Law Offices of Troy Sutton

Facebook keeps sending me notes that my address is incorrect, they want to change the address back to my old office in San Carlos, where I haven't been for three years. It's interesting how difficult it is to maintain a commercial page when a) you don't have a commercial office space or street address that you want public, and b) your not actually trying to drum up new business and sell something.

An interesting article illustrating one of the many ways our inconsistent legal system seems so adept at protecting the inappropriate party.

I was listening to NPR this morning and heard an interesting story about folks in the central valley feeling like they're being railroaded by the new high-speed railroad. Railroading is to criminally convict quickly and perhaps unjustly. As in: "A person knowing more than might be desirable of the affairs, or perhaps the previous life of some powerful individual, high in authority, might someday ventilate his knowledge, possibly before a court of justice; but if his wisdom i...s railroaded to State's prison, his evidence becomes harmless." from the book "Wanderings of a Vagabond." http://books.google.com/books Railroading has also come to mean pushing a bill through congress in such a rush that there is no time for any meaningful debate or consideration of the implications of the bill. With the railroading of land-owners in the central valley, it is a situation more about the future and the the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or the one. We have a concept in our country called eminent domain whereby the state can buy property from the individual for the greater good of the community. The state does not take the property; it is purchased for fair market value. Unfortunately, a neutral, third party assessment of what my property is worth probably does not come close to what I believe my property is worth when I add in the emotional value that comes from memories of many generations of family life tied to that property. I can agree with the concept of eminent domain, however I feel we should find a more appropriate measure of value in compensating those who are giving up their memories as well as their land.