Read All About It - Update on Surepip and Ms. Surepip's Lawsuit!

[LisaKW@bellsouth.net]

1342300542[/url]' post='3664354']

Sorry I blasted you about it, There lawyer is out of town as far as they know. They don't have an opinion on it because their lawyer has not explained what this means to their case.

I would hope people would understand how stressful this has been for years, now getting a judgement and not having your lawyer available to you to answer your questions.

Surepip can't even come on site because of getting bombarded with questions and being gigged about not discussing it immediately with people.

 

 

Sorry, but I agree with ugadawg. For years, SP has hi-jacked posts that didn't even have anything to do with his lawsuit. He took every opportunity to blast the County and now we get nothing but crickets? Sorry his attorney is out of town.

[markdavd]

Sorry, but I agree with ugadawg. For years, SP has hi-jacked posts that didn't even have anything to do with his lawsuit. He took every opportunity to blast the County and now we get nothing but crickets? Sorry his attorney is out of town.

Lawyers usually frown on their clients talking about an ongoing case to the press or in public, so maybe his lawyer finally told him to shut up about it publicly.

[lowrider]

Or maybe they have been campaigning, putting out signs and are at the wine tasting.

 

It truly amazes me at the folks that take the side of a crooked government against a citizen.

 

There's no way I would have had the money to even fight. I think pip said they have used their savings. Who among you would have had the courage and resources? I probably would have said "f it", it's not worth the pain and aggravation and money.

 

Some of you folks just can't wait to stick the knife in his back.

 

And WE ALL know what Shearin and his band of robbers did.

[lisabug606]

I don't understand many of intricacies of this whole case (I haven't followed it from the start). I do have a question though. I remember this starting over some land. Was the value of that land worth the amount of money that's been spent fighting over it?

[LPPT]

I don't understand many of intricacies of this whole case (I haven't followed it from the start). I do have a question though. I remember this starting over some land. Was the value of that land worth the amount of money that's been spent fighting over it?

 

If you buy property as an investment it is money. If you buy property as your forever home, it is like having a piece of your heart ripped out.

 

I had a friend many years ago back in Tn. that almost the exact same thing happen to her. She fought and fought and never won it. She literally almost went crazy about people taking her land, she spent thousands to try get back 6 feet of road frontage taken from her.

She is in her 80's now, still lives on the property, she still has such a hatred for the people and the courts that took her land you don't want the subject to come up.

You also don't ever want to pull in her driveway with a gov. emblem on your car, because when you get to the door all you will see are double barrels.

My dad sued a neighbor over taking 18 inches over a road easement.

 

Where I come from this is like personally assaulting someone to take their land, so I have always understood why the Morrison's feel like they do.

[lisabug606]

Were they offered a settlement on this land at some point? It seems like they should have been.

[LPPT]

Were they offered a settlement on this land at some point? It seems like they should have been.

I don't want to go into details about stuff I am not positive about.

You could probably click on surepips name and click content on his profile and get all the details. It is very convoluted, the recent post are about the anti-slap.

At some point the county put a counter suit on them and I think that was the reason the the anti-slap.

Surepip will probably answer this after his lawyer gets back from vacation and they talk this over.

A lot of things happened under the previous administration, and I don't know where the line is drawn on the previous proceedings with old admin and new.

[lisabug606]

I don't want to go into details about stuff I am not positive about.

You could probably click on surepips name and click content on his profile and get all the details. It is very convoluted, the recent post are about the anti-slap.

At some point the county put a counter suit on them and I think that was the reason the the anti-slap.

Surepip will probably answer this after his lawyer gets back from vacation and they talk this over.

A lot of things happened under the previous administration, and I don't know where the line is drawn on the previous proceedings with old admin and new.

I'll go check that. I do remember seeing posts about this on Pcom but never really followed it closely cuz I didn't know about it from the start.

[Cabe]

There have been a 100 threads started about this very lawsuit but strangely nothing after a major ruling. I have said the entire time we are only hearing one side of the story which looks like it may be true.

 

I have said the same thing. When I added the county may have been doing exactly what they should have been doing, protecting the taxpayers, you should have seen the "soaking" I got.

[LPPT]

I have said the same thing. When I added the county may have been doing exactly what they should have been doing, protecting the taxpayers, you should have seen the "soaking" I got.

