what's the procedure that I need to get there?
That is not to say that they can't screw you over even if you do everything procedurally correct. But at least they must deny you on the merits. Nothing is more frustrating, more humiliating, more awful than the realization that you have lost, and nobody even took you seriously. That's what we're trying prevent.
First up today, is my friend Mark Andrews, who has been trying to get California Congressman Mark DeSaulniers to launch an investigation into the corruption in his old Family Law child custody case, where the court accepted false allegations. Somehow that turned into a state licensing board issue, where Mark was improperly denied the hearing that the law requires, and to fix the thing, the Court ended up falsifying court transcripts, which is the basis of the request to get the Congressional Oversight and Reform Committee involved. He received an email from the Congressman a few days ago, and we're going to look at that in a few minutes, to see what kind of procedure we might need to go through.
Mark Andrews, welcome to Ask Alex. Take us back and tell the story about your daughter climbing the tree...