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Before I go on, there are several things I want to point out. First, Art
offered to pay me this money. At no time did I ever ask him for any money. As a
matter of fact, I refused Art's offer. I wanted the truth from him, not
$41,466.90. It's not that $41,466.90 wasn’t a lot of money of money to me,
because it was. If it had just been money I wanted, we sure as hell wouldn't
have been talking about less than 1% of what he cost me.
The second thing I want to say is that I understand that anyone can make a
mistake--even an attorney. But when everything someone does is a mistake, it
ceases to be a mistake, especially by an attorney. On top of that, forging
someone's name to a check and stealing the money cannot be taken as a mistake.
The culprit is either dumber than a rock or knowingly did it.
Immediately after leaving Dennis's I went directly to the Toledo Police
Department with a copy of the check. When I arrived there, the two officers
were ecstatic about accepting the charge against Art. At no time did either
officer tell me that this wasn't a legitimate complaint. On the contrary, both
officers stated several times that I had Art cold, especially with a copy of the
forged check in their hands. If that wasn't enough, I told both officers that
Art had admitted in a phone conversation with Dennis and me that he forged my
name to it. I also told the officers that Art had even offered to pay me
$41,466.90 compensation, and asked them why he would offer to do that if he
hadn’t done anything wrong. How clear cut could it be?
Once the officers had the copy of the check, they seemed more than thrilled
to nail Art. I didn't know if they personally knew him and I really didn't
care. I was just thrilled to finally be able to nail one of these crooks.
Unfortunately for me it had to be my own attorney.
Once again though the thrill was only for a fleeting moment. I am not
positive but I think the officers or their superior called someone at the
Toledo prosecutor’s office and asked what they should do. I think that person
instructed the officers not to accept the complaint and ordered them not to
discuss it any further.
The Political Good Old Boys Network was starting to repay Art for services
rendered. It's that clear cut. They were paying Art back for purposely screwing
up the lawsuit he filed against Rossford and for not filing the appeals like he
said he had. I remember driving home attempting to deal with this. There didn't
seem to be anything I could do about any of it. The political and judicial
system had covered up for Art because he covered up for them. About the only
choice I had was to either accept Art's offer or get nothing. To me that wasn't
much of a choice.
In case you’re wondering why I didn't just sue Art, which did cross my mind
several times, it was because I didn't think that I'd ever get a fair hearing.
I couldn't even get the Toledo Police Department to arrest Art for forgery and
felony theft when I walked in with the evidence in hand. What would be my
chance of winning a lawsuit against Art when all they had to do was to appoint
another judge who was in their pocket? They did it before, so why not again?
After much thought I had to admit they had won, illegally of course, but
won. At that point I wasn't even sure who I was fighting against. Was it Art
James? Or was it the political and judicial systems, or a combination of all
three? And how do you even fight them when they basically own and operate the
entire system? And in case you’re wondering whether Art was merely incompetent
rather than crooked, that is easy to tell. Did Art treat all of his clients and
cases this way or was it just mine?
I went back to Dennis and explained exactly what had transpired at the
Toledo Police Department. Dennis didn't seem surprised at all. I think it was
at this point when Dennis told me that Art was working in the City of Toledo's
prosecutor’s private law practice. How convenient.
Once again Dennis laid the cards on the table. He said there wasn't a thing
I could do. Every time I tried to fight them, I lost, and they would continue
to make sure of that. It was either take Art's offer or get nothing, because
the Political Good Old Boys Network, whoever they are, would protect Art. There
would be no way they would ever allow me to get at Art if it meant that it
would ultimately come back to them--they'd proven that on more than one
occasion.
After hearing this again, I still didn't want to take Art's offer. I wanted
him to hang for what he did, and that's exactly what I told Dennis. Dennis said
he understood that it was a difficult decision, but what other choice did I
have? Art wasn't worth any money and he didn't have malpractice insurance, so
there wasn't anything to go after. Dennis then informed me that Art wanted to
come to my house and talk to me privately before I made my decision, and that
he had no problem with that. I didn't even have to think that one over. I said
yes, please send Art over.
Dennis immediately picked up on the fact that I was more than happy to have
Art come to my house and talk to me. He warned me not to harm Art in any way,
shape or form. I didn't have to be nice to him--just don't touch or threaten
him. Dennis added that it couldn't hurt to hear what Art had to say, and think
it over again. Dennis said that after I talked to Art I should give him a call
so we could talk it over again.
I took Dennis's advice and met with Art. During this meeting my suspicions
were confirmed. There was no doubt left in my mind that they had gotten to Art.
I say this for several reasons. First is the fact that during the entire
conversation Art never once looked at me and said, "Donald, we made a
mistake. Unfortunately, you were wrong and they were right, and I couldn't help
you. I thought I could but I couldn't." As far as the check was concerned,
Art never said to me that he thought he had my permission to sign it and simply
keep the proceeds against what I owed him. The reason Art didn't say anything
like this was that we both would have known he was lying. The reason he was at
my house in the first place was to try to talk me into signing an agreement
where he could pay me $41,466.90 and walk away from all of this.
Second, and most convincing, the majority of our conversation centered on
the fact that Art thought I was way over my head in trying to fight the
government. He never said I was wrong. He just said there was nothing I could
do about it. He insisted that I didn't understand who or what I was attempting to
fight. He even went so far as to politely warn me that if I didn't accept his
offer, and continued to fight, there would be repercussions.
After I heard that, I told him in no uncertain terms I was not afraid of him
or the government. What the hell could they do to me now? They had already
ruined me financially, so what were they going to do, take my rented apartment
or my clothes? They certainly couldn't screw up my marriage and take my
children away again. So as far as I was concerned, there was nothing they could
do to me.
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