Author Archive

One of the things I discuss in my book “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American justice system” is the question about what to do when your legal team says that the judges made a mistake and the judges say that appropriate evidence was not brought forward.

This is something that puzzled me a lot. I understand that my lawyer might believe that the judges made a mistake, but I was shocked to hear the same thing even from the managing partner of the law firm. I understand that judges can make mistakes and that is why the legal system allows the appeal process. But is it appropriate for the lawyer and/or the law firm to continue to believe that the judges made a mistake, even after hearing the decision from the appeal process. I think it is very important for the legal professionals to accept the fact that there is a good possibility that either the case did not have merit right from the beginning or that we were just not able to provide the kind of evidence that the judges were looking for.

I have given an example in the book about professional sports teams dealing with bad calls. I know that the best coaches in all professional sports will never accept that they lost a game just because of one or more bad calls and they certainly will never allow their players to believe that they would have won the game had it not been for the bad calls. I believe that the best professional teams work hard to prepare themselves well so they can win games in spite of some bad calls. I think this can be a good example to look at for the legal community. I believe if the professional lawyers focus more on doing the utmost to prepare their cases (just like the example of the best professional sports teams), then they would likely not have to worry about judges’ mistakes.

Another important point I bring out in my new book titled “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice System” has to do with the fact that it is extremely important for a client to thoroughly understand the whole process before deciding to pursue a lawsuit.

Lawyers handle hundreds of cases and therefore it is understandable that many issues associated with cases might seem mundane to them. But they need to understand that for clients, and especially for clients who have never brought a lawsuit before, it is extremely important to make sure they know about every possible hurdle that could come their way, no matter how mundane those might seem to the lawyers themselves.

I believe that many average Americans do not know the steps involved in pursuing a lawsuit. I believe many people think that once you bring forward a lawsuit there will be a trial with a jury and a decision will be made. But I am sure that many of them do not know the various intermediate steps that could be involved before you can get to a jury trial. It is important for the legal community to understand that it is critical to go the extra mile to make sure that the clients are well informed before deciding to proceed with the lawsuit.

How can a lay person be expected to know that several different kinds of motions can be brought forward in a civil case? I think it is extremely important for the legal community to understand that when it comes to providing information to prospective clients, overkill is much better than assuming that the clients would already know about some of these things. Specifically, it’s critical that the clients are made fully aware of ALL possible hurdles they might have to face.

One of the issues I talk about in my book “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice System” is what kind of information is important for a prospective client to receive from his/her lawyer before he/she decides to pursue a lawsuit. One of those issues is a reasonable estimate of the possible cost involved in pursuing the case. Is it wrong of a client to expect to have some realistic idea of the total possible cost that might be involved in pursuing a lawsuit? Clients do need to have a fairly reasonable estimate so they can make a proper decision about bringing a lawsuit. Why is the legal profession not sensitive to this need?

During my discussions with the law firm (and the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board) about this issue, I was advised that lawyers are not required to provide specific or correct costs that might be involved. I am surprised that these organizations use words such as “correct” or “incorrect” or “specific” or “true cost” etc when talking about an estimate. The word “estimate” basically means an “approximation” – it is not expected to be “correct” or “exact” or “true cost”. The point is that an estimate needs to be “realistic” – needs to be in the “ballpark” – and that is the point. It is true that there are uncertainties in the litigation process; but I know that lawyers are smart people, and I believe that there are no reasons whatsoever why these smart people cannot come up with more realistic cost estimates. If they spend a few minutes to think about all the possible “uncertainties”, I am sure they will be able to come up with much more appropriate estimates for their clients. So the question is: do they really want to provide realistic estimates or are there other motivations driving their actions?

The bottom line is that I believe that lawyers and law firms can do a better job of this, if they really want to.

In my new book titled “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice system” I have described in detail why it became necessary for me to file a defamation lawsuit and what the whole process turned out to be like.

As the title of my book states, my intent has all along been to describe my experience with the American Justice System in general, not just with any specific lawyers or organizations or judges or police officers. I have described my experiences (along with my comments and opinions) about my interactions with and observations of some specific police officers, lawyers, law firms, judges, and the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board (LPRB), simply because those were the individuals and organizations that were involved with my situation. However, I am most concerned about that the issues and situations I describe specifically about my interactions with the legal community.