 

Excuse me the Morrison's never wanted the money from day one, They did not want their land taken. They were out there every day trying to stop bulldozers and heavy equipment. Telling these people that they were on their property. It could have been stopped then. The sheriffs reports will show how often they were called out there.

They could have stopped at any time and the county could have protected the home owners property rights.

There was intent by the county not to do so. Any money the Morrison's get was spent by the county back then. If they chose to spend the money on attorneys, then the county spent the money not the Morrison's.

Seems to me the county created a lot of bills back in those days that we are still paying on, this one is not any different.

[rchaos]

For those who need catching up I found these posts from about a year ago. It's as far back as the search here will let me. Very, very good reading.

 

My 1st link

 

My 2nd link

 

My 3rd link

 

My 4th link

 

My 5th link

Edited July 15, 2012 by Hulk Smash

[Cabe]

Excuse me the Morrison's never wanted the money from day one, They did not want their land taken. They were out there every day trying to stop bulldozers and heavy equipment. Telling these people that they were on their property. It could have been stopped then. The sheriffs reports will show how often they were called out there.

They could have stopped at any time and the county could have protected the home owners property rights.

There was intent by the county not to do so. Any money the Morrison's get was spent by the county back then. If they chose to spend the money on attorneys, then the county spent the money not the Morrison's.

Seems to me the county created a lot of bills back in those days that we are still paying on, this one is not any different.

 

I simply stated that I agreed that we didn't have the whole story. We still don't. The county doesn't comment on their side. Oddly enough, if I remember correctly, the Morrison lawsuit seeks $1.5 million dollars (that will be taxpayer dollars). I also recall at one point they were offered a considerable settlement, which they refused and continued the suit.

[Guest Inspector Callahan]

If you want justice, go to a whorehouse. If you want to get screwed, go to court.

[LPPT]

I simply stated that I agreed that we didn't have the whole story. We still don't. The county doesn't comment on their side. Oddly enough, if I remember correctly, the Morrison lawsuit seeks $1.5 million dollars (that will be taxpayer dollars). I also recall at one point they were offered a considerable settlement, which they refused and continued the suit.

 

You know as well as I do that the amount of the suit is to make sure that the lawyer gets paid for his time. Depending on how complicated or simple the case the lawyer tries to estimate the amount of work, sets the settlement amount so that his % covers his cost.

The Morrisons did not say we want 1.5 million, their lawyer whom they trust sets the amount before he will take the case.

 

The settlement would not cover the lawyers portion and allow them to repair damages.

 

These cases are all about the lawyers, I think you know that.

 

We have a great justice system in America if you can afford it.

[OldGoat99]

I agree with you LPPT. Most folks don't know the full story and I feel that surpip is getting the short end of the stick.

 

The developer took the land... out right period. I would have gone and grabbed a bobcat and ripped the road right up and dumped it off my land. They had no right to take the land. I also think I would have had a manure plot on on the edge of the property with huge fans blowing it over to the new housing. Surpip tried doing things the legal way and it has cost him a ton of money.

 

The county and the developer are using the county money and lawyers as money pit that everyone is losing.

 

I would had had my land surveyed and with the legal points from the county placed and dug the crap / road etc off my land. See what the county and developer does. What can they do? he is just using his land as he sees fit.

 

 

 

 

You know as well as I do that the amount of the suit is to make sure that the lawyer gets paid for his time. Depending on how complicated or simple the case the lawyer tries to estimate the amount of work, sets the settlement amount so that his % covers his cost.

The Morrisons did not say we want 1.5 million, their lawyer whom they trust sets the amount before he will take the case.

 

The settlement would not cover the lawyers portion and allow them to repair damages.

 

These cases are all about the lawyers, I think you know that.

 

We have a great justice system in America if you can afford it.

[solosoul]

I simply stated that I agreed that we didn't have the whole story. We still don't. The county doesn't comment on their side. Oddly enough, if I remember correctly, the Morrison lawsuit seeks $1.5 million dollars (that will be taxpayer dollars). I also recall at one point they were offered a considerable settlement, which they refused and continued the suit.

Facts do not matter to most around here.

[LPPT]

I agree with you LPPT. Most folks don't know the full story and I feel that surpip is getting the short end of the stick.

