2011.01.06 Transcripts of 1st Hearing w. JBaldwin

8/6/2019 2011.01.06 Transcripts of 1st Hearing w. JBaldwin

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IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF COWETA COUNTY

STATE OF GEORGIA

ELISA LOWE, ))

Plaintiff, ))

vs. )

) CASE NO. 2010-V-1534)

MICHAEL LOWE, ))

Defendant. )_________________________)

HEARING AND ORDER

JANUARY 6th, 2011

COWETA COUNTY COURTHOUSE

NEWNAN, GEORGIA

HONORABLE A. QUILLIAN BALDWIN, JR., PRESIDING

* * *

APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL:

FOR THE PLAINTIFF: PRO SE

FOR THE DEFENDANT: MARTIN ENRIQUE VALBUENAATTORNEY AT LAWDALLAS, GEORGIA

---------------------------------------------------------------

DEBORAH SHIELDS MASON, CCR

REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTERPO BOX 1241

CARROLLTON, GEORGIA 30117770-830-8307


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1 A P P E A R A N C E S

2 FOR THE PLAINTIFF: PRO SE

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4 FOR THE DEFENDANT: MARTIN ENRIQUE VALBUENAATTORNEY AT LAW

5 113 VILLAGE WALK

SUITE B6 PO BOX 1125

DALLAS, GEORGIA 301327 TEL: 770-443-2204

FAX: 770-443-66138

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1 (NEWNAN, GEORGIA; COWETA COUNTY; January 6th, 2011.)

2 P R O C E E D I N G S

3 THE COURT: Ms. Lowe, the deal is if you have it

4 reported, you're going to have to share in what we call

5 the take-down fee. I don't know exactly -- we never know

6 how much that's exactly going to be because she doesn't

7 know how long we're going to be in here doing this. But

8 can you give her an idea, Debby?

9 COURT REPORTER: Yes. It's like around $43 an hour.

10 THE COURT: Do you want to participate in that?

11 MS. LOWE: Yes, sir.

12 THE COURT: Is this a motion for contempt; is that

13 what it is?


15 THE COURT: You're not represented?

16 MS. LOWE: No, sir.

17 THE COURT: I tell you what. Let's do this.

18 Mr. Valbuena, since you're the only lawyer in this,

19 how about swearing them both?

20 MR. VALBUENA: Okay. You both stand up and raise

21 your right hand.

22 ELISA LOWE AND MICHAEL LOWE,

23 (Whereupon, after having been duly sworn upon an oath,

24 were examined, and testified as follows:)

25 THE COURT: Ms. Lowe, tell me why you want to hold


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1 Mr. Lowe in contempt.

2 MS. LOWE: Sir, there's a large amount of child

3 support that's owed. He also, these are things that he

4 has already actually been found in contempt in previous

5 orders of this Court. He owes a large amount of money in

6 IRS debt that he was ordered that he has not paid. He

7 deliberately did not pay the payment on our house, which

8 was also in a foreclosure. He was found in contempt of

9 that but never paid. And he just continues to not abide

10 by this Court's orders.

11 This Court has become furious with him so much that

12 even Judge Smith handwrote the order from the bench asking

13 him to pay $50,000 or go to jail. He did not.

14 THE COURT: Judge who?

15 MS. LOWE: Judge Smith, Senior Judge.

16 THE COURT: Are you talking about Byron Smith?


18 MR. VALBUENA: Yes, Judge. There's earlier cases

19 that he was involved in and heard and issued rulings in.

20 MS. LOWE: The other thing is that I've got a

21 jurisdictional issue. I just want the Court to enter a

22 declaratory judgment stating that you had continuing

23 jurisdiction over our case because there was still, he had

24 filed an order for us to change custody in 2004. And it

25 was still pending in this Court when they -- they started


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1 one here in 2004 about a hearing, an ex-parte order. As

2 soon as we -- the judge vacated the order. It had never

3 been filed. I had the kids returned to me.

4 In 2008, in March of 2008 while the case was still

5 pending in this Court, they had another ex-parte or

6 emergency custody order entered in Paulding County. They

7 had to verified the complaint that there were no orders

8 pending. There was no case pending and that no other

9 court had interest in our case. They had that order

10 signed on March the 4th in 2008. And although I had moved

11 to Tennessee and although Mike had been with the boys

12 twice -- in fact, he had been with them two days previous

13 to this order being signed, he had had them for the

14 weekend. I had brought them here for the weekend. They

15 said in the order or in their pleadings that they had that

16 I had not brought the kids back to see him since I had

17 moved, which was a misrepresentation of the truth.

18 Then on March the 24th after I had also brought the

19 boys back to him for Spring break to see them also and

20 then after Spring break and promised to return I have

21 e-mails and whatnot, and they even state that they admit

22 to doing that, that he just did not meet me to bring the

23 boys back. I went to his house. I picked the boys up,

24 and when the next day they were in school and the boys

25 went -- I was waiting for the boys to get off of the bus,


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1 and there were no boys. I got very upset. Started

2 calling around and talked to the transportation

3 department, blah, blah, blah. The next thing I know I

4 have the police calling me and telling me I need to come

5 to the police station to talk about the kids, and the boys

6 were there.

