I had to go into the office yesterday and deal with an emergency. Since I am currently in Washington State and my office in California, this required more than a simple phone call.
When I headed up to Washington state, the matter that so rudely interrupted my vacation had been settled. The couple agreed to sell their rental property, pay off all their debts, and split the remaining money. Despite the slump in real estate, the property was in escrow. Everything should have gone smoothly--except that the husband failed to inform his attorney, my client, me, or the judge that he had surreptitiously borrowed over $100,000 from his girlfriend and had given her a Deed of Trust on the property in violation of court orders.
The Deed of Trust had not been recorded so a previous title search failed to turn up anything amiss. But when the girlfriend discovered that the Husband was cheating on her (go figure-- he cheated on his wife with her), she recorded the Deed of Trust. When the escrow company did a new title search for the sale, the newly recorded Deed showed up and a demand letter was sent. Girlfriend demanded all of the proceeds be given to her. The escrow company informed my office they intended to honor the Deed, which would had effectively deprived my client of her rightful share.
As you can guess, Monday was spent at the computer emailing drafts of a Request for Emergency Court Orders, setting up an emergency hearing, and making plane reservations.
On Tuesday, I got up at 4:00 a.m., dressed for court, and drove to Sea Tac Airport. I caught the 8:30 a.m. flight to Fresno, arrived at 10:30 a.m., and headed directly to my office. I spent the next five hours negotiating a temporary agreement in my client's favor, drafted a stipulated Order, arranged to have the Judge sign the temporary order, filed it, and sent my staff out to serve conformed copies. The monies will be held in trust until a formal hearing in August.
At 4:00 p.m. I returned to the airport to check in for the 5:55 p.m. flight to Sea Tac. It was an hour late! Thank goodness I had tossed my knitting into the flight bag at the last minute. While I waited, I knitted on the back Elsebeth Lavold sweater. We finally boarded and took off at 7:10 p.m. I continued knit throughout the flight. I managed to reach the beginning of shoulder shaping by the time we arrived at Sea Tac International Airport at 9:00 p.m. I reclaimed my car and drove 45 miles home. I arrived at 10:30 p.m. and discovered that Dan and Kenny had a lovely home cooked meal ready and waiting! Although I did accomplish quite a bit on the sweater, on the whole I would not want to do that again anytime soon!
6 comments:
Oh, crud. How dare they mess up your break like that! In my opinion, hubby is lucky wife didn't just kill him outright when she found out. That actually happened in a case my mom (also a lawyer--it's like a disease in our family) handled. Her client (hubby in the divorce, and none too bright) killed wife because he thought it would be easier than working out a settlement. I suppose it did simplify things for my mother--he wasn't her client after that. Forget criminal court--it's family court that's really dangerous.
That guy's a tool! Like they say, "If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you!" Apparently, no one told the girl this old bit of wisdom. That's what she gets for playing with other people's toys.
Your poor client! What a mess! Hope it all works out in her favor.
Too bad about the break in your vacation, but at least you had your knitting! Its coming along fairly quickly!
that is one heck of a way to get extra knitting time! glad your family had a home cooked meal waiting for you upon your return!
Holy Mack! The pentultimate question seems to me to be "Who in the heck lends a known cheater $100K and expects things to run smoothly after that?". Cases like that are the reason you need knitting in the first place: something productive happens, and you get a good distraction.
How sweet to come home to a home cooked meal! I agree w/Mel about loaning money - but who the heck loans anyone $100K - not in my circle of friends - yikes!
I loved the results of Kenny's scavenger hunt - maybe it's time to find him a little digital camera - he did a great job!
Can't wait to see the finished sweater - it is going to be so gorgeous! Hope the rest of your time is un-interrupted :-) T.
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