PETERSEN DEAN AND RENOVATE AMERICA / HERO, PARTNERS IN CRIME: April 2018

ANSWER – CONTRACT and ATTACHMENT 4

NOTE: Defendant had to purchase a copy of the SUMMONS and COMPLAINT using fee waiver on April 23, 2018, the ordered due date of her response to the COMPLAINT. PLAINTIFF ignored DEFENDANTS emails and phone calls requesting a copy of the documents until April, 23, 2018 when PLAINTIFF had already purchased a copy from the court. DEFENDANT also had to purchase copies of the MECHANICS LEINS. PLAINTIFF has lied to the court about attempting to serve DEFENDANT, pretended to not know when DEFENDANT was in emergency housing at the Marriott, pretended to not know information it is clear they knew by their communications with their insurance company, CAP SPECIALITY. PLAINTIFF has used “errors” in spelling and street numbers that DEFENDANT learned of anyway because the mail man delivered the CASE CONFERENCE NOTICE in spite of the incorrect address because the mail man recognized my name. PLAINTIFF is expecting the world to believe they can't remember the address of the property they are attempting to illegally seize. DEFENDANT boldly told Judge Murphy that DEFENDANT did not have PLANTIFF’S email in spite of having used it to send threatening emails, copies of many are submitted. The Judge informed DEFENDANT that PLANTIFF’S email was on all the court documents but he would read it to them anyway and they were to use it to notify DEFENDANT of the upcoming CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE All these actions combined would lead a reasonable person to assume PLAINTIFF was in the process of attempting to get a ruling from the court without the DEFENDANTS knowledge when DEFENDANT was advised there by an attorney she was consulting about bringing a suit against RENOVATE AMERICA/HERO and PETERSEN DEAN, that PETERSEN DEAN had filed MECHANICS LEINS and case BC661819. DEFENDANT was notified by an attorney she was consulting, not by being properly served.

2. On November 2, 2016 PETERSEN DEAN had an accident on our property which damaged the lungs of my autistic son JAMES MARSHALL. The first response from PETERSEN DEAN was that it would be immediately addressed. Two licensed stucco powder remediation companies gave estimates and agreed to immediately contain, clean and stop the spread but PETERSEN DEAN did not like the quotes and did not seek additional quotes from other licensed companies. PETERSEN DEAN changed their minds about remediation and instructed me to allow their electricians to clean the garage and my son’s room and the air vents with leaf blowers. The electrician, Mr. Garett Wallace argued with his boss over the phone in front of me that he could not clean the mess, that he did not have the proper equipment and it would take him four days or more, that he could not clean the autistic young man’s bedding, stuffed animals, clothing, carpet, wall and air vents, that he could not do it with a leaf blower and did not have a leaf blower. The electricians left the scene and the job was abandoned from that day until now.

JAMES MARSHALL developed a severe lung infection. The air vents were sealed off by the contractor Petersen Dean refused to hire to stop further drifting of the powder and the heater could not be used since November 2, 2016. The contractor told us that it was not safe for us to stay in the house, that he had done things to make it safer for short visits wearing a protective mask but it was still not safe, especially James’ room. PETERSEN DEAN refused to make any of the repairs, including electrical damage they did with a sledge hammer on November 2, 2016, broken plaster, rotten wood they failed to remove from the roof. PETERSEN DEAN abandoned the job on November 2, 2016 and began a long drawn out process of bullying and trying to frighten us. I was told repeatedly that it was a shame that my son had such a rough year but I could spare him from the unimaginable if I would just sign the documents they wanted to meet me at the house to sign. The word “unimaginable” was used repeatedly to try to scare me into signing documents.

