Under normal circumstances, there is nothing easier than ordering a court transcript. You call the court reporter, you tell her what you want, you give her a small deposit and she delivers. If you want it fast, you offer her the premium for the urgency and she is more than happy to oblige because it means more money in her pocket.

The last time I ordered a court transcripts from the transcript office that is currently making the simplest task impossible, I had them in my hands in 3 days and everybody was happy. Money talks.

This time however, I am not even able to obtain the contact information of the court reporter at the Hearing and it has been impossible to obtain a transcript. This time, my alleged failure to issue money is the false excuse that the transcript office is using to justify the failure to provide what I ordered. Kind of ironic, don't you think?

I am an unrepresented litigant, and what happens in such cases is that a court reporter is arranged by the court itself. This time however, an agency court reporter was evidently recruited from the Court Reporters' Office at the Old City Hall, but you wouldn't know that she regularly works there because because she just takes the record on tape and the transcription is supposed to be assigned to an Attorney General, certified reporter.

I have no idea why a court reporter who is evidently somewhat of a regular at the criminal courts was also employed at 361 University Avenue, and when I call the civil courts court reporter office to inquire, Rose routinely says, "we don't have court reporter Pagniello on staff sir. I believe that she's from a temporary agency. I don't have any contact information for the temporary agency court reporters."

Recently, Anne Olah, the manager of the court transcript office at 361 University Avenue called me, essentially to create the impression that I am exclusively responsible for the failure to obtain a transcript of the Hearing in question. She was very cunning in her approach, and she basically treated me like a fool who did not know anything about what it took to order a transcript. The following is rather self-explanatory:

Anne: Okay, can you explain to me, uhm, is this an appeal transcript. Is it summary judgment?

Me: I require a complete transcript of the entire Hearing.

Anne: Which is one day.

Me: That's right.

Anne: Okay. And you want 5 copies.

Me: Yes.

Anne: I've got the order in front of me here.

Me: Yes.

Anne: Okay. So, what kind of format do you want. Because there's a difference in payment. It's $3:20 a page for regular transcripts and it's $3:75 a page for, ah, for, ah, appeal transcripts, but $3:75 a page is unlimited copies.

Me: I need it in a format that's acceptable to the Apeal Court.

Anne: You want it in Appeal Format?

Me: Yeah

Anne: Okay, you need to, can you, are you by a fax machine?

Me: No, I don't have a fax machine.

Anne: Okay, can you come in and, and put a re-order on this? Put down that you need an appeal transcript in appeal format for appeals purposes, requiring special requirements. Because here you put down please provide CD or diskette copy of transcript as well. Well we don't do that.

This aggravating nonsense is quite irritating because the last time I ordered transcripts, I received a diskette copy as well, and when I made it clear to Anne that I had previously received a diskette of the transcript and that the court of appeal currently requests the inclusion of such a format, if it is available, she said:

Anne: I thought you wanted a copy of the audio recording but you want an electronic copy?
Me: That's correct.
Anna: It depends on the court reporter who's doing it. If they have the electronic version of whatever they can provide it for you. Okay? It just depends on my court reporter, but as part of the appeals, ah, court of appeal, it's not mandatory.

That's all correct, but all the nonsense regarding the foolish claim that the transcript office did not know that I had requested appeal format is simply silly. As a matter of fact, on January 4, 2012, the Manager of Court Operations at 361 University Avenue had issued a Certificate/Proof of ordering transcript for appeal and had even faxed it to the Court of Appeal,indicating that I had ordered a copy of the transcript in question on December 15, 2011 and under the circumstances, the failure to acknowledge the obvious is exhausting and aggravating. Consider the following foolishness:

Anne: Okay, what I need you to do is, you can't come by, right?
Me: It's difficult now, I've been by many times and you have...
Anne: No, no, no, no, no no,
Me: Different requests every time.
Anne: Sir, you're speaking to the manager of court reporters, and I'm trying to help you.
Me: Right, and I needed it
Anne: Jane was trying to help you too.
Me: And I needed it yesterday and Jane was very nice.
Anne: Yeah, she's very nice. We're on top of this so we want to help you. So do you want me to write down here "noted for special requirements that you want it, five copies right, in appeal, for appeal purposes."
Me: I just needed 5 copies yesterday, I'll pay whatever you want, just call me when it's ready and I'll bring you the full money.
Anne: Okay, so it will be in appeal format. Okay. Now, usually the reporter would like to have a deposit first.
Me: Can you make an exception this time ma'am.
Anne: It's gonna be $3.75 a page.
Me: I don't care what it costs.
Anne: I'm going to have to speak to a reporter, It's up to a reporter to see if they can you know, if they can
Me: How much money do you want today? I'll bring it to you today.
Anne: I'm going to have to get back to you because I don't know how much this will cost.
Me: Alright, if I can pay in full.
Anne: One day sir?
Me: I need it immediately.
Anne: Okay, we can take a deposit and then once it's done, then you can come and pick it up.
Me: When can I pick it up?
Anne: I don't know, because I don't know how long it is. I'll have to find out, okay? And then I'll get back to you.
Me: Okay, I'd appreciate it if you call me when the transcript is completed so that I could pick it up.
Anne: Are you willing to put a deposit down.
Me: Yes I am, of course I am.
Anne: Excellent, thank you. Okay, I'll get back to you.

Instead of getting back to me, Anne Olah instructed Jag to call me, and you can hear what he had to say for yourself.

Clearly, the only reason that Anne and Jag called me from the court reporters office was to manufacture a reason to make it sound like I have not obtained a transcript because I am a difficult person to deal with and I do not understand the ordering process.

I was not in a position to believe a single word that Jag said to me on January 10, 2012. On December 14, 2011, when I initially contacted the transcript office at 361 University Avenue to order the transcript of the Hearing, I was elated because Rose, the receptionist told me that Justice O'Marra had ordered a transcript and that I could consequently order a copy and spare the high cost of ordering an original. It is so much cheaper to order copies of what had been ordered and I knew an entire transcript had been issued because I saw the order form. I wasn't supposed to see that order form, according to what Rose subsequently told me, but I did, and I don't think there is any justifiable reason to currently withhold this information from me.

Subsequent to seeing what I wasn't supposed to see, I asked Rose to retrieve the records so that I can further scrutinize them, but she said, "I am not normally permitted to discuss another persons transcript request." I told her that it was urgent because I needed it for an appeal and she said; "If this is for an appeal, I will contact Hania Bonsa and see if it's ready for you." Rose called Hania Bonsa and passed my message on to her, and then she said, "I got voice mail and left a message sir, with the Court Reporter."

I don't blame Hania Bonsa for not responding to my requests. She probably knows that Justice O'Marra recieved a complete transcript, she does not have permission to discuss one clients order with another client, and she is probably too nervous about trying to evade my unanswered questions.

In retrospect, I believe that the transcript office that instructed Jag has also issued a 30 page transcript to the Office of Justice O'Marra so that they can justify all this nonsense.

This is what I know for certain. The court reporter who was at my hearing, is also a regular, "agency" part timer at the old city hall, 60 Queen Street West, she has access to at leasst 75 court reporters who work for the Ministry of the Attorney General's Office (at 60 @ueen Street West and at 361 University) and under these circumstances, I am not in a position to prove how many copies of the Hearing transcript have been issued and to whom, but the potential is rather unlimited, under the circumstances.

Is it possible that corrupt government authorities use people from outside agencies in effort to get away with something that is illegal? In my experience as a researcher, that is certainly not a novel tactic.

What is it about the transcript in question, that is making it practically impossible to obtain?

Personally, I think I understand the hostile obsession to deny me the opportunity to receive a complete transcript of the November 9, 2011 Hearing.

The Hearing on November 9, 2011 included the oral, unsworn submissions of three distinct parties: A/ the plaintiffs lawyer, who initiated a rather silly motion, B/ myself, who responded to all the nonsense and C/ Yeon-Tae Kim from the Ministry of the Attorney General's Office, who was supposed to provide submissions in the capacity of what is called amicus curiae.

The problem with Yeon-Tae Kim's testimony is that it was supposed to be objective and impartial. Somebody who testifies in the capacity of amicus curiae, also called "friend of the court" is not supposed to take sides, he or she is supposed to educate the court in points of law. Mr. Kim however chose to act like a friend of the plaintiffs attorney, that is not appropriate and denying the opportunity to review the transcript in question is consequently a face-saving manoeuvre.

In the meantime, people like Anne and Jag are making the simple process of ordering a transcript even more complicated than the complicated appeal process, and that level of maddening ignorance is ultimately self-explanatory.

I have done everything that anybody can possibly do to obtain the transcript in question and if I merely keep getting ignorant calls from people who say things like "this is the first time it has been assigned" I do not believe I have the resources that are necessary to keep correcting every straight-faced lie.