Public Embarrassment

(Years ago, my wife and I were sued for a significant sum. We messed up some things, they messed up some things, and the whole matter was dropped. We had one hearing with a judge. Frankly, the guy was a… jerk. Not long after, I was talking about the hearing to a friend of ours who helped people with legal problems “fighting the system.”)

Me: “Do you know [Judge]? We had a hearing with him recently. When we got there, the lights were off in the court, and after hunting around, we found his office and his secretary told us that the hearing was in the judge’s office.”

Friend: “Oh, yeah, that’s his standard procedure.”

Me: “But aren’t these hearings supposed to be public?”

Friend: “Yes, they are. You’re going to love this. I had a hearing with him and got the same thing. I told him that this hearing was supposed to be public. He said to me, ‘This IS public.’ I said, ‘You mean this office?’ He said yes and we continued the hearing. After it was over and I was leaving, I thought, ‘Heyyy! wait a minute!’ and I headed back to his office. I went past his secretary who tried to stop me. When I got in there he tried to throw me out of the next hearing. I told him that he had just said that this office was public. He was furious. I stayed a little while, then left.”

(Having a crazy friend is fun sometimes. The same friend once stopped a cop car for having a broken light, and another time managed to get the county sheriff’s office to come down on a major bank because they refused a warrant of payment. In that case, they were trying to follow their own internal rules instead of the law and in the process committed a crime. Oh, and as for the judge, he was off the bench not long after the incidents.)