Barnstable County Courts: The Good People, Like Register Frederic P. Claussen

This article is part of our Pro Se Litigant series, case: Torres v. Torres – The People

A true patriot and quiet hero

As in every organization or group, there are good as well as bad members and this is true of the Barnstable County Courts. We contacted Mr. Torres, one of the Plaintiffs in our exclusive coverage of our Pro Se series, Case: Torres v. Torres after our last article on Judge Christopher J. Muse: Are the wagons circling at Barnstable Superior Court? for his comments on this subject. Mr. Torres stated that there are many fair and impartial Judges in Barnstable Superior Court, now as in the past. Mr. Torres’ unique past has provided him with a wide range of opportunities, from being represented by Bingham & Dana, one of New England’s oldest, largest and most prestigious law firms, when he owned very successful software companies, to representing himself Pro Se when he was flat broke, as is currently the case. He has the experience of having won and lost many motions, but only twice has he been subjected to bias by a judge, namely, by Judge Shirley R. Lewis and Judge Christopher J. Muse.

Fair Judges: The fact is, Barnstable Superior Court Judge Robert C. Rufo ruled against us on our Motion for Summary Judgement to be heard at the same hearing as the Defendant’s 12 B(6) motions, yet ruled for us in our Indigency Motion, and on us receiving the tapes and transcripts of our hearings. Without his allowance of our motion, we would not have had the funds to get the transcripts, which led to our winning our Appeal. When we lost our Motion to hear our Summary Judgement Motion, we didn’t agree with Judge Rufo, but we certainly didn’t claim bias. That goes for the majority of Judges I have been before through the years, and also for the staff in the Clerk’s Office. Barnstable County has had many honorable Judges, like Judge Betty Dolan and Judge Sheila McGovern and many others of whom I wish I could remember the names. I always remember what my father, a World War II Vet, told me during the Judge Lewis Impeachment effort, “If we don’t take a stand against the bad ones, they could easily spoil all the rest”. He spent over three years in combat areas and knew better than most what unchecked power can do.

Fred Claussen at Wimpy’s

Mr Torres was also the good friend of the now deceased Frederic P. Claussen, the Register of Barnstable Probate Court. Mr. Claussen, who lived in Cotuit Massachusetts his entire life, filed a complaint with the Judicial Conduct Commission against Judge Shirley R. Lewis, the same Judge that was the subject of the Impeachment effort. One of Fred’s last meetings, held at his favorite Restaurant, Wimpy’s, was with Jenny and Jesse, the Plaintiffs in Torres v. Torres, James Foley, the other Co-Chairman of the impeachment committee, and Fred’s ex-wife and very close friend, Jacqui Cogswell.

Memoirs of a patriot, Register Frederic P. Claussen gave Mr. Torres a copy of his memoirs, asking him to not publish them until after his death. We are honored here at the Freedom Network, to publish those memoirs of Mr. Claussen, written shortly before his untimely demise. At that last meeting, Fred and Jesse hugged, then shouted out their favorite greeting to each other during the many years passed: “IMPEACHMENT!”.

You can find Fred’s memoirs here: Frederic P. Claussen’s Memoirs