Judge Porter let him continue for about four minutes.
“Were your clients filed an appeal?”
“No, Your Honor.
“Were they asking for a stay?”
“No, Your Honor.
“Did the order authorize the Lord. Mercer to restore the property to his charge if his clients did not meet within twenty-one days?
“Yes, but…”
“Then I’m not sure why we’re here.”
His lawsuit was dismissed before lunch.
But by then, the matter had grown its teeth in the other direction. Harold documented the loss of wood, the damage from spring detour, the accumulation of silt downstream, the disturbance of the soil and the costs of restoration. Ruth Ann filed our claim. The court awarded survey fees, filing costs, restoration expenses and just under ten thousand dollars in environmental remediation and wood damage. It didn’t make me rich. It didn’t even cover the aggravation. But he said, in the dry language of the law, that what had been done to my land mattered.
