05.28.2019 Petithomme R Vs M Final

1
1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 11TH

JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR
2 MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
3 CASE NO.: 2012-033200-CA-01
4
PETITHOMME, RODNEY
5
Plaintiff(s)/Petitioner(s),
6
-vs-
7
PETITHOMME, MONISE,
8
Defendant(s) / Respondent(s)
9 _______________________________________/
10
11
12
13 Proceedings had and taken place before the Honorable
14 Judge Thomas J. Rebull, one of the Judges of said Court,
15 at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, 14th Floor, 73 West
16 Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, 33130 on Tuesday the 28th
17 day of May 2019, commencing at the hour of 9:51 a.m., and
18 being a Non-Jury Trial.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
2
1 APPEARANCES:
2 On Behalf of the Defendant:
3 VERA and SKISCIM, P.L.

16000 Pines Boulevard, Unit 820092
4 Pembroke Pines, Florida 33082-9204
(786) 292-2668
5 mav@veraskiscim.com
MICHAEL A. VERA, ESQUIRE
6
7
VERA and SKISCIM, P.L.
8 P. O. Box 1074
Winter Park, Florida 32790-1074
9 (786) 292-2668
mjs@veraskiscim.com
10 MICHAEL J. SKISCIM, ESQUIRE
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
3
1 INDEX
2 Item Page
3
Certificate of Reporter 76
4
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
4
1 (Thereupon the following proceedings were had:)
2 THE COURT: All right, so we're on the record in
3 Rodney Petithomme and Monise Petithomme and others.
4 You're Mr. Rodney Petithomme?
5 MR. PETITHOMME: Yes, Sir.
6 THE COURT: And you're?
7 MS. PETITHOMME: Hi. Good morning. My name is
8 Gina Petithomme. I'm his daughter. I'll be
9 translating for him today.
10 THE COURT: You'll what?
11 MS. PETITHOMME: I will translate for him today.
12 THE COURT: You'll --
13 MS. PETITHOMME: I'll be translating.
14 THE COURT: Oh, translating. Got it, got it.
15 Okay. If you want to grab the microphone and pull it
16 closer.
17 MS. PETITHOMME: Oh, okay.
18 THE COURT: Thanks. All right. Do you want to
19 state your appearance for the record here?
20 MR. VERA: Yes, Your Honor. Michael Vera on
21 behalf of the Defendants.
22 MR. SKISCIM: And Michael Skiscim on behalf of
23 the Defendants.
24 THE COURT: And who is here with you?
25 MR. VERA: Here with us in the courtroom are

5
1 Monise Petithomme, Defendant; Wilkens Petithomme,
2 Modeline Petithomme, and one of our witnesses, Lebien
3 Petithomme.
4 THE COURT: Okay, very good. What was your first
5 name again?
6 MS. PETITHOMME: Gina, G-I-N-A.
7 THE COURT: So, you want me to -- you're going to
8 translate?
9 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. Well, we're really here
10 to just ask you for a continuance. We don't have an
11 attorney at this time and we did get permission -- we
12 did get an order for us to get 30 days for us to
13 obtain one. So I am just asking if we can have those
14 30 days to obtain one.
15 THE COURT: Okay. What's your response to that?
16 MR. VERA: Your Honor, this is a seven-year-old
17 case. Theoretically an order to obtain a new
18 attorney would be the fifth attorney on this matter.
19 The fourth, Mr. Cordon, withdrew from the case last
20 Tuesday. We have one of the Defendants in from
21 Tampa, which is Wilkens Petithomme. We've been
22 dragging this for seven years; I would say we would
23 either -- it is time or this case should be over. So
24 we would object to a continuance.
25 THE COURT: Okay, yeah. Sorry, but I am not

6
1 going to grant another continuance. It's seven years
2 --
3 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But the thing is, we
4 don't want to go trial without an attorney
5 representing us. So that would be my only -- I mean
6 I would like to have a fair representation in Court,
7 if that is possible.
8 THE COURT: Yeah, I am sorry. I'm not going to
9 grant the continuance.
10 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay. So what are my options?
11 THE COURT: Your options would be to -- he can
12 represent himself, or you can dismiss the case.
13 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, I don't want -- we don't
14 want to dismiss the case. That's not --
15 THE COURT: Well, those are your options, or
16 we're going to go forward with the trial. We're
17 going to start picking a jury. It's seven years Old.
18 MS. PETITHOMME: I understand that but we've had
19 some problems with this lawyer.
20 THE COURT: I know but it's the fifth attorney.
21 MS. PETITHOMME: Right, but at least -- I mean, I
22 just want to be able to have a fair chance at having
23 a person representing us --
24 THE COURT: It's also not fair to them for this
25 case to be going on for seven years.

7
1 MS. PETITHOMME: Right, but they're going to be
2 having an upper hand by having a lawyer there with
3 them.
4 THE COURT: I'm sorry. So your choices are:
5 We're going to start picking a jury and you're going
6 to represent yourself, or you can dismiss the case.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: We're not dismissing the case.
8 THE COURT: Okay. So you have to follow all the
9 rules that attorneys have to follow, as far as
10 evidence, picking a jury, all of these things. I
11 just want to make that clear, even if you represent
12 yourself, you have to follow all the same rules that
13 an attorney has to follow. Okay.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: That's out of my line of
15 practice. I am not an attorney. So that's why I'm
16 asking if we can have a lawyer present.
17 THE COURT: I'm sorry. I can't give you a
18 lawyer, it's not a criminal case.
19 MS. PETITHOMME: You are right. We'd have to go
20 and get our own lawyer.
21 THE COURT: Right. But we're not talking about
22 that anymore. Now, we're talking about -- I am ready
23 to bring a jury up to start picking a jury. So your
24 choices: We go forward or you voluntarily dismiss
25 the case. Those are the choices. You want to go

8
1 forward with the trial?
2 MS. PETITHOMME: I need to have a lawyer first,
3 so.
4 THE COURT: Okay, Ma'am. All right then. We're
5 going to start the trial. Okay? You understand --
6 you've explained to your dad the consequences of if
7 he loses, there could be attorney's fees and costs
8 assessed against him, and all of those things, right?
9 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't know about those things;
10 I am not a lawyer -- to be honest --
11 THE COURT: Well, you're speaking on his behalf,
12 so I am speaking to you.
13 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. Because I am only asking
14 if we can have the time --
15 THE COURT: Right. But we're not discussing that
16 --
17 MS. PETITHOMME: I mean we have the order that
18 stated that --
19 THE COURT: But it also says, the order says that
20 it doesn't -- it's not a continuance, it doesn't say
21 anything -- it's in all caps.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: But it's the same thing. I
23 mean, they had given us thirty days to find a lawyer,
24 so we're just asking for you to give us those thirty
25 days to find a lawyer.

9
1 THE COURT: Okay. That's respectfully denied.
2 Are you ready to start the trial? Did you bring your
3 evidence?
4 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have any evidence. I
5 can't start today.
6 THE COURT: Okay. I'm going to bring a jury in
7 to start the trial.
8 MS. PETITHOMME: I can't start -- I can't do
9 anything today. I don't have any evidence. I'm not
10 prepared. I mean, this is -- I don't think I'm ready
11 to do anything at this point.
12 THE COURT: Then the case has to be dismissed.
13 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't want to have it
14 dismissed. I would like to have an attorney present
15 with me. I mean --
16 THE COURT: Okay. We've already discussed that a
17 few times.
18 MS. PETITHOMME: I understand that, but I don't
19 -- we, I mean I think it's just fair for us to have a
20 lawyer with us. I mean, you all gave us the option
21 to have 30 days to find an attorney, so --
22 THE COURT: No that's the order says, in
23 paragraph five, "For the record, the party should
24 note that the granting of this motion to withdraw is
25 not a stay of this case, nor will it result in a

10
1 continuance or extension of time for any pending
2 motion, hearing date or trial date." That's what it
3 says. So I'm sure it's not news to your dad that
4 Mr. Cordon wasn't going to continue. He didn't first
5 learn about this last week. All right, so --
6 MS. PETITHOMME: Well I think he did, last week.
7 THE COURT: I am going to bring up the jury, or
8 you don't want to go forward.
9 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, I don't have a lawyer. I
10 can't -- how am I going to represent myself with no
11 evidence, nothing in my hands to --
12 THE COURT: So you don't want to go forward with
13 the case.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: I mean, I want to have a chance
15 to have a lawyer.
16 THE COURT: Okay.
17 MS. PETITHOMME: I know you say you respectfully
18 deny it, but I would like to have a lawyer present.
19 You all did say that we could have 30 days to find
20 one.
21 THE COURT: All right. I'm going to bring up the
22 jury. Okay.
23 [Crosstalk].
24 THE COURT: Just so you know the schedule, I am
25 going to pick a jury today and then I'm going to have

11
1 to have you come back on Thursday. Okay. For
2 scheduling reasons. And we'll continue the trial.
3 MR. VERA: Are we still on the record.
4 THE COURT: Yes.
5 MR. VERA: Judge, if we could ask Mr. Cordon if
6 he intends on calling Wilkins Petithomme for any kind
7 of testimony because he does have to get back to
8 Tampa.
9 THE COURT: Was he subpoenaed?
10 MR. VERA: He was not subpoenaed. He's a
11 Defendant, but he -- nobody was subpoenaed.
12 THE COURT: Then nobody's under a Court order to
13 be here.
14 MR. VERA: Very good, Judge. Thank you.
15 THE COURT: Now, if you need him, for your case.
16 MR. VERA: No, no.
17 THE COURT: Okay.
18 (Off the Record.)
19 (On the Record.)
20 THE COURT: Okay. We are back on the record.
21 One thing I wanted to ask you all, I think you all
22 demanded a Jury Trial. You can waive the Jury Trial
23 and have me decide the case. It's up to you.
24 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't want to have -- to be
25 honest, I don't think you're being fair to me right