7 I went to the police station and found out that the

8 police had been to the boys' school. Picked the boys up.

9 Held them in their custody until Mike could drive from

10 Georgia to Franklin, Tennessee to pick them up. They had

11 me arrested. I was in jail for four days. I had never

12 been served with any sort of order or any sort of order

13 that had been signed even though it had been signed again.

14 Some three weeks previous, too, I had been in pretty much

15 constant contact with Mike and had been with the boys.

16 And then when I got out of jail, I got extradited

17 back to Paulding County. While I was in the holding cell

18 there I was served with their papers for an emergency

19 ex-parte order.

20 I went up to court on April 5th of 2008. The judge

21 returned the boys to me.

22 Then in December of 2008 -- so it was ten months

23 after this -- his 2004 case here in Coweta was dismissed;

24 dismissed without prejudice.

25 And then two years later, Mr. Valbuena filed a motion


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1 to set aside the order asking him to revive that case

2 after two years later asking him to revive the case when

3 he still had one pending in Paulding County.

4 So it's went back and forth. It's been very

5 confusing. Very tough for me to keep up with it. I filed

6 my paperwork. And after he did this motion to set aside

7 the order asking for summary judgment, and I was granted

8 summary judgment. So that case was still, is still

9 dismissed.

10 In the meantime we're going to court for custody in

11 Paulding County. I have screamed. Not screamed. I have

12 filed a jurisdictional issue, and my first pleading with

13 the court I did not even know that that case was still

14 alive because when I got the children back --

15 THE COURT: Let me stop you for just a second.

16 You're getting me confused. Let me ask you a couple of

17 questions.

18 Where do you live now?

19 MS. LOWE: I live in Newnan, Georgia.

20 THE COURT: You live in Newnan?


22 THE COURT: Where did y'all get divorced?

23 MS. LOWE: Here.

24 THE COURT: In Coweta County?



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1 THE COURT: Where are the children?

2 MS. LOWE: The children are now with Mike in Florida.

3 THE COURT: How did they get to Mike, to be with Mike

4 in Florida?

5 MS. LOWE: Because they was granted custody in

6 Paulding County where Martin Valbuena is also a judge in

7 Paulding County. And I feel like I was home cooked there

8 to be honest with you.

9 THE COURT: But this is a contempt action, right,

10 today?

11 MS. LOWE: Right. On the jurisdiction issues I would

12 just like for the Court to enter again a declaratory

13 judgment stating that you never released. They're bound

14 to it. Even if they get temporary emergency jurisdiction,

15 they're supposed to get a relief from this Court within 90

16 days according to OCGA 19-9-64.

17 THE COURT: And where were you living when y'all,

18 when the thing happened in Paulding County giving him

19 custody?

20 MS. LOWE: Here in Coweta County.

21 THE COURT: Where had the boys been living? Are they

22 boys?

23 MS. LOWE: Yes.

24 MR. VALBUENA: Two boys.

25 THE COURT: Where are they living?


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1 MS. LOWE: They are living in Florida because he gave

2 them --

3 THE COURT: No, I'm talking about when you had the

4 case in Paulding County, where had they been living?

5 MS. LOWE: With me in Coweta and in Tennessee.

6 Tennessee and we moved back to Coweta.

7 THE COURT: How long when the case was filed in

8 Paulding County, where were they living?

9 MS. LOWE: We had moved about two weeks we were in

10 Tennessee.

11 THE COURT: You had been in Tennessee for about two

12 weeks?

13 MS. LOWE: Correct.

14 THE COURT: Why was it filed in Paulding County? Had

15 you been living there?

16 MS. LOWE: No, sir. Mr. Lowe, Mike Lowe had lived in

17 Paulding County. I'm not sure if it was a court they were

18 familiar with or what.

19 THE COURT: The boys lived with him in Paulding

20 County?

21 MS. LOWE: No, sir.

22 THE COURT: Let me read this petition for contempt

23 and answer real quick. Maybe that will help me since

24 you're not a lawyer.

25 MR. VALBUENA: There's an amended petition for


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1 contempt.

2 THE COURT: I saw that in there. It will take me a

3 minute or two.

4 MS. LOWE: May I step out and get some water?

5 THE COURT: Yes.

6 (Short pause.)

7 THE COURT: Mr. Valbuena, what have you got to say

8 about this?

9 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, the overwhelming number of

10 these issues that Ms. Lowe has raised in her petition and

11 the amended petition have already been decided by other

12 judges, and there are court orders to that effect. I have

13 them all here for you.

14 All of the jurisdictional issues that Ms. Lowe raises

15 about what happened in Paulding County, she raised all of

16 those numerous times in Paulding County, and the judge

17 determined that she had waived those because she didn't

18 bring them properly when she was represented by an

19 attorney there. The judge issued a fine on her in this

20 case.

