25 JUNE 2014, Vol.1, No.60 > JUDICAL
‘HELLHOLE’…YOUR RIGHTS IN
MAGISTRATE COURT!
The POCAHONTAS CRIER
‘When the Righteous succeed the people rejoice,
But when the bad govern, men groan!’ – Proverbs 29:2
[New
Email address: pocahontascrier88@gmail.com]
JUDICIAL ‘HELLHOLE’…
YOUR RIGHTS IN
MAGISTRATE COURT!
PART
OF THE PROBLEM
All around the nation, West
Virginia is known as the ‘Judicial Hellhole’
of the USA, and within West Virginia, Pocahontas County is known as the ‘Judicial Hellhole’
of West Virginia – pursuant to bad judicial
decisions, failure to provide timely Court Orders, and the number of appeals
filed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia! So Congratulations, those of us living in
Pocahontas County are living at the bottom, or center, depending on your
location, of ‘Dante’s
Hell’ – the ‘Seventh Circle’, a place where bankers /
usurers are LOWER than blasphemers, sodomites, pedophiles, and murderers!
When looking at the ersatz Greenbrier
Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC) and its thievery of land
& funds FROM this county – led by bankers – that scenario paints a
pretty accurate picture TODAY considering that Durante
degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, wrote his classical work, ‘The Inferno’, between 1306 – 1321 as a satire
against the corruption of his time; similar to that when Niccolò di Bernardo
dei Machiavelli wrote his satirical masterpiece,
‘The Prince’,
reflecting the corruption of his time between 1498 - 1512! They are but two in a very long line of great
men who spoke out and wrote SATIRE against political, religious, social and
economic corruption through the centuries! Like King Solomon said, ‘There is nothing new under the Sun’. Thus the line of ‘muckrakers’
challenging corruption is long & distinguished indeed!
In all fairness, those calling
West Virginia the ‘Judicial Hellhole’ of America are in fact the most corrupt of
all comprised MOSTLY OF MONEYLENDERS & INSURANCE
COMPANIES, as well as Pharmaceutical companies for flooding the State
with illegal drugs, that have been sued by our former State Attorney General,
Darrell McGraw, who filed lawsuits and won BILLIONS for the Citizens of this
State! But McGraw was defeated after
five-terms in office by a ‘lobbyist-lawyer’, Patrick Morrisey, who worked
for the predatory corporations that outspent McGraw ten-to-one in the last
election since McGraw was keeping the predatory-capitalist-corporations in
check on behalf of ‘We The People’! In short,
corporations NEVER want to a admit any wrongdoing even when an employee is permanently
injured or killed! Nor do
corporations ever want to pay any restitution for any injuries, lost of limbs
or eyes for any employee – or pay any death-benefits to the family of any
employee – even if the employee was the main income provider for the family!
And we’ve all seen this here in
this county as well, as the owners of the most dangerous jobs in this county,
i.e., timber-processors, have REFUSED to pay Workman’s Compensation, and even
fought against paying Workman’s Compensation and other benefits to employees
injured on the job pursuant to the FAILURE of the owners to provide proper
safety equipment! How many times have workers been told to use a ‘weed-eater’ WITHOUT BEING GIVEN ANY
SAFETY GOOGLES? How many times
have workers been severely injured when loading or unloading logging trucks –
or working the ‘Green
Line’ – and only provided limited benefits? Yet the owners of these timber-enterprises
have been given thousands of acres of public land & millions of board-feet
to cut to stay in business from the federal government as ‘corporate welfare’ – yet only pay
their workers minimum-wages, fight
against Workman’s Compensation, fire injured employees and willing to pay
thousands to have a horse X-rayed to see the sex of its fold! Hypocrites that want us to think they are ‘Christians’ and belong to a secret ‘benevolent-society’!
What the corporatists
want is to put an end to Citizen-Juries setting the amount of damages in
malpractice & injury cases, etc., and ‘cap-all-lawsuits’
for damages & permanent injuries at $250,000 as a one-time fee! This is what those
corporation-sponsored-groups want that place billboards along the highways
wanting ‘Judicial Reform’, etc. – IT’S A BIG SCAM TO
ONCE AGAIN CHEAT THE RANK & FILE CITIZEN INSTEAD OF MAKING THE CORPORATIONS
PAY FOR THEIR CORRUPT PRACTICES!
