Pastner cleared of Ron Bell lies

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
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14,332
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Atlanta
Me when I see brandon_cox has posted:
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I'm not the only one who thought that was Mario West. I refuse to believe that.

Also, wasn't the hearing supposed to be today? I'm pressin' F5 waitin' on a @brandon_cox post like ...

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Meanwhile, @JacketFromUGA is apparently ... also waiting ...

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You go ... gurl?
 

brandon_cox

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
290
Well, screw you Pima County Superior Court. All the other rulings from the Judge have been available on-line, but not this one. All it says is"available at the courthouse." All we've got to go on is a report from the Arizona Star. I hate interpreting a reporter's interpretation of a court hearing, but c'est la vie.

Pastner’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the counterclaim. Griffin denied the motion on Tuesday, meaning both cases will move forward. Bell and Pendley have until Aug. 7 to respond to requests for legal filings; the judge has set a hearing date for Sept. 4.

What this means is that the Judge isn't tossing the Answer and Counterclaim at this time. He's giving our favorite morons one last chance to respond to all the way overdue discovery. If they don't, I would be shocked if he didn't enter a default judgment. If they do to the satisfaction of the court, he likely won't.

A Pima County Superior Court judge has rejected a request for a 90-day delay in court proceedings involving an Oro Valley couple who has accused Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault. Ron Bell and Jennifer Pendley say they cannot find a lawyer to represent them after their previous attorneys quit. Judge Brenden Griffin told the couple on Tuesday that they’ve had ample time to find new lawyers, and that going forward they will be treated as if they are representing themselves. Bell and Pendley told the judge on Tuesday that they reached out to more than 60 attorneys in Tucson, and dozens more in Phoenix and neighboring states. None, they said, would take their case.

Well, this was the easiest prediction of the case. After what happened to their last attorneys, and considering the superstar lawyers representing CJP, no one wants to have anything to do with these clowns. Good luck representing yourselves.

Bell and Pendley spent part of Tuesday’s hearing asking the judge legal questions, including how they could get their files from Gattone and where to obtain legal filings. Griffin explained he could not answer, then referred them to the legal library a few floors below the sixth-floor legal courtroom.

No Judge in the world would answer questions like these. He can't be seen as giving any legal advice to any of the parties. That's reversible error.

There's so much we don't know from this article. Were the depositions of RB and JP rescheduled? Was CJP granted his Motion to Compel and awarded attorney fees? What about the Plaintiff's request to depose the Defendants' former attorneys. Damn, it would be nice to see the latest court filing.

Naturally, I'll have some further thoughts, but that's it for now.

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawi...cle_ee843fbe-e347-589c-8300-68d49f1f5f30.html



 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Well, screw you Pima County Superior Court. All the other rulings from the Judge have been available on-line, but not this one. All it says is"available at the courthouse." All we've got to go on is a report from the Arizona Star. I hate interpreting a reporter's interpretation of a court hearing, but c'est la vie.

Pastner’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the counterclaim. Griffin denied the motion on Tuesday, meaning both cases will move forward. Bell and Pendley have until Aug. 7 to respond to requests for legal filings; the judge has set a hearing date for Sept. 4.

What this means is that the Judge isn't tossing the Answer and Counterclaim at this time. He's giving our favorite morons one last chance to respond to all the way overdue discovery. If they don't, I would be shocked if he didn't enter a default judgment. If they do to the satisfaction of the court, he likely won't.

A Pima County Superior Court judge has rejected a request for a 90-day delay in court proceedings involving an Oro Valley couple who has accused Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault. Ron Bell and Jennifer Pendley say they cannot find a lawyer to represent them after their previous attorneys quit. Judge Brenden Griffin told the couple on Tuesday that they’ve had ample time to find new lawyers, and that going forward they will be treated as if they are representing themselves. Bell and Pendley told the judge on Tuesday that they reached out to more than 60 attorneys in Tucson, and dozens more in Phoenix and neighboring states. None, they said, would take their case.

Well, this was the easiest prediction of the case. After what happened to their last attorneys, and considering the superstar lawyers representing CJP, no one wants to have anything to do with these clowns. Good luck representing yourselves.

Bell and Pendley spent part of Tuesday’s hearing asking the judge legal questions, including how they could get their files from Gattone and where to obtain legal filings. Griffin explained he could not answer, then referred them to the legal library a few floors below the sixth-floor legal courtroom.

No Judge in the world would answer questions like these. He can't be seen as giving any legal advice to any of the parties. That's reversible error.

There's so much we don't know from this article. Were the depositions of RB and JP rescheduled? Was CJP granted his Motion to Compel and awarded attorney fees? What about the Plaintiff's request to depose the Defendants' former attorneys. Damn, it would be nice to see the latest court filing.

Naturally, I'll have some further thoughts, but that's it for now.

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawi...cle_ee843fbe-e347-589c-8300-68d49f1f5f30.html



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brandon_cox

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
290
The Judge will give RB and JP a month or so to find new counsel and will have no sympathy if they can't.

