Expect to be Rejected

It’s amazing how Spirit-led Christians get separated from people who don’t know God.

My family has an LLC, and it owns some land. A long time ago, we stupidly offered a purchase option to a shady corporation. We signed an authorization allowing my sister to sell the option for X dollars. The buyer provided a check for X/10, and on the front, they wrote that the check was for the option. They did not include any language saying it was payment in full.

We thought the price offered was too low, so we revoked the option. The buyer sued. The case sat in court for about a decade. At least twice, the court itself sent out orders to show cause. The plaintiff had let the case lie dormant, and the court demanded to know why it should not have been dismissed. We did not oppose the plaintiff’s attorney when lame excuses were presented.

When this case came up, my dad and I offered to handle it for nothing. My dad was the best lawyer I ever knew. My grandfather got rich through practicing law and investing, along with some other unsavory practices, and my relatives think he was a superhero, but he never saw the day he could practice against his son-in-law.

My family insisted on giving the case to my cousin, who expected a fee. My cousin is no litigator. He didn’t move for dismissal based on failure to prosecute. He also chose not to file for dismissal based on failure of consideration, which means he didn’t contest the claim that a 10% payment was sufficient. It was not. The law clearly states that in cases where there is failure of consideration (including insufficient consideration), a contract will generally be rescinded.

The plaintiff sued the LLC as well as all its members individually. My cousin never filed for dismissal of the individual defendants. You can’t sue an individual personally for the actions of an LLC of which he is a member, barring certain unusual circumstances which are not applicable in our case.

I emailed my family, including my cousin, from time to time, and they usually didn’t respond. I didn’t expect anything from my co-defendant relatives, based on their history, but failure to communicate with a client is a very serious thing. Lawyers get suspended for it all the time.

A couple of weeks back, I heard the plaintiff had filed a motion for judgment. I was never served. I couldn’t get a copy of it. I started trying to contact my cousin, calling his office, texting, and so on. I didn’t get an answer until last night.

Basically, he made a point of talking to every LLC member except me, he dodged my communications, and then he came to me claiming they all wanted him to settle the case by giving up. He said they wanted him to do exactly what the plaintiff wanted.

Only a litigator could understand how bad this is.

Here is what you do when you get a case:

1. Make sure you are competent to handle it.
2. Get out the rules of procedure and write out a complete calendar of all deadlines and procedures.
3. Research the law and write a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis.
4. If possible, move for dismissal based on the insufficiency of the complaint.
5. If dismissal at this stage is not possible, perform discovery to determine the facts.
6. File such motions as are appropriate as the facts emerge. You may still be able to get a dismissal before trial.

As far as I can tell, my cousin did a little of #5 and none of the other things. He has never filed a motion. When I asked him for his research, he had nothing to say. Ask me about any case I’ve handled, and I can email you every piece of research in half an hour. This is normal. I still have research and briefs done by my father.

My cousin is a prosecutor, not a full-time private attorney. He practices in the same little backwoods area where my grandfather got rich, and most lawyers up there are very weak. They practice a very rudimentary, informal type of law. The good ones generally leave. That’s what happened to my dad. The lawyers in Eastern Kentucky could never begin to deal with a real litigator. I think that atmosphere made my cousin soft.

My dad practiced almost exclusively in federal courts, all over the country, routinely shutting down Ivy League attorneys. When I worked with him, I worked against real litigators, addressing complex issues. In Eastern Kentucky, a real lawyer like my dad or me would be like Mike Tyson sparring with old ladies at a strip mall Tae Kwon Do dojo.

I’ll digress with an amusing story. My dad was handling a labor matter. The union attorneys showed up. They said they were Harvard lawyers. One of them said they had beaten the last attorney they faced, and they would beat my dad, too. He said, “If you do, I’ll buy you a drink, and if you lose, you can buy me a drink.” They lost and ran off, and my dad never got his drink.

My dad took criminal cases when he was young, to feed his family. He handled 11 murder cases and got 10 acquittals. In the remaining case, the defendant and victim were both black. After the verdict, my dad heard one juror tell another, “Got rid of two at once.” He tried to get his client to let him file for a retrial based on jury misconduct, but the client said he didn’t want to bother. He said he had been to the pen before, and it didn’t bother him to go back.

The motion opposing counsel sent my cousin is pathetic. It wasn’t accompanied by a brief, which amazes me. That’s malpractice anywhere except Eastern Kentucky. It contained a huge stack of irrelevant deeds. It also contained a copy of the check, which we should be using to get a dismissal. It asked for remedies that made no sense. Opposing counsel is clearly incompetent, but we are rolling over for her as though she were Ben Cardozo.

It’s a shame my family would not let my dad and me handle this. Would we have gotten a better result? I believe we would have done away with the case in a couple of months. We certainly could not have done worse than giving up to a dimestore attorney AND charging a fee.

We are literally in the same place we would have been had we done nothing and received a default judgment, except that we will have to pay someone, and we lost the benefit of investing the proceeds from the sale.

When I talked to my cousin, I could not get him to agree with basic assertions of fact and law. I hadn’t heard from him in years, and he said he was satisfied with his communication. It was like talking to someone who was hypnotized and unable to perceive the truth. Whenever I made a point, he changed the subject.

Later on, I prayed about it and asked God what was going on. Then I realized it was just another step in my isolation from unsaved people and stubborn people. It was completely natural for everyone in the family to ostracize me. I’m the only real litigator in the family, and they all know it, but it was natural for them to side with my cousin, against their own interests, because he is one of them, and I am not.

