Litigation is often described in terms of numbers and rules, but at its core, it is a battle of attrition and pressure. The past few weeks, the “machinery” of the law provided a jarring example of how that pressure is applied in the present day.
Morning Grace, Afternoon Execution
In my prior post, I shared how on Friday morning, April 24th, Valeo’s attorney performed a “gracious” gesture by notifying the court that the hearing regarding my son Ethan’s frozen bank accounts was unnecessary because she was filing a motion to release all our accounts—Ethan’s, our personal accounts, and the business accounts.
We only asked for Ethan’s accounts to be released.
By that same afternoon, any illusion of goodwill was gone, when she filed a Praecipe for Execution.
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She is sending the Elkhart County Sheriff to our home to seize physical assets to be sold at a sheriff’s sale.
___________________________The Further Enforcement Gap
While the prior post may have seemed daunting, getting the bank to acknowledge the court order and unfreeze Ethan’s assets, Kim and I have other serious concerns.
While I worked to get Ethan’s accounts restored, Kim and I feared the Sheriff could appear at our door at any moment. They still could, maybe even before I post this.
At times, events develop faster than I can share them with you.
I prepared and filed a Motion to Exempt certain assets - basically asking the court to avoid repeating the mess that happened to Ethan’s bank accounts, but with personal property.
I also filed a Motion to Stay, hoping that the court will instruct the Elkhart County Sheriff to wait until the court rules before taking assets.
The court hasn’t done anything with either motion yet.
So we wait for a ruling, but fearing the doorbell.
Kim and I worked to get kids’ property to them. Alli’s small apartment is now stuffed with her instruments.
___________________________The “Settled-For” Table
When you fear the Sheriff might come to sell your household assets, the things you live with every day suddenly come into focus. I find myself looking at the kitchen table I am writing from.
Kim and I “settled” for this table years ago after an insurance company played games with us following a fire. We needed something durable and available immediately. It isn’t worth much monetarily—the varnish is gone in spots, and the leaves have two decades of petrified “goo” stuck between them.
But it has never failed us. Searching through old photos, I realize this table has been the unappreciated center of almost every family special occasion.
This photo is from Ethan’s 8th birthday in September 2014. Eight months after this picture, Valeo sued me for $37,476.96. Ethan is now home from college, but the firm is still using the court to freeze his money and send the Sheriff for the furniture he grew up around.
___________________________The Heirloom Table
As much as I would miss our kitchen table, it does not come close to my grandparents’ table.
Our extended family has lived life around this table since my earliest memories. It represents holiday meals and sweet corn from grandma’s garden. After my grandpa passed away, my grandma sat at this table to write thank you notes.
Grandpa owned a hardwood business and one of the first certified hardwood tree farms in the country; wood furniture is not an afterthought in our family. Grandma detailed the table’s history on athletic tape stuck to the bottom.
Hannah and Colton asked for the table months ago, and we had been trying to find an opportunity to get it to them. Kim’s large truck was having issues, and not safe to drive in Chicago traffic.
The girls made plans to celebrate Kim on Mother’s Day in Chicago last Friday. So in the middle of court filings and bank visits, I touched up a scratch in the polyurethane.
Hannah now has her table.
There is an immense sense of relief in knowing that a piece of our family history is safe and that I don’t have to spend more hours in court arguing that it isn’t even mine to seize, or for Hannah to be interrupted like Ethan, but from her busy career for a court hearing to testify that the table is hers.
Valeo claims I owe them a judgment, but they seem to be working hard to inconvenience and harass everyone I care about.
___________________________The Expert’s Observation
There is a profound sense of violation in the thought of a “billion-dollar firm” sending law enforcement to take the furniture out from under a family—especially for a judgment based on an agreement the firm’s own lead counsel admits never existed in signed form, and years after Valeo fined my wages on a premeditated plan to have employees save the company and pay for management’s failures.
This is the reality of the legal system when logic is replaced by leverage. I am done hiding and staying quiet. You all deserve to know the full facts. Some of what I will share could later be used against me. I understand the risks. It is far more important that those I care about are informed and prepared.
___________________________We are so thankful for the support from so many of you as we walk through this.
___________________________In Part 11, we will return to the record to look at the “Rule 9.2 Defaults”—exploring how the firm was allowed to litigate for years based on an “Entire Agreement” that their own lead counsel eventually admitted never existed in signed form.
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