SB: small claims court: I fought the bureaucrats and I won!

[Mikal Jakubal <mjakubal@asis.com>]

Anyone who's ever felt totally jerked around by building, planning, health
department or other officials should take note of my recent experience with
one bunch of them. Even though this case had to do with a fence, and not my
strawbale house, it easily could have (and might yet). Anyone doing
progressive or experimental building should realize they have options if
the officials get out of hand. 

The short version: A couple years ago I applied for a permit to build a
fence partially in the County road right of way. Due to topography of the
site, this would make the fence stronger, more effective and easier to
build. I was granted the permit, began work and got over 60 steel posts
(recycled 4" pipe) cemented in. Then they revoked the permit. They later
ordered me to remove the posts within 30 days and then on that same day,
imposed an "administrative penalty" for not removing the posts within 30
days! Even after the posts were removed, I still had to drive an hour to
Eureka to contest the penalty. (I won and the penalty was dropped.) 

Does this sound like the kind of experience many sb builders have had?

I'm not sure where I learned that government agencies (except federal)
could be sued in small claims court, but I did it and won! The judge
clearly was not happy with the poor and contradictory communication, the
heavy-handedness, the inconsistencies between what they sent me on paper,
and what they said in the court room, and their hollow excuses for their
actions. So I not only won the almost $2K in receipted expenses, but I also
was awarded the $2K I requested for emotional distress and general "pain
and suffering" the whole experience caused.


At this point, they have 30 days to appeal in Superior Court. I personally
don't think they will, but if they do, I plan to take the case to public
opinion court first. They've lost twice already, so they'll have a hard
time justifying spending County money and time fighting it again. In
Superior Court they can have--and I would need--lawyers, which puts me at a
serious disadvantage. In small claims, no lawyers are allowed to be present
in the court room. This puts most bureaucrats at a big disadvantage.

With regards to the rest of the non-permitted (why should I get a permit?
Look what happened the one time I got one!) buildings, driveway, compost
toilet and so on at my place, I expect one of two things to come out of
this. 1) They realize I'm not one to roll over and whimper, and so they go
find some easier prey; or 2) they come after me with a vengeance. Even if
they do, I've got my counter-attack prepared, so I'm not particularly worried.

For info on small claims court, <http//:www.nolo.com> has good books on it.
I used "Everybody's Guide To Small Claims Court In California."

The real key to my case was the documentation I had. *Get it in writing!*
And get it in writing even if everything seems hunky-dory and all smiley
face. When they sent me the permit, I never thought it would become a big
issue. (That's why I applied and paid for a permit, so it wouldn't become
an issue!) Even if it's a phone conversation, get the official's name, and
make a note of it (date, time, content) in the folder with any other
correspondence. 

It's also really important to read codes and statutes yourself. Often
things are at the discretion of the officials. If you can show that you
made a reasonable attempt (in writing preferably; at least make notes of
your conversations and put in neat order in your folder) to satisfy the
spirit of the code, you may be able to get the judge to order that the
permit you've been waiting for be granted. I imagine, in a case where a
permit was arbitrarily delayed, that you could effectively argue that you
should be reimbursed for the extra year of rent and high utility bills you
had to pay while the officials jacked you around. There are all sorts of
possibilities for subverting the devious plans of all the little wanna-be
dictators in back rooms at the County administrative building!

One last comment. Going in to the case, I was feeling pretty cocky because
I had such a bombproof argument. Afterwards--and despite the fact that I
was right--I'm feeling much more humble about it because I see how easily
the judge could have been just as arbitrary as a building official and
raked me over the coals. I've seen this happen many times in police
brutality and similar cases. I got lucky, and this judge let everyone have
their say (and the more they said, the better my case looked!) and went
with the facts. 

Boy, would I like to be a fly on the wall in their office right now!.

Mikal      
 



 

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