12
1 now, so --
2 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. I have a question.
3 Do you want to continue with the Jury Trial?
4 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't know what the Jury Trial
5 consists of. I don't know --
6 THE COURT: You can have the jury be the one who
7 decides what the facts are and what the facts mean,
8 or you can have the Judge decide what the facts are
9 and what the facts mean. Do you want the jury to do
10 it?
11 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't even know what the --
12 I'm not sure what my options are --
13 THE COURT: I just told -- your options are a
14 Jury Trial or a Non Jury Trial --
15 MS. PETITHOMME: What I'm trying to make sense of
16 is what would be a better fit for me versus, like, go
17 with the jury option or do I just go with you?
18 THE COURT: It's up to you. A Jury Trial's a lot
19 more formal. You have to follow all the rules of
20 evidence and everything else, so. It's a little more
21 relaxed when it's the Judge who's the finder of fact,
22 the one deciding what the facts are. But it's up to
23 you. I think your complaint demanded a Jury Trial,
24 so --
25 MS. PETITHOMME: All right. So let's go with

13
1 that.
2 THE COURT: With what.
3 MS. PETITHOMME: The jury.
4 THE COURT: You want to have a Jury Trial? Okay.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: The other lawyer said that we
6 had five different attorneys. We didn't have five
7 different lawyers on this case.
8 THE COURT: Ms. Petithomme, I'm not discussing
9 how many lawyers. I mean, when this goes, if this
10 goes up on Appeal, the Court will see -- the Court of
11 Appeal will see that this case has been pending since
12 August 21, 2012, and it will see, in the Court file
13 from seven years, every single attorney who's ever
14 been in this case.
15 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But the thing is, so my
16 question is then, if you knew you wasn't going to
17 give us the 30 days to find an attorney, then why did
18 you let Mr. Cordon go? Why did you dismiss that
19 attorney.
20 THE COURT: Why would you want to have an
21 attorney representing you that doesn't want to
22 represent you anymore?
23 MS. PETITHOMME: He would have been better than
24 nothing.
25 THE COURT: But if he has a conflict because he

14
1 doesn't think he can go forward, then that's not --
2 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, there's other folks in his
3 office that we could -- he has other folks in his
4 office.
5 THE COURT: Well you should have shown up to
6 object.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: I didn't know -- we wasn't even
8 aware that that happened that day.
9 THE COURT: Okay.
10 MS. PETITHOMME: I mean, you let him go and then
11 we're like, put in a bind to not have anyone
12 representing us.
13 THE COURT: All right. Go ahead and talk to me
14 about the objections that the designations for next
15 sessions.
16 MR. SKISCIM: Your Honor, we objected to three of
17 the depositions, two of them are depositions that
18 were taken that we asked the Defendant for copies --
19 or the Plaintiff for copies and we were never
20 provided copies --
21 THE COURT: Copies of the?
22 MR. SKISCIM: Copies of the depositions.
23 THE COURT: Okay.
24 MR. SKISCIM: And we tried to reach out to find
25 out who the court reporter was, to no avail. And

15
1 then the third one, which is the Deposition of
2 Monise, is a cited deposition, but she's actually
3 deposed multiple times. So we are uncertain which
4 deposition it is that they're claiming. We've asked
5 them to clarify or to send us a copy of the
6 deposition they're relying on. We did not receive
7 one in response.
8 THE COURT: Okay. What's your response?
9 MS. PETITHOMME: I object because I don't know
10 anything about what's going on right now. You
11 dismiss our attorney Thursday, at the last minute,
12 not giving us a chance to find a new lawyer; my
13 father doesn't speak proper English, broken English.
14 So, I object.
15 THE COURT: Okay. I'm going to sustain your
16 objections. Okay.
17 MS. PETITHOMME: This is really not fair. We
18 should really be provided the time to find a lawyer.
19 You dismissed ours on Thursday, without giving us a
20 chance to find another lawyer.
21 THE COURT: Like I said, when this goes up on --
22 MS. PETITHOMME: So this is --
23 THE COURT: Okay. Now let the record reflect
24 that the Plaintiff is interrupting the Court when the
25 Court is speaking. But, what do you want to say?

16
1 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, I'm just saying we're
2 supposed to be given a fair opportunity here. We're
3 not given a fair opportunity here. Isn't this what
4 this whole judicial system is about?
5 THE COURT: Yea. It's been pending for seven
6 years.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: I get that.
8 THE COURT: That's more than enough time.
9 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, then, you should have let
10 my attorney stay on the case.
11 THE COURT: You should have come in and objected.
12 MS. PETITHOMME: I didn't know about this whole
13 thing. I'm just now getting all this information
14 right now. We got this information late Friday
15 afternoon. And there was no one here, then Monday
16 was a holiday.
17 THE COURT: I guess Mr. Cordon didn't communicate
18 with this client, your father. Because it's
19 impossible, impossible that he just learned about
20 this on Friday. It's impossible.
21 MS. PETITHOMME: It was only Thursday that we
22 even got anything. And then Friday I got all this
23 information.
24 THE COURT: Okay. I'm sorry.
25 MS. PETITHOMME: So, I mean, why let him go if we

17
1 wasn't going to be able to have a lawyer to find --
2 we're in the middle of looking for one. But you're
3 not going to give us a chance to find someone.
4 THE COURT: I didn't know whether you were going
5 to show up with a lawyer today.
6 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. Because it was such last
7 notice, who would be able to pull something that last
8 minute.
9 THE COURT: If I was to swear in your father and
10 swear in Mr. Cordon, I'm sure Mr. Cordon had a
11 discussion with him well before he filed the motion.
12 If we have to do that we will, that he wasn't going
13 to represent him anymore.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: That was on Thursday.
15 THE COURT: I'm sure Mr. Cordon told your father
16 that well before Thursday. Well before Thursday.
17 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't think so.
18 THE COURT: Okay. We'll see what he would say
19 under oath.
20 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay. I mean I think that would
21 be a fair chance to give us that time to figure out
22 what --
23 THE COURT: No, we are going forward with the
24 Trial today. I've already made that clear.
25 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But the thing is, you

18
1 gave us -- you let him go on Thursday. You're not
2 giving us any time to find a lawyer, any time
3 what-so-ever. Your not giving us even, you're not
4 even giving us 15 days to find a lawyer.
5 THE COURT: Because when your lawyer withdraws
6 the week before the case is set for trial, that's not
7 a basis for getting a continuance when it's been
8 pending for seven years.
9 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But I --
10 THE COURT: I'm not arguing with you anymore,
11 okay?
12 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't get, I don't understand
13 that whole process so that's why I am like, okay. I
14 just need to figure out who could represent us. I am
15 in the middle of looking at someone and I'm trying to
16 get them to come in. But I'm not sure what the whole
17 -- if we, if you knew you wasn't going to be able to
18 give us the time to find a lawyer, then why say, let
19 this guy go? That's kind of like you're throwing us
20 out to bate, in a sense.
21 THE COURT: Thank you very much. Okay. You have
22 objections to their exhibits?
23 MR. SKISCIM: Yes, Your Honor. That's our second
24 one. The exhibits that we listed in our motion, or
25 in our objection, are items that are either not

19
1 identified clearly, except that they're going to be
2 used for items that were not provided with either a
3 corresponding certificate of authenticity, or a
4 witness that's on the witness list that would be able
5 to testify as to their authenticity.
6 THE COURT: Do you have anything you want to say
7 about that?
8 MS. PETITHOMME: I object. I'm going to tell you
9 the same thing. I don't have a lawyer here to
10 represent me. I don't have the knowledge or, this is
11 out of my scope of my practice. I don't know what --
12 I don't even know what he's talking about. I don't
13 speak the language of law. I speak plain English,
14 which is completely different because when things are
15 written in certain ways in the law, it has to be
16 interpreted by an attorney, which I don't have at
17 this time. So, I object.
18 THE COURT: All right. Well, assuming they can't
19 prove it at trial, I am going to sustain your
20 objections. If they can't authenticate that at
21 trial.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: So does that mean you're
23 allowing them to do that? Or, what does that mean
24 when you say that?
25 THE COURT: Exactly what I said.

20
1 MS. PETITHOMME: Well I don't understand. That's
2 why I'm asking you to explain it to me.
3 THE COURT: That if you can't prove that evidence
4 is admissible at trial, it's not going to be admitted
5 as evidence in the case.
6 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay.
7 THE COURT: Oh, you had a Motion in Limine?
8 MR. SKISCIM: Yes, Your Honor. The Motion in
9 Limine is regarding medical records that are being
10 produced, and we assume being introduced at trial.
11 There is a witness listed for the Records Custodian
12 involves the hospital records of Pherimon Petithomme,
13 the deceased, following in late 2004 and late
14 December 2004 regarding his mental status and we're
15 seeking to have that limited because, from our
16 understanding of the Plaintiff's in an attempt to use
17 it to say that the quitclaim deed what was signed a
18 week-and-a- half prior, was signed without the
19 understanding and knowledge of the deceased.
20 However, there is nothing in the records and there is
21 no medical testimony of anybody, or any testimony of
22 anybody at the signing of the quitclaim deed that
23 could determine the mental capacity of the deceased
24 when he signed it. So the medical records are only
25 going to cloud the situation and cause confusion.

