WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET SICK?

It happens to the best of us.  It even happens to the opposing attorney!  You get so sick that you have to take a serious break and get treatment or even enter a hospital for a procedure.  So what happens then?  Does the court just totally shut down or something?  Well, no actually.  


First of all, there is what happens if you are the victim of legal abuse and representing yourself like me.  Then there is what happens if you are the opposing attorney in the case.  Ordinarily for the opposing attorney, you get a non stop "get out of jail free" ticket meaning that whenever you don't feel like coming to court for whatever reason, you just give the caseflow coordinator, Ms. Jeanne Hayes a call and say you can't come in for a while.  As far as I know, an attorney doesn't have to provide any kind of paper work to show evidence that they are actually sick and actually in a hospital or actually having a procedure.  


However, if you are self represented what you have to do is go to a doctor and get a letter stating the nature of the diagnosis, the kind of treatment you will be having, the date of the treatment, and the expected recovery time, no matter how personal or private the information is, and submit it to the Court.  


If you are in my situation where I am under substantial attack all the time, you would go not just to one doctor, but perhaps to a few additional doctors.  In my circumstances, I ended up getting two letters from specialists that were quite technical and then I obtained an additional letter from my internal medicine doctor which was more personal and included information regarding the nature of my discomfort and the level of pain I was experiencing.  This material I sent to Court well in advance of any future hearings along with a Motion For a Continuance.  I also faxed copies of my documentation to the Caseflow Coordinator.  


Immediately, the opposing attorney in the case filed an objection to my Motion For A Continuance stating that there had already been too many delays and calling into question the qualifications of the doctors who had provided me with documentation.  


One point which I had not considered was that my Internal Medicine Doctor had said the continuance was necessary because I was too ill to sit through a hearing, but she did not specify exactly the period of time that covered.  Was I too ill to sit through a five minute hearing, a ten minute hearing, a twenty minute hearing, what?  This omission was enough for the opposing attorney in the case, let alone the Judge, to have a major, big time bonanza.  As a result, I ended up having to go back to the doctor in order to get the wording "for any period of time at all" included in the letter.  Again, I had to send this additional documentation to the judge along with another cover letter.  Still, this was not sufficient to settle the matter.  


At this point, the Judge decided that we could have a hearing over the telephone.  I had to respond to that suggestion with an explanation that sitting or standing, at court or at home, I would not be able to participate in a hearing.  Then the judge made a ruling that I would have to write my thoughts out in a letter and submit my side of the issue in a written format and then he would rule based upon written statements provided by both sides.  I then  submitted a motion opposing the Judge's approach based upon the grounds that I had a constitutional right to a hearing before the judge in court and that right at that point I was not currently in any physical condition to participate in such a hearing and therefore I again requested a continuance.  


Meanwhile, there were emails going back and forth between me and the caseflow coordinator as the judge tried to cut a deal with me by email using Ms. Jeanne Hayes as an intermediary.  At that point, my ex husband jumped in and gave me information that made it appear as though my medical insurance would not pay for the procedure so the pressure on me reached an absolute fever pitch.  


Meanwhile, I was ill for goodness sake! 


For a month I didn't hear anything. I underwent the procedure I had been anticipating, and then one day I received a ruling in the mail regarding the matter that was in controversy.  The Judge had decided the issue without my imput.  I will be appealing his judgment now that I have had time to heal.  


So to answer the question I started this blog post out with, what happens when you get sick?  Well, what happens is that you get a pounding over the pounding over the pounding.  That's what happens.  And God bless you if you survive!