Okay Pima County, I take back all those nasty things I said about you; you finally put the Judge’s summary of the status conference on-line. So, we have some additional clarity as to what’s going on. Consider this as an addendum to my previous post. Here are a few relevant quotes.

“The Court puts Defendants on notice that, at this point, they are representing themselves after a month or so in which to find counsel. The Court notes it will treat the Defendants as it would anybody in the courtroom.”

Compare that to the language quoted above from one of my previous posts. It’s not that I offered any great any great insight, it’s just funny how the language tracks.

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendants shall update their disclosures and respond to the discovery that has been served on them and their counsel as outlined on Page Two of the Plaintiff’s Supplemental Motion for Sanctions by no later than Tuesday, August 07, 2018. With regards to the Plaintiff’s request to dismiss the counter-claim and enter a default on their complaint, IT IS ORDERED that request is DENIED without prejudice to the request being re-urged in the future.”

This was fairly predictable. This is the Judge giving the Defendants one last chance to respond to the outstanding mandatory and non-mandatory discovery requests. If they don’t, it’s hard to imagine he won’t toss their Answer and Counterclaim. The more likely scenario is that they’ll respond in a half-assed and ineffectual way. At that point, will the Judge give them more time to clean up their responses? Hard to say; it depends on what they come up with.

“The Defendants are put on notice that if they fail to respond to the Motion for Sanctions, the Court may deem that to be a waiver and sanctions up to, and including, dismissal of the counterclaim may be entered against them.”

So, the Court is saying to RB and JP that it’s not enough to file your discovery responses, you must file a counter brief arguing against the Motion for Sanctions. In other words, argue to the court, citing relevant Arizona statutes and case law, why it shouldn’t impose the sanctions on you requested by CJP. Yeah, good luck with that.

“The Court notes that the Plaintiff has requested leave to depose the Defendants’ prior counsel. The Defendants oppose that request, therefore, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s request is DENIED without prejudice to being re-addressed at a later time.”

I think the Judge got it exactly right here. Using the crime fraud exception to break attorney client privilege is extremely rare. Attorney client privilege is considered one of the cornerstones of our judicial system. No Judge in his right mind would allow breaking that based on the mere allegation of one party. The fact that he denied that without prejudice – meaning it isn’t a final ruling – is very encouraging. Basically what he’s saying to the Plaintiff is do your discovery, depose the Defendants, come up with a solid case of fraud and then we’ll talk.

“Mr. Palumbo requests clarification regarding whether reply deadlines will be pursuant to standard motions practice, which the Court confirms.”

There is a month between when the discovery responses are due and when the hearing is being held. Expect Plaintiff to use this time to come up with a killer reply brief citing all the ways Defendants’ responses are defective, again citing statutes and case law to argue why the answer and/or Counterclaim should not be dismissed and why the scumbags shouldn’t be required to pay attorney fees for failing to comply with Arizona discovery laws.

“IT IS ORDERED setting a Hearing re the Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions on Tuesday, September 04, 2018, at 9:00 a.m., in Division 01. Estimated time for hearing is one hour.”

I like this a lot. This is no 15 minute status conference; it’s the first full blown take the gloves off discovery fight. Hopefully, a lot of issues will be settled after that date. It’s hard to imagine this hearing will go well for the Defendants.

You’ll notice that the issue of the Defendants’ depositions was never addressed in the status conference. That makes a lot of sense. As I’ve noted several times, the depositions of RB and JP will be highly important in their destruction. A portion of the questions that will be posed to them during their depositions will be about their discovery responses, so it would be counterproductive to depose them before all the responses are completed.

So, here’s the bottom line: Mr. and Mrs. Whips are still in a world of hurt. There was not one thing that occurred in the last status conference and published summary harmful to CJP. Sure we want this to be over with sooner rather than later and Ron and his deranged girlfriend to be destroyed. We are still completely on track for that to happen, especially with the Defendants being pro se. But these things take time and we have to be patient as the wheels of justice continue to grind.
 

CuseJacket

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
18,898
Okay Pima County, I take back all those nasty things I said about you; you finally put the Judge’s summary of the status conference on-line. So, we have some additional clarity as to what’s going on. Consider this as an addendum to my previous post. Here are a few relevant quotes.

“The Court puts Defendants on notice that, at this point, they are representing themselves after a month or so in which to find counsel. The Court notes it will treat the Defendants as it would anybody in the courtroom.”

Compare that to the language quoted above from one of my previous posts. It’s not that I offered any great any great insight, it’s just funny how the language tracks.

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendants shall update their disclosures and respond to the discovery that has been served on them and their counsel as outlined on Page Two of the Plaintiff’s Supplemental Motion for Sanctions by no later than Tuesday, August 07, 2018. With regards to the Plaintiff’s request to dismiss the counter-claim and enter a default on their complaint, IT IS ORDERED that request is DENIED without prejudice to the request being re-urged in the future.”

This was fairly predictable. This is the Judge giving the Defendants one last chance to respond to the outstanding mandatory and non-mandatory discovery requests. If they don’t, it’s hard to imagine he won’t toss their Answer and Counterclaim. The more likely scenario is that they’ll respond in a half-assed and ineffectual way. At that point, will the Judge give them more time to clean up their responses? Hard to say; it depends on what they come up with.

