Article by: Scott Hall(docplocky@gmail.com)
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| English: I created this image by using the following images: :Image:Map of Kentucky highlighting Floyd County.svg - Public Domain :Image:Kentucky farm.jpg - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 :Image:LouisvilleNightSkyline2-small.jpg - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 :Image:144702892 da6c29607d b.jpg - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 Because of the use of images under the cc-by-sa-2.0 license, this image must be licensed under the same license. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
It should come as no surprise that your team here at C&J is involved in lots of facets in the Criminology and Social Sciencefields, and with this additional article, our readers will soon find out how important Statutes are in relation to Litigation and the principal(s) of applied law. In recent months, our readers will probably have taken note on our stance on “Anonymous”, child sexual abusers, the Penn State Scandals and hosts of other items, while each of these are important subjects to study and grow from, it is important that we know about the why and not just the what that may be going on. To keep things a bit off center stage, this article will not talk much about things like Penn State, Anonymous or even the Steubenville rape case, it will however, attempt to give our readers a firsthand look inside, what some to perceive, a scary place (especially criminals being charged or convicted), otherwise known as a Court of Law. We here in past articles, have touched on Tort Law, Federal and State Laws and in this article, the critical thought process will surely be influenced by our own “local” ordinances, specifically an overview of KRS 336 and 337 and touching upon KRS 207 and 344. Many law students in our readers will recognize those call letters and numbers, for those of you who do not, a simple Google search for Kentucky Revised Statutes will help and this author is being tested into his own depths of understanding so, truth glasses in hand, let us uncover a briefing about statutes, right here in our own back yard.
HISTORY
Back around April of 2012, a new kind of person, a different idea and a chance to make some money happened across this team’s door, a blessing of fortune at a time when money, homestead, life and freedoms were all at stake and with the outreached hand and potential to avoid economic disaster solidly, one of our own reached out and accepted the task of organizing, monitoring and managing someone else’s life, electronically speaking of course – for you see the two parties that had met, were and are literally thousands of miles from each other, specifically 2,000 plus. What would unfold over the next 10 months, not a single person, let alone a married one, could comprehend the damage, focus, energy or hardships that would eventually come to the outreached hand. During the course of contracted employment, the “contractor” (that being the person who initiated the document”, failed to pay prevailing Minimum wage to the contracted employee on at least 3 different calendar months, even at a fixed and included amount in the original contract that is and was binding for a full calendar year. Included in the “agreement” is a clause where even upon early termination, monies owed would have to be paid, period and no parameters set as to time invested or used to complete the contracted tasks, other than to be available when needed, a “virtual” Executive Assistant to a “virtual” company. The term virtual here is used loosely as the company does not have a physical building to work out of, only all the things that the internet can provide to make, distribute, advertise, produce or otherwise even know the products were around to see and “order” or sign up for distributorship, sounds legit, right? The contract itself, drawn up in California, states clearly the terms, conditions and with signatures, became a binding document, so with all these facts present, what happened and is happening next will surprise each of our readers; I am confident in this as it surprised and aggravated my own person.
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| English: Social Science Plaza A (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The next 10 months would include: Arguing, Threats of Separation, Labor Board Disputes, Home searching, Health issues, personal items lost and a host of other items to enormous to measure, these being only the highlights of this particular case. In that 10 month stretch, even with the simplest or the most complex of asking, the wages owed were just not being produced, the person who was being infracted upon, did not pursue securing it for a delayed amount of time, due in part to the verbal influence of the contractor, who stated, “If you come after me for the money, I will never pay you and will fire you.” (How many attorneys are upset right now? (See me at the end of this article) Alongside this statement, we have coming from the contractor, “it is what it is”, “tomorrow you will be paid” “the money is coming, just hold on”, this in itself is a total LIE as the individual, as described above, never once paid a dime in 2 consecutive months, while travelling and partying abroad and spending up time using other people’s money, those who “invested” in his “company” were left in the cold and broke, him with the receipts and no one being paid anything, here is where things take a turn that not only had and has this author directly involved in the litigation, I am “Pro Se” before a court to try and sort out this whole, hot mess, a daunting and difficult task for anyone. Before the questions come out, the ONLY reason Pro Se litigation was opened, Both Labor Boards of California and Kentucky “suggested” it, this avenue was pursued in September, October and November of this same year, 2012, 3 months of total investigation and questions as to why and what could be done. California stated, “the injured party resides in Kentucky, it is their problem to deal with, we cannot help you”, while KYstated, “the parameters of the contract are centered in California, check with them”, both groups refusing the labor claim, both groups not paying attention to statute AND the contract? Is this possible that even with a certified copy of the contract it, including the parameters, 2 labor boards would not do a thing? Our readers know that when a travesty of justice falls upon our stoop, no way we can turn a blind eye to these things and since this was and is a part of our now life, my own truth glasses nearly fogged over permanently and I began to lose hair, while the contracted employee also suffered ill health effects, this was turning out to be a strain that would have to be equaled and no better ways to equal the field of justice than courts.
