Rest and Play

I get criticized by a lot of people, that I play a lot. It is true, that I do. But do they also know that I work in the library six days a week, like today until 11pm? I didn't think so.

This week in law school, I had two exciting moments.

-The first moment was when I was walking my Mentor back to her cab. We walked through the sculpture garden. There we discussed the issues that the case had from filing until now. One by one, we went through the solutions. It was just a beautiful day - where the sun had lit the sculptures. They had that white, hot light against them. Spring was coming back in California. It would have been better if she wearing a Chinese robe. Then it really would be like I was the grasshopper and she was the sensei.

-The second moment came when I saw my statistics professor. I haven't seen him since 2002! I took this guy in 2002! Wow. I shot him an email that said, Guess what, I'm back! I'm in Law School - not medical school. The class was for pre-meds. I said, but you'll remember me because of the project I did. I used bio-statistics to look at whether the death penalty actually deterred murder in states that implemented it. The answer to the question was no. But, I remember, for some reason he loved the project and gave me full points on it - writing something along the lines as: "Fascinating."

He did remember my project - but not me. In any event, we discussed my new project on using statistics again to review how male teens are sexually abused in jail. He was excited to see the statistics. He gave me the four formulas to apply. He then encouraged me and said, "I'm glad you're doing this work. It's important. We need good people like you in the field." I smiled, shook his hand, and thanked him.

I had the sense of utter excitement from it all. I finally felt like a lot of skills I was learning was coming into a torrential intersection: law, statistics, science, programming, etc. etc. It was great to execute all these skills in the field of law.

However, I cut off school on Friday night after I went drinking with my mentee Sasha. The hard work is coming. So, sometimes you just need a break. The battle is coming. Then the war is coming. Rest, right now would be good.

So, after waking up from too much partying on Friday, I started doing my errands in front of my garden home. The garden has a lot of hanging plants. I'll post a picture sometime. My favorite part of it is the koi pond. We have five koi fish in there, a few goldfish, and a frog that changed from a tadpole. My roommate nicknamed the frog - turd because he says it looks like one.

Pierre, a classmate of mine came around noon. We were going to take a tour on the East side of Los Angeles. What do you imagine when you think about East LA? Guns? Gangs? Graffiti? The poor?

We took the roadster. Top down on a hot cali day. After the traffic cleared, I weaved in between the cars to get to my mother's home. There we switched cars. I took off the car cover and revealed underneath the 1967 mustang convertible with a 289 engine in it. Pierre, Julia. Julia, Pierre.

I took Pierre to a little mountain town by my little ghetto hometown. Yeah, my hometown's a barillo. Pierre could tell.

He asked me "Why did my family move here?"

I said, "Well, they didn't have much money."

I explained to him how I had to learn Spanish because in the earlier days of my elementary we had so many non-English speaking kids. I said the teachers even spoke to me in Spanish. I explained more tragic failings of the Baldwin Park School System. I went back to the principal once to raise standards. Her line back was, "As long as I keep kids out of gangs, I'm doing my job."

But in any event, I took Pierre to my favorite Mexican restaurant in the world. It's a small hole in the wall. In it, they have pictures of Mexican revolutionaries. The mexican mariachi music plays in the background. We order Dos Modelos, deep fried shrimp and fish tacos, refried beans (in lard I'm sure), and fried rice. The lady asked for my ID and I retorted, "Do you have to?"

She said, "Yes."

I handed it over and she said it as an excited utterance, "1982!!!!"

Just shame me, I thought. Tell the whole world my age. She said, "It's unbelievable." I smiled and said, "See, I told you you didn't need to look."

She couldn't make sense of Pierre's french ID either. I told Pierre, "Doesn't feel like America anymore, does it? It really feels like we're in a Mexican eatery in Mexico. We just need a sand beach right outside."

He chuckled. But it was true.

After eating the delicious food, it really was good, we took a drove to a small mountain town in East LA. No guns. no gangs.

I explained to Pierre that I had Julia for 10 years. However, my father restored her for me, when I got into law school. We both loved the sound of the roaring engine, as you turned her on. She sounded and acted alive. But she's a pretty old girl from 1967.

We walked through the mountain trail.

I took a shower...

Then we drove down to Old Town Pasadena

We drank coffee and had chats like we were intelligentsia.

And then we drove back to my mom's home. My mom loves the French - so she made us a really good Korean dinner. MMMMM. We drank German bier. I drove Pierre back to the bus stop.

I felt rested. I knew the hard work was coming. The next day, I really didn't feel like working. Ugh!! At least, I woke up at my mom's home. I petted Kitty Luke and at the breakfast table was a beautiful meal for me.

