Transcript
(Names and locations changed to protect the guilty.)
Style of the judge: Aggressive, authoritative, not particularly concerned about what the parties want.
SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF CALAMITY
HONORABLE ROY LeGUMÉ PRESIDING
DEPARTMENT 666
February 18, 1999
Duration: 7 minutes.
PAGE-LINE
1-08 THE COURT: Mr. Jones versus Smith. 1-09 MR. SMITH: Good morning. Lowe Sharknette on 1-10 behalf of the defendant. 1-11 THE COURT: Mr. Jones you're -- 1-12 MR. JONES: Good morning, sir, 1-13 THE COURT: You're to turn off that recording 1-14 device or leave the courtroom, one of the two. That's 1-15 the order of the Court. 1-16 MR. JONES: Excuse me, your Honor. This 1-17 is -- 1-18 THE COURT: That's a standing Rule of Court. 1-19 MR. JONES: I have a problem hearing and I 1-20 cannot hear very well. 1-21 THE COURT: Well, we have a court reporter. 1-22 I do not allow tape-recordings in this court. That's a 1-23 California Rule of Court, period. 1-24 MR. JONES: Well, your Honor, I -- I can't 1-25 afford her services. 1-26 THE COURT: Mr. Jones, there are ways to take 2-01 care of that, also 2-02 MR. JONES: And how would that be? 2-03 THE COURT: I -- well, I'm going to explain 2-04 some procedures to you. You may leave the recording on 2-05 as I explain the proceedings to you, then you're going 2-06 to turn it off, okay? 2-07 MR. JONES: Very well. 2-08 THE COURT: Are you an attorney at law, sir? 2-09 MR. JONES: No . 2-10 THE COURT: You filed a lawsuit in this 2-11 court. I have to hold you to the same rules. Are you 2-12 hearing me? 2-13 MR. JONES: I -- yes. 2-14 THE COURT: Tell me if you don't hear me, 2-15 okay? 2-16 MR. JONES: Yeah. If you could speak up a 2-17 little bit, please. 2-18 THE COURT: All right. I have to hold you to 2-19 the same rules that I do everybody else that practices 2-20 law in my courtroom, okay? Those are the Rules of 2-21 Court. 2-22 In other words -- 2-23 MR. JONES: Which rules? 2-24 THE COURT: -- in other words, I have to hold 2-25 you to the same standard as anybody else who comes into 2-26 my courtroom, including the attorneys who have 3-01 knowledge of all of the Rules of Court. 3-02 MR. JONES: Which Rules of Court are we 3-03 talking about? 3-04 THE COURT: California Rules of Court, 3-05 period. It's called, California Rules of Court. 3-06 MR. JONES: Well, then with all due respect, 3-07 sir, then I must object for the record. 3-08 THE COURT: Okay. 3-09 MR. JONES: I have -- this is a court of 3-10 record, and we have chosen those rules that govern the 3-11 procedures of this court. 3-12 THE COURT: That's right. I have California 3-13 Rules of Court. I don't know what you're talking about 3-14 now . 3-15 MR. JONES: Well, do you have my action -- 3-16 THE COURT: Yes. 3-17 MR. JONES: -- in front of you. 3-18 THE COURT: Uh-huh. 3-19 MR. JONES: Well, the second paragraph -- 3-20 THE COURT: I'm trying to explain to you, 3-21 sir, that you will comply with the California Rules of 3-22 Court, and you will be held to the same standards as 3-23 any attorney who practices in this court because those 3-24 are the Rules of Court. 3-25 And so, one of the Rules of Court is, we do 3-26 not allow electronic devices. 4-01 MR. JONES: Well, that's a little unusual 4-02 because, I had -- 4-03 THE COURT: Okay. Okay. You -- now, okay. 4-04 I've tried to explain this to you. 4-05 First of all, you're going to turn the 4-06 tape-recorder off. 4-07 MR. JONES: Very well. As long as, for the 4-08 record, my objection is put on the record. 4-09 THE COURT: You got it. Turn the 4-10 tape-recorder off, please. Thank you. 4-11 Now, there are ways to go about getting 4-12 transcripts and other things if you are not able to 4-13 afford them. The Legal Aid Society -- there may be 4-14 some services available to you. I cannot give you 4-15 legal advise on how to proceed on the case. I want to 4-16 make that clear. I don't give the other side legal 4-17 advise -- 4-18 MR. JONES: I understand. 4-19 THE COURT: -- and I cannot give you legal 4-20 advice . 4-21 MR. JONES: I understand that. 4-22 THE COURT: Okay. I'm telling you, you have 4-23 to comport yourselves to the California Rules of Court, 4-24 okay. 4-25 So, do we have that understanding? 4-26 MR. JONES: Well, I understand. But as I 5-01 said before, this -- 5-02 THE COURT: Sir, you brought a lawsuit in 5-03 the -- from the Superior Court in the State of 5-04 California in the County of Calamity. If you do 5-05 not like the rules of the Superior Court in the State 5-06 of California, then file your lawsuit in some other 5-07 jurisdiction that you feel would accommodate you 5-08 better, okay? 5-09 MR. JONES: Well, as I said, just for the 5-10 record, I object. 5-11 THE COURT: Sure. 5-12 MR. JONES: This is court of record and this 5-13 court has chosen its rules that will govern this 5-14 proceedings. 