"When in doubt, tell the truth." --Mark Twain
Stories from the "People's Court"
(General Sessions Civil Court)
From Sam Fowler, Esq.
(Originally written for DICTA, the newsletter of the Knoxville Bar Association)
Julie Daydreaming, Berthe Morisot, 1894.
The NewlywedsThe warrant in Sessions Court was filed to replevin some clothes. Present at the mediation were: the plaintiff, a young white woman in her late teens; the defendant, an older black woman; the plaintiff's mother; and two CMC co-mediators. When asked to tell why she filed the suit and what the problem was, the plaintiff meekly replied that she lived in the defendant's house for awhile and when she left, the defendant refused to allow her to take any of her clothes or belongings.
The defendant was angry, very angry. Yes, she had the clothes, but said, "Let me tell you what this is really all about." The plaintiff had been dating the defendant's son; she had become pregnant and they had subsequently married. The plaintiff's parents threw her out of the house because she'd become pregnant out of wedlock with a black man. The son and the plaintiff then asked if they could live with defendant. She told them that her house wasn't big enough and that they were a family and needed to find a home of their own. Until they did so, defendant invited them to stay with her temporarily, provided they could pay $50 toward the grocery bill. Plaintiff stayed three months. Defendant reported that plaintiff never cleaned up, never cooked, never bought groceries. Her son used to be a good son, but since his marriage, he never stayed home. He left early and came home late. The plaintiff had caused this awful change in her son. The defendant's position was thus: before plaintiff could retrieve her clothes, she must clean up her room so that it was as neat as when she moved in, and she must pay $150.
When it was her turn to respond, plaintiff broke into sobs. She said that when she'd gotten pregnant, not only had her parents thrown her out, she'd had to quit her job. The entire time she'd lived at defendant's home, she had morning sickness. She ate practically nothing and didn't have the energy to do any cleaning. Her husband was working two jobs to support them, and it was still a struggle to make ends meet. They hadn't even bought anything for the baby; they absolutely couldn't afford to pay the defendant anything.
Very often, non-party witnesses are not given an opportunity to contribute to a mediation. But it became clear in this case that plaintiff's mother was as deep into the dispute as any of the others. She was glad to meet the other grandmother for the first time. She said that she and her husband had not, in fact, thrown her daughter out of the house. They'd respected her choice of a husband and welcomed him into their family. They live in a one-bedroom apartment in public housing and couldn't provide the newlyweds with a place to stay. Yes, her daughter had been sick during her pregnancy; why, the grandmother had been sick too, with all three of her pregnancies--like mother, like daughter. She certainly knew how her daughter felt, but that was no excuse for shirking her household chores. The plaintiff's mother would clean defendant's apartment herself, and would pay the $150 if she had it; but she didn't.
So the defendant's offer to settle involved paying the money and cleaning up the bedroom. The mediators asked if the plaintiff could pay anything over time. She didn't have any money and had no prospects. They then asked the defendant if she would be satisfied with a clean room only? Yes, and the case settled.
During the course of the mediation, the two grandmothers seemed to come together. Neither had contemplated nor welcomed an inter-racial, cross-cultural marriage, but their adult children had made that decision and were working hard to make the best of the situation. They would need all the help they could get, and by the end of the mediation, the grandmothers were committed to giving love, respect and common sense advice.
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