The war is coming.

In The War Room

After my human rights class today, I went to my law professor, supervising my case. She had a nice smile as we saw each other. We walked into her office together.

And in my imagination - the office transformed into the War Room. Incidentally, I was wearing the Nintendo Sweatshirt. It's been cold in LA today. And everyone appears to comment on it. She did too - "Nintendo-boy" my professor said.

As I sat close to her, we started discussing the legal and political strategy in suing the City. I really felt like she was an old hand, maester, / general. I was the young soldier, learning, inexperienced, and full of energy. We went through the details of the media strategy first. Then we discussed the litigation strategy.

I said, "You know - they'll probably make a motion to dismiss."

She said, "Well, if you know that, write the case against yourself."

I thought, well Sun Tze did once say, "If you understand neither the enemy or yourself you will always lose. If you understand only yourself, for every battle you win you will lose one. If you understand the enemy and yourself, you will always win." So, this is what she was saying to me. See the world through the enemies eyes.

Incidentally, my mother always told me that her line came from the General Yi line of Korean Generals. General Yi defeated the Japanese during the Japanese-Korean naval battles. His secret was to understand Sun Tze's Art of War and follow it precisely at sea. He actually built turtle ships, which stood the assaults of the Japanese. It was my turn to learn Sun Tze.

However, I was so focused on my strongest argument, I couldn't think of the other side. I said, "Professor help me think of the counter."

And what unfolded next felt like my days in the judo training with my old Sensei. My old Sensei was vicious. She would slam me against the floor. She would pound my head against the mat, straddle my back, and strangle me until I almost passed out. In time, I got better at fighting. One thing in particular I always remembered, was how she would drop all her weight against the sternum of my chest. It felt like someone punched you. So painful! I would say, "It hurts." She would say, "That's right! Always make the enemy be in an uncomfortable position."

It was the same, somewhat here. My Professor played the party of the city and the war games began. The Brilliant master threw out very compelling arguments. Yet, I retorted back with the counter arguments I could think of equally as quick. She smiled and said, "Good! Good!" And so the training battle continued - setup - attack - counter - rebuttal. My attack, the counter - her rebuttal. I knew I was growing from that 1L, who would be deadly afraid of playing this game with a mastered professor. Now, it was a game to play in jest and in seriousness.

Then, my Master says - what case was that. I said I sent it to you. She looked in her email. I swore I sent it to her. But we couldn't find it. I said, "I'll send it again." She smirked, "You're the perfect litigator. To add the word 'again' when you never sent it in the first place." We both laughed. Maybe, I brought it to you in person? Which, I think I actually did.

She ended by saying - you know where the weaknesses are. Go prepare for them. Send me your Press Release next week. And, don't forget to send me that case.

I left her office. That was a refreshing way to be trained I thought. It was the old blood training the new blood.

I then saw my Human Rights Professor. We discussed my research project. I imagined, if this was ancient Korea - I would be riding a horse across the snow and blizzard travelling from one of the three ancient kingdoms to the next. This journey would all be in the pursuit of military knowledge and secrets. However, here, I just walked across to the next building.

We discussed my research topic. It will be looking at why female corrections staff rape juvenile male inmates. New data is out. Time to look at it. Interesting, aye?

Afterwards, I walked to the law library. I went to the second floor, where I met my Taiwanese mentee. He's like my younger brother. My lawyer assigned us a secret assignment. I asked him if he could help. He agreed - even though I knew he was also uber busy. I explained the facts of the case to him. I explained our theories. We both thumbed through the California Law amongst the pile of books. You could tell, the more he researched the more he got excited about the whole thing. He said, "It's much more fun when it's real."

I smiled, "Yeah, of course, especially when our clients are innocent." I thought about my lawyer, who gave us the assignment. She's going up against a whole team of lawyers. And there was a whole team - a sad rag-tag bunch of two little law students and her. I thought, God better be on our side.

They kicked us out of the library. It was closing time. We were in the Foyer together discussing the legal theories, defenses, affirmative defenses and strategies. A fellow law student of his overheard it all and asked, "Is this for class?!"

I retorted, "No, this is the real deal. We're part of a team for our clients. We need to win."

I walked Alex to the bus stop. I could see his mind was still working on the defenses. I thought, this guy is going to be thinking about all this for awhile. We too, played the game of argument, counter argument, and rebuttal before he had to leave. Ultimately, it would help him think through the issues better for his research.

My mind was working on everything that happened today from male sexual victims to suing the City to this. I felt like my head was going to explode. So, I took a run for four miles. Somehow, it calmed me down only a little.

