Litigating With the Unschooled
| Jurisdiction | United States,Federal |
| Pages | 0024 |
| Citation | Vol. 28 No. 6 Pg. 0024 |
| Publication year | 2023 |
There are those who think they can represent themselves in court. They are the infamous pro se litigants.
BY STANLEY M. LEFCO
If one breaks a bone, it's best to see a doctor rather than try to fix it on one's own. What they do in the movies when wounded, rarely, if ever, works well in real life. One who tries to repair a bone may have a self-imposed malpractice claim as a reward.
Yet, in the real world there are those, who think they can represent themselves in court. They are the infamous pro se litigants. They have read, "Representing Yourself in Five Easy Steps" (Chapter One: Using Capitalization Profusely) and "The Law in Pictures," and they think they know it all. We have represented clients, who have been sued by pro se litigants. Due to their general ineptness and bravado, these show-no-mercy litigants can cost a client lots of money and an attorney a fair amount of aggravation.
In our most recent adventure in representing a client, sued by such a misguided litigant, our journey began in Superior Court, bounced to federal court, and quickly returned to Superior Court.
We shall call our pro se litigant Gertrude. When her action took a deep south dive in the superior court, she filed a "notice of removal" to have the case tried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She boldly proclaimed the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction and made the announcement in open court. It was a puzzling, unexplained claim.
It was our second appearance in court. Gertrude adamantly refused to be deposed. Phone calls, a letter and, of course, the notice of deposition were unavailing. Gertrude had no time for such foolishness. We filed a motion for sanctions, including dismissing her case.
In her federal suit "nunc pro tunc," (One has to love a nunc pro tunc.) she pleaded she was "neutral in the public" and "unschooled in law and making a special appearance before this court under the supplemental rules of Admiralty, a restricted appearance. ..." She continued for about 20 pages, describing the events which she believed set forth numerous causes of action.
This was a real estate contract suit. The parties had entered into a contract to buy a house, repair it and sell it. When our client realized that Gertrude, who contributed almost nothing toward the purchase, was not meeting her duties under the contract, our client undertook...
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