 

The developer took the land... out right period. I would have gone and grabbed a bobcat and ripped the road right up and dumped it off my land. They had no right to take the land. I also think I would have had a manure plot on on the edge of the property with huge fans blowing it over to the new housing. Surpip tried doing things the legal way and it has cost him a ton of money.

 

The county and the developer are using the county money and lawyers as money pit that everyone is losing.

 

I would had had my land surveyed and with the legal points from the county placed and dug the crap / road etc off my land. See what the county and developer does. What can they do? he is just using his land as he sees fit.

When a settlement goes something like this, we will pa you 1/2 your lawyer fees and give you your land back, the lawyer says to you, you are welcome to take this settlement but you will pay me the other 1/2 of my fees when you do.

 

The county lawyers got all their fees paid immediately when they submitted the bill to the taxpayers of the county.

But somehow the Morrison's end up as the bad guys.

 

From the first day the bulldoze pushed the first inch of dirt on their property the employees of this county and there were many decided to spend your tax money to allow a developer to take land from a citizens.

The Morrison's are not making the decisions about this, the lawyers are.

It still raises the same questions over and over of why so much money was spent to keep the facts of a case from being heard.

 

A settlement could have been reached six months after the suit was brought and any facts someone did not want heard would have never come to light.

 

With every passing day, every court day the elephant in the room just gets bigger and bigger, these peoples lives have almost been ruined over whatever that WHY is.

 

I am assuming that the county lawyers have in their possession all the evidence and all the documents the WHY just gets bigger and bigger.

My understanding is that now the anti slap is overturned the case can go forward and be heard.

 

Back to square one of paying lawyers to postpone argue or whatever it is they were doing to stop the case from going to court.

 

If others don't care why, then that is ok, but beating on the Morrison's is just plain wrong.

 

Granted Surepip in his frustration has shared with us what he is dealing with and after six years some are tired of it.

 

But we all want to believe in our heart of hearts that there is justice for the little guy. I think people want to believe that so bad, they look to find fault with Surepip in this.

[LPPT]

Facts do not matter to most around here.

Nobody has seen any facts but the lawyers, a judge has never set eyes on the details of this case, that was why the anti-slap was brought.

 

The taxpayers of this county have paid a fortune to make sure a judge never sees the first piece of evidence. If they weren't worried about that evidence this would be over and done a long time ago.

 

For the county it was never about the money, it serves some people to make it about the money. It was about never seeing the facts of the case period.

[LPPT]

Nobody has seen any facts but the lawyers, a judge has never set eyes on the details of this case, that was why the anti-slap was brought.

 

The taxpayers of this county have paid a fortune to make sure a judge never sees the first piece of evidence. If they weren't worried about that evidence this would be over and done a long time ago.

 

For the county it was never about the money, it serves some people to make it about the money. It was about never seeing the facts of the case period.

 

Maybe this will help people understand the counties position, the anti slap was filed under the previous administration.

Had the new administration lost the anti slap, they would have to pay the anti-slap suit, then when it was heard they would have had to pay the settlement of the case.

They were forced to bring the anti-slap because they had no chance with the administration in place. The new administration even had they wanted to hear the case, couldn't until the anti-slap dealt with.

[solosoul]

Nobody has seen any facts but the lawyers, a judge has never set eyes on the details of this case, that was why the anti-slap was brought.

 

The taxpayers of this county have paid a fortune to make sure a judge never sees the first piece of evidence. If they weren't worried about that evidence this would be over and done a long time ago.

 

For the county it was never about the money, it serves some people to make it about the money. It was about never seeing the facts of the case period.

You admit no one has seen the facts but turn around and say you know that Surepip is in the right......you are only going by his side of the story. Now that things are not going his way he has shut up and once again you are trying to say not his fault but other people are forcing him to come out against David and that we all know would hurt his wife running for office. Up to now he has been on top of everything his lawyer has done but now what? He is in the dark? Dang please never sit on a jury.

[xxrsellars]

You admit no one has seen the facts but turn around and say you know that Surepip is in the right......you are only going by his side of the story. Now that things are not going his way he has shut up and once again you are trying to say not his fault but other people are forcing him to come out against David and that we all know would hurt his wife running for office. Up to now he has been on top of everything his lawyer has done but now what? He is in the dark? Dang please never sit on a jury.

 

 

was thinking the same thing !!!

