Teaching an Arrogant Government Some Constitutional Manners

A first principle of the Mongoose Tactic is a judo concept, “suki o mitsukeru” – find the opening. The opening was bequeathed to us by the men and women who founded the U.S., in the form of access to the courts. Now, we all know – taught so thunderously and clear as President George W. Bush can make it – that the U.S. Government no longer pays any attention to the law. More, the judges who supposedly interpret the law work for the government you need to sue. They’ll interpret it to suit the guy who writes their checks (what’s hard to understand about that?)

It’s also a fact undeniable by anyone but the indoctrinated that the U.S. Congress has sold out long ago to the corporations and the very rich, such that the laws they pass are structured in a manner intended to assist only the people who pay them. What’s hard to understand about THAT?!

But the “guerrilla lawyer” looks for the opening, and I found one years ago. First off, any citizen, lawyer or no, can bring a lawsuit. That’s constitutional, settled law. The suit has to be answered by the person or persons being sued, or he is in default, meaning he loses and has to pay whatever damages were being sought.

Oh, there are all kinds of legal maneuvers by which to get around that, but none that are important here. They’re all intended to save the fat cat his money, or keep him in power. This is about judo; throwing him, then getting him in an armlock, strangle hold, or pin. Controlling him, in other words.

What usually happens when a citizen files a lawsuit on his own behalf – and you can’t do it for anyone else, because that’s practicing law for payment and against the law (remember when I said it was designed to favor the rich?) – is that he runs afoul of the legal procedure the lawyers have put together to make sure that only they know what’s going on and that they are the only ones able to use the law. You step on a crack, you break your mother’s back – yours, too.

The actual procedures, once you get into the courtroom, are pretty simple and books by publishers like Nolo Press (www.Nolo.com ) will give you just about everything you might need, should you ever get that far.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!

Generally, you can’t sue the government without the government’s permission. “Permission” means that the Congress has passed a law saying you can sue, what you can sue for, and in what court.

Yeah, I know – you can bet your sweet ass it’s convoluted in such a way as to keep John Q. from doing it. Keep in mind, again, that that’s not what we’re doing here. If you’re thinking of cutting a fat hog, and making some money, forget it. Government doesn’t have any money it didn’t take from people like you and me, anyway. You’re suing yourself.

But the law does not say that you can’t sue individuals who work for the government. More, it doesn’t say you can’t sue the company who hires an illegal alien instead of you because that illegal alien will work for peanuts. That’s that famous word “discrimination, and it is what lawyers call “actionable.” It also doesn’t say that you can’t sue because the cost of your medical care and insurance reflects the fact that millions of illegal aliens are paying nothing for services. Et cetera. And here’s where we co-operate.

What we’re now talking about it known as a “cause of action” – the legal reason for your lawsuit. I’ve only given a couple of examples. Being kept in fear by vagrants attracted by a known employer of illegal aliens is a cause of action. We can discuss this, listen to news media like Lou Dobbs, and we’ll have enough causes of action to sink the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan (that’s our latest nuclear aircraft carrier).

Okay. I started to do a reprise of “Citizen Powers" chapbooks I wrote back in the eighties, but that shouldn’t be necessary nowadays. Everything I wrote there, almost verbatim is now on the Internet. You can read for yourself, and get a good idea of everything you’ll need for this on Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort/)

Pay good attention to where the article tells you. “In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong, other than a breach of contract, for which the law provides a remedy.”
Note, too, that “damages” when a lawyer or court is speaking means loss of property and money or bodily injury. So the Tort is what they did, and the ad damnum is what it cost you.

Notice that tort law does not included anything subject to a contract. That’s an agreement made between or among people and parties. It is its own law. Civil law, often called the “common law.” has to do with one’s duty as a human being to the whole world. You might say it’s the law based upon how a reasonable person behaves, and is entiteled to expect of others like himself.

Both cause of action and damages must be stated in the complaint – that’s the paper you file with the court – and it is a fundamental concept of civil procedure (criminal and “due process” in general) that the defendant in an action must be given fair notice of what is being claimed and demanded of him. The complaint is sometimes called a “prayer” by old time lawyers. Courts think they are next to god. Some think they’re higher than that.

