December 4, 2018 - 5:04 PM
Billie, Your answer to the conversion claim was due yesterday, and you failed to meet the deadline. I don't want to spend more time and money on this, and I can't imagine that you have money to spare on these proceedings. I propose that we resolve this as follows: if you reply back acknowledging you took the money from the HSBC account without authorization so I can forward to HSBC to have them release the remaining AUD25,000 to me, then I will drop the conversion lawsuit. You and I can at least try to resolve this one directly and save on lawyer fees. This offer will expire at the end of the day. Let me know. Mike
December 4, 2018 - 6:39 PM
Mikey,
I have received your email, thank you for reaching out.
I am happy to negotiate with you, but not solely about this latest lawsuit - unfortunately the fourth one between us. I am willing to negotiate with you about everything, all together - every, single element that we have still tying us together. I never wanted any of this between us & am hoping that we can strip away all the layers of emotions from these past years to come to a healthy resolution, providing both of us the opportunity to move on to more enjoyable eras of our lives.
If you are willing to discuss options for us to resolve all of the legal matters between us, then I am all ears (or eyes via email), otherwise, I prefer to hand this off to my lawyer.
Again, thank you for reaching out, I am happy to have this chance to communicate with you.
Best wishes,
Annette
December 4, 2018 - 7:11 PM
I'm willing to discuss anything and everything because I've had enough of this.
There is realistically no prospect of you receiving any of the money currently held at HSBC and I suspect you have spent the balance of the money. I don't really see the point in adding to the judgement from the previous case so why don't you acknowledge that you shouldn't have taken the money from the HSBC account and I will have call off the conversion claim.
Im pretty keen to have as many elements of this resolved asap and without going through the courts process as possible so work with me.
Michael Bubello
December 4, 2018 - 7:44 PM
Mikey,
I too am ready & willing to work with you to have as many elements as is possible resolved between us.
Because I do not want to be dispossessed from my residence - my home, what do you propose?
Cheers,
Annette
December 4, 2018 - 8:13 PM
Billie,
First step is to remove further legal action. As I've noted below, even though I am confident that I would prevail I don't really want to end up having to spend time and money on the conversion case. Lets get this one out of the way: admit you weren't authorised to take the money so I can recover the money at HSBC and I will terminate the action. I will ultimately recover the money using the judgement from the previous lawsuit re the property so I think that it is reasonable for me to forego the conversion claim in exchange for your assistance in something that will ultimately happen anyway. I am even prepared to offer you a credit of $25k towards the judgement against you in exchange for your assistance releasing the restricted funds.
I will then be prepared subject to global settlement to consider solutions with respect to the money judgement against you. I can think of nothing less attractive than spending the next decade in legal action. As frustrating and costly as I expect it to be for me the inevitable result of this is that I will successfully make claims against me any income you earn in the future. This isn't good for anyone.
There is nothing that your new Lawyer can do to improve your situation regarding the judgement against you so please work with me per above to restrict the scope of the issue so we can come to a resolution.
Michael Bubello
December 6, 2018 - 5:19 PM
Mikey,
I am happy to sit down with you & negotiate a “global settlement” (which you seem to have been so obsessed with for many months now) - with your Dad as the mediator.
Let me know & I’ll book hotel rooms for you.
Cheers,
Billie
December 8, 2018 - 4:31 PM
Billie,
You are clearly not taking this seriously given you have not taken this opportunity to list your talking points.
Tell me though: why do you think my father would want to help you with a mediation given you've meddled with our family, failed to negotiate in good faith and taken money from me??
And we would be perfectly capable of booking our own hotel rooms.
Michael Bubello
December 10, 2018 - 5:29 PM
Michael,
I believe your father will want to help us with mediation because most of your money is in reality, his money.
