{"id":3681,"date":"2005-03-15T11:27:05","date_gmt":"2005-03-15T15:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/03\/15\/versacis-so-called-lawsuit-di"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:53","slug":"versacis-so-called-lawsuit-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/03\/15\/versacis-so-called-lawsuit-dismissed\/","title":{"rendered":"versaci’s so-called lawsuit dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n


\nthe lawyer<\/span>
\nrepresents himself —<\/span>
\na widow’s raised fist<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n <\/em>dagosan<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, <\/span>March 15, 2005<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>
\nAs promised <\/span>yesterday<\/span><\/a>, I have more details on the dismissal of <\/span>versaci v. richie<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/a>. Today’s <\/span>
\nSchenectady NY <\/span>Gazette<\/span><\/em><\/a> has an article “<\/span>Defamation lawsuit dismissed<\/span><\/a>,” [scroll to Reply #44]<\/span>
\ndescribing the aborted trial in Schenectady County’s Supreme Court, where Romolo Versaci<\/a> <\/span>
\n(a lawyer since 1945) represented himself, as did defendant Diane Richie, who Versaci<\/span>
\naccused of defamation, for calling him a “so-called lawyer” on a local online message board. <\/span>
\nAbout 10 minutes into the hearing, Acting Supreme Court Judge Felix Catena read from a <\/span>
\nprepared opinion:<\/span><\/p>\n

“This court finds as a matter of law the statement [“so-called lawyer”] constitutes <\/span>
\nrhetorical opinion . . . rather than fact. The complaint is therefore dismissed.” <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"bingoCardG\" The article states that “Richie clenched her fists in the air in a sign of victory and relef,”<\/span>
\n her daughter, Rylan, by her side.” Versaci appeared stunned and was not allowed to be heard <\/span>
\non the issue. <\/span><\/p>\n

This warms my heart, for a number of reasons. Besides quashing what I consider a nuisance suit,<\/span>
\nthe case features a pro se<\/em> litigant beating a veteran lawyer, while fighting city hall (or at least a<\/span>
\nCity Councilman). As Gazette reporter Michael DeMasi explains:<\/span><\/p>\n

“The ruling brought to a close the final chapter in what has been a fierce dispute <\/span>
\nthat began in 2003 when Ritchie hired Simon’s Rock Historical Restoration to <\/span>
\nrenovate her house. Richie sued, claiming the company headed by City Councilman <\/span>
\nPeter Della Ratta did shoddy or incomplete work on the roofs and other sections <\/span>
\nof her house.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Della Ratta initially hired Versaci to represent him in small claims court and Richie’s remark at <\/span>
\nthe website about Versaci was made after an appearance there. As the Gazette<\/em> points out:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Monday’s ruling gives Richie her third legal victory. Last November, the vice <\/span>
\npresident of Della Ratta Enterprises, Michael Della Ratta, pleaded guilty to two <\/span>
\nhousing code violations related to the work done on Richie’s house and agreed to <\/span>
\na $2000 fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Last week, City Court Judge Guide A. Loyola awarded Richie $776 to compensate<\/span>
\n her for work that wasn’t finished.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Versaci says he’ll appeal Judge Catena’s ruling. Yesterday, he was heard saying “a lawyer’s <\/span>
\nworst enemy is another lawyer.” <\/span><\/p>\n


\nhis butt cooled
\nby the spring breeze
\nroof thatcher<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

autumn wind–
\na cock-a-doodling rooster
\non the roof<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\nroof of the house–
\nsown by the birds
\nwildflowers<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ISSA<\/span><\/a>, translated by <\/span>David G. Lanoue<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"bingoCardN\"<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the lawyer represents himself — a widow’s raised fist dagosan, March 15, 2005 As promised yesterday, I have more details on the dismissal of versaci v. richie. Today’s Schenectady NY Gazette has an article “Defamation lawsuit dismissed,” [scroll to Reply #44] describing the aborted trial in Schenectady County’s Supreme Court, where Romolo Versaci (a lawyer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926,2927],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006","category-schenectady-synecdoche"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-Xn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13320,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions\/13320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}