Nintendo Boy v. the City of Los Angeles

I sued the Mayor Villagorosa, Chief of Police Beck, the Council, and the City of Los Angeles today. The journey began around 10am today. It was after showering, sleeping in, chit chatting with my roommate, and drinking beautiful coffee, a kona blend. I threw on this bright red Nintendo sweatshirt and left.

I took the metro red line subway into the City. While waiting, I read a part of the paper that was thrown in the trash yesterday. It was the New York Times on cuisine and food.

I read two fascinating articles. One was on the use of mango in savory and sweet cuisines. I had learned to make an authentic mango lassi and some Jamaican mango dish. The second, and more provoking article, was on baking ribs. Although its heretical to most traditionalist, there are certain recipes that only baking can cook right. One article was an Italian recipe on using milk and honey with ribs. When the milk evaporates, the lactic acid concentration increases. The acid starts to eat way at the protein bonds and makes for the softest meat apparently. Smoking ribs with this recipe would actually overpower the delicate flavors of milk and honey. Amazing, I thought. All the science was laid out too.

People were coming in and out of the subway. People from all cross sections of life. I saw a blind man. Mostly hispanics and blacks. The "rrrrr" noise of the engine could be heard. I felt the bumps and turns until my exit appeared: "Civic Square."

I went upstairs and saw the filtered daylight. Clouds were rolling in today on April 4th. I asked a Jewish guy, "Where's the Court?"

"Which Court" he replied gruffly with his New York accent.

"Civil, unlimited." He pointed to it. We both walked in that direction. I think he was a lawyer.

I walked past the security. Guards didn't even noticed I escaped their metal detectors and frisking. And why not, I hate that damn personal invasion against my liberty. Why should they know, I take anti-histamines for my allergies?

I entered into the filing window. Here it was: Civil Unlimited. (Unlimited meant unlimited damages.) The black woman at the counter was like a giant compared to me. She was 6' and overweight at perhaps 300-350 lbs. I smiled and said, "Hi, Ms. How are you today?"

"Good. Let me see your papers." You know she was thinking, Oh Great, a psycho pro-per, Nintendo-boy plaintiff suing the city. He's not even a lawyer.

"You have problems with your papers. Your complaint needs to be reformatted. " She went on to explain more details.

I felt a bit stressed. Where was I going to get this thing reprinted? I walked over to the public law library. I use a computer. I stick in my flash drive. Hey - my files arethere! I go over - reformat it.

I go back to the same African American clerk - only this time the guards do detect me and scan me. =( She says there's still some formatting issues. THE THINGS LAW SCHOOL doesn't teach you. I just handwrite it in. She said, "Good enough for me." She said do you have a second copy of your complaint? The complaint - which tells the City how naughty they are - is about 20 pages.

I said, "No."

She asked, "How are you going to serve the stamped complaint then to the defendants?"

I said, "Well, can you photocopy the first page with the stamp? Then I can print the rest out later."

She gave me a look that said, clever but makes me do more work. She did it anyways.

I then tried to connect with her. "Do you like ribs Miss?"

She smiled. "Not really. Too messy."

"You gotta like ribs. You're black."

She smiled again. "Nah, not ribs though."

I showed her my NY Times article and the recipes. She laughed.

I said, "You know, I'm suing this damn city for their red light cameras. They're $500 a ticket." I smile now, flashing my white teeth. I know, being small and smiling and being Asian some how really disarms and neutralizes people. It was working again.

She said, "No kidding?"

After copying my papers and charging me, she hands me my papers. I said, "Where do I get some food around here?"

She said, "Go to the farmer's market two blocks down."

"Hey thanks Miss I really appreciate all your help today."

I walk to the downtown farmer's market. I sampled so many ugly but delicious fruits. In the supermarkets, we have all these diva-fruits. One day, they should name an apple after Sarah Pailin. The Pailin variety. They look beautiful on the outside but no substance in the inside. I go around and look at all the exotic foodshops. Where's Korean, me thinks? No Korean! At the end, I settle for some salad. Eat it. It then hits me: YOU ARE SUING LOS ANGELES. YOU ARE CRAZY.

I find the flower man. I pick up two sets of flowers. One is for the secretary at my law school. She's always so nice and goes the extra mile for me. The other is for my professor sponsor.

I call my father. I said, "Dad, I'm suing Los Angeles." And he says, "For what? You already won that red light ticket?" "Well, Dad, I'm suing them to shut off their red light camera system." There's a few seconds of silence. Then he says, "YOU'RE DOING WHAT?!" This is the reason I kept him in the dark for so long. "You know you will lose. They have a team of lawyers. You're just one person."

In my Nintendo red sweatshirt, I acted not to hear him, "It'll be fine. Gotta go now."

