Esrati files suit to stop school task force from touring in private

Today at 3:06 pm David Esrati filed pro se with the Montgomery County Common Pleas Clerk of Courts a civil action to ask the courts to prevent the Dayton School Closure task force from touring school buildings without public oversight.

The case was initially assigned to Judge Dennis Langer, who had to recuse himself, since his wife, Ellen Belcher, formerly of the Dayton Daily News now does contract work for Learn to Earn and Dr. Tom Lasley who are named in the suit.

The case was sent to Judge Richard Skelton, who took the time to review the pro se filing, but admonished Esrati for not including a Rule 65 Temporary Restraining Order so that he could rule immediately on the case without a jury trial for the good of the public interest.

Esrati then wrote an addendum, to file first thing tomorrow morning, and served the documents to all parties via email.

A few observations, the instructions for how to efile with the Montgomery Clerk of Courts office run 35 pages and the system still takes manual oversight. My new account, won’t even be active for 24 hours, which forced me to go to the clerks office to file in person. So much for the brilliance of our former Clerk of Court Greg Brush. No ecommerce portal should require 35 pages of instruction or a delay. If this court system was online in a bigger jurisdiction, that kind of ineptitude would make the courts inoperable.

The fact that service isn’t possible via electronic means is also embarrassing. Why the courts are supporting FedEx and the US Post office to serve lawsuits that have to be filed electronically, is kind of another way to slow the system and add costs. Considering most filings name lawyers who already are registered with the State, this is a colossal waste of time and money.

Also, the cost of filing was $330.50, for a case which the law only allows for a collection of a $500 penalty per instance. This makes the likelihood of common citizens filing rare. Of course, attorney fees are offered as part of the restitution, guaranteeing that the courts help lawyers keep their jobs, while the laws get overlooked because of artificial hurdles built by the system.

Here are the filings, the first is the injunction, the second is the addition of the Temporary Restraining Order. Hopefully, I can efile in the morning and won’t be charged more money.

The task force is supposed to tour the buildings tomorrow. If the board was smart, they would order the Superintendent to pause the tours until this case has been decided.

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The suit that was filed to stop the task force from touring in private- and to examine it’s legal standing.

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The TRO that will be filed tomorrow to get immediate action.

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