SAN JOSE – Briana Ioane said surviving charges against her family that she alleges were bogus has been hard but rewarding.
Named in the suit with father Michael S. Ioane Sr., mother Shelly J. Ioane and siblings Ashley and Michael Ioane Jr., Briana and her kin where charged with being vexatious litigants by Richard Thompson. Gladly relieved after the May 25 ruling by Justice Conrad L. Rushing and associate justices Eugene M. Premo and Franklin D. Elia, Ioane said her family is stronger from the fight. .
“It is important for a litigant to defend themselves against unwarranted charges, especially a vexatious litigant charge because if these charges go unchallenged, then unethical attorneys, like Mr. Duffy, will continue to think they rule the judicial system, and that they can get away with anything to win their cases, whether they are right or wrong,” Ioane told the Northern California Record.
The legal fight centered around the ownership of a property that was foreclosed and sold in 1998.
The whole matter was nonsense, Ioane said.
“Unethical attorneys attempt to use their positions to slander people’s names in the eyes of the judge and these tactics must not be allowed or tolerated,” she said. “Thankfully the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal is not buying into these slanderous and unethical moves from these immoral attorneys.”
Ioane said family values got her family through the ordeal.
“Growing up, we were all taught that family is No. 1, and we have all sacrificed and stood up for each other no matter what,” she said. “Since we have been working… on this entire case, we have all come together, to the best of our abilities, to defend our parents, ourselves and what we know is right in the eyes of God.”
Ioane said it always confused her how her parents were “accused of such absurdities when I was the one who was initially sued by Mr. Thompson.” But the light at the end of the tunnel has come, she said.
“Now that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal has finally shown light on this case and ruled in my family’s favor, I am overjoyed in thinking that my family, my siblings and my parents will finally get the fair treatment we have been denied for so many years,” Ioane said.