Court - rulings - procedures
Monday, July 14, 2003
No help anywhere for ARIZONA Pro Se litigants
It's VERY important to address the LACK of assistance available for consumers who represent themselves. It's VERY important to address the LACK of assistance available for consumers who represent themselves.* There is NO FCRA lawyer in Kingman, the closest town, about 75 miles. $80 for legal consultation wasted.
* There's a law library in Kingman, but the librarian could not locate the form or any info on how to appeal a Justice Court judgment. Forget that.
* The Phoenix courthouse is 250 miles away, phone calls are long distance, and of course 3 or 4 times the cost of out of state calls.
* I joined the Pro Se Association and they're another SCAM. I find it very disturbing that they advertise that they have attorneys willing to work with Pro Ses for only $90/hr. That's why I joined. But there are no attorneys whatsoever, it's another SCAM. $50 wasted.
The people at the Phoenix courthouse do call me back, and they are friendly, but the Pro Se package makes it sound a lot better than it is:
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Welcome to the U.S. District Court
District of Arizona
WE ARE HAPPY TO HELP YOU IF WE CAN. HOWEVER, WE ARE ALLOWED TO
HELP YOU ONLY IN CERTAIN WAYS, SINCE WE MUST BE FAIR TO EVERYONE.
This is a list of some things the court staff can and cannot do for you.
We can explain and answer questions about how the court works
We can provide you with the number of the local lawyer referral service, legal services programs and other services where you can get legal information
We can give you general information about court rules, procedures, and practices
We can provide court schedules
We can provide you information from your case file
We can provide you with court forms and instructions that are available
We can usually answer questions about court deadlines
We cannot tell you whether or not you should file a case
We cannot give you an opinion about what will happen if you bring your case to court
We cannot tell you what words to use in your court papers
We cannot talk to the judge for you or let you talk to the judge outside of court
We cannot tell you what to say in court
We cannot tell you what you should do next in your case
We cannot provide you a copy of an order until it is filed in by the Clerk’s Office
We cannot compute deadlines in your particular case
Since court staff may not know the answers to all questions about court rules, procedures, and practices, and because we don’t want to give you wrong information, we have been instructed not to answer questions if we do not know the correct answers.
For additional information, please contact a lawyer or your local law library, or visit our web site at http://www.azd.uscourts.gov.
ATTACHMENT 1
Posted by Christine
on 07/14/2003 at 07:15 AM
Court - rulings - procedures • (0) Comments • Permalink
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