What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
In June my son, now 9 years old, obtained 258e(s) against all four children living next door.
We were harassed the first few days, but throughout the summer the neighborhood was pretty peaceful, and son was becoming comfortable enough to play in the general area of the kids without fear of being bullied.
On Labor Day, the seven year old told visiting cousin that son was a liar, and that he was mean to his family - not the other way around.
We continued to allow our son to play in the common area where lots of neighbor kids, including the defendants, play, because the child wasn't terribly hostile, as he'd been in the past.
A few weeks ago, son noticed 10 year old defendant trying to secretly video him with a cell phone, and heard him whisper to his brother to keep quiet.
The mother of these children started giving my son the finger on his way home from school this week, and let the leash out on her boxer dog such that it was lunging and yipping just a few feet away from my child. (This has happened before.)
I went to the mailbox today and found a wet stack of papers - no envelope - with a bit of mud and leaves inside my mailbox on top of today's mail. It is a motion to vacate the four258e orders from June 10th, with over 100 pages of transcripts from the two and a half hour hearing.
QUESTIONS:
Should I notify the police that the woman put this pile of crap in my mailbox? Isn't that a federal offense? Lawyer's cover letter says he served me IN HAND today. Is that proper service?
More importantly, one of the grounds for the motion is that the harassment that lead to the orders took place before the statute became law on May 10, 2010. He cited seven cases to support his argument that the prestatutory incidents should not have been considered by the court:
Yates v. General Motors Acceptance Corp, 356 Mass. 529, 531 (1969)
Welch v. Mayor of Taunton, 343 mass. 485, 487
Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Inc. v. Russel Management, Inc. 380 Mass. 212,214 (1980)
Vincent v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (In re Vincent), 381 B.R. 564, 573, n. 12 (2008)
Commonwealth v. Welch, 444 Mass. 80, 91 (2005)
Commonwealth v. Fuller, 421 Mass. 400, 407-408 (1995)
Commonwealth v. Davis, 380 Mass. 1, 16 (1980)
He also asserts that - such a draconian order amounts to a perpetual Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of young children.
While we could have asked for a year for the orders, we only asked for six months, which we hoped was enough time for the kids to learn some boundaries. They only had two more months to go on this order. It will cost me another thousand dollars to go back to court with these people.
Do they have a case?
If not, how would I go about asking for attorney's fees?
Sorry such a long post. As usual, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. Oh, and Quincy, before you ask, yes, I did turn down the offer to tell this story on national television.
In June my son, now 9 years old, obtained 258e(s) against all four children living next door.
We were harassed the first few days, but throughout the summer the neighborhood was pretty peaceful, and son was becoming comfortable enough to play in the general area of the kids without fear of being bullied.
On Labor Day, the seven year old told visiting cousin that son was a liar, and that he was mean to his family - not the other way around.
We continued to allow our son to play in the common area where lots of neighbor kids, including the defendants, play, because the child wasn't terribly hostile, as he'd been in the past.
A few weeks ago, son noticed 10 year old defendant trying to secretly video him with a cell phone, and heard him whisper to his brother to keep quiet.
The mother of these children started giving my son the finger on his way home from school this week, and let the leash out on her boxer dog such that it was lunging and yipping just a few feet away from my child. (This has happened before.)
I went to the mailbox today and found a wet stack of papers - no envelope - with a bit of mud and leaves inside my mailbox on top of today's mail. It is a motion to vacate the four258e orders from June 10th, with over 100 pages of transcripts from the two and a half hour hearing.
QUESTIONS:
Should I notify the police that the woman put this pile of crap in my mailbox? Isn't that a federal offense? Lawyer's cover letter says he served me IN HAND today. Is that proper service?
More importantly, one of the grounds for the motion is that the harassment that lead to the orders took place before the statute became law on May 10, 2010. He cited seven cases to support his argument that the prestatutory incidents should not have been considered by the court:
Yates v. General Motors Acceptance Corp, 356 Mass. 529, 531 (1969)
Welch v. Mayor of Taunton, 343 mass. 485, 487
Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Inc. v. Russel Management, Inc. 380 Mass. 212,214 (1980)
Vincent v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (In re Vincent), 381 B.R. 564, 573, n. 12 (2008)
Commonwealth v. Welch, 444 Mass. 80, 91 (2005)
Commonwealth v. Fuller, 421 Mass. 400, 407-408 (1995)
Commonwealth v. Davis, 380 Mass. 1, 16 (1980)
He also asserts that - such a draconian order amounts to a perpetual Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of young children.
While we could have asked for a year for the orders, we only asked for six months, which we hoped was enough time for the kids to learn some boundaries. They only had two more months to go on this order. It will cost me another thousand dollars to go back to court with these people.
Do they have a case?
If not, how would I go about asking for attorney's fees?
Sorry such a long post. As usual, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. Oh, and Quincy, before you ask, yes, I did turn down the offer to tell this story on national television.