Five minutes later he calls again. The thought materialized in how insane all this was. "Paul! Are you crazy? You know they have a whole legal department."

I said, "Dadz! Don't worry about it. I have a team too."

"Well, good luck. I wish you the best. You'll definitely be famous if you win."

I thought about the headlines - Nintendo-Boy against the City Attorney and Mayor.

I walk back into the subway. People were looking before at my Nintendo sweatshirt. Now, they're looking more because I'm carrying these huge flowers, especially the women. They think, who will Nintendo boy give these too. I take the subway back home. As I ride back, I realize, I'm just a student again.

Spring - Hopes Eternal

March – Hope, Springs Eternal

First: A moment of silence for those who have died in the Christchurch earthquake. Last Saturday, as I rolled out of bed, the tragedy of the earthquake was being played on the international news. My mother’s response was, “See, good thing you don’t live there anymore.” I just looked and she said, “Where is Christchurch from you anyways?” I said, “It was awhile away.” Two American States also lie on the Pacific Ring of Fire: California and Hawaii. So, earthquakes are a great reality in both those places.

Spring is coming, March 20^th to be precise. I used to love the coming of Spring, when I lived in New Zealand. Winter was such an icky and yucky and frankly a depressing time. I suffer from that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), so without natural sunlight I just start feeling down. When you get rolling clouds that come in and never stop, it feels like unending darkness.

However, in California Spring is a different kind of season. There are no real seasonal fruits or vegetables. It seems like, if you want an item in LA, it’s available to you no matter the time. You just have to pay the right price. Yet, one item I love buying for my mother or other girls is tulips. Those have come into bloom.

And with that Romantic discussion of seasons, I can say business is kicking. Remember how I’m suing the City of Los Angeles? Well, I finally finished the first draft of my complaint. A complaint is the first document in a law suit. The plaintiff (the person suing) needs to write up what the defendant did wrong and what they are suing for (such as a breach of contract, or fraud, etc) and what they are requesting (usually money). In my case, though, I was suing for an injunction. An injunction is a court order that tells the City you are no longer allowed to do this. In my case, I want them to shut off those damn red light cameras.

I spent a lot of time in the library. It was very frustrating. I had very little guidance, which I could have found useful from an experienced attorney. And my area of law, seems to be a perplexing one as it is. There I was, with stacks of stacks of books on the library table. I had my netbook. And I started typing away or thumbing through the books to find the bad things the city needs to be accountable for. In the end, on a Thursday night, I had finished the draft. I have a four legal causes of action against the City: 1) The City shifts takes away the citizen’s fundamental right of innocence (called Burden of Proof). 2) The City uses illegal evidence against citizens. 3) The City is maliciously prosecuting its citizens to make money. 4) There may be a constitutional violation of illegally taxing those who come out of state. 5) The City violates California law when the California law says the City can only charge $100 per ticket. Let’s see how the City responds.

This is not the only war I’ve been fighting. My mother lost her case in court; however, her judge used to work as a lawyer for the defendant. NOT GOOD. Actually, it was illegal for him to be her judge. He was required by law to recuse himself. Yes, even in Western countries it appears that the hint of corruption exists. I researched the law. Figure it all out. Yes, I was right – he was required to recuse himself. Under the guidance of a lawyer, I wrote up the memorandum to have my mother get a new trial.

In a war, you come up against many battles. This is the story of a pivotal battle to win. As my mother was ready to file the memorandum, the small claim clerks roadblocked her. They wouldn’t accept the paperwork. Time was running out. She only had 30 days to re-file. She calls me on the phone, “Paul, what do I do? They aren’t taking the paperwork.” “

“Argue with them mom. The clerks have to take the paperwork by law.”

“No, they won’t! They won’t.” I can hear the frustration and helplessness in her voice. I feel terrible too.

“Ok, let me do my best. Give me the names of all the people, who are being mean to you.” She gives me their names.

I make certain calls to supervising judges, explaining the law and situation. They finally transfer me to the manager of small claims. I explain the situation and the names of the small claim clerks. Then I said, “How is it that they’re not accepting my mother’s paperwork? Are they lawyers? Can they give legal advice? You know, I can report them all to the State BAR now.”

She says, “Give me the code and cases you’re looking at.”

I give her the code and law.

8 hours later, I get a phone call. “Mr. Cook, I’m the small claims supervisor. I’m here to inform you that we can take your mother’s paperwork.”

“Thank you. However, I want to let you know that your employees Richard and Jenny were getting in the way of due process. You do understand that right? And you do understand they can be reported for such behavior.”

“I’ve duly noted it.”