21 THE COURT: Let me ask you this about that: If there

22 was a previously pending suit concerning the same matter

23 in Coweta County, there's no way for it to be valid in

24 Paulding.

25 MR. VALBUENA: What had happened in the Coweta County


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1 case was that case was filed in 2001. It was tried to a

2 final hearing in April of 2005. Judge Byron Smith.

3 THE COURT: Wait just a minute. I don't want you to

4 say a word. (Speaking to Ms. Lowe.)

5 MR. VALBUENA: Judge Byron Smith heard that as a

6 special set, issued a ruling from the bench. The lawyers

7 took down their notes and never entered an order.

8 Mr. Lowe's attorney prepared an order. Sent it to Ms.

9 Lowe's attorney. They couldn't get together on the

10 language. It never got submitted to the Court. Judge

11 Smith issued a ruling, but it never got entered. But the

12 case was done except for an order being signed.

13 THE COURT: It was still pending?

14 MR. VALBUENA: Theoretically, yes.

15 THE COURT: Still pending, so no case about the same

16 subject matter in Paulding County was valid.

17 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, she raised that issue, and the

18 Court up there denied them.

19 THE COURT: I can't help it. That doesn't make the

20 Court right.

21 MR. VALBUENA: I understand it, but I think her

22 relief is in Paulding County to appeal that judgment, not

23 to come here and try to collaterally attack the Paulding

24 County judge's decision in Coweta County.

25 THE COURT: It looks like that's what y'all are


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1 doing.

2 MR. VALBUENA: How are we doing that, Judge?

3 THE COURT: In Paulding County by filing the thing in

4 Paulding County.

5 MR. VALBUENA: No, Judge. When we filed the case in

6 Paulding County, we said that order is not signed, Judge,

7 but that's the order that they're living under. We

8 weren't (sic) -- we were (sic) trying to change the order

9 of Judge Smith. We weren't trying to go behind him. We

10 were trying to say, that's the order and the case is done.

11 She's left the State. He lives in Paulding County, and

12 we're filing it in Paulding County because that's where he

13 lives.

14 THE COURT: How can you file it in Paulding County

15 where he lives? How does that give you jurisdiction? I

16 may be wrong about all this, but I don't think you can do

17 that.

18 You can do that in a divorce if she moves out of

19 state and the person is a resident of the state and meets

20 all the other requirements. You can file it in the same

21 county that the plaintiff lives in if she doesn't live in

22 the State of Georgia.

23 If she lives in the State of Georgia, then he's got

24 to file it in the county where she's living and/or he's

25 got to file it in the county where she's living in the


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1 other state. Or if it's a contempt action it has to be

2 filed and it's in the State of Georgia, it has to be filed

3 in the county which originally issued the order.

4 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, I think that's a venue issue.

5 Venue can be waived. She raised that issue in Paulding

6 County, and the judge found that she had waived venue and

7 that's why he could proceed in Paulding County. She

8 raised that issue three or four different times and lost

9 every time.

10 THE COURT: I don't care. I don't agree with that.

11 Who was the judge?

12 MR. VALBUENA: James Osborne.

13 THE COURT: Okay.

14 MR. VALBUENA: But the issue you're bringing is a

15 venue question; and venue can be waived, regardless of

16 where, in any kind of case.

17 THE COURT: It can be waived, but it's got to be

18 specifically waived. The thing about it is is if a case

19 was pending here, no case in any other case in the State

20 of Georgia is valid if there's a case pending here. I

21 don't think she can waive that. If it's pending here, she

22 can't come to court and say, well, I give up any rights

23 I've got under that case. It's pending there. We'll let

24 y'all decide it here.

25 Did she do that?


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1 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, she raised all those arguments,

2 and the judge in --

3 THE COURT: No. I asked you a specific question.

4 Did she come in court and say, I'll forget about

5 what's going on in Coweta County, let's do it here; is

6 that what she did?

7 Or did she say there's a case pending in Coweta

8 County, and you don't have jurisdiction?

9 MR. VALBUENA: She was represented by an attorney

10 when the case started in Paulding County, and the attorney

11 didn't make any objection as to venue. They let the case

12 in Paulding County go on.

13 So no, she didn't say, well, I give up my rights. So

14 she didn't object to Paulding County venue. She went

15 forward in Paulding County.

16 THE COURT: You just said she raised all those

17 issues.

18 MR. VALBUENA: After her lawyer withdrew or wasn't

19 representing her down the road, Ms. Lowe raised those

20 objections on her own, and two years later; and the Court

21 found that she had waived them by that point.

22 THE COURT: That's incorrect or something.

23 MR. VALBUENA: And she --

24 THE COURT: It's unfortunate that she didn't keep the

25 lawyer, and it's unfortunate if that happened that wasn't


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1 appealed because that's just incorrect. That's just an

2 incorrect ruling.

3 There's no way for him to issue an order in that

4 county if the same case was pending in Coweta County.

5 What could have happened is he could have said, well,

6 y'all go get that one in Coweta County dismissed and come

7 forward. And if you were the lawyer in both of them,

8 that's what you should have done.

