Breaking: Atty. Orly Taitz Reports on January 13 Hearing in Hawaii

OPPOSITION BRIEF LABELS TAITZ  A ” VEXATIOUS PLAINTIFF”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jan. 13, 2012) — This evening Orly Taitz reported that after a virtually sleepless night, she and Deputy AG Jill Nagamine appeared in Honolulu District Court today in front of Judge Rhonda Nishimura, at which time Nagamine asked that Taitz be sanctioned for being a “vexatious plaintiff” making “frivolous” requests.

Today’s hearing was rescheduled from January 26, which date Taitz could not make because she is scheduled to appear in Georgia representing numerous plaintiffs in a state ballot challenge.

Taitz is seeking to inspect the original birth certificate allegedly on file with the Hawaii Department of Health as part of her case against the Social Security Administration, Taitz v. Astrue, which claims that Obama is using a stolen social security number.  Nagamine, who is defending Health Department Director Loretta Fuddy, has claimed that the record cannot be released due to “privacy” concerns.

There was a mechanical problem with Taitz’s airplane, causing a delay. She arose at 4:00 a.m. local time to prepare after writing her Reply to Nagamine’s Opposition brief.

Taitz will soon be posting on her website her response to Nagamine’s request.  “She said it was frivolous for me to ask for the birth certificate, I should be sanctioned, and they should declare me a vexatious plaintiff so that any time I want to file a lawsuit in Hawaii, I would have to ask for special leave from the court,” Taitz said.

Because of the delay, Taitz spent hours working on her response.  “When I saw it, I spent the whole night working on my reply to her opposition.  I didn’t even have an opportunity time to print it out, so all I could do was read my reply to he opposition from my laptop.”  Taitz had lost a laptop computer during another trip and had bought a new one with donations from the public, for which she expressed her gratitude.   She stated that she will be posting what she said in court on her website shortly.

A question had arisen about the subpoena from the Georgia court bearing the signature of Judge Michael Malihi as to whether or not it is valid in another state.  “In each and every court, when you are in discovery, a judge will sign subpoenas, and you can use them.  You subpoena whatever evidence and witnesses you need.  If a witness doesn’t want to testify, then it falls to them to file a specific motion to quash.  Everything was done properly; any attorney knows I have done it properly,” Taitz said.

“At the end, the judge did not say the subpoena was not valid or proper.  She did not say I was ‘vexatious;’ or ‘frivolous;’ she did not say that I needed to be sanctioned.  The judge never said any of that.  She said, ‘First of all, Orly Taitz is right in that the case is still open; there was no final judgment.  As long as the case is open, she’s entitled to file a motion.'”

“The judge stated that under Rules 45, 33 and 31, it provides for subpoenas but does not specifically state it is for ‘reciprocal subpoena enforcement,’ and that is why I’m denying your motion,'” Taitz related.

Taitz said she recalls seeing another statute which allows for the enforcement of an out-of-state subpoena.  She will order the transcript from the hearing. She isn’t sure which documents the court has in its possession since several have been misplaced in regard to the case.  “Pages have disappeared and documents have disappeared.  I’m going to check what the judge has.  I need to see if the judge is missing a page here or there which specifically quoted a statute that allows for enforcement of an out-of-state subpoena can be enforced.  If it’s there and she missed it in one of the pleadings, I’m going to use that; if not, I can file something another motion stating that it was in my pleadings before.  If that happens, at that time she will have no reason not to grant it.”

Fuddy and Nagamine had also refused to release Obama’s records following a Hawaii-issued subpoena from the U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

The Hawaii legislature had passed a “Vexatious Requester” law in 2010 with the intent, as expressed by former Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino, of deterring those asking for information related to Obama’s alleged birth in Hawaii in 1961.  Fukino had claimed that Obama had “posted a copy of of the certificate on his former campaign website” in 2008, referring to the short-form Certification of Live Birth.

In an interview with MSNBC in April 2011, Fukino had asserted that the original birth certificate was on file at the Health Department and described it as “half typed and half handwritten.”  However, on April 27, 2011, an image released purported to be his long-form, or more complete, birth certificate did not appear to meet that description.  It is unknown why Fukino discussed Obama’s birth record if “privacy” is protected by Hawaii state law.

The Post & Email asked Atty. Taitz if she was able to raise enough funds through her foundation to pay for her trip and expenses, and she said she was.  However, she has agreed to pay for transportation and hotel expenses for witnesses planning to appear in Atlanta, GA for her ballot challenge hearing on January 26 and that consequently, a tremendous amount in donations is needed.

Taitz stated that she is exhausted because she has been working seven days a week on various Obama eligibility cases.  She stated that the pressure from the travel, preparation for hearings, and financial costs is “nearly unbearable.”

Taitz’s account of the day’s proceedings has been published on her website.

Update, January 14, 2012:  A court document from yesterday’s hearing in Honolulu is posted at Taitz’s website here.  Taitz also posted her own account of the hearing.