My son’s health and the repairs were repeatedly used as leverage to try to force me to sign documents that PETERSEN DEAN refused to mail to me, refused to let me have an attorney review. PLAINTIFF would not finish the job unless I signed that they HAD finished the job and that I was satisfied with everything, only then they would finish the job. The concept was unprofessional and didn’t make sense. A PETERSEN DEAN man told me that I did not want the repairs done, other wise I would have signed. PLAINTIFF accused me of wanting to leave the stucco powder in the air vents because I would not sign documents and let a strange man from their office help me clean up the stucco powder with $500 he would loan me of his own money to go to home depot to buy cleaning materials with. I told the PETERSEN DEAN employee that there was no water source at the time and he kept pushing and pushing to convince me to let him meet with me, saying he would meet me at the property with the document I must sign and a bucket of water in his car. I was to believe that a man from Petersen Dean would wash everything in a two-story house with one bucket of water for what would take many days while my very ill son JAMES MARSHALL would be expected to suffer in the hot car in the heat while all this was going on. It was ludicrous and grew to be frightening as the weeks and months passed and the pressure was unrelenting. The threats became increasingly frightening. The man PETERSEN DEAN kept calling me was telling me he was a very nice guy, that he cared about us. We started crying once during a particularly exhausting phone call that happened while we were in Costco. A Costco employee could see how much it was hurting and blurted out, “Hang up!”. The phone calls were not at all business like. They were toxic emotionally. My son and I both would sink into miserable despair after these distressing phone calls. The man from PETERSEN DEAN was a complete stranger but he kept telling me how nice he was and how he cared about us and that if I didn’t comply, he would have to turn us over to George Milionis and what would happen after that would be unimaginably painful, that he would hate for James and I to have to go through that.

I told my home insurance adjuster. Mr. David Klein, that I was grateful we coincidentally had emergency housing at the Marriott for the mold remediation because I was afraid of these men, afraid they might ambush us to make me sign. The hotel security was very much appreciated during those terrifying months. I was told repeatedly by different PETERSEN DEAN men that if they could speak to me alone at the property, they would be able to convince me. I went to the police and was advised not to meet these strangers alone.

I have filed copies of emails with the court that verify an exchange where a Petersen Dean man wanted to meet me at the house with $2000 in one hand and what he wanted me to sign in the other. This bullying went on for November 2016, December 2016 and in January 2017 both PETERSEN DEAN and HERO FINANCING/RENOVATE AMERICA agreed the solution was to remove the solar panels. While I was led to believe this was in process, HERO vanished and refused to return my calls and PETERSEN DEAN filed Mechanic’s Liens on my house. I reported this to the CFPB, the CSLB and the FBI. I have never in my entire life experienced a business that operated like this before. PETERSEN DEAN tries to isolate you and work on you. They avoid normal business transactions in favor of isolation and bully tactics. If PETERSEN DEAN does not like something, they try to make it disappear. I do not know why HERO/RENOVATE AMERICA agreed to disappear so PETERSEN DEAN could attempt this instead of the normal process. My guess is that since PETERSEN DEAN was adamant about breaking the rules, HERO/RENOVATE AMERICA may have feared they would be prosecuted for financial fraud for having given me padded figures. The fact that HERO and PETERSEN DEAN agreed to remove the panels would seem to have protected them from being accused of financial fraud since they would not be going through with the fraud.

It was BUILDING & SAFETY who first suspected the agreement to remove the solar panels was not sincere. THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND SAFETY advised me that PETERSEN DEAN did not apply for the solar permit refund that is necessary to clear the title. BUILDING & SAFETY also pointed out that PETERSEN DEAN also failed to obtain a permit for the work they did on my water heater on November 2, 2016. PETERSEN DEAN refused to correct this.

It is my belief that PETERSEN DEAN hoped to conduct BC661819 without my knowledge and presence. PETERSEN DEAN hoped to sail through the court like a smuggler’s ship in the night. They did not conduct discovery because they did not want the court to find out much at all about the job, especially not anything about RENOVATE AMERICA/HERO. PETERSEN DEAN saw our house was gutted from the mold remediation and they ruined the only two rooms we had that were usable for making sandwiches and sleeping in and made them unsafe to occupy as well. PETERSEN DEAN saw my son was often too ill to stand up when we would come to the property from the Marriott to unlock it for them. PETERSEN DEAN was aware we were not financially qualified for a $32,000 loan and that the lies they told us about tax credits would cause us to lose our home a year after they finished the work and were long gone. That is how the scam normally works. PETERSEN DEAN also knew we would have a great deal of trouble finding an attorney who would take a DEFENDANT on contingency and they knew we did not have the money to hire help. Both HERO and PETERSEN DEAN agreed to remove the solar panels after H&R BLOCK reported that the figures I was quoted were wrong. Then PETERSEN DEAN came up with this mad plan to use Mechanics Liens as a threat to force me to sign anyway, to force us to accept the deal they admitted would bankrupt us and cause us not to be able to afford our house payments anymore.