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| English: Photo of Rajendra Kumar Acharya, the only jurist of law of tort in Nepal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
OVERVIEW
I and this injured person became infuriated at: terminating an employee after that employee, whether or not is contracted, sought out litigation due to the incredible losses, (KRS 207 and 344), failing to pay prevailing wages (KRS 336,337) and a direct defiance of a natural set of laws within our own land, the Fair Labor Standards Act, but which “venue” to take to seek out justice would be only the beginning of this long, twisted heartbreaking story. In this total stretch of time, monies that had been saved up for emergency items began to dwindle, utilities ousted, personal items such as wedding bands, bracelets, phones, electronics and almost a vehicle, loans and all kinds of stop gaps to control whether or not we still get to live right where we are supposed to be unfolding almost daily, not being pushed into another county left scrambling for a storage facility while we “shack up” with our family (no offense family, we know how important your own private lives are). As a Research and Investigative Journalist who mostly volunteers his time to this platform, I had to know, I had to do something positive to help correct this grave error in judgment while seeking out the truth of our own labor laws and while trying to seek out help from anyone in regards to helping the affected or injured person, I (will reveal that as well later on). With a vigor on both fronts, the first being find a paycheck to supplement and the wage issue, or rather lack thereof, I stood up and began to work through the tedious task of searching for truth, what I got was instant silence and a resistive environment, a overview of what “friends” really were caring enough to help and those who wanted to finish off the destruction to get their own way, this situation was full of items that brought about the Pro Se litigation and almost cost me more than the investment of interest to saving our home.
In September of 2012, the breaking point of absent answers from both the contractor, employee and the combined ignorance of the Labor Boards, had been reached, so in Early October, I on behalf of the injured, began to seek out the truth of the whole matter, I was referred often to “you will need litigation”, with that in my face, limited resources and a heart as pure as gold, I decided this “no” isn’t worth the effort, bureaucracy and red tape wasn’t going to get them paid or even put the correct pressure on the person responsible. As I began to dig deeper into the lives of those affected and / or injured, the discoveries and items brought about more static, more disruptions, more than I had ever imagined, the stress and absent tomorrow, while risking my own home and health began to take a toll, the hairs on my head literally falling out 25 square centimeters across the top of my head, I am still in my 40’s, looking like 50 or so on top. I knew things were not good for our current task, now with the addition of health issues and by the way, the gainful employment found, time was running out, stress would be increasing and the end result, a virtual “draw” in justice.
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| Adapted from Wikipedia's KY county maps by Seth Ilys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
First up, who is really responsible, that didn’t take too long to figure out, once the avenues of court were opened, a few subpoena’s later, along with the original complaint and our parties of interest began to see just how serious this situation was becoming, that is except the person responsible, he himself while under all this “distress” of money, would go on trips to Japan, Hawaii and Canada, while flaunting it across the social media palates that we all use and see every day. 4 Defendants in total would be initially uncovered, with more than what I could have known about each of them in brief, hiding. Their part was not described via subpoena, rather, simple email communications and not because we pressed them for answers, they on the other hand, along with the injured person’s testimony in affidavit, stood the test of truth and all were found truthful, that is in the fact that the person responsible for this whole mess also affected their lives. This hit home with me, particularly hard as I read through the ill effects of what the responsible person had caused, I felt sick to my stomach, my eyes watered up in tears and I felt terrible for bringing a hard blow to those who had no clue it was as bad as it was for “our” side. Instantly, I formed a great relationship with the “other” 3 defendants and found out they are more than willing to help and we share common threads, each submitted an affidavit of testimony and we accepted the cause to come after “the one”.
