29 November, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The Paris suburbs may be alight and the country paralyzed by strikes, but my lawsuit lives on in the French courts! Today my lawyer emailed me to let me know my case has been postponed until January. Then she sent me the evidence my landlady’s lawyer has submitted, which includes a charge that I threw away her electricity bill. Gasp! Oh dear, I hope they don’t have capital punishment in France. For the love of God and all that is holy, you’d think we were prepping for a murder trial!!!
I wonder — on a French death certificate, is “death by paperwork” an option? It must be — right under “suicide.”
Meanwhile, I contacted my French therapist to ask her to write an affidavit for me. She said she’d love to, but only if I paid her 100 €. Then she tried to sweeten the deal by telling me one of her patients would pay me to help her write her novel. Why am I surprised by this? During our sessions, she took personal telephone calls and let her maid into the room to clean. I told my lawyer that she’d asked for money and she said she’d never heard of a therapist doing such a thing. I wrote my therapist back and asked if she’d take 60 €. She has not responded.
I’m starting to understand why most people do not sue their Parisian landlords, even when they have been robbed blind. It’s a lot of work and people can’t be bothered. Of course, this is why such dishonest behavior persists. When I was looking for a lawyer, I got a list of attorneys from the American embassy and every single one I contacted on that list told me this kind of behavior is rampant in Paris. And most of them were not interested in taking my case because the amount of money was too small. This case has already taken a year of my life and cost a lot of money and energy. Now it will stretch into the New Year. By this point, I’m pretty tired of it. I will fight to the end, but I’m starting to care less about the outcome. I’ve given it all the energy that I’m willing to give it. It’s in my lawyer’s hands now. What happens will happen. C’est la vie.
Anglofille said @ 12:37 am | paris life |