9 But there's no way that order he signed was valid.

10 So anyway, go on and tell me what else y'all have got to

11 say.

12 MR. VALBUENA: The lawyers in the 2004 case that were

13 here, Judge, neither one of those have ever represented

14 them again.

15 THE COURT: I'm sorry they've never represented them

16 again.

17 MR. VALBUENA: But what I'm saying is --

18 THE COURT: But what I'm telling you is none of that

19 changes. The one big fact here that there was a case

20 pending in this court that hadn't been dismissed and you

21 cannot do the same thing in another county when that

22 hadn't been dismissed. There's just no way to do it.

23 That judge up there couldn't dismiss this case.

24 MR. VALBUENA: Correct.

25 THE COURT: You can't do that.


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1 MR. VALBUENA: I'm not arguing with that, Judge. I

2 think it's a venue question. I think her relief is in

3 Paulding County or with the Court of Appeals. The relief

4 for that issue is not here.

5 THE COURT: Well, the fact of the matter is is she

6 can file her case here against him for contempt.

7 MR. VALBUENA: Absolutely.

8 THE COURT: And that case doesn't have any bearing on

9 this. He's obviously in contempt of some things that were

10 ordered in this Court which he never complied with.

11 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, we disagree with that.

12 THE COURT: Go ahead. Tell me about that.

13 MR. VALBUENA: Those are the orders I have for you,

14 Judge. The first one is what the judge issued in Paulding

15 County. You can take that for whatever it's worth.

16 Judge Simpson issued an order in 2001 holding

17 Mr. Lowe in contempt; issued an order holding him in

18 contempt saying he can purge himself by a certain date.

19 Then they had a hearing. Mr. Lowe didn't appear. The

20 judge found that he hadn't purged himself and ordered him

21 incarcerated and said you can purge yourself by showing

22 these things.

23 That's the 2001 case in front here. We provided

24 those things to Judge Simpson.

25 At that time Ms. Lowe was represented by a lawyer.


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1 Judge Simpson issued an order and said he's provided those

2 things, he's allowed to purge himself of the contempt. He

3 can be released on that order. There was no more contempt

4 on that issue.

5 THE COURT: So what was it that he did that Judge

6 Simpson allowed him to purge himself?

7 MR. VALBUENA: Dealing with the abandoning the

8 innocent-spouse status.

9 THE COURT: Wait, wait, wait. I need to find it.

10 Finding willful contempt by Judge John Simpson.

11 Failure to produce financial records as previously

12 ordered.

13 MR. VALBUENA: That was his 2000 tax return.

14 THE COURT: Did he do that?

15 MR. VALBUENA: Yes. All of those documents we

16 produced to Judge Simpson.

17 THE COURT: Failure to provide medical insurance.

18 MR. VALBUENA: We provided copies of insurance cards

19 to Judge Simpson showing that the insurance has been paid.

20 THE COURT: Failure to pay for marital residence as

21 ordered allowing said residence to go into foreclosure and

22 the plaintiff lose $25,000 of nonmarital downpayment of

23 the residence.

24 MR. VALBUENA: That was never in any court order of

25 Judge Simpson's or Judge Smith's for that. We contest


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1 that he was ever ordered to do that. He's not in contempt

2 of that.

3 THE COURT: Who handled the original divorce?

4 MR. VALBUENA: I think Gus Wood did for Ms. Lowe.

5 THE COURT: I'm talking about what judge?

6 MR. VALBUENA: I don't know, Judge. I've got the --

7 THE COURT: I mean, it doesn't matter whether it

8 was -- what matters is: Was there a court order? I don't

9 care if it was Judge King Farouk. If there is an order

10 saying that he was supposed to pay for the marital

11 residence, then he had to do it. It doesn't matter who

12 the judge was.

13 MR. VALBUENA: I understand, Judge. I don't believe

14 that's what it said in the final judgment and decree.

15 THE COURT: I don't know. I don't have the final

16 judgment and decree. Do you have it?

17 THE CLERK: I have it.

18 THE COURT: Get it for me.

19 What about the failure to pay income tax debt

20 afforded as previously ordered? What about that?

21 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, Judge Simpson did not rule on

22 that because Judge Simpson didn't order him to do that.

23 There was a separate order that Judge Smith issued

24 ordering him to do certain things. We had a hearing here

25 in April of 2008, and Judge Smith issued an order that


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1 dealt with that and addressed those issues and found that

2 he was still responsible for the entire tax debt and that

3 he was to reimburse Ms. Lowe for anything out of pocket

4 she had paid for the tax debt. He ordered Mr. Lowe to

5 make certain payments based on Ms. Lowe's testimony of

6 what she already was already out of pocket. Mr. Lowe made

7 those payments.

8 Ms. Lowe was to provide me with proof of the

9 out-of-pocket payment. She never provided that proof to

10 me.

11 So I don't know what her out of pocket actually is,

12 but Judge Smith found that that's a hold harmless.

13 Anything that she has to pay for the tax debt, he's going

14 to be required to reimburse her as long as she provides

15 proof that that's what she's had to pay. That's where we

16 stand on that issue. That issue has already been heard.

