Dear Editor,
The following political letter was sent to the Vermont Journal and to the Presiding Judge of the Windsor County Court. After the court told me to stop bothering them, I learned that there is no record of my lawsuit in the court’s electronic file. Posting this letter is the only way I can apologize to those people who continue to ask me what’s going on with my court case. Unfortunately, Vermont allows “demurrers,” which is a legal way to ignore complaints without legally challenging the issues. All Plymouth had to do was ask the Woodstock court to send this complaint to another county to adjudicate with no resolution and with no involvement from the plaintiff. I apologize for believing that Vermont’s courts were honorable.
Dear Judge Treadwell,
In Oct. 2022, I filed a petition for mandamus against the Town of Plymouth, Vt. for multiple infractions of Vermont state statutes and Plymouth zoning ordinances. These complaints included violations of Public Record Act, and failure of elected and appointed officials to do due diligence involving mandatory functions involving land transactions. The Town of Plymouth does not keep and preserve important mandated documents. The selectboard insists that they are understaffed and cannot find qualified help. In truth, the Town of Plymouth, Vt. is dominated by a conspiracy of silence.
The Clerk at the Woodstock Courthouse assured me that once my petition for mandamus was entered into the system, it would be available electronically by anyone who wanted to review it. As of March 31, 2023, there has been no availability of this petition online to anyone, including me.
I have received numerous motions from the town’s attorneys and two orders from two separate judges referencing a misidentified “video hearing,” which was a hybrid hearing where the judge and the town’s attorneys participated from the same courtroom in another town. That event took place on Feb. 16, 2023. Nothing from the court explained why I have been told to stop bothering them. I have received no report of this hearing in which the judge clearly showed no understanding of the gravity of my concerns. He asked questions like, “why didn’t she sue Cappellini instead of the town?” The judge directed his questions to Plymouth’s attorney and never elicited any response from me.
Question 1: Does the court produce any record showing the outcome of this “hearing,” and is there a procedure for requesting copies of these records? Does a recorded document exist?
You must be able to imagine how embarrassing it is for me to try to explain that the record of my lawsuit doesn’t exist at the Woodstock Courthouse. I have asked friends and neighbors to join me in my quest for accountability. Your court has made me a liar to these people.
Question 2: Where does the court file the acknowledgements submitted by parties in specific lawsuits, and where would I find a copy of the list that was created in my case, since there are no local judges looking at my case?
The court could have moved my case to the Environmental Division. Published rules of court allow the judge many options for resolving these legal issues. The first judge who responded to my petition suggested it could be considered a “complicated case.” The final decision of the court was to not offer any path forward. The court wrote a disguised “demurrer” and offered no explanation for its decision to do nothing.
An apology would be appreciated.
Respectfully yours,
paid for by:
Nancy Kessling
Plymouth, Vt.