21
1 THE COURT: So these are medical records that
2 reflect his medical condition --
3 MR. SKISCIM: A week-and-a-half to two weeks
4 after the quitclaim deed is signed.
5 THE COURT: After?
6 MR. SKISCIM: After.
7 THE COURT: And these are not your exhibits?
8 These are the Plaintiff's?
9 MR. SKISCIM: The Plaintiff's.
10 THE COURT: I assume your answer's going to be
11 the same, right?
12 MS. PETITHOMME: I object. I don't know -- the
13 thing is, you're not being fair to me right now. And
14 I feel like you're not -- this attorney here has --
15 both you and this attorney here have all the
16 knowledge to make all these different decisions and
17 I'm just A regular citizen here that is trying to get
18 fair, a fairness out of this, and I'm not able to
19 represent anything. I can't get an attorney, you
20 dismiss my attorney at the last minute, and now
21 you're not giving me the opportunity to find one.
22 And so all this jargon that he's talking about that I
23 don't understand, I am not able to get fair
24 representation right now.
25 THE COURT: Okay. I want the record to reflect

22
1 that there was no objection from the Plaintiff to the
2 Motion to Withdraw.
3 MS. PETITHOMME: No. I object to this --
4 THE COURT: I also want the record to reflect
5 that there, the courtroom has regular citizens, just
6 like the Plaintiff and his daughter. Monise
7 Petithomme is here, Modeline Petithomme is here,
8 Wilkens Petithomme is here, and they're all sitting
9 here with their Counsel right behind counsel table.
10 And the record needs to reflect that, that they've
11 been Defendants in this case for seven years and
12 they're all sitting here patiently, quietly waiting
13 for the case to proceed, with their Counsel.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: I object --
15 THE COURT: So it's not just the Plaintiff who's
16 the one who's sitting here --
17 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But I object to whatever
18 this guy is telling me right now.
19 THE COURT: Okay.
20 MS. PETITHOMME: Whatever he's telling to you, I
21 disagree. I object.
22 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Okay, if -- if --
23 MS. PETITHOMME: You're not giving us the
24 opportunity to find an attorney at this time. You
25 dismiss ours on Thursday and then, tell us that we

23
1 have 30 days to find one, and then tell us you're not
2 going to get the opportunity to find one. And my
3 father's very limited English. I mean, I don't
4 understand how this whole process is supposed to work
5 when you tell someone, "Oh no. You're dismissed."
6 And then on Tuesday, here it is, we can't even find
7 someone to represent us. So, it's like you gave us
8 less than 24 hours to even try to attempt to find
9 someone else.
10 THE COURT: Okay. If the medical records are
11 attempted to be admitted into evidence at Trial,
12 where I can actually see them, I'll take a look at
13 them and see what they say. And in particular
14 anything that would affect his mental capacity.
15 Okay?
16 MS. PETITHOMME: How can we be afforded a fair
17 opportunity here if we can't get a proper
18 representation?
19 THE COURT: I want to make sure -- I am speaking
20 to the Third District Court of Appeal, I want to make
21 sure that if the Court, if this does come up on
22 Appeal, that the Court takes a strong look at the
23 entire docket in this case. The Court has had
24 several Court appearances of this matter with the
25 Plaintiff's previous counsel; mediation was extremely

24
1 difficult to schedule and take place, and --
2 MS. PETITHOMME: How was it difficult?
3 THE COURT: Were you their Counsel?
4 MR. PIERRE: I was their previous Counsel.
5 THE COURT: Their first lawyer in 2012, huh?
6 Faudlin Pierre, for the record, was their first
7 lawyer in August of 2012.
8 (Off the record.)
9 (On the record.)
10 MR. VERA: Your Honor, in reviewing the docket
11 for the prior attorneys, Mr. Pierre was the first
12 attorney; Mr. Lawrence Metch was the second attorney,
13 who also withdrew; Mr. Cordon was the third;
14 Ms. Michelle Delancy filed a limited notice of
15 appearance for the purpose of mediation exclusively;
16 and, as I mentioned earlier, if they were to retain
17 new counsel, this would be number five.
18 THE COURT: Got you.
19 (Off the record.)
20 (On the record.)
21 MS. PETITHOMME: Sir, you never answered me.
22 What was the difficulty -- what the difficulty of the
23 case was.
24 THE COURT: The difficulty of the case? There
25 were hearings where Mr. Vera appeared and he recited

25
1 the difficulties in scheduling and getting a date, we
2 had to get former Judge Graham on the phone.
3 Mr. Vera can give you more of the history.
4 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't know if I could talk to
5 him. Are they allowed to talk to me?
6 THE COURT: They don't have to.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: But you stated it. That's why I
8 was asking you, what were the difficulties. This is
9 so unconstitutional, to not being able to have fair
10 representation before a jury.
11 THE COURT: Okay. On --
12 MS. PETITHOMME: You never told me specifically
13 what was --
14 THE COURT: Ma'am, if you can't keep your mouth
15 quiet when -- unless I'm addressing -- unless I'm
16 asking you a question, or unless you're addressing
17 the jury, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave.
18 Okay. I don't want to do that. I'd rather you be
19 here and sit quietly and watch, and if I ask you a
20 question or you want to tell me something
21 specifically, okay. But don't -- you shouldn't
22 interrupt me. Okay? And I won't interrupt you.
23 Okay?
24 MS. PETITHOMME: I understand, Sir. But what I'm
25 asking you stated there were difficulties, I was just

26
1 trying to get clarity on that.
2 THE COURT: Okay. Well, Mr. Vera will put on the
3 record -- he's been -- he will put on the record all
4 the difficulty that there was with respect to the
5 mediation, okay? And in general, communicating with
6 Mr. Cordon's office. Okay? All right.
7 (Off the record.)
8 (On the record.)
9 THE COURT: So I'm just giving you an explanation
10 now, Ms. Petithomme, but we're going to bring in 18
11 Jurors. You have a chance to ask them some questions
12 about their ability to serve as jurors, to be fair
13 and impartial. You don't have to ask them questions,
14 but you can if you want. And then we're going to --
15 they have the same opportunity. Each side has equal
16 amount of time to ask questions. And then we're
17 going to pick the jurors. And then you're going to
18 have to start entering your evidence. Okay.
19 MS. PETITHOMME: Well, what kind of questions
20 would I ask these jurors.
21 THE COURT: I can't give you advise.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: I mean, I don't know how to pick
23 juries.
24 THE COURT: I can't give you advise. I can't
25 give you legal advise.

27
1 MS. PETITHOMME: And that's why I was saying I
2 need to have a lawyer present, to help me make a jury
3 selection. I don't know to pick one. I don’t even
4 know what to look for. Are there specific rules for
5 selecting a jury.
6 THE COURT: There are rules, yeah.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: What are those rules?
8 THE COURT: I can't educate you on the rules.
9 I've had criminal defendants represent themselves,
10 who were accused of murder and burglary and they've
11 represented themselves, Pro Se, and they managed to
12 get through it. They represent themselves without an
13 attorney by following the rules.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: I'm pretty sure they were able
15 to, kind of, look up the rules and stuff like that.
16 Which, I don't even have that time. Would you give
17 me some time to go look up some rules?
18 THE COURT: No, I'm sorry. It's been seven years
19 that this case has been pending. Almost seven years.
21 THE COURT: Did this case go up on Appeal?
22 MR. VERA: Yes, back in 2016.
23 Are we on the record?
24 THE COURT: Do you want to be on the record?
25 MR. VERA: Yes.

28
1 THE COURT: Okay.
2 MR. VERA: I just realized earlier Your Honor
3 offered the Plaintiff the opportunity to waive the
4 Jury Trial. Defendants never spoke on that. We
5 have, we would have no objection to that waivered
6 case, if the Plaintiff wanted to reconsider. I just
7 wanted to get that on the record.
8 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
9 (Off the record.)
10 (On the record.)
11 THE BAILIFF: All rise. Court is back in
12 session.
13 THE COURT: Thank you. Please be seated. So,
14 Ms. Petithomme, we're about to bring in the jury. So
15 you're going to have an opportunity to ask them
16 questions. Okay? Do you want to ask them questions?
17 MS. PETITHOMME: I am going to try to see what
18 questions I can come up with to ask.
19 THE COURT: So that's a 'yes'?
20 MS. PETITHOMME: Yes.
21 THE COURT: Okay.
22 THE BAILIFF: All rise for the jury, please.
23 (Jury enters.)
24 THE COURT: You can remain standing because
25 you're going to be sworn in by the clerk now, as the

29
1 jurors in this case.
2 (Thereupon, having first been duly sworn and
3 responding, "I do," the perspective jury was sworn
4 in.)
5 THE COURT: Thank you. Please be seated.
6 Good morning. My name is Thomas Rebull. I am
7 the Circuit Judge here in the Civil Division of the
8 Eleventh Judicial Circuit. This is State Court. I'm
9 going to say a few times that this is the Civil
10 Division because I want to make sure that you all
11 understand that, that this is not -- Do you have the
12 Jury Instructions? I'm going to say a few times that
13 this is a Civil case and not a Criminal case. Some
14 of you haven't had a chance to go through your
15 questionnaires yet, but some of you may have served
16 on a criminal jury before, and where, I'm sure if I
17 asked each one of you, you may have -- you watch a
18 legal TV show, like Law and Order or read a John
19 Grisham book, or see a John Grisham movie, and you
20 think you know what the law is that applies in Court.
21 But that is usually criminal cases and this is a
22 Civil case and I'm going to tell you what the law is
23 that applies to this case.
24 So as I indicated, this is a Civil Trial. A
25 Civil Trial is different from a criminal case where a

30
1 defendant is charged by the State Prosecutor with
2 committing a crime. The subject of a Civil Trial is
3 a disagreement between people or companies where the
4 claims of one or more of these parties have been
5 brought to Court to be resolved. It's called a Trial
6 of a Lawsuit. This is a case about a dispute between
7 family members, about who owns property that was
8 purchased by another family member. The incident
9 involved in this case occurred in February of 2004,
10 in Miami, Florida.
11 How many of you -- and I'm not going to pick on
12 you if you raise your hand -- how many of you, by
13 raising your hand, when you got your jury summons in
14 the mail, or you saw it on the kitchen table when
15 somebody else got the mail, thought that this might
16 not be horrible, that this might not be a terrible
17 experience? Okay. I usually do that poll -- and
18 that's a little bit higher number than I normally get
19 when I do this. The reason I ask that question is
20 because, for those of you who didn't raise your hand,
21 I want you to know that we recognize, and everybody
22 recognizes that you've been taken out your lives,
23 your work; that this is an inconvenience for you all.
24 If you had to find a place to park, or if you took
25 public transportation to get here, you had to figure

31
1 out which elevators to use, where to go, and that you
2 have things that you would rather be doing or you
3 think that you need to be doing and that you may care
4 for somebody who is elderly, or arranging for small
5 kids to get to school. But I think school's about to
6 end for the summer now, so that creates a different
7 problem in terms of childcare. Point being, that we
8 all know that this is an inconvenience for you all.
9 And I promise you that I make it my responsibility to
10 make sure that you're done with your jury service as
11 soon as possible.
12 I've had this copy of the Constitution with me
13 since college -- I'm not going to say how many years
14 -- I stopped saying how many years ago that was
15 because it keeps more -- the number keeps getting
16 higher and higher all the time. But as you can see
17 from this copy of the Constitution, it's not a very
18 big book. There aren't a lot of jobs described in
19 the Constitution. The Constitution specifically
20 mentions the President of the United States, the
21 House of Representatives, The United States Senate,
22 the military. But one of the other jobs that is
23 specifically mentioned in the Constitution is Jury.
24 The Sixth Amendment and the Seventh Amendment to the
25 Constitution, which I have flagged here, that I use

