Case Dismissed?

In a rather bizarre twist to my own pending case in the Gloucester, Virginia Circuit Court, June 15, I found out that my husband, the one I was in the process of divorcing, had passed away on June 9,  and his family had him buried on June 12.  I was never informed.  Rather, his family member called his attorney, notified him of my husband's death, and requested nobody tell me until I was in court, June 18, in front of the judge, expecting to proceed with the pre e.d hearing, and showing cause as to why I had not fully complied with the Pendente Lite order.

I was stunned to hear the news on several levels.  I was, however, grateful to the person in his attorney's office who decided it was appropriate, regardless of the request of the family member, to at least let my attorney know of the Defendant's passing.  Still, yesterday afternoon, at 3:00PM when I visited the Clerk of the Court, there was no notice given to me that I need not appear in court tomorrow.  When I asked, the woman behind the window, took my file, armed with the information I provided that my husband had passed away, and went down the hall to consult with the Judge's "right hand woman."  When she returned she affirmed I would not need to appear in court, the matter had been dismissed.

And so, as the next few weeks unfold, I will see another side of the Gloucester, Virginia Court.  My own case suddenly no longer a case, I am free to watch and learn, investigate and write about what I see...

Motion Never Filed

This is a motion I drafted.  I provided this motion to my attorney after an additional threat was received, issued from the cell phone of my estranged husband, and threatening to blow up my house and beat my "hind end" from one pond to the other....

I had already, on April 20, provided a similar request to my attorney, based on historical issues of threats to burn the house and to kill me...

Again I had requested he submit it on 5/6/10 after I notified him of the threat made on 5/5/10....

To-date, my attorney has acted on neither of these, nor issued a SHOW CAUSE for violation of the Order (against harassment -- the mutual injunctions).  Instead, the address I was trying to protect, has been made known... I was served with SHOW CAUSE papers at that address, on June 5, 2010.

Now, I wasn't expecting the motion to be filed as I wrote it.  Of course, I expected my attorney to clean it up and present it appropriately... but I guess he felt it was just not necessary. When I contacted his office to let them know I'd been served at that address, they responded with, "he wants to meet with you in person, Friday afternoon is his earliest appointment...."  So,tomorrow, I am confident, he will explain why he is still right and I am wrong in my reading of the Code, which requires I make such a motion BEFORE I am able to withhold the address from Discovery....

VIRGINIA:  IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER

X. X. XXXXX

Plaintiff,

v.                                                                                          Case No:  XXXXXXXX

X. X. XXXXX

Defendant.

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDERS:  DISCOVERY

COMES NOW Plaintiff, X. X. XXXXX, by Counsel, X.X. XXXXX, Esquire, and hereby moves for the issuance of Protective Orders pursuant to § vscr-4:1 (c) to exclude from Defendant's Discovery any disclosure of physical address and telephone number of Plaintiff's Post-Separation Residence (PSR), for reasons of personal safety and so as to prevent further annoyance by threats directed at the Plaintiff by Defendant, and whereto Plaintiff now respectfully speaks as follows:

1.  That on May 5, 2010, Plaintiff received a telephone threat which is shown to have originated from the Defendant and documented by the attached Exhibits X-X and  X-X, which same threat was designed to discourage the Plaintiff's lawful prosecution of this case, and which delivered specific threats to the Plaintiff's safety and property in direct violation of this very Court's order preventing the occurrence of same conduct.  This threat having been duly reported to the law enforcement authority on May 6, has been digitally preserved in its original content, inclusive of originator information, and is available to the Court's examination.

2.  That this Defendant has previously and severally, threatened to set fire to the so-called marital residence and to the Plaintiff herself, and which events are further summarized in attachment hereto, authored on April 20, 2010, and labeled by the Plaintiff as "X-X."  Plaintiff states that for this specific reason and as a direct result of concern for her personal safety, she has vacated the marital home and has relocated to a Post-Separation Residence which is made secure by the effect that its physical location is not known to the Defendant.

3.  That there exist numerous records and admissions showing that this Defendant has willfully and maliciously propelled against the Plaintiff a campaign of serial domestic violence and threats committed within this jurisdiction, and which events were designed for purposes of Defendant's monetary enrichment, to dissuade the Plaintiff from seeking a divorce and from pursuing criminal charges.  These same plural acts of terrorism, made known by record to this jurisdiction, have included events of assault against the Plaintiff and against sheriff's deputies, and for which the Defendant is believed to be presently on Court Probation issued by Judge X.X.XXXX. 

