Bad Experience with Small Claims / District Judge

[IdaBriggs]

A good friend of mine recently had reason to sue in small claims court over an unreturned security deposit with her old landlord. The judge misquoted the law back at her, flat out was WRONG in another interpretation (said she gave up her rights in the lease while the law says any portion of a lease where a tenant gives up their rights is ILLEGAL AND INVALID), and treated her rudely and with complete disrespect, before attempting to give the Defendants a money judgment (which was ridiculous because they hadn't counter-sued, since they were completely in the wrong/it would have been illegal).

In complete shock at the situation, I convinced my friend to file a "Motion to Reconsider" based on a problem with the communication / judge misapplying the law, and spelled out the law quite clearly, even QUOTING the exact statute with the clear language. I also went with her to be an "expert witness" with print-outs of the other issues the judge had erroneously brought up ("you can't put something in a lease that violates Michigan Law").

For the second time, the Judge shot my friend down - AND DID THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE LAW. She was hostile, rude, and officially inappropriate - demanding my friend answer a question, then interrupting before she could answer with a demand to be quiet / answer the question (simultaneously). When I was asked to speak by my friend, the judge refused to allow it - "NOT IN MY COURTROOM" was the exact quote. Then the judge rejected the Motion to Reconsider, and AGAIN tried to give a money judgment to the Defendants WHO STILL HADN'T FILED A COUNTER-CLAIM BECAUSE THEY CAN'T (and are illegally withholding my friend's security deposit).

The amount of money is too small to hire an attorney to take it to Circuit Court and once you go to Small Claims, you lose the right to Appeal. On a hunch, I went back and discovered that in the last seven years / over 1,000 cases - my friend was only the SECOND PERSON to ever file against an apartment complex in her city as the Plaintiff (which I guess was why the Judge kept assuming she was the Defendant instead of the Plaintiff), and as near as I could determine with the limited time I had (I obviously need to investigate a little more before this statement can be confirmed) - apparently there has only been ONE tenant in that time to prevail in a Landlord / Tenant dispute.

This judge has now been in office for two years with four more to go for her elected term. (Obviously, she isn't too blame for the apparent pattern, just her part in it). I am thinking about starting a Recall Campaign based on the Judge's complete ignorance of or disregard for the Law. Oddly enough, it wouldn't be that hard to do - 25% of the people who voted in our last Governor's election in that city isn't a high number, and there are a lot of renters.

It won't help my friend, but as an actual Law Abiding Landlord, I am freaking PISSED. Heck, if I knew the law didn't actually MEAN ANYTHING, I could have saved myself a lot of time over the years doing the right thing. I also feel completely disillusioned: I thought Judges stood up for The Law, and now I'm not sure what the heck they are doing - rubber stamping a money making enterprise with Lazy Landlords? Maybe getting a little graft on the side? Or just plain deciding that clear language means whatever the heck they want it to mean?

Thoughts???

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. many of the small claims judges are a**holes. n/t

[IdaBriggs]

2. But I thought they had to actually *FOLLOW THE LAW* - I feel so naive!

And angry. :( And sad. :(

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Unfortunately, some of them feel that they are the law.

:-(