Law Suit

       ©1989 Jerry Kott-Law Suit

The only communication between the neighbor since our blow out was our
response to him refusing a delivery by the gas company being made to
our home. A delivery that is automatic, we are never aware when they
will show up. We had a Lawyer rattle off a letter. I moved into the
house
in March 1986. Things were quiet, no interaction between neighbors. His
wife died that spring and we sent a card and made a donation in her
behalf to the American Cancer Society.  I had run into Lenny at Carson
Hardware and personally offered my condolences and he snapped at me-
"did you move in". No "thank you" at all, just a sharp reaction of a
plotting
mind.

We decided to add a deck to our house...that is when the fun began. We
had hired a contractor and work had begun. There was to be a delivery of
concrete being made for the footing. We had cleared the so called
tractor road and the driver refused to use it. The only alternative was
the shared drive. Well, Lenny went postal. He was white hot and
screaming. He had a camera and was photographing everything. He kept
jumping on the running board on the truck shouting at the driver. Lenny
kept saying "and you don't talk to me, and you don't talk to me". I
recalled asking the driver if his truck would damage the drive and he
said no. If it did, it would be because it was installed improperly. I
took the chance and he made the delivery. John, the contractor and
his worker were spooked, what a show. The neighbor came out for
the next few days firing his guns, a veiled threat of sorts? The
contractor
could not wait to get the job done and get out of here. In hindsight,
we should have called the Police. This was prior to, what we believe,
was our neighbor's campaign of getting even which went on for decades.


Weeks  later  we get a letter from our neighbors' lawyer demanding we
pay for the drain tile installation and the repaving of the road on HIS
land that we had agreed to do. Our lawyer William Malkamis Sr., the one
who had
sent the letter years ago, had responded that no agreement had occurred.
We were served a  law suit alleging that we didn't honor a verbal
agreement. This agreement only took place in the conspiring minds of
the neighbor and his attorneys.  Our neighbor had drawn up an agreement
he had  typewritten for us to  sign, granting permission to hunt on
our property during hunting season.  This was done the first year so
why would he not draw up an agreement  for the road work? Our lawyer
was starting to get weird. We had heard he was high strung but he kept
saying "you are lucky that your neighbor's lawyer isn't a Junk Yard
Dog".
We kept asking him to explain what he meant and he kept repeating the
phrase and I kept asking him to explain. Then he jumped up from his
seat and shouted "you can always get yourself another Lawyer". He gave
us our file and we left.
 We could not understand how we could be
sued by our neighbor and his DEAD WIFE. We weren't questioning a "T"
not being crossed or an "I" not being dotted. We would find out in
time. I was teaching at Northampton Community College as an adjunct
professor. We had no network of friends and our families in the region
were keeping their distance. I ran into an old college classmate on
campus and she said her lawyer was aggressive. I  made an appointment
and gave him the file. He turned out to be a asshole. Charles Osinski
was not
available, never returned phone calls...which were not incessant. Then
he
made an offer for settlement without our knowledge. We questioned him
and he got very defensive. When we terminated his service, he demanded
a cash payment and refused to give us our file. After we gave him a
check on 7th Street in A- town, as he walked away, it sounded like he
muttered "queers". In the meantime, I had been asking around—remember
we just moved here and didn't have any network at all. However we never
realized how incestuous the region was. When I found another lawyer,
one that went to the same high school and college I graduated from, it
gave me the
security I needed. See, in this region, outsiders are treated with
skepticism. This is one of the reasons for the blog—to clear our names.
Like we moved to the Holy Land where morality reigns supreme. Anyway Attorney
George  A. Berg was the first lawyer to explain why we were being sued by a
DEAD woman. He told us that our neighbor's Lawyers were calling us
"Fags"
and "Queers". The dots started to connect.  It explained the "adult
individual males" description of us in the suit. He told us he could
not comprehend the veracity of our neighbor's Lawyer's vengeance. Maybe
it was because we were living openly and they were in the closet. I had
heard from the bartender from the Stonewall, Denny Strasser, that
Marty K and James R  were considered the gay lawyers in  Allentown
and
were frequent  patrons of the bar. However one was married ,
masquerading, the other not. From phishing, it appears that Scott and I
are included in a handful who hadn't gone for a test ride with "Baby
Doc".  It all started to get weird. Our lawyer wanted us to sign
maintenance agreements that were programed to self destruct ...that
limited our access. Like 2 ton weight limitations on the road etc. His
voice would tremble on the phone, I sensed he was scared. I sensed he
was warned how unhealthy it was for business to  be know as a lawyer
that defends gay people, at least out of the closet gay people, this
was 1988. Our
lawyer was preoccupied with how we found out our neighbors' lawyers were
gay. Like when it comes to closet cases, they never suspect that others
can connect the dots. He had asked if our neighbor told us—strange
question. He had begged me not to call the Police when a security light
was shot out or when other vandalism had occurred. He even billed us
for a phone call to our neighbor. What was interesting is that he
claimed it was a typo yet there were corrections made on the invoice
he  had mailed. We had sensed he was trying to get rid of us.  We
believe  George A.Berg had made as much money
taking us down the Garden Path as he could and wanted out. He was
getting too personal in conversations, like the kind of music I liked
etc.
wanting to physically get together-for what?
Lawyers were making money and we were getting no resolve. We decided to
pay the neighbor for the paving only, to make the mess go away.
However we never received the amended
complaint—the one with our neighbors dead wife's name off of it—we
think it was never done. We believe our neighbor and his lawyers
thought this was a slam dunk. That calling us fags would have us eating
out of their hands...surprise. We also can do the Math. We believed our
neighbor was gay and we chose to keep our distance. If people are going
to
lie about their sexuality, we  believe they will lie about everything
else. That we would give up the right of way for silence? Like we share
the same fears. We surmised that they equated not going to gay bars and
not cruising on the street, rest stops or public parks was a sign of
being in the closet.
We pitied our neighbor but turning the other cheek wasn't going to get
any resolve. Especially when someone is obsessed with getting even
because you rejected their affections. We had written our lawyer for an
explanation as to wtf was going on and never got a reply.


Any suggestions? What do you think?