I call mom. “Go take your paperwork back.”

She did. She called me and said, “I don’t know what you did, but they were really nice to me. All these time, I thought you just ate, holidayed, drank, and drank coffee. But now, I know you actually have a good mind up there.”

I was thinking: Is this a compliment? In any event, the pivotal battle was won. Note to self: When you have ignorant gatekeepers, talk to their masters. That sorts things out really fast.

I had another Moot Court case. I didn’t do as well as last time. Part of the problem was that my first panel had a judge that was late and a judge that was absent. I then had this one judge that for some reason didn’t gel very well with the group. He seemed to be mad at all of us. He was also running the show, since his presence was so strong compared to the students. I guess this can happen in real life. What could I do? The second round did much better, but I was still so disappointed in myself. Mainly because I had worked so hard, for it all to go so wrong with a judge who didn’t really understand the law. My legal issue was so complex. Perhaps, the most complex area of Criminal Procedure right now. Criminal Procedure deals with search and seizure and the limitations of what the government can do to impose those searches and seizures. The hardest area of law in search and seizure doctrine is can the governments search and seize students in high school. It’s complicated. But as someone said, often times the lawyer will know more in that area of law than a judge will know. It’s your job to translate that information back in a simplified and coherent way back to the judge. But we live, learn and improve.

So, things to celebrate from last month???

· I’ve been running 3 miles every other day.

· I’ve been spending more time with family.

· I suppose winning the victories against the clerks was nice.

I guess I need to do more in the month of March.

I hope everyone is well. More to come.

Signing off from the Big Island of Hawaii,
Paul Cook

February - Fight the Good Fight

February

I start by recapturing all of things to celebrate from January:

I drank champagne for multiple occasions:

· Getting good grades, I was almost number 1 in my evidence class. Damn, I’m mad I wasn’t number 1! Evidence is considered one of the hardest classes.

· Winning a grant! (More discussion on this point later).

· Having a better relationship with my mother.

· Being made a groomsman at a wedding! Yay! I was so grateful.

January has been good to me. I’ve been keeping up with most of my resolutions. Krav Maga training has been fantastic. I love the fight. We’ve already learned to break your nose, break rib cages, and defend against chokes. Nice. And in terms of my losing weight resolution, I have lost weight! This is the best weight I’ve been since I can remember. If I lost five more lbs (2kgs), I’d be at my ideal bodyfat percentage of probably 5-7%.

I can’t be a tall poppy now about everything. (For those of you who don’t know, a tall poppy is one who likes to stand out amongst the crowd. Then the other poppies chop you down to size. I guess even with all my choppings in NZ, I’m more like a weed that needs to brag.) But really, one thing I’ve failed at, and I am sad about, is the fact that I haven’t been doing enough reading. Yes, there’s the law readings, but law readings feels like a job. Lincoln once said, “A lawyer without books is like a workman without tools.” That’s true, but again those kind of books relate to work. I promised myself this year that I would read a book on a Titan every month. I had several Titans lined up: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockerfeller, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Sir Hillary (my NZ Titan). But it hasn’t been working out that way. Again, I’ve been caught in the cycles of reading cases and theories and jurisprudence. It always goes back to law for some reason. But I must forgive myself, make a plan, and try again. I will.

I’ve had my first loss. I was helping in a case against a corporation. Good lawyering on my part. Bad judgment on the judge’s part. He used to work for the corporation as a lawyer and violated both Ca code and judicial ethics by hearing the case when he should’ve recused himself. My Civil Procedure professor said, “One day you will meet judge-not-so-bright.” Well you know what: That day had come for me. It was very frustrating. =( Well, the story is an ongoing one because the team will fight for a mistrial. To be announced how that’ll go.

I’ve had another victory. Working for a team of pro bono (free) lawyers, we defended some University Protesters. The City of Los Angeles’ City Attorney was attempting to prosecute them. Was that going to happen? Not if we had fight left in us. The protest was at a university. There were 300+ students. And they chose to arrest only the speakers. All of you should be thinking: BOO!!!! At this moment. We have the RIGHT, THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT, to exercise free speech. You know: The government would love to crush citizens and their right to criticize the current administration. And they would love to detain, seize, arrest, and prosecute. Except they have one very big problem: We have a CONSTITUTION and it guarantees us the right to free speech. Thank God I don’t live in China. I wouldn’t be able to survive or they would probably kill me eventually for speaking out all the time. In any event, my trial lawyer and I coauthored the brief that said the government selectively discriminated against these protesters for speaking. THAT IS A BIG NO NO! They wrote the opposition motion. Eventually, LA saw we were going to fight this tooth and nail and let four of our five protesters go. So, it was a partial victory. But were we happy? Of course not.

