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The Memphis Center for
Independent Living Journal

Index
of the MCIL Journal 1998

7/27/98, 10:47 am

Do it with a pro se

This is not legal advice. A prime element of a pro se case is that a lawyer is not involved. So rather than telling you "how to win with the pro se," this is the account of Dawn Russell v. Greyhound Bus Lines. Your encounter with Greyhound may be different, however, the important thing is that we keep the pressure on them until every bus rider is treated equally.

• August 27, 1997 - Memphis ADAPT members Dawn Russell, Syndy Sharp, and I called 48 hours in advance to notify Greyhound that "disabled people" will ride their bus.

• August 29, 1997 - We all rode Greyhound from Memphis to Jackson Tennessee and back. I used a video camera to record the boarding and disembarking from the bus.

• Jan. 15, 1998 - We filed the pro se case against Greyhound in Federal Court and went to protest at the Greyhound Terminal. The Memphis Terminal manager met with us and demonstrated the Scalamobil. Despite his assurance that the Scalamobil gizmo would solve all the problems for people with disabilities, the contraption failed and was removed from the Memphis Terminal.

• Feb. 18, 1998 - Having heard nothing from Greyhound we filed a "MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGEMENT" because the defendant did not follow "the rules" and respond to us within 20 days. (The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, FRCP, you will get to be very familiar with these).

• Feb. 27, 1998 - Greyhound sent their "Answer." The document stated who Greyhound's local attorneys were and simply denies every paragraph of the original complaint.

• Feb. - July 1998 - Dawn rode the dog again. They broke her scooter. She begins the paperwork to recover the $260.32.

• March 11, 1998 - The Court rejected our "MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGEMENT," because it may have been improperly served.

• April 3, 1998 - The Court set a "Scheduling Conference" for May 20. This was a meeting with the defendants in front of the Federal Judge, and it sets in motion a timetable of communication with the defendants.

• April 8, 1998 - Dawn wrote the Judge and Greyhound Counsel asking for a jury of peers to hear the case. She also told the Court that she did not need any "discovery," and that she was ready to go when possible.

• May 5, 1998 - Dawn and I had our first telephone conference with the Greyhound attorneys. We asked for "lifts on all buses," they were not able to agree to that. The lead attorney pushed the dates for everything well into 1999. We were not concerned with how long the litigation would take, Memphis ADAPT will probably be blocking buses 10 years from now.

  Dawn however felt that it was insulting that we could accommodate their exhaustive schedule, but they could not indulge our desire to proceed. We agreed, that we could not agree on a court date. The Judge would have to settle the impasse.

• May 20, 1998 - Dawn appears before Judge Julia Gibbons Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. She sits at the same table with the Greyhound legal team.

  The Judge got right to the point, and asked the Defendant why they could not agree to going sooner. The Greyhound lead attorney said that other court dates and cases interfered.

  The Judge agreed with Dawn on this point, and rejected the dates that the Defendant had given. This victory may seem small, but it was the first time that Dawn and her pro se complaint got "official" respect. To have the judge direct the Greyhound attorneys to speed up the schedule validated taking action without a lawyer. In the five months of dealing with Greyhound and their attorneys, Dawn and I had always felt outgunned by the lawyers and "their" system. Dawn showed the court that she could take on the transportation giant armed with her pro se complaint and the knowledge of what is right.

• May 21, 1998 - The victory in court did not last long. Greyhound not only gave us the required "Initial Disclosures," but also filed a "MOTION TO STRIKE JURY DEMAND," along with a "MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO STRIKE JURY DEMAND."

• June 3, 1998 - Greyhound served Dawn with the "First set of Interrogatories," and a "Request for Production of Documents." These documents inquired everyone's name that knows about the case, similar complaints that Dawn had made, and even what related books Dawn may have read. On top of all this busy work, Greyhound still would not pay the $260.32 for repairs to Dawn's scooter.

  Dawn and I studied the mound of paperwork. We were simply overwhelmed by the amount of legal work we must do to continue. Concerning the MOTION TO STRIKE JURY DEMAND, we plainly did not have the legal knowledge to beat the argument.

  Without the prospect of Dawn telling her story to a jury, we nearly decide to give up. We elected to stop contesting the elaborate process, and merely do what is required to get the case in front of the Judge.

• July 7, 1998 - The Memphis Center for Independent Living is subpoenaed to produce the video I made of the original bus trip.

• July 10, 1998 - Greyhound sent Dawn a letter saying the most they could pay for destroying her scooter is $250. They took six months to weasel out of $10.32, which is all they can pay for damaged "luggage."

• July 15, 1998 - Dawn visited the posh offices of Wyatt, Tarrent and Combs. Three lawyers and a court reporter sat around the table with Dawn. Before they take Dawn's deposition the Greyhound attorneys excuse the court reporter and make a settlement offer of $5000, half of what the original pro se had asked for.

  Dawn was concerned that ADAPT activists would be angry with her for settling. Part of the settlement however, was a conference with Greyhound officials to let them know that Dawn and Memphis ADAPT will be back on the streets demanding equality.

• July 27, 1998 - Dawn signs the settlement agreement and deposits $5,000 in ADAPT's account.

The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org 

MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency

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