32
1 them when I do jury selection with juries, says, "The
2 Sixth Amendment applies to all criminal
3 prosecutions," which again, this is not a criminal
4 case. But the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution
5 says, "In the suits that Common Law, where the value
6 and controversy shall exceed $20, the right of Trial
7 by Jury shall be preserved," and it goes on to say
8 some other things. The point being that the job that
9 you're here doing, is actually a job that is
10 specifically set forth in the Constitution, and one
11 of the only things that you're mandatorily required
12 to do as a citizen. You have to be a citizen and you
13 have to be at least 18 years of age to serve on a
14 jury. There used to be mandatory military service, a
15 draft. We don’t have a draft anymore. Everybody
16 still has to file a tax return. Some people
17 hopefully get a refund; some people may have to pay;
18 some people may not have to -- break even, one way or
19 the other, but you have file a tax return. The other
20 thing you have to do as a citizen is jury service.
21 Without you here, the Constitutional right we all
22 have, to a trial by jury is meaningless. To the
23 extent, those of you who didn't raise your hand think
24 that this is misery and misery loves company,
25 everywhere the Constitution applies, there are juries

33
1 being picked and people who have to find the
2 courthouse and be inconvenienced the way you all have
3 been inconvenienced. So, in Maine, in California, in
4 Alaska, in Hawaii, all over the place there are
5 citizens like yourself who have had to be
6 inconvenienced and brought to court to help resolve
7 this disagreement. And you all have the final word,
8 the last word on this disagreement.
9 So this jury selection process is about picking a
10 fair and impartial jury. That's what we're here to
11 do. You don't need to have and special knowledge,
12 all you need is your common sense and your life
13 experience and everything that you need to do your
14 job as a juror, and the only thing that you should
15 use to do your job as a juror is what's provided to
16 you here in court. It's party's jobs to give you
17 evidence, present evidence to you -- I will tell you
18 what the law is and then I will give you jury
19 instructions and you will decide the case based on
20 the evidence presented. We ask that you not make up
21 your mind until you've heard all the evidence, all
22 the arguments of all the parties and my final
23 instructions on the law. But, if you were downstairs
24 when somebody greeted you, one of the judges greeted
25 you this morning, they may have talked to you about

34
1 not using electronic devices to look-up anything or
2 post anything on any social media about anything
3 having to do with the case, because it's not fair to
4 any of the parties involved if you all were doing
5 research on your own or googling, or doing Google
6 maps, or researching the attorneys. Everything that
7 you should consider and the only thing that you
8 should consider is what is presented to you here in
9 the courtroom, to be fair to everybody. And another
10 thing I always say to juries is, I'm sure every
11 single one of you, you or somebody close to you, has
12 had to go to court to have some kind of an issue
13 resolved. Whether it's a divorce, or a speeding
14 ticket, or a child-custody dispute, or whatever it
15 is. In Family Court, there are no juries. When you
16 contest a speeding ticket or any other sort of a
17 ticket, there's no jury. There's a traffic hearing
18 officer or somebody who acts as the jury who decides
19 what the facts are and what the facts mean. But I am
20 sure that if you or that person that you care about
21 went to court, you hoped that the decision maker,
22 whether it's a jury or a judge or a traffic hearing
23 officer paid attention, hadn't made up their mind
24 before you walked in the door, was willing to listen
25 to all the evidence, was fair. So, that's exactly

35
1 what we're asking you all today as decision makers,
2 to be the same type of decision maker that you would
3 hope you or that person close to you would have when
4 they go to court. That you aren't on your Apple
5 watch or on your phone, not paying attention, or
6 sleeping, or googling something about the parties.
7 Everybody has a chance to ask questions about and
8 rebut the evidence being considered against it in
9 court. So this process of jury selection that we're
10 going to undergo, each side has a chance to ask you
11 some questions, and the questions are only designed
12 to determine your ability to be fair and impartial in
13 this case.
14 I give you a little summary of what this case is
15 about, let me talk to you about that, about what we
16 mean by being a fair and impartial jury. How many of
17 you, by a show of raised hands -- and again, I'm not
18 going to hold it against you. How many of you,
19 despite Dwayne Wade's retirement, and LeBron James
20 being with the Lakers, how many of you are still
21 Miami Heat fans? Okay, I got two hands over there.
22 Okay. I'm not going to hold it against the people
23 who didn't raise your hands. All right. So if I was
24 interviewing you all, and I told you that we were
25 interviewing referees for the game of the Miami Heat

36
1 versus the Los Angeles Lakers, can you be a fair and
2 impartial referee for that? Some of the questions
3 that somebody might ask is, Are you a Heat fan? Have
4 you been to a Heat game? Do you own Heat Jerseys?
5 Do you wear Heat Jerseys? Did you go to the parade
6 for the championship downtown? Do you watch them on
7 TV? Those type of questions to figure out whether
8 you can be a fair and impartial referee. And if they
9 ask you those questions and say, you know what, born
10 and raised in Miami, rooting for the Heat my whole
11 life. I can't be fair in this; I'm going to call the
12 fouls against the Lakers and in favor of the Heat.
13 I'm going to say that the Lakers touched the ball
14 last before it went out of bounds. It's not the
15 right game for me to officiate because, I can't be
16 fair. But if it was the Portland Trailblazers versus
17 the Toronto Raptors, and I don't have a connection to
18 either city or any of the players or any of the
19 seats, yeah, I'm going to call it like I see it. I'm
20 not biased or prejudice one way or the other and I'm
21 just going to call it like I see it.
22 So, back to this case. I told you a little bit
23 about what this case is about. It's a family
24 dispute, or what I believe. What I say is not
25 evidence and what the parties say is not evidence.

37
1 Evidence comes from people who are sworn in to
2 testify. They raise their right hand and swear an
3 oath and then testify. Okay? But I gave you a
4 summary of what this case is about because we're
5 trying to find out if there's anything about this
6 case, just by hearing what it's about, that you feel
7 you couldn't be fair and impartial, or you believe
8 you couldn't be fair and impartial. So, for example,
9 if this was an auto accident case and you had
10 recently been involved in an auto accident and you
11 were injured and you had some bad feelings about it,
12 one way or the other, or you'd been sued, maybe you
13 can't be fair and it's better for you to have an
14 employment dispute, or some other type of a case, if
15 there's something about that type of case that means
16 you couldn't be fair and impartial. In criminal
17 court, for example, if it's a case, the example we
18 always use is, if it's a case where the state is
19 charging somebody with abusing a dog, and you happen
20 to own pets and you volunteer at a pet shelter and
21 you love animals, maybe you say, I can't be fair and
22 impartial to both sides in this case because I'm
23 going to want to find somebody guilty regardless of
24 what the evidence is. So we'll send you back
25 downstairs to the second floor, to the jury pool and

38
1 you'll be picked for a different case where there
2 won't be a problem with your ability to be fair and
3 impartial. But that's the whole point of this
4 process, to make sure that you can be fair and
5 impartial. And then we're also going to talk about
6 scheduling. When you receive that jury summons in
7 the mail, it has a provision for it, in there, that
8 if you know when you get it that you have a conflict,
9 you can reschedule your jury service. Okay? And a
10 lot of people who do that are students who keep their
11 address here and then they reschedule their service
12 for the summer break or the winter break. So if
13 you're here I assume that this could be your
14 re-scheduled jury service or, when you got the
15 summons, you didn't have a conflict, like a pre-paid,
16 non-refundable cruise where you're going to lose your
17 money if you have to obey the summons. So you ask
18 for it to be rescheduled. All right? Today is
19 Tuesday, just to be clear on terms of scheduling.
20 And we're going to talk about scheduling in a little
21 bit, but what I would want to hear from you all, if
22 anybody has something for, probably 'til Thursday,
23 okay, that cannot be rescheduled, like a flight, or a
24 cruise that they've already paid for, or -- I can't
25 excuse people who, just because they work or they go

39
1 to school, because if I excused everybody from jury
2 duty who works and goes to school, I would not be
3 left with very many jurors at all. Okay? So, what I
4 want to hear about during this jury selection process
5 is if anybody has something for basically the rest of
6 this week, but Thursday -- mostly Thursday, possibly
7 Friday, but unlikely Friday. Okay? If you something
8 that cannot be rescheduled, I want you to raise your
9 hand and let me know about that. Okay?
10 THE COURT: Yes, go ahead. What's your name?
11 MS. MENDEZ: Nicole Mendez.
12 THE COURT: Ms. Mendez, go ahead.
13 MS. MENDEZ: I have my graduation on Thursday.
14 THE COURT: Your graduation on Thursday? Okay.
15 That can't be rescheduled. What time is the
16 graduation?
17 MS. MENDEZ: At six.
18 THE COURT: Six p.m.? Okay. Where are you
19 graduating from?
20 MS. MENDEZ: Saint Francis.
21 THE COURT: Oh, okay. Congratulations. Were you
22 planning on -- I mean, obviously, you need to prepare
23 and all that. But if we stopped, you said on
24 Thursday, right? Thursday. I need you to answer out
25 loud because there's a court reporter. So I know

40
1 you're nodding yes, but she can't pick up 'yes.'
2 Okay? What time -- if you got picked as a juror, and
3 if we were in court, if we stopped at like, 1:00 or
4 2:00, then that'd be fine?
5 MS. MENDEZ: That'd be fine.
6 THE COURT: Okay. So, you'd have time to go and
7 get ready? That's the first time that I've heard
8 that one, but that's a pretty good reason.
9 Yes, sir?
10 MR. SOBRERO: Roger Sobrero.
11 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Sobrero?
12 MR. SOBRERO: Friday, I have my kid's
13 Kindergarten graduation, I have a pre-paid flight,
14 business flight to Spain on Friday afternoon.
15 THE COURT: What time is the graduation?
16 MR. SOBRERO: Nine in the morning.
17 THE COURT: Okay. Got it.
18 Anybody else in the front row?
19 Yes, sir. Give me your name please. Mr. Gayle,
20 is it?
21 MR. GAYLE: Yes, that's right.
22 THE COURT: Go ahead.
23 MR. GAYLE: On Friday I have a scheduled closing
24 out of town.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Are you buying or selling