Being told you are endangering your disabled son by not signing a bad document that you know full well will endanger him by making him lose his home is not how reputable businesses operate. PETERSEN DEAN created a no-win situation, cornered and isolated us as much as they could. I am aware DEFENDANT is upset with me for using social media like TWITTER and YELP to break out of the terrifying isolation. This scam probably was easier to pull off before the advent of social media. Sharing the horror of our situation serves to educate others to be very cautious and skeptical about this under-regulated, wild wild west form of home repair financing, this so called miracle of property tax financing which is really very dangerous and should be noted as such.

I was astounded at how HERO/RENOVATE AMERICA and PETERSEN DEAN approach social media so drastically differently than legitimate businesses like BANK OF AMERICA, MCDONALDS and other businesses do. As recent as this week when I contacted a Senior Vice President of RENOVATE AMERICA/HERO on twitter about needing the company to deliver on their promise to protect me as a customer with their “Senior Protection Program” and communicate with their contractor about this out of control situation, the SVP responded by blocking me (the isolation technique again) and deleting his SVP status from his social profile. A Senior Vice President at Bank of America does not block customers who report a problem and then delete their job status from their public profile. This is unheard of. The fact that both HERO/RENOVATE AMERICA and PETERSEN DEAN still think evidence can be deleted and destroyed and that isolation can still work as a technique only proves they are out of touch with the times. You cannot delete information in this day and age. Somebody, somewhere has a screenshot (see attached screenshot of the deletion.) The best policy is not to try to deceive.

The DEFENDANT prays the deception ends here and now. I left a message on PETERSEN DEAN’S voice mail since GEORGE MILIONIS refuses to answer my calls. I told him the solution is to go back to where we left off on November 2, 2016, to get ahold of HERO, make good on the promise to remove the solar panels that we have proven that I cannot afford, make all the repairs the CSLB has indicated were not made and after deducting all the repair expenses, finance the remainder of the balance thru the HERO PROGRAM as agreed to on the onset. This is honest and this is fair.

DEFENDANT PRAYS for additional time due to serious illness and due to the enormous difficulty finding that rare attorney who will handle a defense case on contingency. We need an experienced professional to calculate a fair compensation for our medical and emotional suffering and losses related to the disruption of the mold remediation and emergency housing that never would have happened if PLANITIFF had not chosen this path of attempted deception. It ought to be possible to make a very good living in the arenas of home repair and solar power without plowing through the lives of elderly and disabled people as if their lives meant nothing. Learning and keeping up with the times is one way for a business to accomplish that. In the brave new world of solar power, it ought to be possible for grown men to make a living without resorting to bullying a 65 year old woman and her autistic son to death.

My son’s three dental surgeries that where scheduled for 2016 had to be put on hold because PLAINTIFF tied up our home equity that was to pay for his dental surgeries not covered by his insurance. The dentist has informed me that he is unable to save teeth that he could have saved in 2016. A photo of my son’s badly broken teeth is attached. He is in constant pain. My son and I have both had multiple episodes of fainting from extremely high blood pressure. This was never a problem for me before. My son stopped breathing in the back seat of the car on the 405 freeway while I was driving. I stopped breathing in our room at the Marriott. I fainted in the parking lot of the Marriott. I fainted in the parking lot of a Costa Mesa attorney I was consulting for help. My son stopped breathing on the sidewalk in front of the Marriott and the only reason his head didn’t split open was a lady passing by caught his head seconds before it hit the pavement. I lunged to catch JAMES but it was the stranger who caught his head in time. The skin was torn off my knees in my attempt to save him. Her daughter called the ambulance. The staff of the Marriott helped us fax documents to the CSLB and can testify to the terror we lived in when PETERSEN DEAN derailed the mold remediation and forced us instead to fight for our home.

I sat in the law library across the street trying to type a cover page when I felt I was going to pass out again. I put a note I carry in my purse out so the librarian would know who to call if it happened again. I pushed James uphill in a wheelchair in the pouring rain trying to get to the last hearing on time in spite of the fact James really should have been in bed.