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| Social Science & Medicine (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
On December the 7th of 2012, I had reached boiling point and with a gathering of paperwork, emails, hurt, anger, frustration and limited money, I decided to take my part time paycheck and turn it into a full time cause of justice. The next few weeks are a blur as countless hours of questions, interrogatories, lies, deceit; hidden agendas would all be addressed, directly by me, acting solely as Pro Se for my own side. I sat down at my computer around the middle of November, near Thanksgiving and began to type up, via as many templates as I could find to put together, the opening complaint. I used plenty of thereto, wherefore and all the perceived correct terminology, I followed and looked up every procedural rule and eventually filed the complaint. As anyone who has ever been in litigation knows, if you cannot read it clearly, it is “illegible” and may be stricken or not even used as the complaint, mine was no different. Pressing to get to the clerk’s office, I hurried and made copies, including submitting a copy that the judge could not read, not a good start, but none the less a start. Realizing that the grammar errors in title and presentation were painfully obvious, I set out to make corrections, including amending the first complaint to show proper venue, jurisdiction and to ratify the complaint as valid, along with referenced testimony and other items, missing the simplest of errors, the return address spot for the “attorney”, our defendant, the contractor, took advantage of that and initially explained to the other defendants that this was a joke, not to be taken seriously, that is until the revised 2nd complaint showed up, this left the contractor to terminate our injured person and under advice from an “attorney” to “just close out that company, they cannot secure anything from what does not exist” (still paying attention guys/gals?) Through due diligent investigation and process of discovery, this was uncovered as well as other items; this left us no choice but to bring it to a hearing before the court, circuit courts to be exact in the hopes the court system could bring to light, answers to all of these questions.
EDUCATION AND LIFE EXPERIENCE
In the second amended complaint, removing the Federal and ratifying the need for state circuit court became a writer’s nightmare, justices expect you to correct and show corrections explaining it while you correct, my 2nd complaint was getting lengthy and time was closing in fast, I had to be prepared and indeed became that way, only due to divine intervention. A copy of the civil rules of procedure, a copy of a handbook and forwarded evidence all helped to focus in on what is at stake, who is a part of it, what needs to be done and what is to come, all of which came to my door, just a f
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| English: The Restatement of Torts at the law library of UC Berkeley School of Law. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
ew days before our employee was terminated (told you, divine intervention). As I read through the mounting emails and saw items, along with frustration and anger, came a sense of what is right as all of the evidence and testimony showed up as a serious WRONG, right in front of me, my mind opened up and I began to search harder, leading into our first KRS sets, 336 and 337, Wage, Hour and Occupational parameters. In these pages, I would learn what the roles of the “governing” bodies were as well as what powers they had, why they had them, the definition (legal) of an employee and what isn’t and more importantly, why we should be arguing this in court. In KRS 336, it states (in part):
KRS 336.151 (Conciliation and Mediation of Labor disputes) was the first page that I encountered, wherein it states “….(1) it shall be the duty of the secretary, in order to prevent or minimize disruptions growing out of labor disputes, to assist parties to labor disputes to settle such disputes through conciliation and mediation.” This is very clear, it establishes WHY the governing body would even bother to do anything for the working class person, the answer is to provide a path for relations in labor to be handled, without a court room being involved, so naturally when I first laid eyes on this part, I could not help but wonder if our persons within the cabinet took the same 5 mins to read it as I and you just did, the answer of course is “no”. With what is known by our readers thus far, does this situation look disputed or even fairly mediated, certainly NOT, but what is an Pro Se to do other than read on to be extra sure I and others are correct that the Labor Board should be the proper avenue, instead, based on what has been encountered, “its litigation”. Point of interest: Any business doing so in the USA MUST have an arbitration path set up, in the event of dispute, yes we had one, but that path, “refused” our and the injured requests for help, even when state law says otherwise, interested so far, then read on.
KRS 336.152 in this same genre, explains something crucial, “……in order to prevent these disruptions, growing from labor disputes…… (1)……exert and maintain every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, hours, working conditions, including provision for adequate notice of any proposed change in the terms of such agreements” This is an overview of what must be done to minimize those items, so with new information in hand, another phone call to the labor board along with emails that resulted in “sorry, contracted employee is affected by California, not Kentucky.” Point of interest, not according to our own statutes in the “injury” part of a dispute that is active and does apply to law in this state, the only difference is in California, the minimum’s of wages are 8 dollars an hour, here its 7.25. So, who maintains this “record” and who is responsible for justice, if not the state or the labor board, ah yes, “litigation” to settle a dispute.