Otherwise, I’m happy to simply have my dad call Rob to see if they can broker a settlement for us? I’d like to do it with your permission, although obviously my can dad reach out without anyone’s permission; I’m trying to keep this as a “mutual” request, as opposed to unilateral. If we mutually trust our fathers, then it seems like a reasonable way to try & end the contentiousness so that neither of us continue to pay lawyers, nor spend any more time & attention on these matters. I know that my lawyer has attempted to contact your lawyer on a few occasions, but I haven’t heard anything that’s come of that.
Let me know.
All the best,
Billie
December 11, 2018 - 3:50 PM
Billie,
I’m not sure what has given you the idea that may parent’s money has any relevance to this but I would encourage you to discuss your ideas with your lawyer so that he can confirm that it doesn’t. You were at no time exposed to the workings and structure of my family’s affairs but given you’ve failed in any action against me, it is ridiculous to suggest that you would succeed in any action involving a broader group of people.
I will tell my father than his input is not required and on that basis he will not enter into conversation with your father (or any other party on this question). Your attempts to involve my family and friends in this have been unhelpful to you and squandered any goodwill I may have had towards you.
To date you have shown no sign of wanting to avoid litigation – as recently as the judgement in my favour you would not accept a generous offer for me to forego monetary damages because you wouldn’t sign a non-disparagement clause. And then you helped yourself to my money without my approval. Because of this you now have a judgement against you for USD 138,000 and I understand that Judge Jessner will be overseeing my claim to have you return the $75,000 you took.
If you want to avoid appearing before Judge Jessner on the conversion claim, then start behaving rationally and give some thought to doing what I need to you to do so that HSBC will release the $25,000. You know you had no right to take my money in the HSBC account.
If you think the Judge is going to believe anything but that you stole the money, you are delusional. I am giving you the chance to avoid dealing with the conversion lawsuit because I don’t want to have to pay for legal fees when I already have a $138,000 judgment against you. All I ask is you work with me to get HSBC to release the money they are holding so I do not have to sue HSBC for wrongful conduct. So if you admit to HSBC you did not have authority to take the money and give them what they need to release the funds back to me, I will drop the conversion lawsuit. Will you do this or not?
If you want to propose some global settlement, then propose it. We do not need to travel across the world and bring in others. Tell me what you propose.
Mike
December 12, 2018 - 1:09 PM
Michael,
I have suggested a trusted, quick, simple & reasonable tactic to settle outside of court, but - without saying the exact word - you have communicated no, you are not willing to engage in mediation. I feel that we are going around in circles as we always seem to, & therefore I am leaving this with my lawyer to handle.
I am always open to fair discussions with you that move in forward directions.
I hope you’re taking care of yourself, wishing you all the best,
Billie
December 12, 2018 - 2:00 PM
Court works for me. It doesn't and won't work for you. Any reasonable person reading the exchange below will see you making no attempt to present your demands and start a mediation.
I should have known based on your behaviour at the last mediation not to waste my time.
I'm sure your lawyer is a very good Lawyer but there's not a lot he can do for you.
Michael Bubello
January 24, 2019 - 4:25 PM
Dear Mike,
This feud between us has become a lose-lose-lose reality for all involved - I don’t even think any of our lawyers feel like they’re winning anymore; I can’t imagine the paychecks are worth this kind of petty aggravation. Michelle suggested this service to me this past weekend, (she & her 2nd husband used it) but I know that just like our numerous attempts at marriage counseling in Brissy, that it will only work if you want it to.
Do you want to try to settle all this & put it behind us? Imagine all the free time, free thoughts & saved money that will come from it when we can finally move on… Maybe we can even hug goodbye & wish each other well? Wouldn’t that be a (somewhat) happy ending? We both know we can keep this up for years to come - it will be already be 5 years come March or April. Wouldn’t we both rather finally be free?
I hope the rest of your life outside (or amongst) this conflict is happy & fulfilling, it must be sweltering there now… it’s been a strangely wet & chilly winter here in LA, even with the fires. Anyway, I look forward to being in touch when you feel the time is right.
Sending much love & light,
Me