This is not legal advice. This writer is not an attorney. She is a public relations professional.

Court Commissioner Alan Friedenthal is no longer serving on the bench. This is a major victory for the people of California who might have otherwise had their lives and their children’s lives destroyed by the judge wanna-be.

In California, judges are elected. But commissioners are appointed and have the same authority as judges. Alan Friedenthal attempted to get elected twice and failed but was still appointed to his position of power.

I do not know why Alan retired from his commissioner paycheck and position of power. It looks like he went back into practice as an attorney and was involved in the production of a movie.

My hope is that my public relations campaign to have him removed from office helped influence his decision.

One major battle won in my efforts to rid Los Angeles of this corrupt family law “judge” was helping Fox News produce a series called “Lost in the System”. You can watch some of the series by clicking here.

So, what can you do if you are having a problem that lands you in court and you have a corrupt judge?

First, if you can afford an attorney, your chance of receiving justice in court improves by 1,000%.

If you are a regular person, you can’t afford an attorney.

Let’s rewind.

Before you get to the point of filing lawsuits…try to live a conflict free life.

There is Biblical wisdom that says, paraphrased, if another Christian harms you, speak to him first, before taking him to court. Implied is that if you harm a person, you should make them whole and be apologetic while doing so.

Goodman Manufacturing Company, L.P. built a crappy heating and air-conditioning unit. Advantage Service Company in North Little Rock installed that unit in my home. A large retailer I’ll call “Good Guys” sold me the faulty equipment and arranged for Advantage to do the installation.

When the HVAC failed, advantage came out to repair it several times. They demanded payment each time. When we reached close to a thousand dollars in repair bills, I looked up warranty law and found that pursuant to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975, all three companies involved must repair the unit for free.

Skipping a few steps, I eventually filed a lawsuit against the three companies for violating the Mag-Moss Warranty Act, fraud, conversion and violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The Good Guys reimbursed me then for the repairs and the cost of the unit.

But the Goliath manufacturing company and its parent and partners refused to apologize or compensate me in any way. Instead of reimbursing $1,000 for the repairs, Advantage Service Company altered invoices to try to create an alternative universe.

First lesson of the day: If you have to cheat to win, don’t play.

Part of the process, one of the steps skipped above, was a small claims judge named Charles Clawson having ex parte communications with Goodman Manufacturing Company, L.P. When I went for a 1:30 PM hearing at 1:10 (always be early), I caught the judge and a tall man talking to each other about the case. I shyly raised my hand and said I was the plaintiff. The judge supposedly summarized what they were talking about before I arrived and sent us home.

Later Judge Clawson had email communications with me and a Goodman representative regarding the case. Before I filed a complaint with the judicial disciplinary committee in Little Rock, the judge recused himself. He had a bad attitude and was snarky when he recused himself, but he did recuse.

So, how to deal with corrupt courts?

Besides staying out of court, the second most important action you can take is to make a good record.

Court clerks have altered and removed docket entries on my cases before. The small claims clerk on the Goodman case took $12 from me to send my complaint and summons certified, then sent the wrong papers by regular mail to defendant Goodman. Goodman jumped from the bushes after 120 days and said “Gotcha! You served us improperly and the case must be dismissed”.

Instead of owning up to their error, the clerk altered the docket to show they had refunded my money, then they thought better of it and reversed the alleged refund document.

Had I not kept my receipts, the clerk would probably have lied.

Keep receipts.

Object in writing to all fishy legal maneuverings.

Keep all emails.

If you send a letter, send it certified.

If your court system allows it, sign up for electronic filing. That way, the time you are served is documented.

Next, brainstorm alternatives to litigation.

You may be able to convince a wayward company to settle with you. Everyone benefits by settlement, except corrupt judges who take bribes. If you have a corrupt judge, the settlement will need to be less than the bribe. Unfortunately, once a company gives one bribe to a judge, you will have no settlement power available against that company or their attorneys. The judge must continue to rule for the briber.

If you are lucky enough to have an honest judge assigned to your case, you will go to ADR, Alternative Dispute Resolution.

I had one company agree to pay the entire bill for ADR.

Realize that mediators and arbitrators are big business friendly. Individual plaintiffs will usually have few cases during a lifetime. Big companies are sued and sue often. They are repeat customers for the “neutral” adjudicator.

You may be able to find other regular people who had or have similar problems with your adversary.

Look at records kept by your court. Most of these are online now.

You can find contact information for similarly situated victims on their complaints.

People are usually happy to share their stories with anyone who will listen.

Write on the internet.

This blog had about 600 posts in 2013. (I wanted to retire and took them all down; alas I have been forced out of retirement.)

When I was getting dozens or hundreds of hits per day, I built a network of other litigants who were having the same troubles with Alan Friedenthal and his ilk. We swapped emails, talked on the phone, met for lunch and worked on three projects together, including the Fox News series “Lost in the System”.

Most jurisdictions have a judicial ethics commission.

File a complaint. Don’t expect too much.

The Commission on Judicial Performance in California took about three years to admonish Alan Friedenthal for an appearance of bias on my case and four others. The damage was done and irreparable.

But knowing they are being investigated might slow down the smarter corrupt judges.

Contact news media.

You can email well written pleadings to the local paper’s reporter that covers the courts.

Chances are better that a blogger like myself will be interested and repost your story.

I am trying to remove Judge Susan Kaye Weaver from her position as Circuit Court judge of Searcy County, Faulkner County and Van Buren County, Arkansas.

She is a dangerous and well connected woman. She has a reputation for playing favorites. She has a reputation of not understanding the subtleties of civil litigation. I suspect she understands every word and is trying to funnel finances from regular people who can’t afford attorneys to her pets.

If you think Judge Weaver is corrupt, please contact the JDDC in Little Rock and contact me. I promise confidentiality to those who want it.

Together we can establish a pattern and practice of corrupt acts by this wayward judge.