I believe that what I experienced with the legal community is something that likely happens every day all over this country. That is why it is not surprising why the general public often express negative opinions about lawyers and law firms. Why is it that the legal community of lawyers, law firms and boards are okay with this negative image of lawyers? Why are they okay with being known as one of the most untrustworthy professions in the country? Specifically, why are the “professional responsibility” boards across the country okay with this image of the profession?

I believe the legal community can learn a lot from this book and can try to improve their image for their clients and the general public.

In this book titled “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice System”, I describe an actual defamation case and how it got started and what happened and everything I learned that can be extremely helpful to many average Americans. The story includes several different matters that bring up questions about where things are in terms of our justice system. Here are some examples:

• Hotels are typically extremely concerned about customer satisfaction – one is always encouraged to bring up any issues to the hotel management. So the question is: does the hotel management do anything about a complaint or just ignores it? Most hotels, I believe, take any complaints seriously and follow up on it and make appropriate recommendations, if necessary. However, in my story, it appears that a complaint to the hotel manager might have been the thing that got everything started.
• How do lawyers get evaluated for how they performed in a specific case? How does a law firm evaluate one of their lawyers? Can a firm truly evaluate a lawyer’s performance without any feedback from the client?
• What really is the role of a Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board? Is the board supposed to try and understand a client’s issues or is the board there basically to defend a lawyer? Isn’t it important for the Board to make sure clients feel somewhat satisfied with the Board’s evaluation of a complaint?
• Isn’t it critical that police officers take utmost care when talking to one individual about another individual? Do they understand that what they say about someone can be misunderstood or misinterpreted possibly causing significant issues?

My new book is titled: “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color – with the American Justice System”. I have written this book because I believe it provides a lot of information that could be extremely helpful for people all over the country.

It all starts with a not-so-pleasant interaction I had with a hotel employee. This is typically not an unusual occurrence. I have worked in hotels for a few years, earlier in my career. I have seen several unpleasant interactions between guests and hotel employees. I have also traveled all over the United States over the last several years as a speaker and have stayed in many hotels around the country. And not surprisingly, I have watched situations where guests and hotel employees have had some negative encounters. But I have never seen or experienced situations that rose to a completely different level.

That is what happened in this interaction I had with the hotel employee. To my utmost surprise, this employee reported me to the police, just before I was planning to go to the same hotel four months later, about the 4-month old incident which the police report identified as “information on suspicious activity”. I was completely surprised since I knew very well that I did not do anything wrong. But it became a major issue when I discovered that the employee had added, as per the police report, some unsubstantiated and untrue comments in her report to the police.

Normally, it’s always okay to report to police if something concerns you, but adding unsubstantiated and untrue comments is certainly not okay. When I discussed this situation with my lawyer, I understood from him that this can be considered defamation. That is what started the whole situation described in the book.

I would like to announce the release of my fourth and brand new book! It is a shocking true story titled: “MINORITY VIEWPOINT: MY EXPERIENCE AS A PERSON OF COLOR WITH THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM”

It’s a gripping new book and true story about defamation towards me, a brown Indian man, by a white female hotel employee in the small northern MN town of Deerwood.

Following escalating, horrible events in 2016, I eventually sued the hotel employee for defamation and surprisingly, the hotel in Deerwood supported her over me, their paying repeat customer, in spite of her unsubstantiated comments to the cops. The hotel’s insurance company paid ALL her legal expenses and hired top lawyers to defend their employee against me (while I had to pay my fees out of pocket). I eventually had my case dismissed much before trial – after spending $120,000 of mine and my parents’ own money – likely due to less than commendable representation by a prominent MN law firm. I provide details on what I believe were some of my lawyer’s errors and omissions which likely contributed to the undesirable consequences I derived from filing this case.