For example, look at General
Motors (GM) at the present time, KNOWINGLY allowing defective ignition parts to
cause accidents & death – but determining that
the cost of fighting the lawsuits would be CHEAPER than fixing the problem! A simple example of PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE! So if you find yourself in such an accident
pursuant to their neglect, would you want a JUDGE to tell you that the TOTAL
you can receive is $250,000, as a one-time payment, for you to suffer the rest
of your life with permanent pain, injury & loss? What if a child or spouse were killed? Would $250K be enough to forget them or
compensate for your loss? OR would you like a JURY to determine how much you should
receive based upon THE GOLDEN RULE, i.e., doing unto others what you would want
done unto you? The basis of our
current legal system is based upon the COMMON LAW, that was based upon The
Divine Laws as found in the first five books of the Bible written by Moses as
he was directed in order for all of us to have an ‘Operations Manuel’ for personal,
family, communal and National Social Order!
And how about those ‘refinancing
companies’ that promise lower interest rates, and ‘cash-equity’,
for those who need extra funds so try refinancing? Know anyone who has tried that system only to
find that using their home-equity to finance any type of purchase usually ends
up in the hands of ‘collection-agencies’ after the
home-equity-company SELLS your DEBT to some other debt-collector? Not only does it usually end of costing your
more – but when any type of financial SETTLEMENT is reached – try getting that
company to file a RELEASE OF DEBT in the county courthouse to show you are now ‘debt-free’! In nine of ten cases, the holding company is
an out-of-state collections-agency and WILL NOT spend a dime to ‘set-you-free’
– instead, you will have to file a complaint in circuit court, pay court costs,
wait for the out-of-state collections-agency to refuse to answer and ignore
your request – then you will have to get a ‘default-judgment’ and then take that court order
to the county commission to order the county clerk to remove the Debt from the
county lien book – all of course at YOUR EXPENSE!
THE MAGISTRATE COURT
SYSTEM
For those that know their Bible,
both Old & New Testaments – and this does not include ‘evangelical-churches’ that mistakenly believe the Old-Testament
has been done away with – in Exodus 18, Moses was overwhelmed with judicial
decisions from petty disputes all the way to capital-punishment! So in Exodus 18: 17-23, Moses was advised to
choose ‘capable
men from all the people – men who feared YaHoVaH Our Creator, trustworthy men
who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands,
hundreds, fifties and tens’, etc.
Magistrate Courts, as we now know
them, were originated in West
Virginia pursuant to the Common Law whereby legal
disputes were to be settled accordingly.
At first it was a ‘Tribunal’ of three elected county officials
who made the decisions known as the ‘County Court’; but as the population grew, so
too was the ‘County Court’
overwhelmed with all kinds of ‘citizen-disputes’,
so the ‘County Court’ became the
County Commission, and the Magistrate Court was formed under the Judiciary
Branch of government as a ‘Citizen-Court’ comprised of lay persons, i.e.,
rank & file Citizens, including the right to have a ‘Jury of your Peers’, i.e., folks
that know you, etc., hear your dispute and hopefully ‘choose wisely’ & honestly!
BUT LIKE MOST THINGS – bring
in a ‘lawyer’ and things go to
proverbial hell-in-a-hand-basket! Now for the most part, the Magistrate Court is simply a Medieval ‘Star
Chamber’ whereby the Office of the County Prosecutor
tells the Magistrate what to do! And the
history of this county has shown that few magistrates have had either the
intelligence or the moral-courage to do what they know to be right, instead of
simply ‘rubber-stamping’
the opinions of the Office of the County Prosecutor – forcing an ‘Appeal’
to Circuit Court for a de novo trial, i.e., start over from the
beginning! And since most folks cannot
afford an attorney, the ‘government always wins’ – OR SO MOST FOLKS
THINK!
Now what has been in effect in
point of principle and fact since the beginning, is the fact THAT ANYONE CAN REPRESENT ANOTHER PERSON in Magistrate Court
WITHOUT BEING A LAWYER! It
depends on the person needing a matter settled in Magistrate Court, for less
than $5000, if civil; and it’s a right handed down via our Common Law Roots – and was just RESTATED IN AN OPINION OF THE NEW STATE
ATTORNEY GENERAL on 06 May 2014, as follows:
State of West Virginia Office of
the Attorney General
Patrick Morrisey (304) 558-2021
Attorney General Fax (304)
558-0410
May
6,2014
Ms. Anita R. Casey Executive Director The West Virginia State Bar 2000 Deitrick Boulevard Charleston, WV 25311
Dear Ms. Casey,
You have asked for an Opinion of the Attorney
General pertaining to the authority of unlicensed individuals to practice law
in West Virginia
Circuit Courts on behalf of limited liability companies ("LLCs").
