Tarnished : Traitor In the Same Sex Marriage Battle

 The battle for the right of same sex couples to marry was  fought in a war. A war marked  with battles rooted from the beginning here in California .

Gavin Newsom, the youngest mayor ever elected in San Francisco, a Santa Clara University graduate, went on to be one of the first in a " new" generation of  politicians, who supported and advanced same sex marriage rights.


Proposition 8, surprised many Californians and demonstrated to Mr. Newsom and others, that the status quo wasn't quite ready to change.  

​California lawyers and politicians then fought a war of words and effort  to form the legal structure to frame California's legal "system" and ready it for inevitable  change.  Hundreds of lawyers and politicians dedicated  their time by working on committees,  arguing cases and even taking on clients they knew could never afford to pay them for their work , in support of a larger cause.

​​Mr. Garret Dailey, one of those tied to the legal efforts on same sex marriage issues,  first made his mark on the California legal system with his appeal on behalf of Jeffery Elkins, the man who was denied due process , and lost his share of  his  marital estate during a divorce.  Mr. Dailey's appeal was beautifully  written and  hard fought, such that it ultimately  moved the higher court and state legislature to enact new laws, form committees and make changes that appeared to imply the protection of the self- represented family law litigant , the most voiceless and vulnerable in California's legal system. 

​Mr. Dailey went on to contribute to the  Same Sex Marriage effort  in California, which included working with other family lawyers and politicians to create a new legal landscape where same sex marriage would fit. Mr. Dailey contributed to an important Amici Curiae Brief to California's Supreme Court, along with Leslie Shear , Shane Ford and Katherine Stoner, in an effort to advance the same sex marriage legal issues  in California.  

​Two decades later, most citizens came to believe Mr. Dailey was truly the champion for the little guy, on difficult issues and for less than popular ideas. That all changed this week when it was discovered that Mr. Dailey had signed on , and been handsomely paid, to pick on the most vulnerable in our legal system; an immigrant mother , on Medicare, who had been declared vexatious as she battled through a Santa Clara Family Court system for years, seeking custody of her now 14 and 17 year old children.

​The mother had been married for 10 years to Oliver Garbe, the step son of Sean Connery , who claimed a business the couple bought during marriage from Mr. Connery , had little value at the time of a divorce. During the final divorce Judge Grilli had denied the wife and extension of time to notice her expert CPA, after the mother had been delayed in China when she was struck with H1N1 and unable to return home to make a timely filing.

A few years later Mr. Garbe , perhaps because of his brilliant business acumen, and despite  spending most of his time in court stripping custody from his former wife, and having her declared vexatious, managed to turn that business around, buy a $2,000,000 house in Silicon Valley and start yet another " closely held corporation", which his lawyer , Brad Baugh , convinced Mary Ann Grilli she and the mother need not worry their pretty little heads about.

​When the mother fumbled to file pro se,  an appeal to seek relief from judgments for $100,000's in attorney  fees and imputation of support that was based solely on a less than ethical paid expert of Mr. Garbe's , Tim Harper, Mr. Dailey jumped right in to help. Only this time it wasn't the little guy. This time Mr. Dailey was paid the big bucks by Mr. Garbe to totally decimate his former spouse in California's Court Of Appeals.  

​Members from  the elite legal crowd in California were shocked to find Mr. Dailey opting for the big bucks, and several were surprised to learn just how often Mr. Dailey appears to have worked with Brad Baugh, the infamous  lawyer from Silicon Valley known for helping his wealthy clients keep their money hidden in corporations, and stock options, to avoid supporting their kids.

Members of the California Bar have also been  shocked that the State Bar has refused to do anything about Mr. Baugh's conduct, which has been widely known in Silicon Valley for decades, and where most small practitioners  know Mr. Baugh never settles a case and will wear down the other side , by papering, misrepresenting the law, and even misusing his legal trust account.

Mr. Baugh is mocked by local lawyers who recall he would quote law from a secret book , until it was reveled the book he frequently cited,  never existed.  Seasoned lawyers continue to  mock Mr. Baugh's tactics, including  the use of  a time clock , intended to give the judge an impression he is closely monitoring  the equalization of time in each short cause hearing. The prop is rumored to be a hypnotic device Mr. Baugh uses to get long standing family judges to give him a disproportionate amount of favorable rulings in family law cases.  However,  Mr Baugh may  best be  known for his work before Judge Grilli In Re Marriage of Chertion, where Mr Baugh earned thousands in fees to try to get David Cheriton,  a famous Standford professor, out of paying hundreds of dollars for his children. Silicon Valley lawyers still enjoy recalling the Appeals Court Judge speaking at the annual family law meeting, whereby the ruling of Mary Ann Grilli in that case was essentially mocked  by the higher court.

​Sadly, even Mr. Dailey appears to have sold out his character and ethics by joining Team Baugh, where Mr. Dailey  now use his talents to beat up on the most vulnerable California citizens, the same class of citizens who helped Mr. Dailey leap to legal fame. The California family law community was disappointed to find Mr. Dailey clearly has joined Team Baugh.

​Same Sex couples.....Beware; when it comes to same sex divorce , Mr. Dailey is not likely to be drafting appeals for the underdog, nor interested in the civil rights plight that earned  the right to a Same Sex Divorce.

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