Ammon Brown

Shameless Plug: If you ever need intellectual property protection, corporate legal advice, merger or venture capital representation, or real estate lawyers, look no further than Madama Griffitts, LLP. This shameless plug is brought to you by a thankful Ammon who got free legal advice from them, as I share an office with them. They hooked me up with some very official looking documents and legalese and then I stayed up most of the night researching New York State Laws to fill in the blanks. What it comes down to is that Hellspawn sued me for enough money to get the case out of small claims and put it into civil court so that she could stall and drag it out. What fun! So I will play her game. If it is larger amounts she wants, it is larger amounts she gets. I am countering her claims with allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and negligence. I then plan on requesting an expedited trial based on the unnecessarily drawn out suit, and I have a very good chance of obtaining it. She may think she can scare me and drag this out, but I am way too principled to let her walk away with a substantial chunk of my money for doing absolutely nothing. This is gonna be fun! I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from her when she receives my counter claim. It should be interesting. Heehee.

Counter Sued! So my lovely old crotchety ex landlady (heretofore known simply as "Hellspawn") countersued me for $5420 in damages to the apartment that I did not do, were not repaired, and probably constitutes fraud. I am somewhat amused, because I knew she was going to do that. She thinks that by dragging it out I will settle for the piddly $1000 that she offered. That would be the same as admitting that she should have the rest for doing nothing. What she doesn't know is that I think this whole thing is fun, and she can't intimidate me. I will simply go get her case thrown out, and then perhaps file an additional case against her for criminal negligence and fraud. I think she knows that if it goes in front of a judge, she will lose miserably. So the saga continues, I have to go to the county clerk's office and file for a discontinuance of her case and then proceed with my own. It is fascinating to get a first hand look into the dire need for tort reform. Filing cases like this back and forth is such a drain on the system, and yet we are both within our rights. The only thing that really pisses me off is the fact that she apparently does this to all of her tenants, but most of them probably just settle. And the way the law is written, the burden of proff is on me to show that I did not damage the property. Good thing I took pictures! Updates to follow, not that any of you care.

I love abusing the New York State Judicial System. OK, I am not really abusing it, I am simply using it within the bounds of my rights as a citizen. For those of you who do not know, I am weilding the long arm of the law against my corrupt and crooked landlady. She refused to return our security deposit, so I am taking her to small claims court tomorrow morning. Of course she has called me twice since I filed suit last month offering to settle. She is not, however, very creative in her offers. She made the same offer that she made six months ago that was unacceptable to me. She offered half the money back even thoughno work was needed, she did no work, and did not comply with numerous laws governing rents in New York City. I feel so good about how prepared I am! I have her nailed on Article 7, Title 1, Section 7-103 of New York's General Obligations law, as well as numerous other violations. I figure I could nail her for fraud, but why push it? I just want my money back. She called this evening to let me know she would like a continuance pending settling, so we'll see if I actually get my day in court. I kind of hope I do get to be sworn in to Small Claims Court and present my case Judge Judy style! Incidentally, I got home the other day and found an airborne express envelope on my door. Apparently I was invited to take an all expense paid trip to Houston to plead my small claims case on Texas Justice. Tempting, but I am just not white trash enough to go on a daytime court show. It would have been fun but I can't take the time off work and I would never give my heartless ex-landlady a free trip! So I will update y'all with the result of my big day in court later in the week. Exciting, isn't it?

UPDATE: Many people have found this page through Google. If you have questions, feel free to email me through the contact me link on the left. I ended up winning the case (She got scared and finally settled). I would be happy to help.

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone... Most of you undoubtedly know that I got Lasik surgery to correct my vision on Friday afternoon. For those of you who don't know: I got Lasik surgery to correct my vision on Friday afternoon. I talked to a client of mine last Wednesday who told me that he was getting lasik this week. It got me thinking about it (again), so I looked around and found the Manhattan Lasik Center, scheduled a consultation last Thursday, and then scheduled the surgery for a week later. Just like that. I went in on Friday, they gave me a valium to relax my eye muscles, then started chopping away. The actual surgery took about 5 minutes. It involves cutting and lifting a flap from the front of my eye (my cornea), zapping my lens, then putting the flap back down. I then went home, kept my eyes closed while listening to an Eric Schlosser book on tape. The next morning (yesterday), I woke up and looked at the clock. I could see what time it was! I went in for a follow up exam, and tested at close to 20/15 vision, better than normal. I spent the rest of the day annoying Christine by reading every street sign and distant letter within sight. My eyes feel great, a little bit itchy, but that is normal. And I need to avoid getting poked in the eye for the next three months while the corneal flap heals completely. But I feel great! I woke up early this morning because there was so much to see. Of course everything there was to see was our junk everywhere, so I cleaned the house. Rock on! At any rate, I will keep you all updated on my progress, as it will be a few weeks until we are sure about the final results. In the meantime, I HIGHLY recommend getting a free consultation. It was probably the best $1500 I ever spent. Beats the hell out of wearing glasses!