17 THE COURT: All right. Why didn't you ever provide

18 proof of that?

19 MS. LOWE: Your Honor, I'm looking right now. When

20 we came back to court, what happened was --

21 THE COURT: Just answer my question.

22 MS. LOWE: I was waiting on information coming back

23 from the IRS, and Martin knew that. Martin told me that

24 he would get me an order. I've got e-mails here that I

25 can show you that he would get me an order. Have me


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1 approve it. Send him my changes to it, what I put into

2 it. He would get it back. And then he would send it to

3 Judge Smith.

4 And he never did that. And --

5 THE COURT: Let me stop you again. Listen.

6 MS. LOWE: Okay.

7 THE COURT: My question is: Why did you never

8 provide them --

9 MS. LOWE: I did not have that yet.

10 THE COURT: If you paid it, didn't you have it in a

11 checkbook?

12 MS. LOWE: No, I never paid all of it then.

13 THE COURT: No, wait just a minute. That's not what

14 he's saying.

15 He's saying that if you had to pay any amount -- if

16 it was $5 or it was $5,000 and you had paid any of that

17 toward the tax debt, then he had to reimburse you that.

18 Isn't that what you're saying?

19 MR. VALBUENA: That's what the judge ordered.

20 THE COURT: So why didn't you provide him proof, and

21 he said that the judge said that you had to provide proof

22 of those payments. So I'm guessing that you must have

23 proved to the Court that you had paid some payments.

24 Surely you knew how much you had paid and that kind of

25 thing.


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1 Who is this lady here?

2 MS. LOWE: This is my mother.

3 THE COURT: Ma'am, you can't sit inside the bar --

4 MS. LOWE: Oh, I'm sorry. Just go back.

5 THE COURT: -- unless you're a lawyer. You can sit

6 out in the courtroom.

7 VOICE: Yes, sir.

8 THE COURT: Why didn't you ever provide that

9 information to them?

10 MS. LOWE: I was sorting through -- I had my

11 personal, I had a legal opening which was my corporation.

12 I had all of my arrears with Mike that was to be paid.

13 Judge Smith had a handwritten order for him to pay me

14 $50,000 in cash or go to jail. This whole, this entire

15 case was actually dismissed. I'm not sure how valid those

16 orders are anyway. This is the one that was dismissed in

17 2008; we've already talked about those orders.

18 THE COURT: Plaintiff was ordered to pay $700

19 instanter.

20 Did he do that?

21 MR. VALBUENA: Yes, Judge.

22 THE COURT: And liquidate his teacher requirement

23 account and pay the net proceeds to the defendant as soon

24 as they're received.

25 Did he do that?


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1 MR. VALBUENA: Yes, Judge. It was a little over

2 $1900.

3 THE COURT: Plaintiff testified that he had already

4 taken this step and that he expected to receive net

5 proceeds shortly. Plaintiff is further ordered to pay

6 defendant $500 on May 15th, 2008.

7 Did he do that?

8 MR. VALBUENA: Yes, Judge.

9 THE COURT: And $500 on June 15th, 2008?

10 MR. VALBUENA: He did that also.

11 THE COURT: Defendant is ordered to provide proof of

12 her out-of-pocket damages.

13 She was the defendant in this case?

14 MR. VALBUENA: Yes judge.

15 THE COURT: Related to outstanding tax indebtedness

16 to plaintiff's counsel.

17 So that's the balance you're talking about; is that

18 right?

19 MR. VALBUENA: Well, Judge, she didn't have any proof

20 that day of the hearing. The judge found on the testimony

21 that he probably owed these amounts, and that's why he

22 ordered it.

23 But the proof was to substantiate what he was already

24 paying her plus any additional amounts because her

25 testimony was that she had paid in excess -- it was about


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1 35 to $3700 the judge ordered her to pay. Her testimony

2 was she had already had out-of-pocket expenses in excess

3 of that.

4 THE COURT: Within 60 days of today's date plaintiff

5 is ordered to provide the Court with a plan of how he

6 intends to address the couple's outstanding federal tax

7 indebtedness for 1997 and 1998 and how he intends to

8 reimburse the defendant for any amount that she has been

9 required to pay towards the couple's 1997 outstanding

10 federal tax indebtedness since the date of the amendment

11 to the agreement.

12 Did he do that?

13 MR. VALBUENA: Yes, Judge. We sent a letter to Judge

14 Smith outlining that entire plan. My belief is that she

15 has not paid any additional money whatsoever since that

16 time. All of it has been through Mr. Lowe. Mr. Lowe has

17 worked out an agreement with the IRS. They have released

18 Ms. Lowe from any responsibility whatsoever, and he's the

19 one that's fully responsible for that debt.

20 THE COURT: What have you got to say about that?

21 MS. LOWE: Okay. I was going by what they said where

22 they sent Judge Smith a letter stating that a tax attorney

23 was working it out and that Martin believed that they were

24 just going to eliminate the interest, the arrears, and

25 that he was just going to make payments on the principal


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1 balance.

