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episode 52 season 1
Todays show is about my first courtroom experience and the people I shared this with. I was by proxy along for the ride.
Welcome back to Valerie’s Variety Podcast with your host me, Valerie Moss this show is about ReViews, InterViews and my Daily Views. It’s a story podcast about my life in Calgary, WhatEVER | WhenEVER. the Show drops every Tuesday.
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First, I stood inline to fill out the Affidavit (positively being watched on the high security in the courthouse) I had to swear on a Bible to ensure I was documenting the truth. While standing in line I witnessed all kinds of people suing all kinds of other people who weren’t there. Renters suing Landlords, Landlords suing tenants for skipping on rent. Business owners suing developers. People standing nervous at the window and not knowing how to fill out the documentation (like myself) properly. It’s stressful, you’re watching busy people going here and there.
On the glass on the wickets there’s the usual barrage of signs saying ‘new hours’ but it’s dated 2015….How long do you display a new notice for…3 years – also rudeness won’t be tolerated? The signs are peeling up slightly and obviously old. The people working behind the counter are dressed so casually, not really really weekend attire but more casual then you’d expect from working as a clerk in a courthouse. they are helpful however they don’t sound like they know why you have to fill out things just that you do. There’s no depth to the answers they are canned and repeated over and over day after day…
Then you wait for the next step something comes in the mail.
We sat in the conference call, the next point to this civil court case. The judge, a women had no patience for the lack of organization shown. The original person who started this process is no longer available and so I was granted the task. .I have no history with the story besides people telling me the story. I request to be excused by the Judge and she…carries on to discuss the matters with the other knowledgeable parties I’m sitting with. We get our hands slapped. The judge is not interested in the adjustment in the people thus causing us not to appear in court when scheduled a month or so prior to this conference call…and therefore the counter claim is adhered to by default.
So this means that we sued a client who didn’t pay his bill, we plaintiff failed to appear in court on said day. So we have to sit in this conference call with claimant and ‘not happy’ judge. She’s tough and scolds us for our lack of consideration and wasting the courts time. The judge asks us to get in touch with claimant directly. Who is also on the phone witnessing us get lectured by the judge – he gets this front row seat. She, the judge asks that we settle this outside of the courts time. We end the conversation likely after she does…sit and ponder this for a moment, then proceed to call the claimant – in short that did not go smooth either. This is all before noon on a Friday.UGH.
So we wait for the next court date to get granted – and we finally appear in court on time ahead of schedule and was…it shows the whole listing on the screen outside the courtroom. There’s a few parties along with us. We see a few people waiting amongst us at the small benches but not the claimant. If you have a court date to appear in court you need to be there or by default the party who doesn’t appear loses. So…we all head into court together, the clerk – in attire similar to the judges greets us all 1 x 1.
The courtroom is like you see in th movies, its oak, the judge is sitting up higher then the rest of the room slightly. The clerk is the next level down with computers and chairs and a large wide desk. Then there’s a witness box to the right while facing the judge. There’s a podium directly in front of us in the exact center of the room with microphone. it’s quiet in there, the clerk puts us at ease by engaging us for specific questions. There’s signs everywhere saying ‘you are being recorded’ and ‘ these microphones are live’ out group is nervous – well some of our are. The other groups are also nervous or slightly antsy.
We are sitting in the very front row where the public sits. We will be last as our is classified more like a trial. The other two parties there – will be first.
Case 1
Landlord versus tenant – the Tenant appears but the Landlord doesn’t show. This man is requested to come up an stand in the witness box. He’s quiet spoken. The clerk requests him to swear on whichever ‘bible’ he chooses – he chooses the Koran. The clerk is fumbled because she doesn’t have a ‘swear’ script for the Koran – the judge assists her with this lack of preparedness and ensures she can use whatever ‘swear’ script is available. The Tenant swears and this case proceeds.
The Tenant is suing the landlord for not providing enough notice to move?
The case is in favour of the tenant and the judge does the math outloud and lays it all our- the tenant is happy and the case is closed.
Case 2
Business Owner Suing Client
This business owner is approx. 30-35 years old, he’s well prepared with all sorts of bank statements. Letters of promise, calendar entries in the bank etc – a whole mittful of paperwork. His story goes like this…this company was hired to fly-out to assist in helping Saskatchewan during the fire season with a crew, plane and supplies equipment. This crew was from Calgary and they needed to fly up north in SASK to assist in putting out forest fires. Business owner was out of pocket said money and proved by contracts, bank statements etc. The company that hired them said he’d pay for all mentioned above and signed contracts etc. The business owner had EFTs sent to him consecutively every two weeks except the last two promised payments. This is what he was suing for plus the judge granted some payment for the pain in the ass expenses.
the Judge ruled in his favour and submitted the documents.
Case 3
Our case, the claimant didn’t show up…we were granted in favour. I’m not going to disclose our case as I work for this company and to protect their privacy I’ll leave it out.
Then fast forward appeared in the courtroom with said someone…this is the first time I’ve ever been in a courtroom. I LOVED it however was nervous and had anxiety but still my first time was pretty cool, have you been in a courtroom? If you have tell me your story.