WHEREFORE, based on the above reported information, the Plaintiff, by Counsel, respectfully requests remedies and protections as follow:

A.  First, Plaintiff requests that the Court issue Protective Measures with regard to the discovery of the physical address of her Post-Separation Residence (PSR).  Relative thereto, Plaintiff states that she has already provided to Defendant's Discovery, by Exhibits X-X through X-X, pertinent information regarding the PSR budgeting, expenditures, and source of funding, but she has withheld therefrom and refuses to provide to the Defendant her physical address, stating as reason "fear for her life."

B.  Plaintiff requests that the Court consider findings of Contempt against the Defendant, relative to his blatant disregard for the process of this Court and so as to discourage Defendant's continued conduct of threats and harassment designed to prevent the prosecution of this matter before the Court, and,

C.  That Plaintiff be awarded Court costs and attorney's fees pursuant to Rule 4:12(a)(4) as concerns this Motion and its hearing.

                                                                                      X. X.XXXXX

                                                                                    _______________________

                                                                                      by, Of Counsel

Failure to File Motion

When I handed my attorney the Motion for Protective Order I had drafted, I expected him to ask me questions.  I was prepared to explain my position in requesting this motion be filed, but he did not ask me any questions.  He made only a single statement to the effect that he was glad I was taking that route rather than trying to hide the fact that I had bought the old farmhouse I was trying to protect.  I took that to mean he was going to take my draft, clean it up and file  the motion with the Court.  Why I thought that, I have no idea...just seemed that was his indication when he voiced his approval.  That was April 20, 2010.

The protective order requested the address of the old farmhouse I had purchased and in which I have been living, post separation, be provided only to the Court as needed, but protected from disclosure to the Defendant and his counsel, for safety reasons.  After all, Defendant has repeatedly threatened to burn down the "marital" residence, and kill me.  When he was served with my complaint for divorce, his first order of business was to call me on the phone and threaten me....  So, I decided it best to move quickly to secure another place to live, leaving the "marital" home vacant.  The protective order was requested in time to have it in place when the Pendente Lite hearing was held on April 23, 2010.

As it turned out, my attorney did not file my motion, as requested.  Instead, he focused on ensuring I submitted my proffers and budget sheet so he could have them filed and available to the Court during the P/L hearing.  That was, in my opinion, a complete waste of time.  Apparently no surprise to my attorney, the judge refused to consider fault and refused to look at the budget when making his Pendente Lite ruling...he opted to simply go by the "guidelines." 

Back in my attorney's office two weeks later, I asked again about my motion for protective order.  I was being pressured to complete discovery questions demanding I disclose all purchases made since separation.  I had willingly supplied these records, carefully covering the address so it could not be seen in the photocopies.  I had read the Virginia Code and knew if I wanted to withhold that address, I MUST have requested, by motion, the protection of that information.  Again I asked my attorney to get that motion filed.

On May 27, with the motion STILL not filed, having received yet another phone threat, this time from Defendant's "girlfriend," I met again with my attorney.  I carried with me, again, the proposed motion.  This time he asked the questions I'd imagined he'd ask when I originally submitted the motion request to him.  "Why do you want to file this motion?"  I explained my need to protect the house and my location from the Defendant and his attorney, and as I read the Code, I must file this motion to be able to withhold that information.  He explained again about, "how things are done" in this court.  The more "procedurally correct" method was to simply answer the discovery requirement, but not give the address.  When Defendant's counsel squawked about it, and the judge asked why I was withholding it, we could then present our case, and need for the protective order. 

Trying to trust my attorney, willing to accept he was the expert and I am just some goofball with access to the Internet and full of energy to make certain I am not completely ripped off by this system, I promised to let him work the case the way he knew to be best.

As Murphy's Law would have predicted, my attorney's failure to act as requested has now come back to bite me.  On Saturday, June 5,  I was alerted by my neighbor there was a man with a red car looking for me....this, it turns out, was the processor, here to serve me papers.  He showed up here, at my "safe" location.  And I don't have any way, now, to protect my address from disclosure... it has already been compromised.  And my life is, once again, in jeopardy, because of my attorney's failure to file.

My attorney told me, when last we met, that he was concerned that we are operating in an adversarial manner, which would make his representation of me more difficult.  Wanting to ensure he was given every chance to win my case, I resolved myself to the notion I would let him show his talents, without interference.  

And so, tonight, as I started to send him an email asking for explanation on his failure to file, and in which I shared the fact that the processor served me HERE and that the motion, or request to protect the address is now made moot by the fact that they already have it and are using it, I decided there was really no point.  A bell cannot be "unrung" and he was never going to file my motion anyway, so I could point to it as my defense for not providing the address during discovery.  I will not send the letter.   I will await my attorney's next move.  Proactive it will not be, I am afraid....