2 I found out in the court case on Paulding County that

3 they just deemed it an uncollectible debt and that

4 supposedly it was going to be wiped out.

5 THE COURT: I never heard of the IRS doing that.

6 MS. LOWE: They won't. It's still on my credit.

7 Then I was going by the order that Judge Smith wrote,

8 handwrote, that he had to pay me $50,000 or go to jail

9 which he appealed. His father was going to pay it. His

10 father has the money to pay it. His father was going to

11 pay me, and then Dee Crouch who, she had just withdrawn

12 for nonpayment, she reentered the day after he handwrote

13 this order and appealed it to the Supreme Court. The

14 Supreme Court dismissed the case.

15 Then when I had the pick-up order, when the pick-up

16 was issued, Martin was able to get Judge Smith on the

17 phone and ask him to -- I'm not sure if the word is

18 rescind the order and let us go back to a special hearing

19 on it because it had been a while.

20 So we came back for special-set hearing which is when

21 he said that he was going to, they were going to work it

22 out with a tax attorney or whatever. He said that Mike

23 has been in contact with all sorts of tax attorneys and

24 led us to believe that he was going to be making the

25 payment on everything but the interest.


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1 THE COURT: Look. Let me just --

2 MS. LOWE: This whole case has been dismissed. This

3 part of the case has been dismissed.

4 THE COURT: Have a seat just a second.

5 What else do you want to say about any of these

6 subjects?

7 MR. VALBUENA: The last thing, Judge, is just the

8 child support amount. That April 2008 case was tried for

9 a final hearing. Judge Smith issued his ruling from the

10 bench, and there's the transcript. There's the order that

11 Mr. Lowe's attorney drafted that admittedly was not

12 executed.

13 In that Judge Smith -- they tried it over a two-day

14 hearing or a full-day hearing they tried the whole issue

15 of this contempt about child support up to that point at

16 that time, and Judge Smith found that there was no back

17 child support order. No back child support to pay, that

18 Ms. Lowe had not met her burden.

19 So we think it's patently unfair to allow her to come

20 back now and try that whole issue again when one court has

21 already heard it and determined that there's no child

22 support, that back child support up to that date order,

23 (sic). That was in April of 2005.

24 From April of 2005 until December of 2008 when his

25 order was out there but never signed, Judge Smith also


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1 issued a new child support amount. And the child support

2 amount during the school year Mr. Lowe would pay

3 25 percent of his income to Ms. Lowe because she had the

4 primary custody of the kids. And in the Summer Ms. Lowe

5 would pay 25 percent of her income to Mr. Lowe because he

6 had primary custody of the kids is what Judge Smith

7 ordered. At that time Ms. Lowe was a real estate agent

8 making a very, very good income in excess of $200,000 is

9 what her testimony has been. Mr. Lowe was working as a

10 teacher and other kind of businesses and only earning 25

11 to $30,000 a year.

12 So neither party during that whole three and a half

13 years paid either one of them child support because the

14 way the percentages would work out they really didn't need

15 to. Then once that case got dismissed, Mr. Lowe started

16 paying $700 a month. He was supposed to be paying 750,

17 but he started paying $700 a month. So he may owe a

18 little bit of money there.

19 And from December of 2008 until August of 2010 when

20 the judge in Paulding County awarded him custody and

21 suspended his child support obligation --

22 O R D E R

23 THE COURT: Let me just tell y'all. Just have a

24 seat. I practiced law for about 26 years before I became

25 a judge, and I had a lot of domestic cases. Now I've been


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1 a judge I think over 15 years. I have never in my life

2 seen one as confusing as this.

3 The only way that I can make an accurate decision

4 about this is for both sides to sit down -- and you're not

5 going to be able to do this today -- and give me a

6 chronological order of what has happened and along with

7 the orders that took place in chronological order and then

8 maybe I can make some decision.

9 You would be better to get you a lawyer. It's

10 amazing -- you know, usually when we have people that

11 every time they turn around the lawyers are getting out of

12 the case, it's because the people are being very difficult

13 to deal with. The lawyers are saying, this is really what

14 you've got to do. And the person doesn't agree with it,

15 so they ended up getting rid of the lawyers. It may be

16 that they hadn't been paid. That's the other thing.

17 What's that?

18 MS. LOWE: No, sir. I have ran out of money. I

19 spent over $30,000 in attorneys. I've ran out of money.

20 Mr. Lowe has liens on him for his attorney fees, the

21 $11,000. I have paid my attorney bills.

22 THE COURT: All I'm telling you is --

23 MS. LOWE: I have a chronological order.

24 THE COURT: Just stop, please. All I'm telling you

25 is well, I can't do it today; I'm going to give him a


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1 chance to do the same thing. All I'm telling you is I

2 need something like that to look at. I would like it in

3 advance of the next hearing so that I can go through

4 everything and kind of have questions in my mind to ask.

