Chalk Up One Tiny Win For Occupy

On November 8, 2013, LA Superior Court Judge, Alan Rosenfield, entered a Judgement in Case #LAM-13M00544, ordering the City of Los Angeles (Public Entity) pay the Plaintiff (#OLA292 arrestee & filmmaker, Melissa Balin) $250 for damages to Balin's personal property incurred by the City of Los Angeles at LA City Hall on November 30 & December 1, 2011 in the raid against the peaceful protesters of Occupy LA.  Balin's original claim was for the amount of $9,887.82 for "destruction of domicile, personal damages, and destruction of original art".

Judgement in case #LAM-13M00544 by StayOccupied

We are not sure how the Judge came to his ruling or the dollar figure to be awarded, but ANY amount awarded the Plaintiff, no matter how small, is #WINNING for Occupy!  While it may be a figurative slap in the face to compensatory justice, on an injunctive level, the ruling would indicate that the City of LA, was indeed guilty of the claims alleged and this ruling alone should warrant further investigation into Monell violations most unbecoming. 

Here is some important intel that we did learn from the tiny little "David versus Goliath" small claims trial in Departnment 31 finally held on November 7 & 8, 2013 (filed by Balin in January and continued twice by the City of LA, taken under submission April 30, and continued and transferred again over the plaintiff's objections) at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse:

#1:  Lieutenant Brian Morrison #30789 of the LAPD testified that he began tactical planning of the removal of the peaceful protesters as early as NOVEMBER 3, 2011, when he traveled with others to Oakland for a tactical consultation with various City Officials regarding unforseen issues in their preceding eviction of peaceful protesters.  [This would indicate a premeditation and collusion on the part of City Officials to violate  the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters under the Color of Law.]

#2:  Sergeant Oppepelt of the LAPD testified that he was one of the officers who stepped in feces on the scene November 30, 2011.  He was unable to recall exactly where he stepped in feces, nor was he able to confirm if the feces was human or animal, nor was he able to deny that it could have been the feces of LAPD officers- at which point, the Judge admonished everyone for decorum as such accusations were unbecoming.  It was duly noted by all parties, that it was equally offensive to Balin for it to be implied that the feces belonged to Occupiers, when in fact, no specimens were saved to support the fictional allegations of a public health hazard.

#3:  NO feces was found in the #SovereignTreeHouse area aka "The Sovereign Nation of Freedom & Peace" that the LAPD called  "Sector 1" because it was on lock-down for the "extraction" of the peaceful protesters in the tree until after 4 AM.  It was noted for the record (as submitted evidence from the LA Times) that LAPD exercised "Lethal Force" in the "extraction" under lackluster investigation by Internal Affairs.

#3:  LAPD Property Officers Iksoo Kim and Eduardo Gonzales testified that only 75 items were salvaged from the November 30th tactical mission and that 29 of those items remained unclaimed and were destroyed after 90 days.  That list of various and sundry items included a bike, a camera, a hammer, and a skateboard.  The officers testified that the original plan was to salvage and tag items of value on site, but within an hour, the plan was modified due to the supposed declaration of a health hazard by HazMat.

#4:  Through questioning and clarification of witness testimony, it was discovered by all parties that HAZMAT WAS NOT EVEN ON THE SCENE AT THE TIME OF THE ALLEGED HAZMAT DECLARATION.  Lieutenant Morrison clarified that the men in white coveralls in the photos of the LA Times, were actually undercover detectives wearing gun holsters and many photographed were not even wearing their protective masks during an alleged health hazard.  At this point, "I don't recall" became the standard answer and our shadowy glimpse into the dark underworld ended as the curtain draped close and Judge Rosenfield said, "I think I've heard all I need to on this case, you've brought up some interesting points Ms. Balin"...

These should be interesting points to raise in the recently certified and upcoming civil class action Federal lawsuit for the 292 cases of false arrests, unlawful imprisonments, and malicious prosecutions levied by the City of Los Angeles against its peaceful citizens known as the Occupy LA International & Intentional Tort.  #StayTuned & #StayOccupied!

Melissa Balin sues the City of Los Angeles

Occupy LA 292 Case to be heard November 7^th at Stanley Mosk Courthouse

Melissa Balin sues the City of Los Angeles in Case #LAM-13M00544

Monday, November 4, 2013—LOS ANGELES, CA—After three continuances granted the City of Los Angeles over and against the Plaintiff, Melissa Balin’s objections; the Occupy related case may finally be heard this Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 9:00AM in Department One of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, California.

