UNJUSTICE
 A Sydney Sullivan Story
“Although inspired in part by a true incident, the following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.” Photos throughout the fiction are to assist with your own imagination.

Ole stared directly at John G., “This is putting some bad law on the books, John – you can’t tell me this doesn’t bother you? I have to tell you both straight out that if I didn’t know about the pension fund issues, I’d think we’d look just plain incompetent… and I know some people are already saying that. We’re a pretty conservative community with a telegraph tree on the Internet. Every time I deny a homeowner’s foreclosure complaint it’s all over the social media. I’ve run out of creative ways to deny these homeowners and say, ‘you can appeal me, but you still have to move out, unless the appellate court gives you a stay.’ Now, you want us to go after a decent attorney just because he can’t be persuaded to quit his representation of homeowners?

“Doesn’t that just take the ol’ cake! Where’s the bourbon?!” Ole demanded. Carl handed over the bottle, however, there wasn’t a whole lot left. Not to worry though, Carl was in charge of refreshments and always brought back-ups.

handed over the bottle, “I agree with Ole. I look at it this way, a lot more than 300,000 people of Minnesota’s 5 point 3 million residents lost their entire savings and retirement in 2008. Many of my friends and constituents were laid off from General Mills, Target, Best Buy… big corporations. Some fellas were in construction and just about ready to retire when everything crashed, and this economic disaster has been going on strong for nearly a decade.”

Carl continued, hardly drawing a breath from his frustration, “They lost everything and they’re too old to start all over in the career they’ve worked in most of their lives – and even if they could – it doesn’t exist anymore. No matter how successful they were, many are just barely making ends meet. Look at the trade unions – my brother-in-law is an electrician and he’s lost most of his pension because his union bosses bought into, or should I say gambled with these derivatives. He’s not going to have even half of what he was expecting so he can’t stop working and retire. So, maybe everybody needs a level playing field.”

“Including us?!?” John G. barked.

If Ole was looking for a sign, he was certainly getting messages today.

Ole cut him off, “Yeah, and that’s where my dilemma stems. I wrote my thesis on jurisdictional law and the deeper I look into these claims the more I feel that these are Article III court issues. I have one very astute attorney, pleads a lot of cases, and I have stated to his minions on the record that the firm just doesn’t go far enough. I’ve said it in other cases just hoping somebody would hear me mention his name and it would get back to him and maybe he’d plead lack of jurisdiction. I’d be more than happy to remove these cases, rather than force them to appeal!” Ole grabbed a sandwich and tore open a bag of chips that scattered everywhere.

Carl grinned and urged Ole to relax, “We’re fishing Ole, relax…the three of us cannot solve this issue in one afternoon.”

John G. wasn’t ready to give up, “To think that appellate courts in this country are going to deny the securitized trusts’ investors the right of enforcement of the notes and mortgages …after, and to the extent, that the appropriate assignments have been made and notes delivered, is a cruel joke. It leads the people who actually borrowed the money to believe that they are not going to lose their houses, which is false. They will lose their houses, unless their defaults are cured or they can reach restructuring modification agreements with their loan servicers – and we all know how difficult that has proven to be.”

in unification and keep granting the banks’ summary judgment motions.  “We don’t have to solve anything – we just have to stick together.”

With a mouth full of meatloaf sandwich, Ole sputtered, “I’m going to keep asking God for a sign. It’s just not right to pre-organize our decisions like this. What I see amounts to trickery by using programmed computers to commit forgery. Why the hell would the banks need to forge documents if this was all on the up and up?!”

By this time Erik was too engrossed to move. He had already missed several hits and Howard was certainly out-fishing him today. The boys had hardly spoken to each other since the day began because Erik didn’t want to take the chance that the judges could hear them too.  Howard looked perplexed.  “I’m worried about my family,” Erik whispered and returned to intently listening.

