California's homeowner association laws keep the litigation vendors cash registers humming

September 22, 2006

By Palacio del Mar Homeowner

The normal practice at the end of a deposition is for the court reporter to send a copy of the transcript to the deponent for review and correction.

In late 2004, Simon Freedman of Peters and Freedman was taking the deposition of a homeowner. Michael Kim of the same law firm was also present prodding questions and taking notes. At the end, the homeowner asked the transcriber Deborah M. DeSilva of Knight Court Reporters when he could review what she had transcribed.

Freedman told the homeowner, "You are not getting a copy of it. We are going to follow the code". Freedman them told the court reporter not to send a copy to the deponent. Instead he told the deponent that if he wished to view the transcript, he would have to go to the court reporter's office to do so. That was a 70 mile journey.

When various participants at the deposition protested that this was not the normal practice, Freedman leaned back in his chair and said this was in accordance with the code, and he loved "to follow the code".

The deponent thereupon said that the Nazi guards at Auschwitiz loved to follow "the code".

Freedman immediately labelled this remark as anti-semitic, went into a tirade and said that he was deeply offended as he was Jewish.

The deponent said that he was not aware of that.

It is hard to see how this remark by the deponent could be considered anti-semitic as the criticism was directed at the Nazis, not the Jews who were being persecuted. In essence, Freedman's behavior was being compared to the Nazis. If anything, Freedman as a Jew should be even more careful that he does not act like the Nazis.

Hence, Freedman's charge of anti-semitism not only entirely misses the mark, but more importantly, it deflects from his own deliberate attempt to be obnoxious. Deflection and falsely attacking the character of the other side are quivers in the arsenal of those who go after homeowners.

In the meantime, thanks to the Davis Stirling Act, the California homeowner association laws that CAI lawyers helped to write, the Peters & Freedman cash registers hummed happily along billing hundreds of dollars an hour for Simon Freedman and Michael Kim, as well as the costs of a court reporter and videographer. The other lawyers at the deposition were charging their fees also.

To be continued.....