Dear California Supreme Court,
All I want is a day in court.
All I want is for 12 Angelenos to hear my case.
All I want is for the jurors to hear what I have to say, what the LA Times has to say, and decide who they think told the truth: me or them.
The judge in the LA Superior Court told me that I told the truth, but that I shouldn’t get a day in court.
The Times’ lawyer told the court it didn’t matter if I told the truth.
That was after the court told me I had to pay $75,000 just to be allowed to have a case at all.
Then the justices in the Court of Appeal agreed with the Times’ lawyer. They said that, even though I told the truth and not the Times, I’m not allowed to have a trial.
When I took civics class in Kettering, Ohio in 1979, my teacher told me that everyone is entitled to a trial by jury. Liar.
You are my last hope. May I please have a jury trial? Please tell the Times that they’re wrong. Please tell them the truth does matter. Please let 12 Angelenos weigh the evidence and decide who’s being truthful.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Very truly yours,
Ted Rall
5 Comments.
Sorry, Ted – but your teacher lied to you. Only defendants have the right to have their fate decided by a jury.
Even though you’re the victim here, you’re still the plaintiff.
Getting around to de facto rather than de jure – the government will spend far more time & money protecting corporations from people than the reverse. If you steal from a corporation, the gubbmint will dispatch a police car to take you to jail and eventually you may even see a jury: all at the public expense. But if a corporation steals from you … why then that’s a civil offense and it will cost you ten thousand dollars to get your twenty bucks back from the thieves. (I’m going through that now, ebay/paypal overcharged me for sales tax. That’s tax fraud, it’s a federal felony in theory – but in practice nobody cares. ebay/paypal think they’re above the law, and ain’t nobody gonna tell ’em no different.
Ted,
I recommend that you prepare an “I told you so” comic. If the California supremes pass on your case, I strongly suspect that in the near future another journalist will be in the same spot you were in.
As for me, I’m just waiting for the ruling (or declining to rule) so that I can officially give up on journalism. I held on for a long, long time, but it’s a lot like loving a drug addict. You reach the point where you finally give up, the point where you realize that the addict is never going to put down the needle/crackpipe/bottle.
Alex, Like you, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen. Certainly we are in a great position with a great strong argument and the lot on our side. But of course that hasn’t mattered so far.
«Certainly we are in a great position with a great strong argument and the lot on our side.» Utterly irrelevant in that particular venue, Ted….
Henri
Best of luck, Ted ! Alas, I doubt the California Supreme Court will be impressed by an argument from first principles – «truth does matter» – that’s not quite what lawyering is all about….
Henri