Stunned by the obvious obscurity of law’s application, I had to dig deeper into the KRS jargons and rhetoric to fully understand what was being said, which simply is, you work in Kentucky, you are subject to the laws that govern those agencies, the labor laws that surround them and it is ILLEGAL to deny anyone those rights, even with disputes in place that require arbitration between the “employer” and “employee”. I thought that this may be the very angle that I could use to change the minds of the “disputed” Labor Board ruling, what I got instead was a email defining what an employee is and another “no”, never minding the injured invested, 50-60 hours a week, keeping a current ledger and all the associated parameters while the injured, being admittedly “like family” to the contractor and fulfilling the duties as asked and included in the contract up to and beyond termination, they issued the following statement (KY Labor Board), “…we regret to inform you that based upon your own submissions, the contract in question and the complaint form, we are unable to assist you at this time.” Stunning, not unexpected, but still stunning nonetheless as the law and governing rules that surround the very premise of this mess was simply set aside. From there, more “Why” began to pop into my head, which caused another full read of the contract signed, and learning that in its own guise, the same laws of fairness and arbitration, rested safely in the contract, so what is the problem?
Calling up our friends in California, we learned that cross state employment has its own rules that are governed by “general” labor code used across the states, this of course lead into KRS 337, Occupational and Safety, the very essence of employee’s everywhere. Our first encounter, KRS 337.427 where it states, “…..(Collection of unpaid wages)…..Any employer who violates the provisions of KRS 337.423 shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid wages, and in instances of willful violation in employee suits under subsection (2) of this provision, up to and additional equal amount as liquidated damages.” Subsection 2, explains that action to recover any lost wages is a part of the courts and that they can also decide further issues in disputes over wages. Interesting fact, considering the early hearing in this matter was stapled to a draw, not necessarily a loss or victory, but with the courts curiosity aroused, I have lots more to uncover and to submit as a filing, yes, you will as a litigator have to point out those small details sometimes, justices have a work load large enough that attention to details is not their job, that is yours a
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| Big Sur, California (Photo credit: the_tahoe_guy) |
nd yours alone, unless you fill it with grammar errors, then be prepared to spend double the hours writing as you do undoing it. With these items in tow, lots of knowledge about two states prevailing wages, I attempted, to start proceedings, two things held me back from opening day, errors and time. The judge, being very fair accepted the early plea to continue until other items were addressed, including admissions statements being issued, that date, January 11, 2013 nearly 6 months after the initial onset of trouble, the game and head came to a draw in a Kentucky Court, pending some grammar and small steps.
CONCLUSIONS
The items and article you just read are TRUE, they are here and are happening to a member of our staff, our founding member of this humble blog, the Pro Se (until changes and more corrections are made), myself. The relationship between the parties, injured (my spouse) and “acting” attorney, me, the contractor, Tiger Monkey Incorporated with Joe Wallace the CEO (if that name sounds familiar, he is the person who brought to our attention initially, from our earlier investigation of rotten apples in the LAPD, his own troubles of civil rights and privacy), the venue, state circuit court, the case number 12-CI-05365 and the idea, justice to be served, no matter how high the cost or how far the reach of the legal systems in our land and one man’s unending energy to help bring this case to a hard close, in the name of what is right. This task, as many can imagine, is heavy, especially for a “not for profit” company and a “volunteer” Pro Se author. While it is very obvious who should be doing the leg work here, i.e. the Kentucky AND the California Labor Board, it is up to me, my spouse, the other defendants and all the lives involved in this sad, twisted tale of fate, bad judgment and heartbreak, to rectify and reset lives in order, even those we do not owe but were affected by this individual’s actions. I am not one who asks this every day, I am only one who asks this now, who among our readers will join us in this cause and call to action, who will help us raise the funding to provide REAL legal help, rather than face this Pro Se and work double hard to help, I have and am keeping an extensive history of all the parameters of this Case, I have many things to share with the correct persons who will step forward and with what we have investigated and uncovered, this case other than correcting grammar most foul in a court document (spell checker, I know). I am offering only this to the person who offers their time to me, I will equal it, no matter the costs, my health is failing somewhat, but I am still strong enough and very gutsy enough to take on this action, although alone isn’t fun, I will fight till this is settled, not just for Elizabeth or Myself, but for all the premises of law and what is right. As far as the come see me at the end statement I made early on, my email is at the top and our site has plenty of donation paths, so, I ask this humbly and with great exhausted effort, who is willing to help and who is right in this matter, from my own eyes and life experience, the answer is virtually impossible to ignore.
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| KENTUCKY LAKE, KENTUCKY* (Photo credit: gobucks2) |
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