“The Defendants are put on notice that if they fail to respond to the Motion for Sanctions, the Court may deem that to be a waiver and sanctions up to, and including, dismissal of the counterclaim may be entered against them.”

So, the Court is saying to RB and JP that it’s not enough to file your discovery responses, you must file a counter brief arguing against the Motion for Sanctions. In other words, argue to the court, citing relevant Arizona statutes and case law, why it shouldn’t impose the sanctions on you requested by CJP. Yeah, good luck with that.

“The Court notes that the Plaintiff has requested leave to depose the Defendants’ prior counsel. The Defendants oppose that request, therefore, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s request is DENIED without prejudice to being re-addressed at a later time.”

I think the Judge got it exactly right here. Using the crime fraud exception to break attorney client privilege is extremely rare. Attorney client privilege is considered one of the cornerstones of our judicial system. No Judge in his right mind would allow breaking that based on the mere allegation of one party. The fact that he denied that without prejudice – meaning it isn’t a final ruling – is very encouraging. Basically what he’s saying to the Plaintiff is do your discovery, depose the Defendants, come up with a solid case of fraud and then we’ll talk.

“Mr. Palumbo requests clarification regarding whether reply deadlines will be pursuant to standard motions practice, which the Court confirms.”

There is a month between when the discovery responses are due and when the hearing is being held. Expect Plaintiff to use this time to come up with a killer reply brief citing all the ways Defendants’ responses are defective, again citing statutes and case law to argue why the answer and/or Counterclaim should not be dismissed and why the scumbags shouldn’t be required to pay attorney fees for failing to comply with Arizona discovery laws.

“IT IS ORDERED setting a Hearing re the Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions on Tuesday, September 04, 2018, at 9:00 a.m., in Division 01. Estimated time for hearing is one hour.”

I like this a lot. This is no 15 minute status conference; it’s the first full blown take the gloves off discovery fight. Hopefully, a lot of issues will be settled after that date. It’s hard to imagine this hearing will go well for the Defendants.

You’ll notice that the issue of the Defendants’ depositions was never addressed in the status conference. That makes a lot of sense. As I’ve noted several times, the depositions of RB and JP will be highly important in their destruction. A portion of the questions that will be posed to them during their depositions will be about their discovery responses, so it would be counterproductive to depose them before all the responses are completed.

So, here’s the bottom line: Mr. and Mrs. Whips are still in a world of hurt. There was not one thing that occurred in the last status conference and published summary harmful to CJP. Sure we want this to be over with sooner rather than later and Ron and his deranged girlfriend to be destroyed. We are still completely on track for that to happen, especially with the Defendants being pro se. But these things take time and we have to be patient as the wheels of justice continue to grind.
My only issue with this post is you just saved Mr. and Mrs. Whips a lot of time translating all that legalise ;)

Seriously, thanks for doing these. Loving the insight.
 

brandon_cox

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
290
My only issue with this post is you just saved Mr. and Mrs. Whips a lot of time translating all that legalise ;)

I've thought about that more than once. And there were times earlier in the case where I could have posted that the Defendants should be doing this or if I was representing them I would do that. I never posted any of that because I didn't want to offer a scintilla of help to those scumbags. But at this point in time there is nothing that I or anyone else could do to help them. They are doomed.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
I've thought about that more than once. And there were times earlier in the case where I could have posted that the Defendants should be doing this or if I was representing them I would do that. I never posted any of that because I didn't want to offer a scintilla of help to those scumbags. But at this point in time there is nothing that I or anyone else could do to help them. They are doomed.

Well in a way, you’re helping CJP and them both by highlighting they’re screwed and that’s okay. It would be best if they folded up camp and went home. Everyone would be better off.
 

brandon_cox

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
290
It would be best if they folded up camp and went home. Everyone would be better off.

Their chance to settle this case was when it was initially filed and they were accused of defamation and extortion. I expect that at that time CJP expected them to fold up camp and disappear once and for all. But, instead they chose to file a counterclaim and fabricate a charge of rape against CJP. Once that happened, this became a grudge match to the death. Now from CJP's perspective:

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YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,167
Given that CJP actually has little hope of ever collecting money from these useless pieces of pond scum, I expect he may make an offer that says give me an overt apology and a statement it was all made up and I won't try to get legal fees from you. While he has a good case to do it and seems he would likely win, I doubt they have any legit money in any form that could be seized so it still may make sense to settle with a clear, unambiguous statement clearing CJP all the way to Sunday and back.
 

awbuzz

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11,423
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Given that CJP actually has little hope of ever collecting money from these useless pieces of pond scum, I expect he may make an offer that says give me an overt apology and a statement it was all made up and I won't try to get legal fees from you. While he has a good case to do it and seems he would likely win, I doubt they have any legit money in any form that could be seized so it still may make sense to settle with a clear, unambiguous statement clearing CJP all the way to Sunday and back.

Force them to bankruptcy, demand restitution, ask Pima County to file charges and send both to prison.
 
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