Melissa Balin is an internationally recognized filmmaker, who was one of the 292 people arrested the morning of November 30, 2011, to come to be known as the #OLA292.  It would be the second of three false arrests and imprisonments Balin was subjected to over a thirty-day period, which resulted in the miscarriage of her first pregnancy.  It is worth noting that Melissa Balin had never been arrested prior to her known association with Occupy LA, often worked directly with government officials, and had even been a repeat producer for the Police Officer of the Year Award Show for Court TV.  Balin became the Official Media Liaison for the Sovereign Nation of Freedom & Peace, when she publicly announced the repatriation of the land surrounding City Hall at the Occupy LA General Assembly on October 10, 2011, in the name of usufruct by “We The People”, and discovery by the Tongva People in 9,000 B.C. 

Although publicly mocked, Balin officially changed her address to the lawn of City Hall in a speech on public record to Los Angeles City Council on October 12, 2011, after which, City Council voted unanimously to “support” Occupy LA through Resolution 33.  From that point on, Occupy LA and the Sovereign Nation of Freedom & Peace became a California Tenants’ Rights precedent, with up to 700 tents living in domicile under the complicit consent of the landlord (the City of Los Angeles) for more than thirty days.  On November 29, 2011, without any proper eviction notice to those living in domicile in exercise of their First Amendment Rights for well over thirty days; the LAPD staged a military action with over 1400 officers to remove the residents of the Occupy LA tent communities.  On November 30 & December 1, 2011, civilian property and cultural & religious artifacts were wantonly destroyed and hauled off to the LA City Dump, without any preservation of evidence, other than LA Times photos. 

According to California Tenant Rights and Skid Row case law, the LAPD and Sanitation Services, has no right to destroy civilian property considered to be a domicile, such as a tent or cardboard structure, but it is widely known to be a continuing unconstitutional practice of the LAPD to throw away personal belongings of the indigent, under the guise of “cleaning up the streets”, with little or no recourse or injunctive relief in sight.  It didn’t seem like there was much Melissa Balin could do about the issue either, while she was in the midst of fighting falsified Contempt of Court charges against her from the City Attorneys’ Office from November 16, 2011 until February 25, 2013; and a falsified Involuntary Commitment by the Mental Health Court and the District Attorneys’ Office from December 5, 2011 until January 30, 2011 for her known association with Occupy Los Angeles.  With limited resources and the clock ticking on the statute of limitations, Balin filed her case with Small Claims of the Los Angeles Superior Court on January 16, 2013.

Balin explains her thought process in filing with Small Claims, “Mostly it was an attempt at a ‘David & Goliath’ move to level the playing field, because one of the few rules of Small Claims Court is “no lawyers” and I was experiencing so much bullying by the fist of outrageous prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of my Occupy bogus criminal charges, which still hadn’t been dropped at the time.  Unfortunately, that part didn’t really work, because they have allowed at least NINE City and County attorneys to file frivolous motions against me accusing ME of harassment for suing the City for $9,887.82?! and the case still remains to be heard even though the City has never contested ANY of the uncontroverted statement of facts in our claims since the case was filed at the beginning of the year.  They don’t dispute that we had the consent of the landlord.  They don’t dispute that we did NOT pay rent.  They don’t dispute that we were in domicile for more than thirty days.  They don’t dispute that they threw away our property.  Yet they refuse to settle and refuse to go to court.”

The destroyed property named in the suit for $9,887.82 includes a Coleman Six-Man tent, the laptop used to record Occupy depositions for the Law Offices of Bruce Margolin, and original art and priceless signed memorabilia being curated for the Sovereign Nation of Freedom & Peace, including missives by civil rights activists Richard Eastman & Dennis Peron, photographs by Annie Appel, prints by Shepard Fairey, and three of the infamous American Flag shield functional art pieces by SABER.

ABOUT Case #LAM-13M00544 - Melissa Balin v. City of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be heard at 9:00 AM (PDT) in Department 1 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.  The case was filed on January 16, 2013 and taken under submission on April 30, 2013.

OLA #N30 Small Claims Suit by StayOccupied

To find out more about Melissa Balin and her known association with Occupy LA and the Sovereign Nation of Freedom & Peace, please visit http://www.change.org/petitions/miscarriage-of-justice and to review all of her pro per and pro se filings with the Los Angeles Superior Court please go to  http://www.scribd.com/StayOccupied 

To schedule an interview with Melissa Balin or other members of the #OLA292, please e-mail stayoccupied@gmail.com or contact her directly at 323.839.0149.