41
1 something?
2 MR. GAYLE: Selling.
3 THE COURT: Okay. And are you flying or driving?
4 MR. GAYLE: Driving.
5 THE COURT: Driving? Well, what time are you
6 planning on leaving Friday?
7 MR. GAYLE: Before sunrise. I need to be in
8 Jacksonville.
9 THE COURT: Okay. Got it.
10 Okay. Anybody else in the front row?
11 Okay. Yes ma'am. Can you speak up?
12 MS. SINGER: I'm moving on Thursday.
13 THE COURT: Okay. And this is Ms. Singer?
14 MS. SINGER: Yes.
15 THE COURT: Okay. You're moving on Thursday,
16 office or residence?
17 MS. SINGER: New residence.
18 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Anybody else in
19 the back row? Okay, let the record reflect -- okay.
20 That's all I have for you. As I said, each side is
21 going to have an opportunity to ask you some
22 questions if they want to. And then we're going to
23 engage in the jury selection process, where each side
24 will give me, if they can give me a reason why they
25 think you can't be fair and impartial, or you

42
1 otherwise can't serve on the jury. Okay? All right.
2 You may proceed. If you have any questions that
3 you'd like to ask.
4 MS. PETITHOMME: I'm sorry?
5 THE COURT: If you have any questions you'd like
6 to ask, you have an opportunity, but you don't have
7 to.
8 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have any questions.
9 THE COURT: Okay. No problem.
10 MR. VERA: Good morning, everyone. My name is
11 Mike Vera. And, just to echo what the Judge said, we
12 do appreciate your time, your service and we will
13 make sure we're respectful of it. I just have a few
14 general questions. You can start off with a show of
15 hands, and if I want to call on someone in
16 particular, I will. But, just to start off, is
17 anybody here familiar with the parties in this
18 action? The parties are Rodney Petithomme, Modeline
19 Petithomme, Monise Petithomme and Wilkens Petithomme.
20 Does anybody know or have any kind of relationship
21 with any of the parties? That's a no, right?
22 THE COURT: Raise your hand if you -- and I
23 should have asked that. If you know me or any of the
24 lawyers, or anybody else that you see in the
25 courtroom, if you know us from outside of the

43
1 courtroom, please raise your hand. Okay. Let the
2 record reflect no raised hands. And then again, the
3 parties in this case. I'll read it to you again.
4 Rodney Petithomme, Monise Petithomme, Modeline
5 Petithomme, Wilkins Petithomme and the Estate of
6 Pherimon (phonetic) Petithomme who, unfortunately,
7 passed away. Pherimon Petithomme. Let the record
8 reflect, no raised hands.
9 MR. VERA: Another general question. Does
10 anybody here own, or have you owned property? A home
11 -- and then, has anybody here, again a show of hands,
12 ever had a dispute with a family member? Any kind of
13 dispute with a family member? Yes, I am building up
14 to the next question. So, anybody here have a fight
15 with a family member?
16 [Crosstalk] [Laughter].
17 MR. VERA: Have any of those fights ever
18 escalated to a lawsuit? All right.
19 Folks, thank you again.
20 THE COURT: So let me just ask again. For sure
21 we're going to be here on Thursday. Nobody, other
22 than what's already been told to me, nobody else has
23 any --
24 Yes, sir?
25 MR. CAMPANA: I have a strict, rigid (phonetic)

44
1 volunteering on Thursday morning.
2 THE COURT: Okay. And let me just make sure.
3 For the record, we need to identify your name.
4 You're Mr. Campana? That's a yes?
5 MR. CAMPANA: Yes.
6 THE COURT: I just need you to answer out loud.
7 I'm not trying to be difficult, but. Okay. You have
8 volunteering on Thursday?
9 MR. CAMPANA: I have Physical Therapy for my
10 test.
11 THE COURT: Okay. So you're a full time student
12 at UM, and that's what you're studying, or you want
13 to study, is Physical Therapy?
14 MR. CAMPANA: Yes. And I'm doing it part time
15 over the summer at FIU. I'm taking physics and I
16 have an exam on Monday.
17 THE COURT: On Monday?
18 MR. CAMPANA: Hm-hum.
19 THE COURT: Meaning next week?
20 MR. CAMPANA: Meaning next week.
21 THE COURT: Oh, yeah. That's not going to be a
22 problem. Okay, anybody else want to tell me anything
23 about scheduling? Please raise your hand. Okay. If
24 you all can please step outside. While you're
25 outside, please do not discuss anything having --

45
1 Yes?
2 MS. PETITHOMME: I have a quick question.
3 THE COURT: Is it a question for the jury, or is
4 it a question for me?
5 MS. PETITHOMME: I guess both.
6 THE COURT: Okay.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: So, I wasn't sure if they were
8 just trying to tell them about the case, like letting
9 them know -- is he trying to do the case right now,
10 or --
11 THE COURT: No, we're not doing the case --
12 MS. PETITHOMME: Because I wanted to object to
13 whatever it is that they just stated.
14 THE COURT: Okay. All right.
16 THE COURT: Okay. So, while you're outside and
17 while you're on any break from the case, please do
18 not discuss the case with one another. Don't discuss
19 it with anybody else on the phone. Don't Google
20 anything, or don't look-up anything. Please don't
21 post anything on social media about anything having
22 to do with the case. Because hopefully you have a
23 million followers, but they're all going to tell you
24 what to do with the case and who to do it to, and how
25 to do it. So please, other than saying I'm being

46
1 called for jury duty, please don't say anything else
2 about the case. Okay?
3 THE BAILIFF: All rise for the jury, please,
4 folks.
5 (Jury exits.)
6 THE COURT: Okay. Please be seated. Okay. Each
7 side has three peremptories.
8 MS. PETITHOMME: What was the question?
9 THE COURT: Each side -- you can excuse three
10 jurors without giving me a reason why you're excusing
11 them, if you'd like to excuse them. Otherwise you
12 have to give me a reason to believe why they can't be
13 fair and impartial. So, are there any jurors --
14 You're okay?
15 MR. VERA: We have no peremptory challenges, Your
16 Honor.
17 THE COURT: Okay. All right. Very good.
18 Now, are there any jurors, Plaintiff, that you
19 would like to excuse?
20 MS. PETITHOMME: Yes. Give me one moment, let me
21 just review this. The first person is Ralph
22 Rosenberg.
23 THE COURT: Ralph Rosenberg. What number is he?
24 Number eleven? Number eleven. And what's the
25 reason, are you saying there is some reason --

47
1 MS. PETITHOMME: Well you said I don't have to
2 have a reason, right?
3 THE COURT: You're right. You get three where
4 you don't have to have a reason.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay. So, he'll be one of them.
6 THE COURT: Okay.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: Arlene Diaz.
8 THE COURT: Number three. Okay.
9 MS. PETITHOMME: And my last person would be
10 Aymara Laticia Barns (Phonetic).
11 THE COURT: Thank you. So, our jurors are going
12 to be #1, Sonya Hamilton; #2, Jimmie Camacho; #3
13 Xavier -- I'm sorry, excuse me -- #4, Xavier Matos;
14 #5, Felix Avandano; #6, Nicole Stallings-Blanch; #7,
15 Christine Singer; and I'm going to have an alternate,
16 which will be Franz Demosthenes.
17 MR. SKISCIM: Your Honor, I believe #7 is the one
18 who said she had a conflict on Thursday.
19 THE COURT: Oh, thank you for bringing that to my
20 attention. Oh, she's moving on Thursday. Yea, I'm
21 going to excuse her for cause. So, Mr. Demosthenes
22 will be one of the six, and then Hector Coronado will
23 be our alternate. Okay. So, when we come back, I'm
24 going to have you do openings. Okay? You're going
25 to have a chance to do an opening statement about you

48
1 believe the evidence will show in this case. Do you
2 have a certified interpreter?
3 MS. PETITHOMME: No.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Are you ready to present your
5 first witness?
6 MS. PETITHOMME: I am going to let them go first.
7 THE COURT: No, you have to go first because
8 you're the one -- the Plaintiff goes first. You have
9 to prove your case.
10 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay. So when I go ahead and I
11 -- so I go first. And what am I doing?
12 THE COURT: Proving the allegations in the
13 complaint. Rodney Petithomme filed a complaint
14 against all these folks.
15 MS. PETITHOMME: Proving that he owns the house.
16 THE COURT: Proving all of these things. That
17 there was an oral agreement, that Rodney purchased
18 property, that Monise Petithomme fraudulently induced
19 and forged Pheromone's (phonetic) signature. You
20 have to prove all these allegations that are in this
21 complaint.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. Yes. I don't have a
23 copy of all the allegations, but -- and I don't have
24 my, I don't have any -- like I said, I don't have --
25 you dismissed Cordon on Thursday and I don't have a

49
1 lawyer right now. But, I can't properly represent
2 myself, my dad --
3 THE COURT: You said you wanted to go forward
4 with the case.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: Right, but also, I also wanted
6 to let you know that I felt like it was being unfair
7 for me not being able to have a lawyer present here
8 also.
9 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. So you'll have to
10 call your first witness and any other exhibits --
11 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have any witnesses.
12 THE COURT: Isn't Rodney Petithomme a witness?
13 MS. PETITHOMME: Yea, but I don't have am
14 interrupter. So would I be able to interpret for
15 him.
16 MR. VERA: I just wanted to clarify, is
17 Ms. Petithomme going to be advocating for
18 Mr. Petithomme?
19 THE COURT: It appears that that's what has been
20 happening all along.
21 MR. VERA: I just want to set that straight, so
22 we understand what's going on. I have no issue with
23 that, if that is what the Plaintiff has chosen.
24 THE COURT: If you have no objection, then --
25 MR. VERA: If they do want to put Mr. Petithomme