This Opinion is being issued pursuant to West Virginia Code § 5-3-1, which
provides that the Attorney General "shall give written opinions and advice
upon questions of law ... whenever required to do so, in writing, by ... [a]
state officer, board or commission." To the extent this Opinion relies on
facts, it is based solely upon the factual assertions set forth in your letter
to the Attorney General's Office. You explain that your Unlawful Practice of
Law Committee has received an inquiry from an unlicensed attorney who wishes to
purchase an LLC, serve as its sole member, and routinely represent that LLC in
suits to collect on accounts of the LLC in matters in West Virginia Circuit
Courts, when the matters at issue exceed the monetary jurisdictional ceiling
for magistrate courts.
Your letter raises the following legal question:
Does the exemption of West Virginia Code § 50-4-4a, which permits
a party to be represented by an "agent" in magistrate court
proceedings, permit a non-lawyer to represent an LLC in Circuit Court?
West Virginia
has adopted the well-accepted rule that only an attorney licensed to practice
law can practice law in a court of record, except in cases where a person is appearing on his own
behalf (pro se). See W. Va. Trial Ct. R. 4.03 ("Every party to proceedings before any
court, except parties appearing pro se, shall be represented by a
Ms. Anita R. Casey May 6, 2014 Page 2
person
admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and
in good standing as a member of its bar."); accord W. Va. Code §
30-2-4 ("[i]t shall be unlawful for any natural person to practice or
appear as an attorney-at-law for another in a court of record in this state ... without first having been duly
and regularly licensed and admitted to practice law in a court of record of
this state"). As our Supreme Court of Appeals has explained, "[t]he
reason for the requirement that the practice of law be engaged in only by duly
licensed practitioners of the law is to establish and maintain a legal standard
by which the rights of persons may not be jeopardized or sacrificed by counsel
and advice of unlicensed and incompetent persons." West Virginia
State Bar v.
Earley, 144 W. Va. 504, 528, 109 S.E.2d
420, 435 (1959).
Consistent
with this principle, the Supreme Court of Appeals has long held that a non-licensed
person may not appear in a court of record on behalf of a corporation. See West
Virginia State Bar v. Earley, 144 W.Va. 504, 526-527, 109 S.E.2d 420, 435 (1959).
The harms that such a person might cause are no different than when a
corporation is not involved. Like any other non-lawyer, a "non-lawyer
corporate agent's lack of legal expertise could 'frustrate the continuity,
clarity and adversity which the judicial process demands."' Shenandoah Sales
& Service, Inc. v. Assessor of Jefferson County, 228 W. Va. 762,
766, 724 S.E.2d 733, 737 (2012) (quoting State ex rel.
Western Parks, Inc. v. Bartholomew County Court, 383 N.E.2d 290,
293 (Ind. 1978)). Nor is there any argument that such a person falls within the
exception for unlicensed pro se representation. The person is appearing not on his
own behalf, but rather as an agent of the corporation, which is "an
artificial entity created by law" that can only act "through an agent
or representative." Id. at 767, 724 S.E.2d at 738; see also id. at 766, 724 S.E.2d
at 737 ("it is a well-settled legal principle that a corporation must be
represented by a lawyer in a court of record").
While the Supreme Court of Appeals has not had
occasion to consider whether a non-attorney may appear in a court of record on
behalf of an LLC, we have no reason to doubt that the Court would find such an
appearance impermissible. The risks presented by a non-lawyer representative of
an LLC are similar—if not the same as—those presented by a non-lawyer corporate
agent. Moreover, there is likewise no argument that such a person is engaged in
pro se representation.
An LLC—no less than a corporation— is an artificial legal entity. See W. Va. Code §
31B-2-201 (defining an LLC as a "legal entity distinct from its
members"). Thus, a person seeking to represent the LLC in court would not
be acting on his own behalf, but rather as an agent of the LLC. Notably, the
overwhelming majority of cases outside of West Virginia hold that a non-attorney may
not appear in court on behalf of an LLC. See Lattanzio v.
