Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Oregon

So I am feeling pretty out of options. A little over a month ago I had to call the small claims clerk to reschedule my small claims case (I'm the plaintiff) because my son broke his elbow and needed surgery to repair it on the day we had court scheduled. When I was on the phone we rescheduled the case for the following Friday. The lady I was speaking to informed me that I would get a letter in the mail confirming this and to have a nice day. I specifically told her, "Great, I'm marking it on my calendar now."

So the following Friday I take the day off of work, drive 100 miles and make sure my case is all prepared. When I arrive at the court house I find that my case isn't listed anywhere on the bulletin board for the day so I go check with the front desk to see why this is. She looks up my case and then asks me if I mind holding for a few minutes. After several minutes she returns and tells me that my trial was yesterday, and the Judge had already submitted the case but to not worry because it was their fault so they would make sure to see what they could do to fix it. She said that someone had "hit the wrong button" in the system and accidentally double booked my case. Since the "extra" scheduled hearing came first (On Thursday) that that was the case the system defaulted to. She told me she was going to speak with the court administrator and give me a call by monday to let me know what my options are.

Monday comes, 2:00 p.m. passes and no one has called. So I called the court and was informed this time that the Court Administrator said there is nothing I can do because that paper they sent me that was suppose to "Confirm" the date I had agreed to previously actually had Thursday listed on it so it's on me. I never read the paper, I glanced at it and tossed it. So yes, that would technically be my fault.

From there I ask why the date was changed in the first place, and what my appeal options are. She couldn't give me any answers and told me the Court Room administrator would call me back...

Several days pass and nothing. I call back and ask why no one has called me and ask once again why the case date changed and what my appeal options are. I'm informed that the Court Administrator is out for a few days and so I request the name of the Judicial Assistant and to speak to her. I'm told she also can't speak to me but I'm sent to her voice mail. I leave her a detailed message about my case, what happened and request that she call me back as soon as possible. She never calls.

Then, the cherry on this whole situation, I find out from a friend that their is a deadline to appeal a hearing and it's 7-10 days after a case. That has long passed, and this is because not a single person would return my calls or even speak to me. I feel so frustrated. I lost a $5000 small claims case, the people I was taking to court literally got to steal my only car, and they're laughing about it. I spent 3 months preparing my case for nothing! Is there ANYTHING at all that I can do to at very least report the court? They shouldn't be able to do this to people, and frankly I want someone to take responsibility for this whole mess. I never got a single apology, I never got told why they changed the date of my court case to a date they don't normally hold small claims cases, and I feel like they know they were wrong so they deliberately ignored me until the deadline passed for me to take action. Any information at all would be so appreciated, my google searches are turning up nothing. I don't know if this will matter or not, but this particular case happened in Polk County Small Claims Court in Oregon. Thanks again!

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