Law and lawyering is all about equivocating and torturing language, but don’t let it throw you. The court has the duty to assure that all parties know what’s going on, and the U.S. Constitution actually forbids special language and meaning.
I guess, by the way, we know from that something more of what lawyers have done to our system. If everybody could understand the law, we wouldn’t need many lawyers, would we?!

Now, what we want to do first is get as many people as we can to file a suit, either in small claims court or in district court – including U.S. district court. Which court we sue in depends on the court’s jurisdiction – that’s everywhere (both subject matter and territory) it has been given authority by the law – how much and what the suit is for, and who’s being sued. You can sue anybody who lives or does business in your area in small claims court, but the suit has to be less than an amount set by local law. You have to check that, and the easiest way is to go to the clerk of court at the courthouse and ask. In most places, they also have the form or forms you need to fill out. There’s a fee for the filing and for having the paper served – given to the person you’re suing. In many jurisdictions, you can serve the person my mail – certified letter, that is.

Again, Nolo Press publications and the like will have all that. This URL takes you to another Nolo page, one that will tell you just about everything about “civil process” http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/objectID/53E4D869-0A35-4D7D-BEE24CF4EC2E9C47/toc/1/104/308

You can sue either the corporation or individuals in small claims court. Think that’s peanuts? Let’s say you get a thousand people to sue XYZ Corporation for the usual Small Claims court limit of $10,000. A thousand times ten thousand is ten million dollars. That’s 1,000 times 10,000, and the product is 10,000,000. Dollars. Think that will get their attention? When they have to hire a lawyer at today’s prices, it will.

Now imagine that you sue the illegal alien. Think you’ll make a nuisance of yourself? What do you think José will do when he gets the paper in the mail, or a sheriff’s deputy shows up at his house? How do you think the sheriff, police, and courts will handle things once the alien – he probably won’t, of course – shows up in court? How about the lawyer he might go to, should he know enough about what’s going on to see one? And there’s more, but I don’t want to tip our hand entirely.
Suit in a state or federal district court isn’t much more difficult – just more expensive. In some jurisdictions, filing a suit may cost a couple of hundred dollars. In that event, assuming you can’t afford it, sue in what’s called “forma pauperis.” That’s just another form, saying you can’t afford the filing fees and such, and it petitions the court to let you proceed without paying. Generally, you can file the “Petition to Appear in Forma Pauperis” at the same time you file your summons and complaint. They have little choice there, but make sure your petition is justified. Once this starts, the government will get really nasty (they shot at me, don’t forget). They don’t like smart-ass common people who stand up for themselves in any way not approved of – by them.

Everything concerning suit paper and notice applies, as does service of summons and complaint (and, by the way, you usually can’t do your own “service” – unless it’s by mail). “Summons and complaint” is more legal jargon, and means the forms and papers you have delivered to the person or corporation you sue.

It’s never a good idea to sue for the moon. That, among several other things, gives the lawyers we want to draw into this – they cost the guys you sue big buck, don’t forget – justification to have the court throw out – “quash,” they like to say – your suit for being “frivolous.” Keep it very reasonable – try to actually compute how much you’ve lost or been damaged – and get ten thousand people to file the same suit. In the same court, it possible.

Good English and spelling in the summons and complaint are important for much the same reason as proper procedure. Muddy or confusing language will get your “quashed” faster than anything else. Language doesn’t have to be legal, just clear in stating your cause of action and damages.

Finally – we’ll talk more about it all – don’t be discouraged if you get something wrong. I got most – just about all – of my successes by letting the U.S. Attorneys and U.S. District Courts teach me the law. As long as your suit hasn’t bee dismissed “with prejudice,” you can correct your errors and file again. In forma pauperis. Don’t forget, what we’re doing here is “guerrilla law” – screwing up the works, blowing bridges in a legal way. We’re making a protest with some real muscle in it, one government can’t ignore and do as they damned please as they usually do. A lawsuit, as I may already have said, has to be answered under pain of being found in default and having to pay what you asked for.

As I said to someone the other day, Let’s Roll!