From today’s Washington Post:
PHOENIX — An Arizona ranch once owned by a member of an armed group accused of terrorizing illegal immigrants has been turned over to two of the very people the owner had tried keep out of the country.
The land is being transferred to satisfy a judgment against Casey Nethercott, a member of a self-styled border-watch group who is serving a five-year prison term for firearms possession.
Basically, what happened is that this man was defending his private property from trespassers and ended up losing his property because of it. I don’t know enough about the case to say whether he went to far or not, but the idea that he would lose his property under these circumstances is just a little bit over the top.
Or, at least that’s what I thought when I first heard about this story. Then, I read a little further down in the article:
Mancia and another immigrant traveling with him from El Salvador, Fatima del Socorro Leiva Medina, filed a civil lawsuit last year saying they were harmed while being held by Ranch Rescue members.
Named in the suit were Nethercott; Jack Foote, Ranch Rescue’s founder; and the owners of the Hebbronville ranch, Joe and Betty Sutton. The Suttons settled for $100,000. Nethercott and Foote did not defend themselves, and a Texas judge issued default judgments in April of $850,000 against Nethercott and $500,000 against Foote.
In other words, Mr. Nethercott has nobody to blame but himself for this. If he’d bothered to defend himself in the civil lawsuit, chances are that he would not be in this situation. Now its too late.
Of course, the lawyer in me asks a very simple question………why didn’t he just declare bankruptcy ?
