Transcript Judge Barton 10.30 AM Oct 01 2009

8/13/2019 Transcript Judge Barton 10.30 AM Oct 01 2009

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUITOF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, IN AND FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

CIVIL DIVISIONNEIL J . GILLESPIE,

P l a i n t i f fCASE NO: 05-CA-007205

vs.DIVISION: c

BARKER, RODEMS & COOK, P.A. ,a Flor ida corpora t ion; andWILLIAM J . COOK,Defendants .

_ /

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

BEFORE: THE HONORABLE JAMES M. BARTON, I ICircu i t Court Judge

TAKEN AT: Hillsborough County CourthouseTampa, Flor ida

DATE AND TIME: October 1, 200910:30 a.m.

REPORTED BY: Penny M. Appleton, RPR

Ber ryh i l l & Assoc ia tes501 E. Kennedy Boulevard, Sui te 775

Tampa, Flor ida 33602 813) 229-8225


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A P P E A R A N C E S2 Robert W Bauer

Attorney a t Law3 Robert W Bauer , P.A.

2815 W 13th Stree t , Sui te 200E4 Gainesvi l le , F lor ida5 Neil Gil lesp ie

Pro Se67

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1 Thereupon, the fol lowing proceedings commenced:2 THE COURT: In Gil lesp ie versus Barker, Rodems &3 Cook, P.A., and William J . Cook, we have a motion to4 withdraw from the P l a i n t i f f s a t to rney .

Have we heard from the other s ide , from the6 defense?7 MR BAUER: I 'm sorry . The defense i s not8 object ing to the withdrawal .9 THE COURT: Oh, okay. So they won' t be here then,

probably.11 MR BAUER: No, Your Honor.12 THE COURT: All r igh t . Okay. And, Mr. Gil lesp ie ,3 I know t ha t you f i l ed a response.

14 Did you ge t a copy of th i s?MR BAUER: I j u s t rece ived tha t , Your Honor.

16 THE COURT: Okay.17 MR BAUER: I was looking a t it.18 THE COURT: I haven t looked a t it e i t he r , so in19 any event , I know the motion to withdraw had been f i l ed

l a s t year , ac tua l ly , not qu i te a year ago, but now it s21 been se t for a hear ing .22 MR GILLESPIE: Judge, I 'm not object ing to the23 motion to withdraw.24 THE COURT: You're not?

MR GILLESPIE: No.

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1 THE COURT: Oh, okay. T h e n - 2 MR GILLESPIE: He was aware of t ha t before t h i s3 meet ing .4 THE COURT: Well, I d o n t know whether he was or

he wasn t . He c e r t a in ly i s now.6 MR BAUER: There was confusion, Your Honor, as to7 a t one po in t , I be l ieve it was, and then he wanted to8 appear a t the hear ing and has f i l ed a motion in9 response to it I 'm not r ea l l y

THE COURT: Or a response.11 MR BAUER: He has f i l ed a response.12 THE COURT: That s okay. Anyway, h e s announced13 on the record he doesn t ob jec t .14 Now the next ques t ion i s if you've got somebody

e lse a l ready l ined up, then we can press forward, but16 if you re going to need some t ime to t r y to f ind17 another lawyer, which we ce r ta in ly wi l l give you a18 reasonable t ime19 And you d i d n t t a l k to the Defendant ' s lawyer to

see what kind of t ime they might be expect ing, d id you?21 MR BAUER: No, Your Honor.22 THE COURT: There s nothing se t in t h i s case, i s23 there , o ther than th i s?24 MR GILLESPIE: I bel ieve t h a t s it

THE COURT: Any hear ings o r t r i a l s ?

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1 MR GILLESPIE: No. I f we go to Page 5, I have2 th ree i tems the re tha t address tha t . I am moving the3 Court for a 60 days ' s tay to f ind replacement counsel .4 THE COURT: Okay. Granted.

MR GILLESPIE: I 'm moving the Court for leave to6 submit a P l a i n t i f f s f i r s t amended complaint .7 THE COURT: Okay. Well, now see, i you ge t a8 s tay , t h a t s not a one-way s tay . You know what I mean?9 MR GILLESPIE: Yes.

THE COURT: So i f the case i s s tayed, the case11 wi l l be s tayed for 60 days, which means the other s ide12 c a n t se t you down for a depos i t ion next week or send13 you in te r roga tor ie s or se t hearings and so for th , but14 on the other hand, ne i the r can you. You see what I 'm

saying?16 MR GILLESPIE: The th ing i s we' re i n to our four th17 year on t h i s case .18 THE COURT: I unders tand.19 MR GILLESPIE: And we still are working on the

P l a i n t i f f s pro se complain t21 THE COURT: Right .22 MR GILLESPIE: which i s r ea l l y sor t of23 outrageous .24 THE COURT: Right . Now what I would suggest tha t

you do, because I 'm grant ing your f i r s t reques t and you

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have a 60-day s t ay of the case, t ha t means every th ingi s locked in place on t h i s case . Nothing, a t l eas t ofrecord, wil l be done. Now the par t i e s on t he i r own canc e r t a in ly s t ay in t h e i r of f ices or wherever they workon t he i r f i l e s and th ink about the case and do memos tothemselves and i nves t iga te the case.

