My Observation in Clayton County And Chamblee Courtrooms

Cheree Alexander November 17, 2011

BUSA 2106-360 For this assignment the students are to visit two courtrooms at any level of the court. One must be in a civil case which involves someone suing another. I decided to attend Clayton County and Chamblee courtrooms. Both of the cases I witnessed were civil. In one, two brothers were suing their sister over items left in the will and testament of their deceased mother. The other is a man divorcing his wife due because he was not satisfied. The cases had both differences and similarities. In the first courtroom visit I went to the reporter explained to me that it was a very common case. They see a lot of cases were someone is deceased and the family members fight over what they should get or what they are in titled to get. The job of the reporters in a courtroom is to type everything that is said. This means that the reporter has to know how to type faster than most people in order to keep up with what is going on. Entering a Clayton County courtroom on a Wednesday morning was a 51 year old woman by the name of Teresa Porter. She was being sued by her two brothers Rod Porter and Demon Porter. With this being said Teresa is the defendant (the accused) in this case and the two brothers are the plaintiffs (the accuser). The two brothers were accusing their sister of not properly distributing their mothers assets that were left in her last will and testament. The brothers felt that the will and testament was not yet probated by their mother before her death. They felt like they were in titled to more than what was given to them. The defendant on the other hand states My mother left me in charge of everything thing because I was the one there and I really didnt have to give them anything. The atmosphere was much tensed this forced the judge to use his gavel to maintain order in his courtroom. Left in their mothers will were two insurance policies, a residential

property which was paid in full, and two luxury class vehicles. One of the vehicles was paid for and leasing obligations were still pending on the other. Now Teresa and Rod were both residing in the home with their mother when she passed away but shortly after their mothers death Teresa evicted Rod and placed a temporary restraining order on him. In my opinion this was a red flag but the judge questioned the eviction and Teresa stated that her and her brother were constantly arguing and that he was an active drug user so she feared for her life. The judge felt that she did have a liable reason to feel threatened. After talking to the defendants attorney, I learned that there was another lawyer involved that the mother, before her death, had hired and told all of her last wishes to. These wishes were that everything was to be left to the defendant and that she had total control of the releasing of the valuables the way she seen fit. To make the long story short after listening to both sides of the case the judged ruled in Teresas favor and concluded that she was not obligated to release any valuables in question to either of her brothers. He then suggested that both parties receive counseling to strengthen their relationship because he clearly could tell that they both sides loved each other. On the following Tuesday, after visiting a Clayton County courtroom, I decided to visit a Chamblee courtroom. The case that I witnessed was very disturbing to me. This type of case was also a common situation known in the court systems. A woman by the name of April Jones (the defendant), who was a virgin until marriage, and her husband Chase Jones (the plaintiff) were going through a divorce and couldnt agree on anything. April didnt work but she did attend Keller University and Chase was a military man who also worked at Grady Memorial Hospital whenever he was stationed at home. Well

according to the defendants attorney a woman should receive alimony when she is going through a divorce from a man who took care of her the entire marriage. The couple had dated for nearly eleven years without having any sexually intercourse before they even tied the knot. One may think that this union is just plain out love after waiting such a long time. This case actually took a turn when the defense attorney presented their case. He revealed that the marriage was actually an agreement between both parties. Before the plaintiff left to go to Iraq he and the defendant had a conversation concerning their future. He felt that he couldnt marry her because of her weight and thought that their relationship couldnt go any farther. She intern asked for him to consider marrying her before he left so that she could receive benefits from the service. He would be able to keep the spouse check that they would receive for the union and also she would lose 100 lbs by the time he came back. The plaintiff agreed to the terms and when he got back she had not lost any of the weight. Therefore, he didnt want to continue with the relationship. He showed proof of this agreement by bringing in copies of emails that the couple had sent back and forth while the plaintiff was away. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff. This was because the defendant breached the initial agreement that was made and on top of that, there were no kids involved. The two cases were similar in many ways. For one both cases were civil cases which mean that someone was suing and the other was defending. In the first case the two brothers were suing the sister. In the other case the husband was filing for a divorce from his wife. Also in both cases there were personal relationships involved not business related. The plaintiffs and the defendants knew each other very well.

Also the two cases had their differences. In the second case the defendant countersued. This means that when the husband filed for a divorce the defendant interned felt the she was entitled to something of her own so she sues him. The first case did not have any countersuits. The brothers took the sister to court and the sister did not try to get anything in return. The personal relationship in the two cases was different as well. In the first case the plaintiffs and the defendant were blood related. They were actually brothers and sister. In the second case there was no blood relatives involved. In closing, this experience was one of the best I have ever had. Ive learned a lot about what the judge look for in order prove ones case. I also learned that no matter how an attorney feel about a case they do what they can in order to prove to the judge that their client is right or at least consider their clients side of the story. One of the attorneys I spoke with told me a little about how their client came to them concerning the case. From what he told me, if the client did not have him to organize his presentation, it would not have been possible for the client to prove his case.