I would like to ask the court for permission to attend the upcoming Case Management Conference of May 14, 2018 by phone because it is so difficult to manage because of how sick both me and my son JAME MARSHALL are now. The terror of losing control of the wheelchair and JAMES careening into traffic was constant. His feet and legs had swelled up. He couldn’t fit in his shoes. He lost range of motion in his legs due to calcifications in his thigh muscles. He couldn’t make his physical therapy session because he lost control of his bowel and bladder. He was never this sick before in his life. His screaming became so constant that it was doubtful he could remain in society if his environment is not allowed to return to normal soon but PETERSEN DEAN wants to try to get away with this awful scam no matter what happens to JAMES in the process. James is not able to handle it. James is coming apart physically and mentally. I am watching my son lose his ability to live in society. James may have to be institutionalized for the first time in his life. PETERSEN DEAN warned me, threatened me in 2016 that it would be unimaginable. Not only has what happened to JAMES as a result of this unrelenting stress been unimaginable, it is almost impossible to describe the emotional pain James is enduring to anyone. I have wondered if I should film his weeks of non-stop screaming for jury members who have never heard of a person screaming for weeks on end, who cannot imagine what it is like to try to calm an autistic person who is freaking out because their house is destroyed and looks scary to them, who cries to go back to the hotel and can’t understand that the emergency housing got used up by what PETERSEN DEAN is doing to our lives.

Most people cannot relate to how intensive the protective supervision James is. You can’t pay the bills until the screaming stops and you thank God you got small chores like getting the bills paid each month done before they were overdue and you thank God you prevented your son from self-injury each time you were able to. Paying the bills is a difficult task. You’re relieved you got the bills paid on time and kept him safe, an almost impossible task. You don’t do the laundry yet or try make phone calls till it is safe to do so. Irreversible harm could happen in those split seconds. You worry each month if you’ll be able to keep up with important chores most people think are easy to do and take for granted how easy it is to make a phone call or pay a bill on a laptop. You sit in a chair instead of sleeping in a bed. The doctor is worried he will fall. You are worried too. He doesn’t look where he is going anymore. He cries and cries. You start showing signs of sleep deprivation but you hang on because you are all that is preventing him from losing the chance to recover from this very abnormal stress PETERSEN DEAN has trapped us in so James can remain in society. If you wear out, JAMES loses that chance. You are 100% on duty preventing this person from harming themselves. There are no coffee breaks. You are witnessing someone you love try to kill themselves because the problem upsetting them, as far as they can see, is never going away. You walk into the court room amazed you got there at all and you know there is not a sentence you could say that could make anyone understand what is happening to you and your son. It’s going to take a good attorney to put what we have be put through into proper format. I could say, “James has been stressed beyond his ability to cope and is coming undone.” But would anyone who hasn’t experienced this understand just how horrible life has become for James? How unbearable he finds life to be now? You can’t tell him everything is going to be ok, then drag him out of bed when he is sick, put him in a wheel chair and push him uphill in the rain to court in downtown LA and have him really feeling like everything might actually get better. He can’t draw that conclusion from what he is experiencing. He is autistic and he is experiencing despair. He hits his thighs with his fist till the blood calcifies in his muscles and he cannot bend his legs anymore. He does not understand what is going on. PLAINTIFF does understand. PLAINTIFF specifically mentioned my autistic son’s distress and used it as a bargaining chip, inferring that I was a monster of a mother if I did not spare him by signing what PETERSEN DEAN wanted me to sign. PLAINTIFF also discussed my son’s health with their insurance company, CAP SPECIALITY.

To cheer JAMES up I bought a small table and chair from LOWES so he could eat outside on the patio and maybe forget however briefly that our house is gutted. It took me three days to assemble the simple to assemble table that required only eight screws. This is how determined I am. I did not give up or give into the despair. I would turn the screw once….James would scream and require attention. I would come back as soon as I was able and turn the screw as many times as I could before he would scream and begin thrashing about again. After three days all the screws were tightened and the table is now outside. James is too sick to sit up at a table now, he has been bed ridden for days now. It will be a nice surprise when he feels well enough to have his breakfast toast outside away from the gutted walls. I have to drag him to court before he will feel well enough to sit at the table and eat. I begged PLANTIFF for extra time so I would not have to do this to JAMES again.

I took him to the doctor and I will have to force him out of bed on Monday to file this paper in the court. Why should he trust me if I tell him we won’t always have to do this, that mommy won’t always be dragging him to court and attorney offices begging for help? Why should he believe me when it’s been like this for two years? I try to cheer him up but I cannot console him. Deep inside I’m terrified to that this will have a horrible ending.

My life has become an unending prayer. All day and all night since the fall of 2016, all I do is pray to God that we survive what PLAINTIFF is doing to us, that we get to live, that we get through this. DEFENDANT PRAYS for justice. If this case is not being thrown out for duplicating CSLB Case #SF 2016 9935, and for lacking merit, then DEFENDANT PRAYS for a trial by jury.