TNJ........... So What's This?

Part One

So there it was staring up at me, another one of those envelopes from BG and WF's attorney. Dave had come straight to me when he'd retrieved this thing from the mailbox. Even though it's addressed to both of us, he would never think of opening it. This thing was mine to deal with....... whatever it was.

Dread filled my heart as I stared at the manila envelope in my hand. It was easier to look at it and speculate than open the thing. So much of my heart was wrapped up in this case, anything new from them felt like an assault on my very being. No matter how prepared I was, their denials and counterclaims felt like a huge burden weighing heavily upon me.

I had an idea in my mind at where I was in this process. I figured right from the start I was going to have to put enough pressure on WF for her to realize it was going to cost her to get my horse. Only if she knew she really had to pay what the horse was worth, would she back off. This had been, after all, about getting something for nothing, or nothing to her anyway. BG has been the one doing the work, what work there was done.

To my way of thinking, I had not done that yet. I expected we would not reach that point until they had my discovery in their hands. Only when they knew I was prepared and really had a case I could prove would they do the right thing. I figured once their attorney got the chance to look over all of the material, that my attorney was now studying, would she understand the magnitude of this case. Then I expected things would change, but not until then.

That left this envelope screaming at me. It must be their discovery requests, or maybe something resulting from that phone conference with the judge which would still be discovery related. I could deal with that. I just didn't want anymore curve balls thrown my way.

I took a deep breath, braced myself and opened the envelope. I was not prepared for what I read. "I write to propose an immediate settlement of all claims outstanding in the above case."

Scanning down the page I read the expected disclaimer "While my clients continue to dispute that you are entitled to the horse, and you have admitted to receiving the boxer puppy and several thousand dollars worth of services from BG for which my clients will receive nothing if they give the horse back to you, they desire an amicable resolution rather than protracted litigation.

While my clients are confident they would succeed in their claims and defenses, I assume you have the same confidence in your position. We will most likely have to go to trail to resolve the outstanding issues and there is risk to all parties in proceeding further. For you, as plaintiffs, if my clients succeed, they have requested their attorney's fees.

I understand you claim that you have been damaged monetarily, but return of the horse should be more than sufficient as a compromise of that claim.

Please give this settlement proposal your immediate consideration and communicate your acceptance, or rejection, by phone to myself, at ---, or in writing to my office on or before close of business on September 7, 2010 After that time my clients will have to pursue their own discovery requests, responding to yours, and additional costs will be incurred which will of course be avoided if the case settles........"

There it was including all the usual BS. I can't even tell you how many buttons all that manipulative bunk pushed for me. If they wanted me to relax, all they did was fire me up. As long as they continued to take no responsibility for their actions, I wasn't buying anything they had to say.

Then there was that deadline, just one more manipulation. The letter arrived late Friday afternoon and the deadline was for the following Tuesday. It didn't even dawn on me until Sunday that Monday was a holiday and they had given me exactly ONE business day to respond. How's that for sincere and amicable?

To be continued................

A Little Weekend Stewing...

This is another picture of Reflection. Looking at it, I should probably be running some kind of a contest for a caption. Maybe I will save that for another day.

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