The May 9, 2012 Bench Trial

On May 9, 2012 I was once again at the Pekin Court house for the “Bench Trial.” I wasn’t sure what was going to transpire since I had requested a jury trial. Were we going to proceed with a jury trial and that morning begin the process of selecting a jury? Would the request for a jury trial be rejected and we proceed immediately into the bench trial?

Since I didn’t know the process, I was prepared to proceed immediately into a bench trial if that was the case. This time the lobby on this floor seemed to be almost deserted. We were inside the court room and beginning the process before the 10AM start time.

It didn’t take long. The judge said I had followed the procedure that he had previously explained that I was to follow and granted the request for a jury trial. The lawyer for the new Trustee attempted to argue otherwise. However, the judge quickly cut him off and asserted that the request for a jury trial was affirmed.

Therefore, the case was to move from his court room on the second floor to another judge and another court room located on the first floor. The attorney and I proceeded to the first floor to establish a date and time for a hearing on my motion to dismiss the case with prejudice. Speaking to the clerk of the judge, the lawyer also said he was going to object to the request for a jury trial.

A date and a time had to be established. The attorney attempted numerous times to reach his office by cell phone to determine what day and time was available based upon his current calendar. For whatever reason, he could not make contact with the office. He therefore agreed to a date that was over a month and a half into the future. The Motion Hearing was set for June 27, 2012 at 3:30PM.   

Payment of the Jury Trial Fee and a Motion

JOKE of the DAY:

From: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20120713/ab44f673-7a97-48c1-ad2c-a462aa30e974

“Obama: Romney, GOP ‘not serious’ about deficit

From Associated Press

July 13, 2012 1:47 PM EDT

“VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP)—President Barack Obama says if Mitt Romney and Republicans aren’t willing to let tax cuts lapse for the wealthiest Americans, they’re ‘not serious’ about deficit reduction.”

The President in office at the time of the greatest increase in the national debt in any one term is saying Republicans aren’t serious about deficit reduction!

—

April 30, 2012

I borrowed my church friend’s car once more and drove to Pekin to pay the jury trial fee. I had $212.50 in cash along with some extra money just in case.

The jury trial request was as follows:

To: The Honorable XXXX XXXXXX

Judge of the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit

Donald L. Vance

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

April 30, 2012

RE: Continuance order to May 9, 2012 at 10AM for the bench trial ….

XXXX XXXX XXXXX, Successor Trustee of the XXXXXX Living Trust

Plaintiff

     vs.

Donald Vance

      Defendant

Case No. XX-XX-XXX

Amount Claimed: Court Costs

Dear Judge XXXXXX:

I respectfully request that my scheduled bench trial on May 9, 2012 at 10AM be changed to a jury trial.

Respectfully submitted by:

Donald L. Vance

I also filed one motion at that time. The motion:

Motion for dismissal of court case XX-XX-XXX with prejudice

To: The Honorable XXXX XXXXXX

Judge of the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit

Donald L. Vance

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

April 30, 2012

RE: Continuance order to May 9, 2012 at 10AM for the bench trial ….

XXXX XXXX XXXXX, Successor Trustee of the XXXXXX Living Trust

Plaintiff

     vs.

Donald Vance

      Defendant

Case No. XX-XX-XXX

Amount Claimed: Court Costs

Dear Judge XXXXXX:

I respectfully submit a motion for dismissal of the Plaintiff’s claim with prejudice. The Plaintiff can not possibly prove the alleged claim of Paragraph 2 that “The Plaintiff, through its prior Trustee, allowed the Defendant to reside in the property described in Paragraph 1 without payment of any cash rent in exchange for providing personal services for XXXXXXX X XXXXXX.”

(I gave six reasons why the case should be dismissed. I will not list those reasons in this post.)

In conclusion, the Defendant asks for two immediate actions in relation to this motion.

1) The dismissal of court case XX-XX-XXX with prejudice.

2) The Defendant respectfully requests that Plaintiff be ordered to pay all Defendant court costs which at this time consists of $89.00 court filing fee and $212.50 for jury trial fee.

Respectfully submitted,

Donald L. Vance

(I have deleted the names of companies, individuals, and other information. This information will be part of my second book in my The Black Sword series of five books. I will include all information deleted in the book.)

Payment of the Fees and Response to the Eviction Complaint

On Monday, April 23, 2012, I once again borrowed my friend’s car and drove to the courthouse to respond in writing to the Complaint, to file a Jury Trial request, and pay the fees. During the discussion in the courtroom, the judge had said I had a choice of jury trials—one with 6 jurors or one with 12 jurors. The judge’s clerk had said that the 6-juror trial would cost an additional $12.50 and the 12-member juror trial would cost an additional $25.00. I decided to go with the 12-member juror trial. The clerk had also said the entry/filing fee would be $89.00. I brought cash for the $25.00 jury fee, the entry/filing fee, and an extra amount just in case.

However, I didn’t bring enough money. In the Clerk of the Court’s office, I was told that one could only have a 12-member jury trial. However, the cost for the jury trial was $212.50 not $25.00. I did not have enough money with me to pay that amount. I said I had been given incorrect information. She said it wasn’t incorrect information, it was just not the current information. I gathered the fee had been recently changed. I did not ask when since it made no difference.

