It Has Been a Week

While there are probably many things I could blame for the decline of posting over the past several years, the biggest one has been DOB's succession of car accidents that not only threw everything into chaos, but meant any reference to them or their effects (which would have been every moment of every day) could become part of discovery in ongoing litigation. However, now that things are resolved it is easier to make posts about the day to day.

Which hasn't settled down all that much, though DOB is doing much better than he has in years. 

We started out this week pretty well. Duchess had been working at a camp and missed our annual summer trip to the beach, so she requested a family weekend there. Summer, which was conspicuously absent this June, decided to stay on an extra two months and we had two days of boogie boarding and s'mores on the beach, which we managed to accomplish all by ourselves without the collective skills and supplies of the extended family which we usually rely on. DOB has a three-wheeled electric scooter that rides a tight line between mobility device and off-road vehicle so he can get around on the beach.

After we arrived home on Monday, and I was at last enjoying that moment which all parents of large families know, in which it is finally *your turn* in the bathroom after a two and a half hour car ride, Deux came in and said in relatively calm tones that I was needed in the driveway immediately. Deux, who had been helping DOB finish unloading, is mathematically precise in all his speech, so I immediately emerged. While DOB was backing the scooter down the ramp off its hauler, the hinges on the ramp had given way. The scooter had flipped over sideways and DOB was dangling head downward over the side of the hauler, with his foot trapped under the scooter. He was conscious and able to move himself as much as might be expected for someone dangling in that position, so I decided the thing to do would be to get the scooter off his foot and get him out of there. Unfortunately, no means of doing this did not increase the pain in his foot. (Note: Do not try this at home. I am definitely not trained for this.) But leaving him dangling there while more competent help arrived also didn't sound like a great option. So I finally decided to go with what I could do and do it quickly. I tipped the scooter back up and DOB winced but we got him down to the ground and then upright and he was, astonishingly, still functional. Deux and I were able to lift the scooter down flat on the ground and DOB was able to park it. After several thorough checks from his various medical people, it seems that he sustained no serious damage either to brain or foot, which is amazing.

Anyway, then it was back to work on Tuesday. We are still working through the backlog of appointments and work that got sidelined during our trial last month. For me this includes several evictions that were filed during the trial and therefore I may or may not have reviewed as carefully as usually. Deadlines for evictions are different from normal civil practice, at least for the tenants, who have no deadline for their responses. This is a rule that predates them having state-funded lawyers, but now that they do their lawyers tend to take advantage of it. On Wednesday afternoon I was working my way through my appointments, one of which was a potentially very serious and emergency situation for a vulnerable adult that I was trying to sort out through a language barrier and would need to file in the adjacent county under a statute that just changed and I am still getting the hang of. I finally wrapped it up and went to join the Zoom for my next consult and just briefly glanced at my email to see that the opposing attorney to whom I had wired $300,000 in settlement of a judgment the week before--on which daily interest was hundreds of dollars--was emailing to say that it had not arrived. 

Over lunch I'd wrapped up a response in one of my eviction matters--the lease had been omitted from the complaint as it wasn't a significant element in that eviction and the landlord had brought it by and we'd submitted it with an additional declaration and argument on why it was not important. Another one came in with an 8-page brief that needed a detailed and carefully substantiated response. None of this could I start, of course, until I had very calmly met with my next two clients, both of which were complex trust situations that needed a lot of discussion. DOB went to the bank to find out what happened to the wire transfer but the local branch, although helpful, could not tell us anything except the money had definitely been sent because the wire department was already closed.

Well, that was a rough Wednesday, but I got my second eviction brief mostly drafted before I left for home. Thursday I had another full morning of meetings, including merger discussions with our suitemates, but I was doing OK wrapping up my second eviction brief when I got more briefing in the other case, in which opposing counsel accused not just my client of fabricating the lease because the January date on the lease used the previous year (before he bought the property), but accused me of knowingly aiding and abetting this "fraud." Never mind what the chances are of writing the previous year in January vs. messing up the dates on a document being forged to fool the court. I was a lot more insulted by the implicit stupidity than by the asserted evil. We did find out that the wire transfer was just someone forgetting to click the approve box at the receiving bank so hopefully no one blames us for it. 

Anyway, Friday came, motions day, and I had four evictions on the morning calendar. I moved the "forgery" one to a different judge and DOB argued it so I wouldn't spit nails. Each eviction was argued and examined by the court with great care and it took all morning. The court sternly denied sanctions in the "forgery" case and set it for trial. Meanwhile my paralegal had worked out when and how I needed to file the vulnerable adult matter and I had just time to scarf down lunch before heading to Tacoma.  

We got the matter filed but then had to hang around a few hours until a translator was available. Luckily I had my computer so I went to the law library and tried to deal with a few other emergency situations that I had not yet had the time to address that week. 

The time finally came and we had a long and difficult hearing what with the language barrier, the translator being on phone and not able to hear half the time, and us having almost no information to support our petition (which was the basis for our petition--the petitioner had been locked out of all her own bank accounts and we're still trying to figure out what the heck happened). We didn't get a temporary order, but we did get a hearing set and court authority to support getting the authorization we needed. 

Anyway, I do not carry fluids with me because I would just dump them on important things, and the courthouse, as far as I have been able to ascertain has a total of one water fountain set to "dribble." After an afternoon of this I was absolutely parched and did not think I would make it home. I thought, "Normal people would drive through a coffee shop and get something." I hate coffee but thought there was a chance someone might have unsweetened ice tea.  But not being a normal person I could not find one. I took an exit that I knew led to a large shopping area but there was no coffee shop there. There was a Target, so I thought maybe there was something *inside* Target having vague recollection of seeing that before. (Not being a normal person I go inside Target maybe twice a year and have never actually purchased a beverage there.) 

I couldn't find anything, but I thought, "Target sells water, right? I could buy water?" I walked to the back where of course I realized that Target does sell water but only in large cases. So I got a case of water and a bag of chocolate-covered nuts because water alone seemed insufficient at that point and as I'm standing awkwardly in the checkout line with a case of water and a bag of nuts (and no cart because I'm just getting a drink, I don't need a cart), behold there is Starbucks immediately before me, right next to the door I came in.

Anyway, I hauled everything out to my car. There was a rather random-looking gentleman walking behind me as I went out to my car and he was saying something I couldn't quite work out, but when I got to the car he appeared interested solely in addressing the sky and the Office Depot opposite so I left him to it while I slammed a couple of bottles of water. 

I then got lost trying to get back to the freeway and passed several more coffee stands. I always get lost in Tacoma but I never worry about it because if the sun is in my eyes I will find my way home eventually. And I got a chicken at Costco and came home and crawled into bed. 

I hope next week goes better.