Op/Ed

Published: Nonember 8, 2007

      Years ago I had an experience in The Peoples Court that was a breath of fresh air compared to the Arbitration  we have today. I had taken a small 2nd mortgage to do some home improvements and pay off some credit card debt. Reagan and Bush had been deregulating Banking so there were many ways to get ripped off. The Savings and Loan disaster was part of this as well as many predatory practices. Good Faith estimates did not have to mean a thing any more, and hidden fees were just the tip of the iceberg. Any way, they insisted that Money for property tax be escrowed, even though my first mortgage took care of all this. I went ahead and as they had hoped, I forgot about the money till much later. Between the bank, the title company and the holding company my "for deposit only" check for escrow impound had been cashed. The title company said they weren't responsible even though their holding company cashed it, and the bank that had cashed a "for deposit only" check said they weren't responsible either. They wanted my sympathy because they had lost over $500,000 to this scam. Their own scam.

 

       I found an address in Nassau County to use as my point of claim so I could go to court at night. I wouldn't miss a days pay and it would cost them more to pay their lawyers.  Fraud has a year statute of limitations and negligence has two years. I filed under breach of contract which has six years, since it had been more than  two years. Since they all said  the other was at fault to me on the phone I sued all three of them. They couldn't all be wrong, and when the music stopped I knew I would have a chair. Even though my claim wasn't totally accurate in the eyes of the law they knew I would prevail so they settled the amount plus interest without a hearing. As I was walking up to the judge with my briefcase in hand. and spiral notebooks under my arm, they announced they would pay never knowing the briefcase was empty and only one of my notebooks had the information tucked into one of the pocket inserts of the spiral.

 

       Outside one of the Lawyers was waiting for a ride so we got to talking and he told me that they were sure the judge would rule in my favor if I showed and that  they could technically win on appeal, but it wasn't worth the cost. The Judge knew this was predatory lending and erred technically on the side of Justice. I only tell this story because it doesn't work this way any more and soon it never will. Inside all your credit agreements are Arbitration Clauses that are going to become worse and worse for the consumer. You have to settle in their courts. If you miss a payment with an electric bill or phone bill they can raise your Master Card or Visa. The spread of corporatism is entering the Peoples Court. Starting in Ohio the eminent domain abuse leader, they allow corporations and their lawyers to contribute to Local Judicial Elections. I don't know how far its spread but  I'm sure that fire won't go out. In upstate New York I contribute to the Volunteer Fire Department. Wal- Mart gives them equipment. Giving drivers licenses to Illegals puts them on the jury. With privatization of all our public citizen assets, who will be our judge and jury? With the low paying jobs corporations provide for the people, the people can't match the larger Corporate donations to Volunteerism and Local Judicial Municipalities. A lot of Corporate donations come from the employees with the corporation taking the credit and the deduction. This places Volunteerism, as well as the Judge and Jury, in a position of total dependence on Corporations. 

 

WILLIAM J. WAHSLTEEN