50
1 on the stand, I would ask that they get a certified
2 interpreter, so that we know we can rely on that
3 interpretation.
4 THE COURT: You're going to have to have a
5 certified interpreter.
6 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have one right now.
7 Where do I obtain one?
8 THE COURT: Mr. Cordon could have told you that.
9 MS. PETITHOMME: I'm sorry.
10 THE COURT: Let's bring in the jury and swear
11 them in.
12 MS. PETITHOMME: I didn't hear you, Sir.
13 THE COURT: Okay. I'm going to explain it to
14 you.
16 (Judge is speaking to his Bailiff about the
17 jurors.)
18 THE BAILIFF: All rise for the jury please.
19 (Jury enters.)
20 THE COURT: Okay. If you could just please
21 remain standing, you're going to be sworn in as
22 jurors to try this case.
23 (Thereupon, having first been duly sworn and
24 responding, "I do," the jury was seated.)
25 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, everybody. I

51
1 am going to have you step outside just for a moment.
2 There's some legal issues I need to speak with the
3 attorneys about and then I'll bring you right back
4 in.
5 THE BAILIFF: All rise. Coming out.
6 (Jury exits.)
7 (Crosstalk).
8 THE COURT: Please be seated. Okay, so other
9 than Rodney Petithomme, are there any other witnesses
10 you'd seek to present in this case?
11 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have any witnesses, Sir.
12 THE COURT: Okay. I am going to bring them in
13 and I'm just going to read an abbreviated instruction
14 to them and then you all can -- how much time do you
15 need for opening?
16 MR. VERA: Maybe five, no more than five minutes.
17 THE COURT: An opening statement is a chance for
18 you to tell them what the evidence will be in the
19 trial and what you are likely to see and hear in the
20 testimony. That's what I am reading from the jury
21 instructions.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: Okay. And so -- since I don't
23 have a list of all the issues that was presented, do
24 I -- how do I go about just letting them know all the
25 evidence that I'm trying to --

52
1 THE COURT: If the only evidence that you're
2 presenting is Rodney Petithomme's testimony, then I
3 guess you're going to tell them what his testimony is
4 likely to be.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: But you said I need to have a
6 certified interpreter?
7 THE COURT: That's true so I am going to tell you
8 to call your first witness and if they object, then I
9 have to sustain the objection.
10 MS. PETITHOMME: But the thing is, I have to have
11 the certified interpreter, can I not get one?
12 THE COURT: You can. You could have -- you could
13 have had one here.
14 MS. PETITHOMME: I didn't know we were having
15 trial today, sir. That what I was saying -- you gave
16 us the 30 days after you dismissed Cordon, so I
17 thought we could have the 30 days given to us to find
18 an attorney.
19 THE COURT: But the order also says, there is not
20 going to be a continuance. Okay. Can you bring in
21 the jury.
22 MR. VERA: One last item, I am sorry. If it's
23 all right with the Court, if Ms. Petithomme is going
24 to give the opening argument, would the Court allow
25 her to be sworn, put under oath just so -- to make

53
1 sure it's truthful, that she's not an officer of the
2 Court and --
3 THE COURT: It's opening statement, not opening
4 argument and there's a difference. But, I'm not
5 going to swear her in. But if you object, I'll
6 sustain -- if it's a proper objection, I'll sustain
7 your objection.
8 MR. VERA: Understood. Thank you, Your Honor.
9 THE BAILIFF: All rise for the jury, please.
10 (Jury enters.)
11 THE COURT: All right, please be seated. Ladies
12 and Gentlemen, in a few moments, each side is going
13 to have an opportunity to make what are called
14 opening statements. In an opening statement an
15 attorney is allowed to give you, or a party is
16 allowed to give you their view about what the
17 evidence will be in the Trial and what you are likely
18 to see and hear in the testimony.
19 After the opening statements, the Plaintiffs
20 bring their witnesses and evidence to you. Evidence
21 is the information that the law allows you to see or
22 hear in deciding this case. Evidence includes the
23 testimony of witnesses, documents, and anything else
24 that I instruct you to consider. A witness is a
25 person who takes an oath to tell the truth and then

54
1 answers attorneys' questions for the jury. The
2 answering of attorneys' questions by witnesses is
3 called giving testimony. Testimony means statements
4 that are made when someone has sworn an oath to tell
5 the truth.
6 The Plaintiff's lawyer will normally ask a
7 witness the questions first. That's called direct
8 examination. Then the Defense lawyer may ask the
9 same witness additional questions about whatever the
10 witness has testified to. That's called cross
11 examination. Certain documents or other evidence may
12 also be shown to you during direct or cross
13 examination. After the Plaintiff's witnesses have
14 testified the Defendant will have the opportunity to
15 put witnesses on the stand and go through the same
16 process. Then the Plaintiff's lawyer gets to do
17 cross examination. The process is designed to be
18 fair to both sides.
19 It's important for you to remember that testimony
20 comes from witnesses. The attorney's do not give
21 testimony and they are not themselves, witnesses.
22 Sometimes the attorneys will disagree about the rules
23 for Trial procedure when a question is asked of a
24 witness. When that happens, one of the lawyers may
25 make what is known as an objection. The rules for a

55
1 Trial can be complicated and there are many reasons
2 for attorneys to object. You should simply wait for
3 me to decide how to proceed. If I say that an
4 objection is sustained, that means the witness may
5 not answer the question. If I say that an objection
6 is overruled, that means the witness may answer the
7 question. When there an objection and I make a
8 decision, you must not assume from that decision that
9 I have any particular opinion other than that the
10 rules for conducting a Trial are being correctly
11 followed. If I say a question may not be asked or
12 answered, you must not try to guess what the answer
13 would have been. That is against the rules also.
14 And with that, each side has an opportunity to
15 make an opening statement. Ms. Petithomme, you may
16 proceed. Oh, you have some notepads and pens there
17 for your use. You don't have to take notes, but if
18 you want to take notes, you can take notes. Please
19 put your name on the outside of the folder there, so
20 that we give you back your notes. You shouldn't take
21 your notes with you, from the courthouse or from the
22 courtroom. Frank will keep possession of your notes
23 and when we're done with the case, your notes are
24 going to be ripped up and destroyed and nobody's ever
25 going to read your notes. Your notes are for your

56
1 personal use.
2 BY MS. PETITHOMME: So I guess, Hi, everyone.
3 I'm not an attorney. I'm just a regular person just
4 like you all, that's come to Court to help my father.
5 My father came to this country with nothing. He came
6 here and he brought his brothers and sisters over and
7 in turn, purchased them a house so they could live in
8 it, also. And in that whole process, they took --
9 they stole the home under his hands in the sense
10 where he gave them the money to buy the house, all
11 evidence was given to my brother to buy a house -- to
12 my uncle, I am sorry, to buy the house and then in
13 turn, when he got really sick and wasn't able to make
14 decisions for himself, they put him in a nursing
15 home, had him sign over a quitclaim deed so they
16 could put the house under his name and my aunt's name
17 which has been going in a massive big problem for the
18 past couple of years. Almost seven years. And it's
19 been a family dispute for some time.
20 And so, my evidence that -- I don't -- I was just
21 thrown to this morning. I was asking for -- they
22 dismissed our attorney last minute, so therefore I'm
23 just trying to step in to help my father at this
24 time. And, all I'm asking is that, you know, what
25 I'm trying to say is that he purchased the house with

57
1 cash. So there wasn't a lot of a paper trail with
2 the cash, or things of that nature. And when they
3 took the home from him, it's almost -- they made it
4 seem like he never purchased it. He didn't have the
5 money for it, but no one else worked. No one had any
6 money to kind of put down -- the money to put down
7 for the house. They stated to him that he had, that
8 he didn't have no fundings, although my dad's worked
9 all his life. I guess where I'm going with this is
10 that he -- he purchased the house with cash but then
11 they went ahead, they signed a quitclaim deed, he
12 signed a quitclaim deed, and they put the house into
13 my aunt's name, who's been saying the house is hers.
14 Then my uncle stepped in saying, no it's a family
15 property. But then no one put any money into the
16 house.
17 So, what I'm trying to get at is that is that, I
18 want you to -- put yourself in my situation, and my
19 father's situation. You came here, you purchased a
20 home, you were helping out your brother because he
21 wasn't able to get the home on his own and then on
22 top of that, he passes away -- they throw him in a
23 nursing home -- the quickest way to kill someone is
24 to throw them in a nursing home, right? You throw
25 them in a nursing home, you don't see them, you don't

58
1 go and take care of them, and then all of a sudden
2 you just go ahead and tell them no, you can't come in
3 anymore, and they take the house from you, and they
4 take everything from you. All the stuff that you've
5 worked hard for, the thing that you brought your
6 family over to this country for, and they just kind
7 of like, they just kind of wipe their butts with it,
8 in a sense.
9 And so, what I am asking is that, to be fair, to
10 be able to see that the evidence that's presented --
11 well I don't have any evidence. I don't have a
12 lawyer, I'm sorry. I don't know what -- I don't have
13 any evidence so I, I mean you didn't give me time to
14 get evidence prepared or things like that. So how do
15 I do that?
16 THE COURT: Is there anything else you want to
17 tell the jury about what the evidence will show?
18 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't know what the evidence
19 will show. I don't have them in front of me to show.
20 THE COURT: Okay. Is there anything else you'd
21 like to tell them?
22 BY MS. PETITHOMME: I guess, coming from a human
23 -- from a, from just a human perspective. Just being
24 -- just to pick apart the whole, the struggles that
25 people go through in their lives. Being able to come