5 Now, you may be right that the thing in Paulding

6 County doesn't make any difference at this point, but I'd

7 have to see that in chronological order. I think he's

8 absolutely wrong. I know Judge Osborne real well. He is

9 a good friend, but I disagree with him about that. I

10 mean, I just don't think the fact that both sides, there

11 was a pending order out there and a pending case. I never

12 would have ruled on this other thing. So that was

13 resolved. Either the order got signed or the order was

14 dismissed. I don't think they could do either. But y'all

15 get me some cases that says that he can.

16 I mean, I know that you can waive venue and that you

17 can do that, but she didn't file the thing in Paulding

18 County, did she?

19 MR. VALBUENA: Yes.

20 MS. LOWE: Your Honor, they were no pleadings on the

21 case.

22 THE COURT: Wait just a minute. Ma'am, I swear you

23 can't be quiet. When I turn to you and say, what about

24 this, that's when I'm asking you a question, okay?

25 MS. LOWE: Okay.


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1 THE COURT: He filed it, so he can't file it in

2 Paulding County and in that way create a waiver of venue

3 by her. He can't do that. So, I'm sorry.

4 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, I raised that with Judge Kirby

5 a couple months ago when I asked to reinstate the case and

6 enter that order because it seems a grave injustice more

7 to Mr. Lowe that that case gets dismissed when the people

8 lived by the order -- even though the order wasn't signed,

9 the people lived by it for a couple of years --

10 THE COURT: Okay.

11 MR. VALBUENA: -- and then it gets dismissed. But

12 Judge Kirby said no. Judge Kirby said you waited too long

13 to ask for this order to be signed, so I'm not reinstating

14 the case.

15 THE COURT: Who had ever dismissed the case?

16 MR. VALBUENA: Judge Lee dismissed off the peremptory

17 calendar in December.

18 THE COURT: See, I need to know all those things.

19 It's hard for me to look at this and evaluate it if I

20 don't know every little thing that has happened. And that

21 includes like the dismissal by Judge Lee off of the

22 peremptory calendar. And that includes talking to Judge

23 Kirby about it and him saying, I won't reinstate that.

24 All that stuff I need to know in order to make some kind

25 of evaluation about this. I can't do it listening to


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1 y'all going back and forth here. Maybe somebody is a lot

2 smarter than me and can, but I can't keep it all straight

3 without having some kind of chronological thing.

4 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, if Ms. Lowe already has her

5 chronological order can we ask her to present hers to us?

6 THE COURT: I'll let her amend it, though, if it

7 turns out that she's let out some stuff.

8 MR. VALBUENA: If she can have ten days or 20 days to

9 prepare that and present that to us and then we have then

10 the same amount of time.

11 THE COURT: Let me look and see the next time we come

12 to court.

13 What I'd like for her to do is for her to -- where is

14 your office, Mr. Valbuena?

15 MR. VALBUENA: In Dallas.

16 THE COURT: Not Texas?

17 MR. VALBUENA: No, Judge.

18 THE COURT: Let's do this. Let's say that she has to

19 get you your copy by the 13th of January. That's a week

20 from now.

21 And you have to get her and to me and you've got to

22 send it to me, too, by the 20th of January.

23 Then we'll come back to court on the 27th of January.

24 MR. VALBUENA: As long as Ms. Lowe is okay with that,

25 Judge, I'm fine. I don't know how much work she has.


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1 THE COURT: Do you have any problem with that?

2 MS. LOWE: I have a few other things.

3 VOICE: I've got an order here from --

4 THE COURT: Ma'am, you're not supposed.

5 VOICE: I know I'm not, but --

6 THE COURT: Ma'am, I'm being nice now.

7 VOICE: Yes, sir.

8 THE COURT: Don't you talk out unless you get sworn

9 as a witness and put on the stand.

10 MS. LOWE: Can I give her this then?

11 THE COURT: You can give her anything you want to.

12 What is it you wanted to say? I'm not going to go

13 any further on this case today --

14 MS. LOWE: Okay.

15 THE COURT: -- but if you've got something to say

16 about this deadline.

17 MS. LOWE: No, sir. I just wanted to tell you that

18 on those transcripts if you'll see this in that order they

19 put in there, that case was never filed. That order she

20 put in said it changed custody. If you read the

21 transcript, there was never a change of custody. That

22 order is completely false.

23 THE COURT: Then you need to put that in your

24 chronological thing with a copy of the transcript and a

25 copy of the order.


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1 MS. LOWE: Right, but the fact of the matter is if

2 this case was dismissed which means all of those orders

3 are null and void.

4 THE COURT: That may be, but I still need to see all

5 of that. Okay. I'm not going to get in here and research

6 all these files for y'all. It's your case.

7 MS. LOWE: Right. And I've got my stuff, and I've

8 been waiting for this.

9 THE COURT: Ma'am, I am sorry. But I'll guarantee

10 you they're not going to agree totally with what you've

11 got there. So if you've got your stuff, that's great.

12 But we're going to come back to court on the 27th. I'm

13 doing the best I can from what I've got.

