Shellie’s Medical Malpractice Nightmare
and her
Fight for Freedom of Speech
New Attorneys Again
I found an amazing attorney, James Kenny, who was willing to take a look at my case. James Kenny refiled my lawsuit against Jay Paul Deratany, and in turn Jay Paul Deratany refiled his claims against me for writing this website. The very claims that Deratany dismissed WITH prejudice. Mr. Deratany was now being represented by Montgomery Mackey of Macky Kramer. Once again, Mr. Deratany filed a motion for sanctions, this time against Mr. Kenny. Sanctions are a financial or other penalties imposed by a judge for wrong doing. In this filing Mr. Deratany stated in his motion that "plaintiff and her attorney must be sanctioned for bringing a frivolous lawsuit to harass defendant and abuse the court system."A frivolous lawsuit brought against him? I found the frivolous lawsuit claim to be preposterous for many reasons. Jay Paul Deratany wrote a letter to Douglas Morrison in January of 2008 asking for a settlement conference deratany letter. Mr. Deratany agreed at the time he dismissed the lawsuit against me with prejudice that I could bring back my claims again in the future if I so desired and that he could not. Mr. Deratany also paid a portion of my attorney's fees at that time. If my claims were frivolous and unjust why would Jay Paul Deratany have dismissed his case and allow mine to be refiled? Why did Deratany agree to pay some of my attorney's fees the day that the trial did not go forward? Why did Jay Paul Deratany send a letter to Douglas Morrison in January of 2008 asking for a settlement conference? Does this sound like the behavior of an attorney that believes he is the victim of a frivolous lawsuit? In my opinion, Mr. Deratany's refiling the claims that were dismissed with prejudice and filing for sanctions against two different attorneys involved in this case is a perfect example of abusing the court system. Filing for sanctions, again, really? That motion was of course denied, however Mr. Deratany has appealed that ruling.
During the time that James Kenny has been representing me there have been approximately 15 motions filed by Jay Paul Deratany. James Kenny is in solo practice. This case takes up a great deal of Mr. Kenny's time due to all the frivolous motions filed by Mr. Deratany. If you are a solo practitioner you cannot afford to have one case take up so much of your time. This issue has already caused my first attorney to quit. Since Mr. Kenny took over my legal fees were averaging $10,000.00 a month. Mr. Kenny can't afford the time and I can't afford the way my attorney's fees are being run up my Mr. Deratany. James Kenny is by far one of the smartest attorneys that I have ever met. Motions that I believe would have been very difficult for most attorneys to respond to and would have made them want to get out of this case did not even slow Mr. Kenny down. Mr. Kenny later brought Mr. Ed Joyce and Mr. Art Aufmann in as co-counsel, they are amazing. I highly recommend James Kenny. Not only was Mr. Kenny constantly having to respond to never ending motions that we felt were ridiculous, but he was told by Mr. Deratany that if he didn't drop me as a client Mr. Deratany would ruin his career. Yet, Mr. Kenny kept right on diligently representing me. Mr. Deratany also stated in his motion for sanctions "this matter should and must be reported to the Office of the States Attorney." I agree that this matter should be reported to the office of the States Attorney, but not as a result of anything that me or my attorney have done. If only James Kenny was my attorney from the start I know things would have gone so very differently.
James Kenny was truly an answer to my prayers. He was willing to take my case and try to get it back on track. For the first time in a long time I felt that I just might get justice, be free to enjoy my First Amendment right to freedom of speech and that Jay Paul Deratany would be held responsible for the improper acts that he committed against me.
James Kenny looked at all the prior filings that had occurred over the previous years. He spoke to Douglas Morrison about the case. He then did a great deal of research looking further into the issues. At the time that Mr. Kenny agreed to take my case he told me that the error that Mr. Morrison made on my case was very serious. As a result of his research James Kenny learned that Douglas Morrison and Stephen K. Milott indeed did not protect my case and had missed the refiling date that caused my case to be dismissed. My case was refiled by Mr. Kenny, but due to the error that began with Robert Orman and was continued by Doug Morrison most of my claims were lost. That ruling is on appeal. Trying to undo the mess that Robert Orman and Douglas Morrison made of my case cost me about $100,000.00 in attorney's fees. As if things weren't tough enough for me already having been sued by my former attorney for writing this website; it was devastating for me to have Mr. Morrison and Mr. Milott agree to take my case with such enthusiasm, make an error so serious that it caused the dismissal of my case, and then email me that they were not going to represent me any longer. With the final kick in the pants being Mr. Milott's lack of professionalism in not taking or returning my phone calls and ignoring my emails. Having been a court reporter for many, many years I already had a very low opinion of lawyers, as a whole. I honestly didn't think that my opinion of lawyers could get any lower. How wrong I was! To be fair, there are honest and amazing lawyers out there that do care about their clients, such as James Kenny, Ed Joyce and Art Aufmann. There just aren't a lot of guys like that out there and they are VERY hard to find.
At this point I have been sued by a lawyer that files an exorbitant amount of motions. I lost my first lawyer, Charles Mudd Jr., because my case became a full-time job for him. The third lawyer, Robert Orman, told me how to refile my case and he was 100% wrong causing great damage to my claims. The fourth and fifth lawyers, Stephen K Milott and Douglas Morrison, that took over representing me made a serious error by not correctly refiling my case which caused my case to be dismissed - they quit. Three attorneys caused irreversible damage to my case and walked from it. I was truly a broken person. During all of this hell I had a mild stroke. UPDATE: I am out of money and owe a great deal in attorney's fees that I have not been able to pay. James Kenny has no more time to put into my case and not be paid. Mr. Kenny is in solo practice and can't work for free. Jay Paul Deratany succeeded again in causing another attorney to quit due to his endless frivolous motions.
The real kicker is that my case has never even gotten into discovery (the preparation that is done before a trial, such as depositions, exchange of documents, etc.) having been bogged down in endless motions over the years. Mr. Deratany's barrage of motions filed over the last 6 years, along with his failure to show up for the trial (we were at the court house ready to try the case) has run my attorney's fees into six figures. Montgomery Mackey himself has only filed a small portion of the total motions filed. While Jay Paul Deratany is represented by Montgomery Mackey, Jay Paul Deratany files and argues most of his own motions.