59
1 to this country with nothing, and then having
2 everything taken away from you, in a sense. I'm
3 sorry, you guys. I feel very bad right now because I
4 thought I'd have a lawyer and I don't have a lawyer
5 to represent me today. But, I'm pretty sure if we'd
6 go to trial and at trial was represented, you would
7 see where all the evidence would point towards him
8 owning the home and that what they're trying to do,
9 in a sense of sabotaging him, is so unfair, wrong.
10 And words can't describe how upsetting it is to just
11 have, you know, to try to help your dad at the same
12 time you have family members there, you know, being
13 mean and being wrong and trying to take away
14 everything that you actually worked hard for, for
15 your whole entire life.
16 Buying a house was a huge decision. You don't
17 just go up and say, Oh here's ten grand, I'm going to
18 buy a house right now. No, it's a lot of money to
19 buy a house, especially in Miami-Dade County. And
20 when you don't have -- when you come from nothing and
21 then you finally build yourself up to a certain
22 perspective of being able to buy something, it's
23 almost as if -- then someone just to take it away
24 from you, it's almost as if, why are you doing this
25 to me?
60
1 And so, I am just asking that you all be fair, in
2 the sense of give me the opportunity to try to get
3 myself prepared so when we do go to trial, I can have
4 all the evidence to prove that he does own this home
5 and that he did actually put all the money towards,
6 to purchase it. He put all his money from a 401(k)
7 that he had and then, on top of that, where they
8 didn't have anything to work for -- I mean they
9 worked, but never enough money for them to be able to
10 purchase a home, where my dad was able to step in.
11 He came in, one-by-one they came from the islands,
12 we're Haitians, we came from, they all came from
13 Haiti. My dad paid for their visas, he paid for them
14 to come here, he worked hard, as a truck driver, and
15 he provided for his own family, in addition to his
16 own -- his sisters and brothers. And for today, for
17 them to just come up and take his home away from him,
18 it's just, it's just really unfortunate. So in the
19 evidence, it would show that they did, that my uncle
20 did not have any property, he didn't have any real
21 job. The evidence will show that he was hospitalized
22 and even in the hospital they said, when they asked
23 does he have any property, they stated that he had no
24 property. The said that they had no property, they
25 own no home, they own nothing. And even the bank

61
1 statements that were drawn from his 401(k) will show
2 that the money came from his account initially.
3 If you ask a real person, just a simple person,
4 how'd you get the money? How'd you get $50,000?
5 Just a simple question like that, where'd he get that
6 money from? What job, what work, what income did
7 they have to come and get me that? What kind of
8 money was coming in? How'd you have this money if it
9 wasn't given to you initially? So, as long as you
10 show that you don't have, you show that -- you have
11 him purchase a home for you, just take it right from
12 under his feet. You know, how do you just go ahead
13 and just pick -- take something from someone that you
14 had nothing.
15 The fair thing to do is to give him back the home
16 and let the whole thing be at peace. But no, they
17 got into, he's passed on, so I'm pretty sure they got
18 the money from his life insurance to kind of help
19 fund all this stuff. While all this is going on,
20 refinance the house and ask the bank for different
21 things so they could fix the house; how to tell them
22 there was a claim on the house, when there wasn't a
23 real claim on the house. So as long as they're
24 showing us, they're telling us that, oh yea, we own
25 the home but we did this -- it's just my home, it's

62
1 just mine, mine, mine, mine. Where is the proof,
2 where's the money that you had that you put up?
3 Where's your past employment from that you got for
4 this? Where was the, where is, where's all, how did
5 you make the income to pay for this home? How long
6 did it take for you to close? Who were the -- you
7 know, you were all there, but what is it that you had
8 to bring to the table to prove that you were actually
9 the initial owner of the home? And then for him to
10 be in a nursing home and do a quitclaim deed, it made
11 no sense.
12 So at the end, I'm just asking that if you all,
13 if we can have a fair chance to go to trial and the
14 Judge give me an opportunity to get an attorney so I
15 can also have proper representation so that we can
16 prove that this case is wrong and unfair.
17 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
18 BY MR. VERA: Good morning, everyone. I
19 introduced myself earlier but, again, my name is
20 Michael Vera and I, along with my partner, Michael
21 Skiscim we represent the Defendants, Monise, Modeline
22 and Wilkens. Ms. Petithomme has just made several
23 declarations to you. These declarations are ones
24 that they will not be able to prove in a court of
25 law. Ultimately, the Plaintiff has filed this

63
1 lawsuit in an attempt to actually steal his sister's
2 home from her. He will be unable to prove that he
3 provided any moneys for the down payment, that he
4 paid the mortgage, or that he paid other related
5 costs. He'll be unable to show that he had knowledge
6 of what was happening. Most importantly, he will be
7 unable to prove that he and his brother Pheromone
8 made the agreement that Rodney, the Plaintiff, relies
9 upon. In fact, it was Pheromone who purchased this
10 property. As Ms. Petithomme said, he did pass away.
11 He passed away in 2010. In 2004 he purchased this
12 property; we will show you where the moneys came from
13 for that down payment. Pheromone financed the rest
14 of the purchase. It was a $100,000 purchase. He
15 financed $95,000 of the purchase price, which is why
16 there was and to this day remains a mortgage on this
17 property. Rodney, the Plaintiff claims that this
18 home is his because his brother Pheromone and he
19 agreed it to be so. But as mentioned, Pheromone was
20 the one who purchased this property. As the
21 homeowner, he voluntarily transferred it to his
22 sister, Monise. That transaction occurred in 2004
23 and for the next six years no one in this family
24 objected. Pheromone himself did not object.
25 Everybody carried on with this transaction as it was

64
1 until the day of his death. During that time, Monise
2 was responsible for the property, the costs
3 associated with it, the payment of the mortgage, the
4 payment of the taxes, the payment of the property
5 insurance. And she enjoined in that home, she's
6 lived in that home, she lives in that home to this
7 day. But for some reason, in 2012, eight years after
8 the home was purchased, Rodney decides to file this
9 lawsuit --
10 MS. PETITHOMME: I object, sir.
11 THE COURT: Overruled. Go ahead.
12 MS. PETITHOMME: She doesn't live in that house.
13 THE COURT: An objection has to be a legal
14 objection.
15 Sorry about that.
16 MR. VERA: In 2012 Rodney decides to file this
17 lawsuit, he decides to claim that all living members
18 of his family are lying and they are conspiring
19 against him. And that the only people who can
20 support his claim, have died. Despite the fact that
21 they had, while alive the preceding eight years, they
22 never made any objection. You're going to hear about
23 the burden of evidence during the Trial. The burden
24 here belongs to Rodney and that stands as one of
25 clear and convincing evidence. It's sounds exactly

65
1 as it -- it's defined exactly as it sounds. Precise,
2 obvious, leaving me with no confusion. Now it's up
3 to Rodney to prove these claims, to the extent he
4 can. And as Ms. Petithomme said, buying a home is a
5 very big deal. Rodney already owns a separate home.
6 So he knows how big a deal it is. What he's not
7 going to be able to tell you is why he waited so
8 long. If he is the homeowner, why wouldn't he act on
9 his rights as soon as possible? He will be unable to
10 explain why he thought, as a homeowner, he didn't
11 have to make the payments or make the full purchase
12 price. He will be unable to give you a reason why he
13 didn't make the mortgage payments, the property
14 taxes, the property insurance, improvements upon the
15 land. The Defendants are not required to prove
16 anything in this trial, we can still prevail, we will
17 present evidence that Mr. Pheromone Petithomme
18 purchased the property, made the down payment and
19 chose to transfer the title to himself and his
20 sister, Monise jointly. Moreover, Pheromone's own
21 children, Wilkens and Lebien are also defendants in
22 this case, as well his other surviving brother,
23 Lebien will testify that Pheromone intended this to
24 be Monise's home that Monise has made those payments
25 and she has acted like a homeowner in every sense of

66
1 the word. Ask yourself this, if you were a true
2 owner of a property, would you wait eight years to
3 assert your rights? Would you allow your family to
4 wrong you out of a home for over nearly a decade?
5 Would you believe that you were the homeowner,
6 despite not having made all the mortgage payments,
7 despite not having made property tax payments,
8 despite not living in the property? Would you allow
9 your brother to take a property from you, one you
10 claim is your property? Wouldn't you act to protect
11 your rights faster? Again today, Rodney Petithomme
12 filed this lawsuit nearly seven years ago, has
13 dragged multiple members of his family through this
14 litigation for the sole purpose of trying to steal
15 someone's home. He has no evidence. He will not be
16 able to prevail. And again, we thank you very much
17 for your time and for your consideration to our case.
18 MS. PETITHOMME: Can I say something now, Judge?
19 THE COURT: No, the opening statements are done.
20 MS. PETITHOMME: Oh, okay. Well, what about some
21 of the things that he say that I thought wasn't true
22 or fair?
23 THE COURT: Well, that's why you have to present
24 evidence.
25 Okay. Plaintiff, for your first witness?

67
1 MS. PETITHOMME: I don't have any witnesses, Sir.
2 This was sprung-on on me, so I don't have any
3 witnesses right now.
4 THE COURT: So you don't have any witnesses?
5 MS. PETITHOMME: No. If you give me the 30 days
6 for me to be able to get an attorney I can provide
7 all the witnesses and have everything up to speed.
8 But definitely, at this time I don't have a witness.
9 THE COURT: Okay. Let's have the jury go outside
10 for 5 minutes. You can please put your notes in your
11 folders there and just leave them on your chair.
12 Frank will guard them. If you can step outside
13 please.
14 THE BAILIFF: All rise for the jury please.
15 (Jury exits.)
16 THE COURT: Please be seated. Okay. So you're
17 not presenting any evidence, so the Plaintiff rests.
18 Do you all want to get a motion?
19 MR. VERA: Yes, Your Honor. We'd like to move
20 for a Directed Verdict at this time.
21 THE COURT: Okay.
22 MS. PETITHOMME: What does that mean?
23 THE COURT: That means that because you failed to
24 present evidence to support your case, that a
25 judgement will be entered in the Defendant's favor.