5-15 THE COURT: I didn't pick them. They're 5-16 imposed on us. But I follow them, and so are you, and 5-17 so is the other side. 5-18 Counsel, state your appearance. 5-19 MR. SMITH: Lowe Sharknette for the defendant. 5-20 THE COURT: All right. Now, we're here today 5-21 because of they have filed a demurrer on -- your 5-22 demurrer on your complaint. And I'm going to resolve 5-23 that because I don't think simply because he named the 5-24 cause of action incorrectly that this is grounds to 5-25 sustain a general demurrer. 5-26 Because in the body of his action, he states 6-01 out -- states, basically, what would be an auto 6-02 accident, personal-injury lawsuit. So I'm going to 6-03 overrule the demurrer. 6-04 Because it says, 'Action of trespass for 6-05 damages,' on the caption is not sufficient to sustain a 6-06 general demurrer. He states facts sufficient, in my 6-07 opinion, to sustain a cause of action. 6-08 But there is another alleged violation of 6-09 rule 201(e) and that might be the cause of a motion to 6-10 strike on a demurrer. And that is -- I'm going to ask 6-11 that the plaintiff interlineate his complaint to 6-12 provide his residence address and phone number, because 6-13 that is required by the California Rules of Court on 6-14 your complaint. 6-15 MR. JONES: First -- again, I must object, 6-16 for the record. This is a court of record. The -- 6-17 THE COURT: Okay. You've objected. If you 6-18 do not do that, I'm going to dismiss your lawsuit at 6-19 some point. 6-20 MR. JONES: I have served them with a -- 6-21 THE COURT: I -- 6-22 MR. JONES: -- a address to serve me at. 6-23 They have been served with that. 6-24 THE COURT: Sir, I'm directing you on the 6-25 documents, under the California Rule of Court 201(e), 6-26 and that you are to provide us with a residence address 7-01 and a phone number. It's very simple to do that. So 7-02 that the Court -- 7-03 MR. JONES: Excuse me. 7-04 THE COURT: -- so that the Court can 7-05 communicate with you if we have problems 7-06 MR. JONES: Excuse me. That is not simple as 7-07 a -- it seems. I do not have a residence. Therefore, 7-08 I have given them a source where they can communicate 7-09 to -- with me. And that's the best I can do. I do not 7-10 have a residence. I could not do anything else. 7-11 THE COURT: Well -- 7-12 MR. JONES: -- I live in this area, but I do 7-13 not have a residence. That's that. 7-14 THE COURT: Okay, well -- 7-15 MR. JONES: I've done the best I can. 7-16 THE COURT: Do you have a phone number? 7-17 MR. JONES: I do not. 7-18 THE COURT: Fine. You miss any 7-19 proceedings -- we'll note that on the record. If we 7-20 have a problem noticing you, your case will get thrown 7-21 out at some point. We're going to use the P.O. box 7-22 and that's your problem. 7-23 MR. JONES: I have been served with a 7-24 address -- 7-25 THE COURT: I don't care. I want the Court 7-26 to be served with something. 8-01 MR. JONES: Which we did. 8-02 THE COURT: P.O. box 2277. Okay. Not -- 8-03 it's not in the file. 8-04 MR. JONES: Well, it should. It was filed on 8-05 February 9th. Notice of Change of Address. 8-06 THE COURT: Well, we'll see. It's not in my 8-07 file. It may be in the computer somewhere. 8-08 THE CLERK: Yeah, there was one filed on the 8-09 9th. 8-10 THE COURT: Okay. Will it make it to the 8-11 file? All right. 8-12 I'm telling you, you need to communicate with 8-13 us. And if you don't have a phone, that's fine. 8-14 You're telling me you do not have a phone? 8-15 MR. JONES: No, I do not. 8-16 THE COURT: I have to advise you to make sure 8-17 that you check your mail and keep up on this lawsuit. 8-18 MR. JONES: I will. 8-19 THE COURT: Okay. All right. I'm going to 8-20 give -- the demurrer is overruled. You have 20 days to 8-21 answer. Please -- and the next hearing, unless they 8-22 notice you of further motions, is May the 7th. May the 8-23 7th, 1999. That's a Friday, at the hour of 8:30 a.m. 8-24 MR. JONES: Again? 8-25 THE COURT: That's stamped right on your 8-26 complaint, sir. By the way -- 9-01 MR. JONES: Again, I -- with the way this 9-02 proceedings are going, I must enter an objection for 9-03 the record. 9-04 THE COURT: What don't you like about the way 9-05 the proceedings are going? Tell me what your objection 9-06 is. 9-07 MR. JONES: Quite frankly, this is a court of 9-08 record 9-09 THE COURT: So what. 9-10 MR. JONES: Well -- 9-11 THE COURT: It's a court of record. We're 9-12 making a record. Thank you. 9-13 MR. JONES: And that's very defined in -- in 9-14 any law dictionary as to how it will be run. 9-15 THE COURT: Well, I'm telling you the 9-16 California Rules of Court regulate the way we run. 9-17 Thank you. 9-18 MR. JONES: Okay. 9-19 MR. SMITH: Thank you, your Honor. 9-20 THE COURT: Would you, please, give notice? 9-21 MR. SMITH: I will.