Number five was let go last week. We figured out there was a conflict of interest for the City Attorney to go through with this. Another lawyer wrote the City Attorney this message. They asked me to be on standby. I was like a hired gun, armed with only a computer, cases, and a fact pattern, if City Attorney said NO, I would write the motion to disqualify him. I also had started contacting journalists to shame him, in the event that he didn’t back down. I really was on standby. However, my attorney called me on the midnight hour and said, “They dropped the charges!” In my mind, I discharged the cases, the fact pattern, the emotional passion, and thought, “What’s next on my agenda?”

So, did I get paid anything? No. Did I get any credits? No. Was it a valuable experience? Of course!

CLASSES

I have a set of new classes. These are

1) Community Property – California adopted the Spanish way of marital property law. After all, it was once part of Mexico. The tagline of this class is: How do you split the property when married people divorce? What if husband secretly buys a Porsche? Does it belong to both of them? What if the Porsche was bought as a gift for hubby’s bday, and then the wife finds out he’s having an affair?

2) Constitutional Criminal Procedure – The Fourth Amendment guarantees people protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. The tagline of this class is: How far can the government go to invade your privacy? Can they walk into your home without a warrant? Can they walk in if your wife says OK but you’re not there? Can they come into your house when your wife says Yes and you say NO? Those are the questions this class asks?

3) High School Reform – How do we reform high schools that are underperforming and robbing minorities the right to a higher education? In this class, the professor invited me to write an amicus brief for my paper. An amicus curae brief means friend of the court. You use it to persuade a higher court to rule in your favor for reasons that are not so obvious with legal reasoning alone. For instance, in this case, Arizona would pull Mexican kids out of class and subject them to another program. This was detrimental to their learning, but legally there is no argument for that. However, you want the court to consider how such practices handicap children.

4) Human Rights and Sexual Politics – Understanding the philosophies and mechanisms of activism and a sexual political context. Such issues we explore is, is it imperialistic for westerners to say female circumcision is atrocious? Should it be a grass roots movement? What about sex trafficking? In this class, I will be writing some cutting edge research on statistics. What is the rate of Female Prison Staff workers abusing boys in juvenile detention? Quite high actually. Is it consensual or nonconseual and why does it happen?

5) Special independent project.

This is where I take my detour to explain Project Crazy Project Robinhood Project Fight Back. Who knows what I should title it? But in the City of Los Angeles, we have these annoying red light cameras. If you cross a red light, it takes a picture of you and issues the driver a ticket for $500. Highway Robbery! Independent audits have shown that it doesn’t increase safety and the City made a stupid deal, where the manufacturers of these cameras are literally making millions. Well, I’m not standing for that. I’m suing!

I have several causes of action against them. Violation of CA Code. Violation of Constitutional Rights. Etc. etc. So, I’m petitioning for two remedies: 1) Take down the damn cameras. 2) Forgive all outstanding debt and drop all charges against offenders!

So: I go up against City Attorney once again. But if you think I’m crazy, I convinced at least one organization to sponsor me and cover all my court costs! I won a grant! So, I can’t be that lunatic! I’m working on writing, filing and serving the complaint against Mr. Bad City Attorney this week. I can already see the headlines: Small Asian Law Student v. City Attorney! Fight City Corruption!

And how much will I make off this case? That’s right: $0. I was born with nothing and I’ll probably die with nothing.

Other than that, it’s raining in Los Angeles today. I have a long journey ahead this semester. And I have to fight the good fight!

PS: I made my first gallon limoncello with my mom’s lemons and moonshine. Yummy!

The First Real Law Suit

We all have to take our baby legal steps. One significant event for me was in November of 2010. It was my first real lawsuit. I was both the victim and the advocate. The event would transform me later to the aggressor and advocate.

In August 2009, my father has promised to restore my classic 1967 Mustang as a gift to getting into UCLA Law School. Bless his heart. However, that was the only happy part about this.

I had given my car to a trusted mechanic, I had known for years. His job was to restore the mechanical problems. He ended up changing out my braking systems. He took six months for a job that should have taken at most a month. I kept calling asking when the work would be done.

One day, when I went to check on the car, the top was down. It was raining heavily. The water was seeping into the newly upholstered chairs. I could feel the rage in me. And I let it out: "What the hell? Why can't you put the top up? Why are there dirty, greasy used parts on my newly upholstered seats? Why? What the HELL?!" The employee looked at me with a sheepish look that expressed fear and stupidity in one glance. You could see him cracking under the pressure. I just said, "Put the top back up."