[LPPT]

You admit no one has seen the facts but turn around and say you know that Surepip is in the right......you are only going by his side of the story. Now that things are not going his way he has shut up and once again you are trying to say not his fault but other people are forcing him to come out against David and that we all know would hurt his wife running for office. Up to now he has been on top of everything his lawyer has done but now what? He is in the dark? Dang please never sit on a jury.

 

Excuse me, the county lawyers have the facts, the Morrison's lawyers have the facts, I personally and none of you have read all the evidence.

And why you have to insult me instead of discussing this in a civil way is beyond me.

You have who it will hurt backwards by the way.

[lowrider]

You people are so self righteous. Just look at the title of the thread. Posted with a look here GLEE......look at what happened to Surepip. Yipee.

 

Apparently none of you lost anything during the Shearin rule when the county land and it's people were raped.

 

No one would spend enormous amounts of money if they thought they were wrong and could lose.

 

Surepip is fighting for his rights as a taxpaying citizen. If he loses, we ALL lose. But apparently that's ok with some of you because you can't get past your jealously and downright hate.

[Foxmeister]

They should be suing their lawyer.

[Boss Hogg]

Just a friendly reminder, WE ARE IN THE CAFE! Please be civil.

[Eddie Bennett]

I am concerned for the many citizens who are not standing their ground. Those who are not standing up, speaking out, and talking back, are my fell men and women, TOO!

[rchaos]

Just a friendly reminder, WE ARE IN THE CAFE! Please be civil.

 

It is almost like a few WANT this thread to be moved somewhere else so it won't show up on a Google search. If it does, another will be started. This is news afterall. Deal with it. The notion that the thread title was posted with GLEE is laughable at best. This is a NEWS SITE according to some here. "Read All About It" has always been associated with news.

 

Not all facts are in yet some a screaming one side is 100% in the right. Calm down. For a news site, some posting here are awfully slanted.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Hulk Smash

[TwoKidCircus]

Excuse me, the county lawyers have the facts, the Morrison's lawyers have the facts, I personally and none of you have read all the evidence.

And why you have to insult me instead of discussing this in a civil way is beyond me.

You have who it will hurt backwards by the way.

 

LPPT, it would behoove you, then, to stop commenting on this like you DO know all the facts. Solo is not insulting you. If you don't want to be called out, stop posting about this lawsuit when you don't know all the facts. Simple as that.

[xxrsellars]

LPPT, it would behoove you, then, to stop commenting on this like you DO know all the facts. Solo is not insulting you. If you don't want to be called out, stop posting about this lawsuit when you don't know all the facts. Simple as that.

[jmd]

Evidence????? to prove Surepip side? Let the county take your property and see how you feel. Just by the county taking his property tells me that is all the evidence he needs to win. So why the fight except for the county not wanting to pay. The anti slapp was for the county delaying taking the case to trial. Now you all feel its okay to keep delaying it so it drys out the person's savings? I think its all crooked in my eyes. Watching this for years going on so you don't have to pay. Delay after delay. Then reverse the anti slapp? One hand washes the other one. When it gets done to someone else which would be like Karma, then you all will know how it feels to have the county take what it wants from your own land and listen to everyone else cry that there is always 2 sides. It just sounds too dumb to me to hear people talk like that.

 

And that last offer for settlement wouldn't have been enough to pay for the value of the land, cost of fixing their home due to blasts shaking it up, and the cost of the lawyers. I hope The Morrisons push forward with this. Just to prove a point. It would of been alot cheaper from the start for the county to correct it right then in the beginning then to knowingly keep sweeping it under the rug thinking it will go away.

[Cabe]

Facts do not matter to most around here.

 

Good to see you!

 

You know as well as I do that the amount of the suit is to make sure that the lawyer gets paid for his time. Depending on how complicated or simple the case the lawyer tries to estimate the amount of work, sets the settlement amount so that his % covers his cost.

The Morrisons did not say we want 1.5 million, their lawyer whom they trust sets the amount before he will take the case.

 

The settlement would not cover the lawyers portion and allow them to repair damages.

 

These cases are all about the lawyers, I think you know that.

 

We have a great justice system in America if you can afford it.

 

No, no I don't. Try again.