He even cited my sister’s opinion. My sister is a convicted felon who is no longer allowed to practice law, and her right to represent the family was taken away because of her character. No one in the family can stand her, my father, my aunt, and my grandfather have all thrown her out of their houses, and my cousin talked to her first and listened to her legal opinion and cited it back to me.

None of it makes sense, but then it wasn’t supposed to make sense. When supernatural forces are at work, nonsensical things happen.

Last night, I asked God if he would multiply back to me and my wife whatever we lost because of my family’s bad decisions. I felt that he said he would, and I let it go. I felt separated from anger, and I want it to stay that way.

I don’t need the money. Things are going great for me. I am unquestionably a bad and undeserving person, but I am trying to submit to God, and he has been extremely merciful to me, giving me a life which is far better than I deserve. I don’t expect to have to work ever again. I live on a pleasant farm, nicely isolated from the urban insanity of the dawning apocalypse. I have no debt. I have a very attractive wife who is a magnificent companion and prayer partner. The worst people in my life are dead or far away and powerless. For my relatives, things are not going like this. They have marriage problems, money problems, addictions, mental torments, and degenerative diseases. Not all of them have every type of problem, but all of them have some. I can’t name one who is not unhappy.

For years, I have been praying for God to cut my financial ties to my family. We are sitting on useless land we started inheriting in 1994. They will not stand together and get it sold. I keep asking God what I am doing wrong to be held up like this. My financial situation will not be affected greatly one way or another, so that isn’t what concerns me. I just want the connection severed. I don’t want to be tied to people who consistently make the worst possible decisions. I can’t wait to see the last piece of land sold.

Why haven’t I taken action in the past? I hated the scrapping. My grandfather left a very bad will, and it brought out the worst in people. I figured God would take care of me, and I thought he did not want me taking over my own representation or filing to force sales.

The other day, I had a dream. I was in a big, luxurious Lincoln Town Car, from the days when luxury cars really were luxurious. I saw a punk outside my window. He took the form of a shallow guy I knew in college. Nice guy, but not much there. Women chased him, and he went along with the crowd. In the dream, he had some kind of assault rifle. It looked like a toy made of plastic.

I took out my Glock and fired at him three times. The rounds went off with weak noises, and if they hit him, I didn’t see it. I reached out and ripped his gun out of his hands, and I drove off with the windows closed.

I believe God was telling me my carnal weapons were not much good. I won’t get much by fighting people in court or by striving with them. The car, like all motorized vehicles in my dreams, represented God’s help. If I am led by the Spirit, then he protects me with his power and defeats my enemies. The punk represented people who want desperately to fit in to this world. He was not a spirit.

The children of darkness give people disfavor, on Satan’s behalf. The only remedy is God’s favor.

You can’t expect to be part of the gang when you belong to God. Jesus said the world would hate his followers, and of course, what he said was true. By “followers”, I don’t mean people who sit in church once in a while or people who haven’t received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I don’t mean what my wife calls “nominal Christians.” I mean people who are seriously trying to get close to God and stay there, through the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed for my relatives. It just doesn’t work. I baptized one cousin in my pool, but apart from her, I don’t have a single relative who speaks in tongues, seeks correction, and understands any of the deep things of God.

People have free will, so often, we pray over and over to God when the only ones who can answer our prayers are the people we are praying for. God is offering them every kind of help, but they turn it down. That’s the way life works. I have no idea whether any of my relatives will change before the tribulation or even afterward.

When I was a kid, I was extremely grateful for my family. I loved my aunts and cousins. I loved two of my uncles. The other was sadistic and scary, and he hated me because I was my grandfather’s favorite. I loved going home for summers and holidays. I looked forward to seeing everyone. I loved big family meals. I thought I had something special. As time passed, however, we grew apart. Now the people who are closest to me are my wife and former strangers I got to know through my walk with Christ.

My relatives ignore me, and when they do get in touch, it generally leads to be being dragged into a vexing problem they caused. They never contact me about anything but business. They have visited Florida and come very close without even telling me. They had a big Thanksgiving dinner and informed me afterward. My new family sends me cards and gifts. They pray for me. They tell me they love me. They come for visits. I have their photos on my walls. The only biologicals whose photos are on my walls are my mother’s parents.

It’s terrible to see people you love fall into delusion and accept it. I wish we could have the warmth we used to have. Those days are gone, though. My grandparents’ estates served as wedges to pry down the facade.

I have never taken a penny for doing anything for the estates. I offered to work for them for nothing, as though they were indigent pro bono clients. I have never received a cent of estate money that wasn’t given to me out in the open. I have never taken the smallest item of personalty unless it was on record and officially sanctioned. I have never fought over anything. I haven’t gone after items people have said were stolen from my share. I used to get along with everyone. There is no natural explanation for the way things have turned out.

I forgive everyone who has taken part in creating this mess. I took part, myself. I got off the train eventually, but I was there to help put the wheels on, before I turned to God.

I don’t think there is any point in continuing to pray for them. I have been doing it for 14 years, and only one apple fell from the tree. In a parable, Jesus only gave an unfruitful tree one year.

People who miss the rapture will still be able to be saved during the tribulation, but they will wish they were dead. There is hope for my loved ones who won’t listen during the present age. I hate to think of what they may go through if they get stuck here.

If you get close to God, expect to lose people. It has happened to every person I know who has tried it. Don’t blame yourself. Don’t look for a natural reason. What’s happening to you is preparation for the rapture or death. You’re being cleansed and equipped.

If you lose your coworkers, friends, kids, spouse, or relatives, don’t worry. God has a new famiy for you. He promises he sets the solitary in families. He takes people out of dysfunctional biological families, and he puts them together with his other children.