COMTA, 481
F.3d 137 (2d Cir. 2007) (per curiam); United States v.
Hagerman, 545
F.3d 579 (7th Cir. 2008); Collier v. Cobalt, LLC, No. Civ. A.
01-2007, 2002 WL 726640, at *1 (E.D. La. 2002) ("Whether the LLC is
characterized as a corporation, a partnership, or a hybrid, it may only appear
in court through counsel."); J. William Callison & Maureen A.
Sullivan, Ltd. Liability Co. § 1:1, n.6 (2013) (collecting cases).
Ms. Anita R. Casey May 6, 2014 Page 3
You ask whether West Virginia Code § 50-4-4a creates an
exception to this rule for a non-lawyer to represent an LLC in a West Virginia Circuit
Court. That law provides: "Any
party to a civil action in a magistrate court may appear and conduct such action in person, by
agent or by attorney. Appearance by an agent or attorney shall have the same
effect as appearance by the party represented, and the appearance by an agent
shall not constitute the unlawful practice of law." Id. (emphasis
added). The Supreme Court of Appeals has construed this provision narrowly to
permit an "isolated or casual appearance by a non-lawyer friend or
relative of a party to proceedings in magistrate courts for the purpose of
assisting such party in representing himself in the litigation." State ex rel Frieson v. Isnei\ 168 W. Va.
758, 778, 285 S.E.2d 641, 654 (1981).
We agree with the Unlawful Practice Committee that
Section 50-4-4a has no application to the facts as presented. By its plain terms, this
provision "authorizes a party to appear by a lay agent in magistrate court—not a court of record," such as a Circuit
Court. Shenandoah Sales, 228 W. Va.
at 770, 724 S.E.2d at 741. This distinction is significant. Where a statute
has sought to permit a non-natural person such as a corporation "to retain
a non-lawyer representative to act as an agent on their behalf and engage in
activities which constitute the practice of law in a circuit
court" the
Supreme Court of Appeals has found the law to be a violation of the Court's
"inherent and constitutional authority to define, regulate and control the
practice of law." Id. Accordingly, we conclude that Section 50-4-4a does
not permit an LLC member not licensed to practice law in West
Virginia to appear in a West
Virginia Circuit Court on the LLC's behalf.
Patrick
Morrisey Attorney General
What this means is that ANYONE –
lawyer or no lawyer – that any given person wishes to have present their side
of any issue in Magistrate Court
can be done so under West Virginia
law! Now if only the Office of the County Prosecutor
would simply present its ‘case’ and
leave it at that – without
telling the Magistrate what to say & do for its advantage – then
maybe the Magistrate, or Jury, could make a decision based on THE COMMON LAW
instead of the intimidation, threats, and plea-bargains that usually take place
to the detriment of the ‘victim’
before the court!
In the meantime…
THAT’S WHY…
On 04 NOVEMBER…there’s no excuse…
IT’S YOUR
CHOICE…
TO CHANGE THINGS FOR THE BETTER!
Just say ‘NO’ to
those who want to keep this county in Poverty & Pauperism
– and –
Just say ‘YES’ to
real Progress
& Prosperity for the future!
On Primary Day – YOU have a chance to elect two persons
that will always put YOU first! They know that:
THE
GREATER COMMON GOOD ALWAYS COMES BEFORE SELF OR ANY SELF-SERVING SPECIAL
INTERESTS!
Keep up to Date – Stay tuned to these Websites:
On 04 NOVEMBER it doesn’t matter how you are registered – YOU CAN VOTE
for:
CHARLES
WILFONG – ND
&
NORMAN
LEE ALDERMAN - SD
The Pocahontas Crier is an independent Internet News Service that has now endorsed
two candidates for County Commission
– CHARLES WILFONG & NORMAN LEE ALDERMAN –
in addition to providing in depth news reporting on important issues
directly affecting the Citizens of Pocahontas
County!
► The Pocahontas Crier is a free,
non-subscription, Internet News Service meant for entertainment in the true ‘muckraking’ tradition of questioning
authority, challenging corruption, and offering Common Sense Alternatives for The Greater Common
Good before Self or any Special Interests!
We struggle for Social Justice on all levels and are part of The Crier Coalition of Internet News Services
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