68
1 MS. PETITHOMME: I'm sorry?
2 THE COURT: A judgement will be entered in the
3 Defendant's favor because you failed to present
4 evidence.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: But, like I said, I don't have a
6 lawyer. You dismissed Cordon Thursday and I don't
7 have -- I thought you gave us the 30 days --
8 THE COURT: Ma'am the record on Appeal is going
9 to be very, very clear. If you decide to appeal this
10 case the record's going to be really clear and again,
11 I urge the Appellate Court to look at the long
12 history of this case from 2012 to today. The fact
13 that it was set for Trial some time ago. Mr. Cordon
14 has made numerous appearances before the Court. Uhm,
15 your client's are all here.
16 MR. VERA: They are all here, yes.
17 THE COURT: Did you want to present anybody's
18 testimony, or at least proffer for the record what
19 their testimony would be if they had to testify?
20 MR. VERA: I can proffer for the record; I
21 wouldn't want to --
22 THE COURT: Okay. Why don't you proffer for the
23 record. Identify each witness who's here and proffer
24 for the record what their testimony would be.
25 MS. PETITHOMME: And what does proffer for the

69
1 record mean?
2 THE COURT: Proffer means that he's going to tell
3 the Court of Appeal, if called to testify, what their
4 testimony would be, what they would say.
5 MS. PETITHOMME: Why are they talking about Court
6 of Appeals right now?
7 THE COURT: All right, thank you very much.
8 BY MR. VERA: Your Honor, first is Modeline
9 Petithomme and Wilkens Petithomme, the defense would
10 not have called them. We'd only cross them in the
11 event that the Plaintiff had called them as
12 witnesses.
13 With regard to Monise Petithomme, Monise would
14 have testified that she moved into the home, that it
15 is her home, that she has made her mortgage payments,
16 that her, excuse me -- She, her brother Pheromone,
17 her brother Lebien, who is also in the courtroom
18 today, and Rodney Petithomme drove to Rodney
19 Petithomme's attorney, Dave Goldman, his office, in
20 December of 2004, to execute the quitclaim deed at
21 issue in this case, giving her joint title of
22 rights-of-survivorship, with Pheromone. She will
23 testify that there were no objections to any of this
24 for the preceding six years, and that during that
25 time she helped Pheromone, she took care of him while

70
1 he was at home and that would be the nature of her
2 testimony.
3 With respect to Lebien Petithomme, we would have
4 called him and he would have testified along the
5 lines that he was present at both the original
6 closing, which he took himself, his brother Rodney,
7 his brother Pheromone and his brother Gene; as well
8 as the subsequent quitclaim deed later on that year
9 which, between Rodney, Pheromone, Lebien and Monise;
10 that Rodney was aware at all times, both in February
11 2004, as well as in December 2004, what was
12 transpiring with the home at the initial purchase and
13 at the subsequent quitclaim deed. He would also
14 testify that Pheromone was the one who acquired the
15 funds for the $10,000 check, which was part of the
16 closing, at that -- yea, Pheromone -- that Pheromone
17 was the one who acquired the funds for the $10,000
18 check at closing; that the additional $2,000 that was
19 used at closing, which has been at issue in this
20 case, was lent to Pheromone by his brother Gene, also
21 since deceased; that all the members of the family
22 knew of the decisions that were being taken, that
23 they often consulted with each other and Lebien had a
24 special confidence with Pheromone as he was his
25 medical proxy in health care surrogate. That is

71
1 essentially what they would testify to.
2 And we were also provided evidence through Lebien
3 and through Monise that Monise has made somewhere in
4 the area of about 35 percent of the mortgage
5 payments, that Lebien has made a similar amount of
6 mortgage payments, and we would have elicited during
7 cross examination of Rodney Petithomme, that he may
8 have paid three or four mortgage payments throughout
9 the course of history, that he hasn't made any
10 payment since the early aughts. And that would be
11 it, really.
12 THE COURT: Okay. All right, thank you. Well,
13 I'm going to grant your Motion for Directed Verdict.
14 MR. VERA: Thank you, Your Honor.
15 THE COURT: Okay.
16 MS. PETITHOMME: What's that mean?
17 THE COURT: I'll ask you to submit a proposed
18 order in accordance with that. Make sure that you
19 have -- what's your email address, to receive Court
20 filings?
21 MS. PETITHOMME: I'll have to write it, it's
22 pretty long.
23 THE COURT: Excuse me?
24 MS. PETITHOMME: I have to write it down. It's
25 pretty long.
72
1 THE COURT: Okay. All right. If you could write
2 it down.
3 MS. PETITHOMME: I have a question because I --
4 THE COURT: Okay, hold on a second, because I'm
5 going to go outside and then I'm going to come back.
6 I'm going to go address the jury.
7 THE BAILIFF: All rise please.
8 (Judge exits.)
9 (Judge enters.)
10 THE COURT: All right. Please be seated. I'm
11 sorry, was there something else you wanted to say?
12 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. So, I want to say that I
13 object to everything that this man stated, just now.
14 I feel like --
15 THE COURT: Let me also, are you an attorney?
16 MS. PETITHOMME: I'm not a lawyer.
17 THE COURT: Right. So actually what you're doing
18 is engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
19 They didn't object to that, but it's actually, I
20 think it's a third degree felony, to engage in the
21 unauthorized practice of law. Now you are
22 Mr. Petithomme's --
23 MS. PETITHOMME: Well I'm not trying to be a
24 lawyer, and I said that I'm not a lawyer --
25 THE COURT: You said you wanted to go forward.

73
1 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But you said I could
2 also represent my father; I could advocate for him.
3 That's what I thought we all agreed that I could
4 advocated for him.
5 THE COURT: You said you were an interpreter when
6 you walked in here, not an advocator.
7 MS. PETITHOMME: Right, but he said in a sense,
8 is she an advocate --
9 THE COURT: I haven't seen you interpret once,
10 actually. For the record, I haven't seen, I haven't
11 seen Gina Petithomme, other than have conversations,
12 but she hasn't acted as a translator or an
13 interpreter. So, this case was set for Trial
14 February 21st, 2019. At least the most recent time
15 for this calendar period, now in May of 2019. It's
16 already been recounted extensively on this record and
17 again, I would urge the Appellate Court to look at
18 the extensive, extensive docket in this case and the
19 Plaintiff has failed to present any evidence it's
20 allegation on its original complaint or in any other
21 amended complaint. And for those reasons, after the
22 jury was sworn, I granted the Motion for Directed
23 Verdict. All right?
24 MS. PETITHOMME: But I have a --
25 THE COURT: I want you to submit an order and

74
1 judgement.
2 MS. PETITHOMME: But, Judge, I --
3 MR. VERA: Judge, on the Trial Order, I have a
4 gpetithomme2@gmail.com. Is that a bad email address?
5 MS. PETITHOMME: But I have a quick question
6 before I respond to that. My question was, I was
7 saying that I object. You told me, I thought you
8 said that I could object. So if I say 'object' that
9 means I have a third degree felony against me?
10 THE COURT: I'm just saying that if anybody was
11 engaged in the unauthorized practice of law --
12 MS. PETITHOMME: Which I'm not. I said I wasn't
13 a lawyer; I asked if I could have a lawyer
14 represented for me several different times. I wasn't
15 saying that I was an attorney. I even addressed the
16 jury saying I wasn't a lawyer. But I am just saying
17 that I object to all this stuff that's being done
18 today and what he stated, the ruling itself. I feel
19 like it's not being fair. You dismiss our attorney
20 at last minute and then you expect us to get an
21 attorney to have today. And then they come up and
22 they mention all their different things, things that
23 I'm not understanding. And I'm just asking for a
24 fair trial at this time. And I think I'm due for
25 that, constitutionally. But, with proper

75
1 representation.
2 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you all very much.
3 THE BAILIFF: All rise. Okay. I'll have
4 everybody exit the courtroom, please.
5 (Thereupon, the hearing was concluded at 11:55
6 a.m.)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

05.28.2019 Petithomme R Vs M Final

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

05.28.2019 Petithomme R Vs M Final

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

1

1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 11TH

3 CASE NO.: 2012-033200-CA-01

13 Proceedings had and taken place before the Honorable

14 Judge Thomas J. Rebull, one of the Judges of said Court,

15 at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, 14th Floor, 73 West

16 Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, 33130 on Tuesday the 28th

17 day of May 2019, commencing at the hour of 9:51 a.m., and

18 being a Non-Jury Trial.

2 On Behalf of the Defendant:

3 VERA and SKISCIM, P.L.

1 (Thereupon the following proceedings were had:)

2 THE COURT: All right, so we're on the record in

3 Rodney Petithomme and Monise Petithomme and others.

4 You're Mr. Rodney Petithomme?

5 MR. PETITHOMME: Yes, Sir.

6 THE COURT: And you're?

7 MS. PETITHOMME: Hi. Good morning. My name is

8 Gina Petithomme. I'm his daughter. I'll be

9 translating for him today.

10 THE COURT: You'll what?

11 MS. PETITHOMME: I will translate for him today.

12 THE COURT: You'll --

13 MS. PETITHOMME: I'll be translating.

14 THE COURT: Oh, translating. Got it, got it.

15 Okay. If you want to grab the microphone and pull it

17 MS. PETITHOMME: Oh, okay.

18 THE COURT: Thanks. All right. Do you want to

19 state your appearance for the record here?

20 MR. VERA: Yes, Your Honor. Michael Vera on

21 behalf of the Defendants.

22 MR. SKISCIM: And Michael Skiscim on behalf of

24 THE COURT: And who is here with you?

25 MR. VERA: Here with us in the courtroom are

1 Monise Petithomme, Defendant; Wilkens Petithomme,

2 Modeline Petithomme, and one of our witnesses, Lebien

4 THE COURT: Okay, very good. What was your first

6 MS. PETITHOMME: Gina, G-I-N-A.

7 THE COURT: So, you want me to -- you're going to

9 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. Well, we're really here

10 to just ask you for a continuance. We don't have an

11 attorney at this time and we did get permission -- we

12 did get an order for us to get 30 days for us to

13 obtain one. So I am just asking if we can have those

14 30 days to obtain one.

15 THE COURT: Okay. What's your response to that?

16 MR. VERA: Your Honor, this is a seven-year-old

17 case. Theoretically an order to obtain a new

18 attorney would be the fifth attorney on this matter.

19 The fourth, Mr. Cordon, withdrew from the case last

20 Tuesday. We have one of the Defendants in from

21 Tampa, which is Wilkens Petithomme. We've been

22 dragging this for seven years; I would say we would

23 either -- it is time or this case should be over. So

24 we would object to a continuance.

25 THE COURT: Okay, yeah. Sorry, but I am not

1 going to grant another continuance. It's seven years

3 MS. PETITHOMME: Right. But the thing is, we

4 don't want to go trial without an attorney

5 representing us. So that would be my only -- I mean

6 I would like to have a fair representation in Court,

8 THE COURT: Yeah, I am sorry. I'm not going to

9 grant the continuance.