 

 

 

[LPPT]

LPPT, it would behoove you, then, to stop commenting on this like you DO know all the facts. Solo is not insulting you. If you don't want to be called out, stop posting about this lawsuit when you don't know all the facts. Simple as that.

 

Perhaps I see the facts as the evidence that is submitted in a court of law and that is where the difference of opinion comes in.

We have public facts and that is what I am addressing in my comments.

 

We know they were wronged or felt they were. We know that for years they could not get in the court. We know they responded with an Anti-slap against the previous administration. We know that the admin changed since then. I admit to taking Surepip's word on the offer that was made. We now know of the new judgement handed down.

I am bowing out after I share these few things because I do not want be in the middle of this.

 

I have talked to the Morrison's many times about were they are presently with the case, the back ground I know from his post.

 

The 3 of us have discussed many times how much we admire our current BOC, these are good men they have made good decisions. We are beyond disappointed and upset that with the exception of this, and for the Morrison's as you can imagine it is a huge exception we don't want to see them harmed. On the other hand they now have an opportunity to make this right, it is not their fault most of it was done before they were in office.

 

We can all sit here and judge the Morrison's, judge the board of commissioners looking for the bad guys.

This case has never been in front of the court and judged on it's merits.

If it had been in a court then we would know how to feel and what to think.

 

I think this is a great Board of commissioners that we have in place, this is the only thing that has ever shaken my confidence in them.

 

I am going to confess that this is personally one of the hardest things I have ever struggled with. Seeing my very good friends hurt like this and believing that the men on our commission are whats best for the future of all the people in Paulding.

 

So I am bowing out of this thread, I can't deal with it any more.

[gpatt0n]

You admit no one has seen the facts but turn around and say you know that Surepip is in the right......you are only going by his side of the story. Now that things are not going his way he has shut up and once again you are trying to say not his fault but other people are forcing him to come out against David and that we all know would hurt his wife running for office. Up to now he has been on top of everything his lawyer has done but now what? He is in the dark? Dang please never sit on a jury.

 

Solo:

 

A court and jury has not seen the facts.

 

The reality is that a significant number of the facts of the actual case were witnessed by me and others who actually attended, for instance, the planning and zoning meeting in which the zoning for the palisades property was changed from industrial to residential, in which attractive buffers were agreed to by the 'developer' and were accepted by the planning commission but were disappeared, were there when Ms. surepip got ill from mishandling of the water line; were there when the trees came down and the property was disturbed without a land disturbance permit, the expansion of the road right of way in a manner that was an illegal taking according to the surveyors, etc. etc. ... Those are the issues in the underlying lawsuit which has not been adjudicated.

 

It is also a reasonable question to wonder if the actions of the county's attorneys in their handling of discovery on the original case, including motions, were given proper weight in the determination of the anti-slapp action ... i.e. is there a case, not addressed at all in the decision of the appeals court, that the mass of paper, the number pre-trial depositions, etc. were not indicative of an effort to litigate in such as manner as to justify invocation of the anti-slapp statute. I saw nothing in the decision that referenced that effort by county's attorneys to bury the case under piles and piles of motions designed to run up the litigation expense and presumably increase the payday to the county if they prevailed and were awarded fees.

 

Certainly we were observers of the legal maneuvering but the main observation in that context is that the effort of the legal wrangling was aimed at piling on and up in order to delay and obfuscate the underlying facts ... which adds dramatically to the confusion. The litigation is and has been complex, complicated and yes, not a little bit politicized.

 

Is the decision of the appeals court a shining example of clarity? I think not. They said what they said but as I said earlier, the criticism there were no itemized bills from Mr. Stinson to Mr. Morrison to document the case seemed absurd as Mr. Stinson spent two days reading what I would call billing minutia into the record for two days or more. He certainly wasn't reading Dickens' Tale of Two Cities.

 

So to say that the decision of the appeals court is definitive is to me not necessarily the final word. Mr. Stinson has the option of appealing the case and I'm sure, since his credibility as an attorney and litigator appears to be on the line, he may choose to fight on, on principal.

 

Bottom line, though is that the reports we have is he is out of town and has not discussed any of the aspects of the case with his clients. It is premature to close the door and claim unquestioned victory in this six year ordeal. It is a case that has had surprises and it may yet hold some surprises.

 

Given that understanding, I'm just going to close this topic and suggest that I'll be the one to initiate any new discussion.

 

pubby