One of the great ironies of this time last year, when COVID-19 finally came out of the closet and the Trump administration and Fox News admitted that it was real and deadly, is that Donald Trump was claiming that the way the coronavirus was being handled was “the envy of the world.” The entire world was either shaking their heads or laughing and everybody else was in various stages of anger. One such individual was convicted murderer Arnett Thomas, who spent twenty years in prison and is now, at the age of 71, disabled and living in government housing. He has brought a $1 Trillion lawsuit against Trump and he has 75 co-plaintiffs. North Jersey dot com:
“The former president literally became the very domestic enemy to the Constitution he swore to defend,” Thomas wrote in his 29-page class-action lawsuit that now includes more than 75 co-plaintiffs.
So far, Trump has not responded.
But Thomas is talking.
For starters, Thomas says he’s looking for $1 trillion from Trump as a punishment for the nearly 570,000 deaths in America from COVID-related causes, as well as the ancillary economic and psychological problems for many others who lost jobs or fell into a deep depression from too much home confinement.
“The point of all of this is how Trump dealt with the pandemic,” Thomas said in an interview. “He drove people to dying.”
Now Thomas is not an attorney but he hopes to attract one with this filing.
On one level, Thomas’s legal joust with the former president is little more than a quixotic pipe dream that seems more suited to a skit on Saturday Night Live. Thomas is not an attorney. He’s trying to entice one to take the case. He wrote the lawsuit himself, citing all manner of federal statutes and the U.S. Constitution. […]
“Everything Trump has done since he’s been in office has been really shady and all backwards and messed up,” said one of lawsuit’s co-plaintiffs, Kyani Robinson, 21, a landscaper who lives in Roselle and happens to be one of Thomas’ nephews.
“Trump allowed the disease to spread,” Thomas added. “What he did was politically motivated. If Trump would have handled this pandemic in a proper way he would have been elected [again]. Trump got kicked out because of the way he handled it.”
There is a lot of truth in that statement. As bad as things were and as absolutely horrible as they would be if Trump had gotten reelected, it was only the botching of the coronavirus response that actually did him in. It’s a sobering thought but this gentleman in New Jersey is far and away not the first to have reached that conclusion. If you look at it that way, the deadly coronavirus may be in fact a blessing. What a world, to even contemplate such a thing.
A person can always represent him or her or their selves, but, I always thought that a non lawyer cannot represent other people. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Wild speculation: does trump even have a trillion dollars if plaintiff wins??
PS, except in a few cases where non lawyers are specifically allowed by statute or regulation to represent others, such as Social Security appeals . . .
I’m not in favor of junk lawsuits just across the board. Even with a whole two semesters of law class as part of my business degree, I can say this case has issues, LOL. The plaintiff doesn’t have standing, can’t prove damages, can’t prove negligence or intent, and the amount is ridiculous.
The dozens of non-junk lawsuits making their way to Trump’s desk I’m in favor of.
And honestly, if this guy could make a case, he would be better off pursuing and winning a small claims case for like $1. That’d be a more likely ajd reasonable moral victory…although I’m still not sure there’s any sort of case there.
Anyone in law school needs to think about a statement in Paul Howarth’s novel, Only Killers And Thieves, a novel about the brutality the aborigines experienced from white settlers. He writes, “Every law, every custom, every rule by which we live is made up by someone, conjured from thin air, then written down and by some sort of magic enacted into law. It is so malleable, Tommy. It is so unfair.” So very phucking true.
I think that a non-lawyer can represent others if it’s clear in the documents that he is representing them as a non-layer, and if the state permits that. I seem to recall that at least once Giuliani represented Trump in a state in which he was not licensed.
Non lawyer or not, ridiculous amount or not, I am so happy that someone has brought suit against that former guy for causing the covid deaths of so many people. It won’t go very far but just to see someone trying to take that man to court over the enormous damage in human lives and the economy is just satisfying after his four year rule of terror