14 I didn't create this problem. Y'all created it, and

15 it got created by the lawyers involved that are no longer

16 involved in this. When I practiced law, whether I'd been

17 paid or not if I was given an order to do, I did it. But

18 I found out there are a lot of lawyers particularly up in

19 this area that if they're not paid, they don't do it. I

20 don't know what to say to you. That's not a problem for

21 me. It's a problem for y'all.

22 But this is what we're going to do is what I just

23 told you. If you've done all your work, then you don't

24 have anything to do. You can give it to him now if you

25 want to. I don't care. Get me a copy. I don't want


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1 just the chronological order. I want the orders, and if

2 you have transcripts, transcripts to back up what you say.

3 So if you say, if you make an argument that such and such

4 an order was done in court but all of this has been

5 dismissed and so all of this is no good any longer, that's

6 fine. You may be right, but I need to see all of that.

7 MS. LOWE: Do you want cases to back it up also?

8 THE COURT: Well, I was talking, the only case I was

9 talking to them about backing up is the deal about the

10 waiver of venue and the situation that y'all were in in

11 Paulding County because I don't believe that they can do

12 that.

13 MS. LOWE: I have three identical.

14 THE COURT: Oh, if you've got some cases, that's

15 fine. Put them on there. You must have had some lawyer

16 helping you type all of this stuff up, though.

17 MS. LOWE: You won't believe the amount of reading

18 and studying and research I've done.

19 THE COURT: That's fine. You've done it pretty good.

20 But anyway, that's what we're going to do. I'm

21 sorry; I hate to make y'all come back again. But I don't

22 feel like I can make a fair decision without having

23 something like that in there. So y'all do that. Let me

24 give y'all my address because it's not here at this

25 courthouse.


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1 MR. VALBUENA: Judge, Mr. Lowe lives in Orlando now,

2 so he was asking me if we could move it to that Friday

3 instead of Thursday; but he said he could do that. If we

4 could do it on a Friday, he can bring the children up and

5 allow Ms. Lowe to have visitation with the children that

6 weekend.

7 THE COURT: Let me see. I usually have criminal

8 nonjury on that date.

9 COURT REPORTER: We do.

10 THE COURT: I unfortunately am not going to be able

11 to do that. I'm sorry. And I'm going to be in a seminar

12 next week.

13 MR. VALBUENA: The 27th is fine, Judge.

14 THE COURT: Somebody gave me different things.

15 MR. VALBUENA: I did, Judge.

16 THE COURT: Was this yours?

17 MR. VALBUENA: Yes.

18 THE COURT: And whose?

19 MR. VALBUENA: That's mine. It was the Paulding

20 County order.

21 THE COURT: That's the Paulding County.

22 MR. VALBUENA: I think those are four I gave you.

23 THE COURT: Yeah. Y'all do that, and I will do my

24 best to figure this out. When I make statements like,

25 boy, you just can't do that, I'm not always right. I


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1 don't mind if you show me I'm not right. But that's what

2 I believe. I think at least the way I would have done it,

3 I certainly wouldn't have even listened to the case until

4 all this other stuff had been resolved. That's neither

5 here nor there. So y'all be back on the 27th of January,

6 and we'll try again. Let me give y'all my mailing

7 address. I'm Judge Baldwin. It's Quillian Baldwin,

8 that's Q-U-I-L-L-I-A-N Baldwin, and my address is PO Box

9 1364, LaGrange, Georgia 30241.

10 I think there anything to money paid.

11 MR. VALBUENA: I'll get her something.

12 THE COURT: Look. Whether you get her stuff on time

13 or not, I still want your stuff.

14 MR. VALBUENA: Absolutely, Judge.

15 THE COURT: If you don't get the stuff now I told you

16 to send them, it's going to hurt you.

17 MS. LOWE: I will.

18 THE COURT: Thank you.

19 (Proceedings adjourned.)

20 MS. LOWE: Let me get this straight. (Inaudible.)

21 THE COURT: You're supposed to send him yours by the

22 13th. Now, if you've already got it, you can give it to

23 him; but you may need to get it organized a little better.

24 And he's supposed to get you his, and y'all are supposed

25 to mail it to me. When you send it to him, you send it to


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1 me, too --

2 MS. LOWE: Okay.

3 THE COURT: -- and vice versa, okay?

4 (Ms. Lowe speaks, but it is inaudible. No

5 further comment by the Court or counsel.)

6 (Conclusion of proceedings.)

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1 C E R T I F I C A T E

2 G E O R G I A:

3 CARROLL COUNTY:

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6 I hereby certify that the above and foregoing proceedings

7 were taken down, as stated in the caption, and reduced to

8 typewriting under my direction; that the foregoing pages,

9 1 through 36 represent a true and correct transcript of

10 said proceedings.

11 This, the 24th day of January, 2011.

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15 _________________________________

DEBORAH SHIELDS MASON, CCR-B-104016 Registered Professional Reporter

My Commission Expires the17 6th day of May, 2013.

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2011.01.06 Transcripts of 1st Hearing w. JBaldwin

Documents

Transcript of 2011.01.06 Transcripts of 1st Hearing w. JBaldwin