There is so much for the public to learn from this remarkable true story. This book teaches ordinary citizens as well as fellow people of color like me a lot about how defamation can spread through a community, what can actually happen in a lawsuit, with cops, lawyers, law firms, and the whole legal system including lawyers professional responsibility board, and how to fight back against alleged racism and defamation without resorting to violence. It educates people of color on some of the unique risks we can face due to not being part of the white majority, and how certain environments may increase such potential risk factors for us. The book encourages all to do the right thing for the greater good regardless of the final result.

Child protective services perform a critical role in our society today. It is important that we continue to support these organizations.

In the story I describe in my book “Father Figure – my mission to prevent child sexual abuse”, I am grateful that child protective services took an interest in investigating the matter. However, one of the biggest lessons I learned through this ordeal, is more about how the child protection system works in our country.

Due to the nature of privacy laws, it is difficult sometimes to be sure that Child Protective Services (CPS) will react in a fully protective manner or to get updates on your case after you have made your initial report to CPS. I often struggled with not hearing back from the person handling the investigation. I also felt frustrated when I was told that this case was a lower priority, simply because CPS had to wait for something more to occur.

There are a number of places where the child protection system in our country needs some changes. There needs to be greater focus placed on truly PREVENTING a likely hazard, just as there is in responding to one that has already occurred. I know that the vast majority of CPS workers are dedicated to this cause and that in spite of the systemic shortcomings, CPS did take some constructive actions and provided support in the story I describe in the book. Their guidance was likely essential in encouraging family members to become more involved in the story I present in my book.

I believe that one of the areas where CPS could use some more support is in the training area. It is important that more training is made available to CPS management and workers on the issues associated with child sexual abuse – how it happens, why it happens, who the offenders likely are, how to detect the possibility of it occurring, its impact, how to handle possible cases, etc”.

Some people continue to believe that bullying is harmless fun that children grow out of rather quickly. Unfortunately these people do not simply understand the significant impact it can have on innocent children. It needs to stop.

Many school staff around the country and many parents still believe that bullying is really not a real problem in schools. They believe that maybe there are times when some children act meanly to others, but they don’t believe that it has any lasting impact on the children. They also believe that it’s okay for children to grow up having to deal with situations like this off and on. I would not disagree with them if it was true that in most cases these are just isolated incidents that happen once in a while with minor disruptions. What I know from my personal experience and from speaking with others all throughout the country, there are countless examples of bullying happening in hundreds of schools all over the country that often last for days, weeks, months or even years. Consistent incidents of bullying is what typically causes the most damage.

Most children are able to handle occasional mistreatments by other kids, but it gets extremely difficult for them to fend off consistent ongoing bullying. That is what makes it extremely stressful for victims and eventually results in mental health disorders for them. It is important for school staff (with cooperation from parents) to identify persistent bullying of this nature and work with everyone concerned to prevent it. It may not be possible or feasible to be able to detect each and every incident of mistreatment, but with a reasonable amount of effort, it should be possible to detect and prevent reoccurrence of bullying on a continuous basis. That is how the school staff can create and maintain a positive school environment.

Many Americans around the country have to seek out professional help from mental health providers to deal with the stress caused by bullying and harassment in the workplace. This needs to stop.

Most folks spend a major part of their daily life at work. Most of them are dedicated workers who take their jobs seriously and work hard to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. When they go home, they focus on their responsibilities at home and then try to find a bit of time for some relaxing activities. But if their time at work is filled with bullying and harassment from a manager or a supervisor or from other co-workers, then they are not able to focus on their responsibilities at home or a bit of time for relaxation. That is what causes stress for them, which could eventually turn into a mental health disorder.

It is true that for most people, some workdays are not stress-free. It is normal to have some stressful workdays off and on. But it is not a good situation if almost every day is a stressful day. Bullying and harassment in the workplace is often a pattern that continues on almost a daily basis. One can let go of things if it happened once in a while – but in many cases it typically happens several times a week (in some cases almost every workday) and that leads to the kind of continuous stress leading to mental health disorders.

It is important for all employers to understand that they have a responsibility to maintain an environment where all employees feel safe to focus on their work and not be stressed due to bullying and harassment. It is always appropriate to give necessary feedback to employees regarding their performance, but no one deserves to be bullied or harassed at work.