When we decided to leave Texas after almost 28 years, it was a very hard choice to make. We would be leaving behind our oldest son, who had just gotten married a couple of months before we left; great friends; an incredible place to live; and wonderful places to visit and frequent. The decision to move was based on several things and one of the things that helped us to decide was to treat this move as "an adventure". A grand and fun adventure! An exploration of places we've never seen! The Pacific Ocean, the beaches, the mountains, the desserts! Well, it hasn't disappointed me yet on the "adventure" part!
Since we've been in California, we've gone whale watching; driven up and down Pacific Coast Highway from San Clemente to Long Beach; we experienced our first earthquake; we've been to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park (both of which have been on my bucket list for years) and amazing to finally see; we've spent time poking around our new town; watched a fire come up over the mountains in front of our house (didn't know it at the time, but it was a controlled burn); and have taken some really nice drives around Orange and Riverside Counties. It has been real nice learning the area and having all these little adventures!
OK, so there have been a couple of adventures I could have done without... like the time a lady bumped into my brand new car at a red light (little scratch/no damage); like almost getting a ticket in a national forest because we didn't have the sticker we needed to stop and get out of the car (talked my way out of it since we still have our Texas plates on the car and I acted like the biggest idiot!); like having to drive thru rush hour traffic after a doctor appointment (nothing I could do about that one); and like last week when I got a court summons in Los Angeles County because someone is suing us (OK, insert panic attack here)!
Got your attention there, didn't I?! Yeah, suing us... so get comfortable and I'll tell you what happened last week.
I'm sitting at the computer desk and I'm enjoying cruising the internet and watching WildEarth on the computer. The front and back doors are open, welcoming the cool breeze thru the house as it's almost 85 degrees outside.
All of the sudden, I hear someone saying, "Hello? Hello!" So I get up from my desk and go to the front door. There is an older, middle-aged woman standing just outside our front gate (we have a courtyard out front of our house) and she asked if I was Sharon G. I stated that I was and then she asked, "Is your husband, Mike G.?". I told her that he was. Then she said that she had some paperwork for us. Idiot me, I go out to the gate to see what she has and she passed thru the gate a couple of reams of paper at me. So I took it. She said, "You've just been served and you need to report to court in 30 days in Los Angeles County Superior Court".
Insert really stupid look here. It took me several (and I do mean several) moments to say anything coherent and what pops out of my mouth??
"Huh?"
She told me again that I was being served a summons for LA County Superior Court. I stared at her what for seemed to be several minutes. Again, it took me several moments to get anything out of my mouth, but this time it was,
"For WHAT!?"
She told me (again) that we were being sued and that it was all in the paperwork. I looked down at the armful of paper that I had in my arms and just knew it would take me weeks to read all the legal mumbo jumbo, but I did happen to catch the name of the plaintiff on the front page of the paperwork- I didn't know the name and couldn't even pronounce it! I looked at the lady and told her, "We just moved here from Texas. I don't know these people or have any idea of why they would be suing us."
She said, "Call the attoney on the front for more details then."
So I brought the paperwork in the house, my heart is pounding a mile a minute and I'm freaking out wondering what we had done in 3 months to have someone we didn't know sue us! So I put the paperwork down on my computer desk, sat down before I fell down and with shaking hands, I started working my way thru the paperwork. I wanted to call Mike at work, but I knew he'd be asking me questions I didn't have the answers to, so I wanted to read it a bit before I called him so I would know the answers to the questions he'd be asking... Didja get that?!
So in the next ten minutes or so, I found out the following. Not only were we being sued, but about 100 other people, banks, investment companies and trusts were being sued. That made me feel somewhat better. Then I read what we were being sued for: First Admended Complaint- Judicial Foreclosure, Negligence and Fraud.
"What?"
Slowing down now, I started back at the beginning and started reading with a bit more attention. After reading down to the bottom of the page, I realized what I missed before- and what the law firm had also apparently missed... It wasn't Mike and Sharon G.... it was Michael W. and Sharon J. G. (same last name)!!!! Whew! Not us! Now that I could breathe again, now it was funny and now I could call Mike and tell him about it! What a rush!
I did run out to see if I could find the lady that delivered the summons, but she was long gone by then. So instead, I called the attorneys office listed on the front of the summons and told the receptionist/clerk that we were NOT the persons mentioned in the law suit although we shared the same first and last names... just not the same initials! The receptionist told me to toss the paperwork in the garbage. She then took my name and phone number "just in case the attorney would like to reach you." Yeah, right... I wasn't about to toss this out until I was SURE that we weren't being sued!
So that was that... or so I thought. Fast forward to the day after Mother's Day. I walk out to the mailbox just like I do six times a week. I don't expect a lot of mail here other than bills and the odd letter or card my sister will send. So this particular Monday, I open the mailbox and find a USPS Priority Mail envelope from same said attorney that is representing the plaintiff that is suing everyone and their brother! Surely this can't be another summons coming via the US Postal Service! Oh, how wrong you are! It was another summons! And another ream of paper!
Holy Bat crap!
So I go into the house and once again call the attorneys office and tell the receptionist/clerk that we are NOT the Mike and Sharon G. being sued in this lawsuit. This time she tells me, "This is normal procedure to send out (via USPS) a second summons after the first one is issued in person. Use the paper as a scratch pad." I now have three reams of paper from this law firm to use as scratch pads!
Some adventures are just better than others!
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