I came back a few weeks later to a car that was partially finished. The owner wasn't there that day the car was soaking in rain. He was there now. He knew about the whole story. He gave me a discount but said I needed to get the car off his lot. I towed it to my friend to fix the rest.

Fast forward now 3 months later. The disc brake job they did had some faults. It was a used braking system - though it was represented to me as new. The parts were worn out. He gave me the dirty parts.

I went back to the mechanic with the dirty parts. He inspected them and acknowledged that they were faulty. He replaced half of them but refused to replace all of them or reimburse me for the extra labor. He just said, "I make no money! I make no more money!"

I was pissed. That was it. They mistreat my property, improperly installed my brakes, and worst of all his employees laughed at me when I was angry. I wrote a demand letter, which asked for him to pay for the parts and labor. It also tacked on $100 for my wasted time. No response.

Escalation. I went to the Court House and filled my first small claims form. My friend then drove by his place and asked, "Are you Ty?" and he said, "Yes." He handed him papers and said, "You've been served." We drove off in my roadster.

On the day of court, I get a call in the morning. Who is this? I wonder. It's Ty - the mechanic. "Hi Paul. I just want to settle this. Let's not be angry at each other. What about $500?" and I thought, No way. That's how much I put in my demand letter. At the very least, I need more than the original demand letter. You waited until the last day when you could have settled." I said, "$800." He said, "Can you help out a guy?" I said, "What about $700." He said, "Alright, that sounds good. Come by today and I'll cut you a check."

I then drove out to my constitutional law class. I talked to several of my law school friends. They all said, "Take it! take it!" But something inside of me thought, no way. That's not even 50% of my claim. It's not good enough. After class, I took a 30 minute drive to his place. I said, "No, actually I want $1,000 to settle."

He said, "WHat?! No way! We go to court."

On the phone with several people I got the following comments: "You're stupid. You should've taken the money. Now, you're going to lose. He's going to paint you as greedy. Blah blah blah."

I sit down and think. I need a two part strategy.

Part I - change the contract claim to a tort claim. Contract claims are standard. However, if you can convince the jury or judge that the breach is a tort claim you are eligible for punitive damages and it affects the defendant's business insurance severely. Torts are bad things: assault, battery, emotional distress, etc. I would argue that failing to properly inspect brakes puts drivers at a huge risk. If not for my other mechanic's inspection, I could have been severely injured. Right?

Part II - Marshall the facts. There's a story but there's a story and then there's another story. What I mean by this is that the events of facts can be told and retold in multiple perspectives. You need to tell your story in the best narrative possible. You start off with your best fact and their worst fact. I'll show you later how this played out in this narrative.

We're at Court. I'm a bit nervous. So is he. We approach the podium. The judge tells me to begin. Marshall the facts.

"Your honor, in August of 2010 Ty was contracted to do a brake job. I found out a few months later, he installed a used braking system with faulty parts." (See that's his worst fact and my best fact. Already you hear this and think, this guy is terrible.) "I had tried on multiple attempts to resolve this with Ty, but he refused." (Again, now he looks unreasonable and i look reasonable.)

Already, the weapons of war are damaging the enemy. I see him shaking and looking stressed. he wasn't ready for the merciless way of lawyering.

"Your honor, can you imagine anything worse a mechanic could do but to do a bad job on brakes?" I then pause for three seconds. Let the judge think. The rhetorical question only has one answer: No. "I am now asking for punitive damages to prevent him from doing this to someone else."

The judge says, "I don't give out punitive damages in this court."

I'm not phased by losing on strategy one. Continuing on, i think ;. . . "Let me show you pictures your honor of the reckless manner he handled my car." I then showed him pictures of the used parts on my seat. Ty is shaking uncontrollably now. "You know how reckless he was. One day, I come to check up on my car. It was raining. And he left the top down." At this point, Ty begins hitting his hand on his head and shaking some more. It looks like he's going to cry now.

The judge glares at him. I recognize now his shame and guilt is only before the public to see. I justify myself, he took it here. I didn't take him here. If he settled earlier, we wouldn't be here. Is this justification or is this the truth? I don't know. He finally has a chance to talk, but he can't say anything. He's under so much stress. He actually starts screaming, "I don't know. There's no new braking system available for this car."

I state, "Your honor, a five minute google search produced this new braking system." I showed him the picture.

The mechanic gets hysterical. The judge says, "Mr. X, if you continue on this way, I will have to kick you out of this court room. We understand you're nervous but you need to control yourself."

The mechanic says, "Your honor, I don't speak English well." He doesn't. He's Chinese-Vietnamese.

