Zigner
Well-Known Member
The SF Bar provides services for indigent criminal defendants. Yours is not a criminal case.
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You're welcome, mate. Here's another approach. You're what some call "judgment proof". I make that assessment solely upon your recitations/revelations.
As @cbg suggested, get thee to one of the many law schools in the SFO area.
Here are a few of those law schools:
University of California Hastings College of the Law
Hopefully you can get an appointment at one or more of the law school clinics and begin rectification of your present predicament.
I have no income except Social Security, and no assets (not even a car). I have already been assured by my eviction attorney that I am immune to being sued, because of that.
I'm afraid that the other defendant, the landlord of my building, will be answerable to the charges against me, due to his legal responsibility for safe habitation for all tenants. So if I just go for a dismissal, I wonder if the grievances against me (such as allowing two small dogs to run free in my building, which is absolutely not true) will still stand and passed on to my landlord.
If Motion to Dismiss does not include allowing my financial/no assets status to relieve me from all charges, then isn't there some other process to do just that?
I'm wondering if I need to inform Plaintiff's Attorney now, that I am immune to being sued.
You may, however, be uncollectible due to the source of your funds. That is what is meant by "judgment proof", which may be the phrase your attorney used. "Judgment proof" is a bit misleading, as it makes it sound like nobody can get a judgment against you, and that is simply not true. What the phrase actually means is that, even with a judgment, people can't collect what they are owed.
You CAN BE (and HAVE BEEN) sued!
Not everything that happens in the legal arena has a form available. Sometimes you just have to put pen to paper. There is no guarantee (nor is it particularly likely) that they will drop the suit against you, as pointed out previously.
You do not have to serve the answer on the other side by process server. You can simply mail a copy to the plaintiff's attorney and file proof of service (mailing) with the court copies you file.Got it. Thank you for being so direct and honest. The allegations are so outrageous, they very much make the Plaintiff look like he's just angling for a lawsuit in order to collect a pile of moolah. That is why my denials MUST be heard.
So, if I represent myself and wish my denials to go on record, I fill out and deliver Answer form PLD-PI-003, then have it delivered by another person or a professional process server after registering three copies of it with a civil court clerk. At the same time I hand the clerk the waiver for all court fees (for which I can prove eligibility right then and there with my EBT and Medi-Cal cards). I've already signed and sent back the Acknowledgment of Receipt, yesterday.
Later, I'll have to fill out and deliver the case manager statement (after registering it with two copies with the clerk) to the Plaintiff's Attorney, as well as to the other defendant, my landlord. Case management meeting is set for August 23rd. At that time, will I be able to explain the denials I've listed as just numbers, to the mediator, so the Plaintiff's Attorney will have a good idea what my denials are about?
I think, as my own attorney, I'll have to speak on the phone with the Plaintiff's Attorney, about the Case Management meeting some two or more weeks before it occurs. I'm gonna check out this websites "Forms" section now.
Thank you for being so patient with my naive questions...I'm learning as fast as I can.
That's just plain wrong. Being poor doesn't make you immune to suit. Being poor will make it difficult or impossible for someone who sues you and wins to collect on the judgment, and that may make it so that some folks won't bother suing you. But it doesn't make you immune to being sued.
The landlord has some obligations regarding safety, but the landlord is not an absolute guarantor of the safety of tenants or guests of tenants. In order to opine about the extent to which your landlord might have liability in this case, one would need to review the lawsuit and otherwise ascertain relevant facts.
You're free to pick up the phone and tell the plaintiff's lawyer that, while he can sue you and might win, any judgment won't be collectible for these reasons.
Whether that will cause him/her to dismiss you and/or go after your landlord is impossible to predict.
Also, if you are dismissed and the plaintiff goes after your landlord, it is certain that you would be required to testify. You are free to confer with the landlord's attorney in the meantime.
Also, you can get forms for responding to a lawsuit at this link,
and some quality time at a law library with The Rutter Group's Civil Procedure Before Trial practice guide would be a good idea.
You do not have to serve the answer on the other side by process server. You can simply mail a copy to the plaintiff's attorney and file proof of service (mailing) with the court copies you file.
I was suggesting that the clinic might be able to help you prepare your case, not take it for free. They're students; they're not licensed to practice law yet.
But if you're determined that's it's got to be all or nothing; either a lawyer taking your case pro bono or risking it all to do it yourself, there's nothing I can say that will change that.
Army Judge:
Thank you for such an informative reply. I have no income except Social Security, and no assets (not even a car). I have already been assured by my eviction attorney that I am immune to being sued, because of that.
The SF Bar provides services for indigent criminal defendants. Yours is not a criminal case.
So why would the plaintiff bother suing you when you have nothing now that he can get?
So he gets the judgment and sits and waits to see how things turn out. If you get something in the future, he can then execute his judgment and collect.
Your landlord is not liable for YOUR conduct. Your landlord is liable if he was somehow negligent and that negligence contributed to the dog bite incident.
As things stand right now, there isn't much you can do to help your landlord here that wouldn't end up hurting your situation. Just focus on your case and let the landlord focus on his.
Being eligible for something and being guaranteed it are not the same thing.
Were the dogs off leash in a common area when the alleged bite occurred? Were you in the habit of letting the dogs out unsupervised?
He doesn't know yet that I'm judgment proof. But I'll let him know come Monday, via email.
I don't think so, their website doesn't state the limitations of their services in such a strict fashion. They knew my case is civil (personal injury), accept my $35 initial consultation fee, knowing my low income on Social Security, then set me up to speak with an attorney a few days later. I'm sure they ALSO assist indigent criminal defendants for free, but NOT just them, on a pro bono basis.
I filled out their "see if you're eligible for free services" online questionnaire, and clicked on "send," they later said I am eligible, then started looking for an attorney who'd take my case. In short, they screwed me outta $35 and wasted my valuable time.