Carl, who had been relatively quiet about his emotions spoke sharply, “Because there are millions of documents to produce and they don’t have time or probably the money to execute them correctly! We’re making it easier for them to commit fraud than to operate under the rule of law.” Erik could tell by the tone of Carl’s voice he was aggravated, actually pissed.

“How could millions of homeowners default at the same time?” Ole asked sarcastically. “What? Are we participating in a… I dunno… an economic apartheid? It’s not just low income folks, it’s you know… the average Joe, seniors – a middle class who trusted the brokers and loan officers. I can see it in their face and their pleadings, they just needed a little time to re-establish themselves after the crash. The majority of folks I see are sincere, not looking for a “free house” – they just want an affordable home. Besides they didn’t order the appraiser – who obviously over-appraised and inflated the property values – the banks’ did.”

At that point Carl couldn’t keep quiet, “You’re right Ole, the homeowner didn’t order the appraisal, over-rate the bonds, relax the underwriting guidelines, or fix the LIBOR rates to use as an inducement. Yes, there were some scammers, but they were few in number compared to the average person who was just looking for a typical home loan. We ought to be allowed to sort them out.”

John G. jumped in, “Oh, so you want the ability to drag these matters out in our courts? And what about the ones you believe have merit? Are you going to level with these suffering homeowners? Look Mr. Homeowner, you’re going to lose, not because you’re not right but because the bank is going to out-spend you and because you don’t understand legal procedure.”

‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it’ was a quote by Upton Sinclair who, in 1935 wrote, “I, Candidate for Governor,” Ole reminisced that his father had him read before he went off to law school. “Sinclair wrote a book that was part fiction, part political platform. I, Governor of California and How I Ended Poverty: A True Story of the Future, was published in October 1933 and outlined Sinclair’s proposals for the state.”

Reading “I, Candidate for Governor” was a family tradition started by his grandfather and Ole’s father felt it was necessary for anyone entering politics and law to understand the remarkable history.

John G. was one of those men who didn’t want to “understand” the depth, pain and suffering of the average homeowner because his (hopeful) future as a federal court judge …someday in the not too distance future, not to mention his pension and investments, depended on him keeping everyone in order and on the same message as Washington had formulated, right or wrong. A federal court judgeship could lead to a U.S. Supreme Court nomination if he played his cards right.

Ole and Carl knew this and delicately tried to impart their wisdom on John G. without aggravating him. However, John G. had long since been brainwashed and didn’t want to end up in an average middle class job or like his father. Not that John G. didn’t admire his father, but John G. wanted more than a weekly pulpit. Harvard had taught him that he deserved to have the best and the “best” was beyond self-esteem, it was a deeply seeded desire of success and …power. In John G.’s mind this judgeship was just a stepping stone.

Carl could feel the chilly silence and sensed Ole was holding back the throttle. Nowhere else, but with these two men, could John G. feel comfortable enough to express himself. There was no doubt that if either of them brought up the federal bench, John G. would honestly tell them his aspiration. But neither Ole, nor Carl, wanted to put that issue on the table for fear it might severely damage their relationships. It was best left unsaid, unconfirmed and merely assumed.

Carl politely began to move the subject away from hostility, “I think we all need to sleep on this for a few days. I certainly don’t want to make promises I can’t keep …and I have to think about my upcoming election – which is going to require a great deal of focus.” The three continued to fish but the biting streak had ended just like the deep conversation.

“Splendid idea,” Ole tipped his favorite fishing cap to Carl, “how about you John? Sound like a plan?”

“Yup, I’m not getting anything out here but cold. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the cards than the fish,” John G. forced a smile trying to think of a failproof strategy to get the judges’ unanimous commitment. And as the bottle of bourbon rolled over in his direction, he remembered…

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UNJUSTICE is a new series on DeadlyClear that will upload as chapters are completed. Please subscribe so you don’t miss as the story progresses. Inspiration and research in part with Vermont Trotter and our foreclosure defense network.
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