I am fortunate to live in the United States. I lost my apartment in a quiet courtroom that had a judge, clerks, a security guard, lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants for other cases. While the judge was reading the paperwork so that it could be proven that I understood what I was signing, I had my own table to stand at; the attorney for the plaintiff also had her own table.
When it was over, the lawyer for the plaintiff, the property manager (who is not at fault and who is being lied to by someone who works for her or by several people who work for her), and I went to the office and were all given photocopies of the document that gives me until May 31, 2017 to move from the apartment.
Due process did not work in my favor this time, or the last time, or the time before that, and on a few other occasions it also hasn't been particularly helpful. I am poor. However, it's not absent, and statistically I am one of the few inhabitants of the world who can say that about my country.
Copyright L. Kochman, April 3, 2017 @ 10:13 a.m.