The argument flashed before my head. Now, I can put the defendant out of his misery by firing the last shot. This one would go to the heart. "Your honor, we're not here today to judge Mr. X's english speaking ability. No. We are here today to see if a mechanic of 10 years should have known to inspect a USED braking system. He did not." The judge nodded.

The judge then says, "I will mail the decision out."

The mechanic shakes more and is hysterical. The bailiff takes him out and says, "Mr. X, you are making everyone in this courtroom scared."

I walk away. I find my car. I get into my roadster. As I drive out, I see the mechanic with his head down. I knew I had won, even without the judgment coming yet. I saw him walking with him looking down on the floor. The shame imprinted on him was obvious. Did I do the right thing? Of course, I drank champagne later because I knew I had won. But something bothered me, did I do the right thing?

Two day later the judgment came in for a substantial amount of money. I told my father. He congratulated me and bought me dinner. "That's my boy." I then said, "But Dad, the guy was like you. An asian immigrant, who was trying to make a living." My father replied, "Yes, but he did you wrong son. You have to crush people like that with punishment." Hmmm, I thought. Then I told my mother and she said, "Really?! You won? I thought you were going to lose." I thought, thanks mom, nice thought. When I came home to see her the following weekend, she gave me the hero's homecoming. She made the most beautiful food and bought me beautiful drinks. She said, "That's my boy. Tough and strong and smart. You have to break people like that, you know." I realized then, I came from a family that celebrated victory, vengeance, and power.

That was the first time I tasted of the power and cruelty of using the law. I had broken a man's spirit before my very own eyes. Was that just? Was that right? I left, knowing I had paid an internal price to exact my retribution.

The New Year's Resolution: The Year of Champagne

First off, Happy New Years everyone! New Years is such a big deal for Korean families, much bigger than Christmas. We used to see all the relatives. Bow. Say, "May the New Years bring you luck and fortune." Then the relatives gave us money! =) I'm older now, so there's no more money. Soon, I think I'll be having to dish out the dosh. But as a student, I make nothing. =(

New Years is a great time, especially if you had a rough year. From an objective standpoint, I had a very easy year. I'm not in Africa or North Korea struggling to make money or eat or worrying about what tomorrow may bring. No. From that vantage point, I'm a privileged guy, who goes to a privileged school, who has a privileged life. But from a relative standpoint, if you stood in my shoes, it was a hard year. I was transitioning from having a pleasant, French-like life style in New Zealand to going into something that was more of a military program. I don't think that's an exaggeration. 14 hour days, everyday. Being with the same people. Being crushed of my spirit. I was disappointed in some of my results. I hated being by myself, studying such long hours. I had a huge fight with my brother. In New Zealand, we would say, "It wasn't pleasant."

However, the turn of events started coming around October. I had classes I could pick. I had more control. I had more friends, I enjoyed in law school. My performance significantly improved. My family life got better. And best of all, the last few months my mom and I have been cooking together in the kitchen. It's been resulting in some really awesome food. I'm an expert in seafood. She's an expert in soups. So, we made Crab Broth Soup with Rice cakes. Time taken to make 8 hours. Time taken to eat: 10 minutes. MMMM

I made some really cool New Year's resolutions this year. I'm calling it the year of Champagne. In Chinese and Korean culture we have the year of the Pig or Dog or Horse. But this is the Year of Champagne for me.

1. My first and biggest resolution is the 12 Bottles of Champagne Challenge.

That is every month, I need a reason to break open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. And I don't mean, find a reason to drink. No, I would like to hope that there are real achievements made or relationships made or hallmarks made to celebrate.

The first Champagne - To the Beginning of a New Year.

2. I want to achieve a higher level of virtue as a law student. Virtue is a complex concept and word. I think in our English language - it really has lost a lot of its original meaning. For instance, the Virtuoso is a master of his instrument and music. He is virtuous because of his ability to do his work. A knife is virtuous because it cuts with precision. Likewise, being a virtuous human being isn't limited to nobility or morals. No, I think I need to also have virtue in understanding, practicing, and executing the law. Likewise, I also need to be virtuous in its use. Thus, that's my two part goal.

3. It's time for promoting healthier relationships. I admittedly had a lot of conflict last year, mostly with family. (It's normal). But this year, it's not about not having conflict but working to resolve things with wisdom.

4. Re-take up Martial Arts. Hey, already done. This Monday, I started my Israeli martial arts training of Krav Maga. It's a brutal form of martial arts where you learn groin kicks, punches, etc. My knuckles are scarred and bleeding from the training. But it was so fun! Note to self: Continue training.

If I do those things well, then I think I'll feel fulfilled.

Happy New Years.

PS: Note, I changed blogs. I didn't want to subject my readers to all that advertising anymore.