I didn’t know if I wanted to pay $212.50 for a jury trial. That was a significant difference in cost. Since I had until May 1 to pay for the jury trial, I asked if I could pay the entry/filing fee now and return at a later date to pay for the jury trial. I was told that I could. I gave the employee a one-sheet page (shown below) with the required information along with the $89.00 entry/filing fee. Since I could not pay for a jury trial at that time, I crossed out the sentence beginning with “I respectfully request” and ending with “changed to a jury trial,” initialed the change, and concluded that transaction for that day.      

 The paper submitted:

To: The Honorable XXXX XXXXX

Judge of the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit

Donald L. Vance

XXXXXXXXXXX

April 23, 2012

RE: Continuance order to May 9, 2012 at 10AM for bench trial ….

XXX XXXXX XXXXXXX, Successor Trustee of the XXXXXXX Living Trust

     Plaintiff,

          vs.

Donald Vance

    Defendant

Case No. XX-XX-XXX

Amount Claimed: COURT COSTS

Dear Judge XXXXX

I respectfully request that my scheduled bench trial on May 9, 2012 at 10AM be changed to a jury trial.

As for the complaint filed by XXX XXXXX XXXXXXX, I respectfully submit that the allegations that I owe a debt to the XXXXXXX Family Living Trust and that I was “allowed to occupy the property by XXXXXXX [without the payment of any cash rent] … for purposes of providing personal assistance [services] to XXXXXXX “ are not true, factual, and/or logical. Therefore, I must humbly and respectfully deny both allegations.

Respectfully submitted by:

Donald L. Vance

(I have deleted names of companies, individuals, and other information. This information will be part of my second book in my The Black Sword series of five books. I will include all information deleted in the book.)

The Continuous Order for the Eviction Court Case

Sorry! Yesterday morning I had a painful accident. Still have some pain today. I don't have enough time to write three posts today (7/11/12). I should have a post for tomorrow.

My eviction notice called for me and my attorney to appear at the Tazewell County Court House—located in Pekin—room 202 on April 16, 2012 at 2:30PM. Since I didn’t have a lawyer and couldn’t afford one, I would be appearing alone.

Since I don’t have a car, I had to borrow the use of one, rent one, take a taxi from Morton to Pekin and back, or ask someone to chauffer me to and from. A friend from church offered the use of her car. I borrowed the car twice. Once for a dry run to make sure that I knew where the court building is and also where there was a good place to park. And once to actually make the court appearance.

The day of the court hearing, she picked me up about 1:45PM and drove back to her house which is located between Morton and Pekin. Once she entered her house, I drove to the Pekin court house. I found a decent parking place rather easily and was at room 202 by about 2:20PM.

A bailiff was seated in front of the corner court room (the door to the court room was closed) near the door and plaintiffs and defendants with and without lawyers informed the bailiff that they were present. After checking in, I sat in a chair (chairs lined the two sidewalls), opened a book I had brought with me, and began reading. There were numerous people who checked in during the following minutes. It seemed that several defendants failed to appear which I understood resulted in a default judgment for the plaintiff.

At about 2:40-2:45PM, the representative, who was also the attorney who wrote the original Trust Agreement, of the new Trustee met the clerk for the judge at a table located in the lobby across from the court room. After talking for a few minutes, they decided the time for the continuance order and trial and that the trial would be a bench trial. Then, I was called over by the lawyer to agree to their decisions.

I objected since I was not involved in the decisions reached. I first objected to the date selected which was May 9, 2012. I wasn’t going to agree to a date until I knew which day of the week it was. Some days were better than others in relation to borrowing the car from my friend. Since the 9^th was a Wednesday and good for her and me, I agreed to that date. Next, I objected to the bench trial stating that I wanted a jury trial.

That caused a problem. We would have to meet with the judge to discuss whether or not I would be granted a jury trial. By about 3:05PM the lobby had cleared out of all of the plaintiffs and defendants except for four people—who seemed to be one case,—the attorney representing the Trust, and me. Finally, we went into the court room to meet with the judge.

After some discussion, the following was decided:

“Continuous Order

By agreement of the parties, it is ordered: Matter is continued to May 9, 2012 at 10AM for bench trial and other appropriate proceedings.

Defendant shall pay the entry/filing fee to the Clerk of the Court or obtain the Court’s order waiving payment of the fee by May 1, 2012; if this deadline is missed, the Court may enter a default judgment, upon the ex parte request of the Plaintiff (without further notice or hearing); the Court’s denial of a request for waiver of fee shall not operate as an extension of the deadline (ergo, Defendant should apply for waiver of fee well in advance of the deadline).

All parties have been given a copy hereof in open court.

Defendant wants a jury trial. He shall file a Jury Trial request, pay filing fee, and respond in writing to the Complaint by 5-1-12.

Enter: 4-16-12”                    (The Continuance Order was signed by the Judge)

If I was going to file a Jury Trial request, I needed to pay two fees: The entry/filing fee and the Jury Trial fee.