I spent the morning at the Public Library in Santa Ana drafting a new Complaint. In my current situation, there is always a crisis around the corner. Paraphrasing David Bach, the author of “The Automatic Millionaire”, he said that if we were just to sit down and think about it, 90% of our problems can be solved by money. I don’t know how many people will disagree with that.
I had most of my personal belongings stored at a Public Storage facility in Mission Viejo, CA. In my predicament, it was only going to be a matter of time before I would fail paying the rent. As luck will have it, I have gotten behind on my rent. As a result, they’ve effectively locked me out and placed a lien on my property. They have also already published the date for the lien sale, which is now slated for the 10th of June. It hits me very hard because there are many things in there that are simply irreplaceable – old pictures of my kids, marathon medals, collectibles and some personal items that have sentimental value.
There is the twin to the saying that money can solve a lot of problems. What does one do if one does not have money? He will file a lawsuit to assert his rights. My research led me to a couple of legal doctrines that may very well save my belongings from being sold to strangers. I was able to raise a partial amount but was glad I didn’t pay as I discovered case laws that showed it would not have prevented a lien sale.
There are three kinds of laws - Statutes or Codes, Regulations and Case Laws. Case laws are the interpretations that were derived from a real live case and from that came a judicial decision. This differs from other laws in that a Case Law is one that is made by a judge. By contrast, a Statute or Code is one that is made by legislators like the Congress of the United States. A Regulation, on the other hand, is one that is made by regulators such as the Commissioner of the Department of Real Estate.
This is an example of a case law:
"Under California law, self-storage facility’s lien on contents of lessee’s storage locker was valid, even though lessee made partial payment on overdue rent; pursuant to rental agreement and Self- Storage Facility Act, facility had right to assert lien when rent was more than 14 days overdue, lessee failed to pay total with 14 days after preliminary lien notice was mailed, and lessee must pay total sum due to avoid enforcement of lien. US v. Poulsen, C.A.9 (Cal) 1994, 41 F.3d 1330"
I’ve prepared a rough draft of my Complaint and on a rush basis should be able to file it by Monday. I won’t speak about it on this particular entry because it is not yet filed. But once accepted by the clerk, it becomes public records. As long as I do not prejudice their defense, my First Amendment Rights will protect me.
The First Amendment reads like so:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
The name of the case will be Lacambra vs. Public Storage.
Stay tuned!