And on the o ther hand, i you c a l l up t h i s lawyerfor the Defendant and say, Look. I want to f i l e anamended complaint . I v e got it ready to go. Can Ij u s t send it in with a proposed order for the judgesaying we a l l agree t ha t I can f i l e th i s? And thenh e l l say, Sure. Go ahead, or h e l l say, No. Wait aminute. After the 60 days i s up, you can f i l e yourmotion to f i l e an amended complaint . You know what Imean?

MR GILLESPIE: Yes, Your Honor.THE COURT: You're f ree to give t h i s guy a ca l l

and see what he says .MR GILLESPIE: Judge, one th ing I th ink you l l be

happy about i s I 'm t ry ing to ge t t h i s case off yourdocket a t the end of the 60 days.

THE COURT: Sure.MR GILLESPIE: We're going to t r ans fe r it to

federa l cour t .THE COURT: Oh, okay.

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1 MR GILLESPIE: There s going to be some new2 defendants , and I know you l l be happy to get it off3 your docket .4 THE COURT: Well, I mean, whatever. I mean, I

ac tua l ly enjoy t h i s job, and a l o t of cases are6 in te res t ing , and t h i s i s f a i r l y an unusual one, a t7 l ea s t for me. So I mean, whichever way it goes, I ll8 be ready to - 9 MR GILLESPIE: I would have been more prepared

today, but my mother died two weeks ago.11 THE COURT: Oh. Sorry to hear tha t .12 MR GILLESPIE: Thank you. And t ha t kind of put13 th ings of f .14 The l a s t th ing I was asking for was a s tay on the

judgement. Mr. Bauer neglec ted to f i l e a t imely motion16 to s tay t ha t judgement, and t ha t caused a l o t of17 problems. I guess you were away on vaca t ion when tha t18 came to f ru i t i on l a s t year , and tha t rea l ly se t the19 case of f t rack . So what I wanted to do i s get a s tay

in place . The 2nd Di s t r i c t Court of Appeal has not yet21 ru led on t ha t matter . I 'm still wai t ing to hear from22 them.23 THE COURT: Okay. Well, there wil l c e r t a in ly be a24 60-day s tay . Now if t ha t order has been appealed -

I t has?

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1 MR BAUER: Yes, Your Honor.2 THE COURT: There ' s not it s not necessa r i ly3 automat ica l ly s tayed. I f t h e r e ' s a judge - - if t he re ' s4 a money judgement, under our ru les of appe l la te

procedure , the par ty t ha t has a judgement a money6 judgement ente red aga ins t them can post wha t ' s ca l l ed a7 supersedeas bond in X amount of dol la r s . It s usua l ly8 the amount of the judgement plus a ce r t a i n percentage.9 MR GILLESPIE: Yes. That ' s cor rec t , Your Honor,

but I don ' t qua l i fy for tha t .11 THE COURT: Right . Well, again, I 'm not going to12 ru le on anything e lse a f t e r having gran ted your f i r s t13 reques t , which i s s taying everyth ing, which would14 include co l l ec t ion on t h i s judgement, for the 60-day

per iod you 've asked for .16 MR GILLESPIE: Thank you, Judge.17 THE COURT: And, again , t ha t ' s another i tem tha t18 if you want to c a l l up the o ther s ide and say, Look.19 Not only do I want to amend my complaint , but I ' d l i ke

to have t h i s sanc t ion judgement stayed while it s on21 appeal , and t h e y ' l l say, Yeah. No problem, or say,22 Well, hey, e i t he r post a bond or f i l e a motion with the23 judge, you know, a f t e r the 60-day per iod t ha t I ' ve j u s t24 ordered.

MR GILLESPIE: Thank you, Judge. I apprecia te

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tha t .THE COURT: So can you do an order on th i s?MR BAUER: Yes, Your Honor.THE COURT: And then ge t it to me, and why don t

you run it by opposing counsel and also Mr. Gil lesp iebefore you send it on to me, and then w e l l s ign it

MR BAUER: Yes, Your Honor.THE COURT: Okay. All r i gh t . Thank you.(The hearing concluded a t 10:37 a.m.)

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1 C E R T I F I C A T E2 STATE OF FLORIDA3 COUNTY OF HILLSBOROUGH4

I , Penny M. Appleton, Court Reporter fo r the6 Circu i t Court of the Thi r t een th Jud ic ia l C i rcu i t of the7 Sta te o f Flor ida , in and fo r Hil lsborough County,8 DO HEREBY CERTIFY, t h a t I was au thor ized to and9 did , r epor t in shorthand the proceedings and evidence in the

above-s ty led cause, as s t a t e d in the cap t ion here to , andt ha t the foregoing pages c o n s t i t u t e a t r u e and cor rec t

12 t r a n sc r i p t i o n of my shor thand repor t of sa id proceedings and13 evidence.14

the16 t h i s171819

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereun to s e t my hand inCi ty o f Tampa, County o f Hil lsborough, Sta te of F lo r ida

14th day of October , 2009.

Ber ryh i l l & Associa tes , Inc .501 Eas t Kennedy Boulevard, Sui te 775


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Transcript Judge Barton 10.30 AM Oct 01 2009

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Transcript of Transcript Judge Barton 10.30 AM Oct 01 2009