A Cautionary Tale...McLaughlin vs. The Barn Lady

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'Sometimes Fact is certainly stranger than Fiction'It is now time we post our side of the story. The facts only will be listed. We have been harassed by Yvonne Pea for many years. We repeatedly tried to please Yvonne and her husband Terry but their expectations and demands were unrealistic our lawyer repeatedly told us to ignore them. I am so pleased she does not have our home address and her emails go directly to spam. Just the highlights here. This is a warning should anyone ever need to have any business contact with Yvonne of Terry Pea. Beware of what could happen to you. If anyone would like copies of Yvonne's long, threatening, rambling, incoherent letters or emails please let me know. If you would like her or our real estate agents phone or email for confirmation we can send this to you. If this did not happen to us it would be comical, and it is comical. We have kept the American Racing Pigeon Union notified every step of the way. Not only has Yvonne Pea tried to ruin my 40 year flawless reputation in the sport she has tried to damage the wonderful hobby for all of you.

Now to the beginning:In August of 2007 we sold 56569 Cascade View Drive Warren, Oregon 97053 to Yvonne and Terry Pea of California. Of all the people that could have bought this beautiful two-acre property we ended up with Yvonne and Terry Pea.

Yvonne and Terry toured the property and actually told me Terry Pea had pigeons as a youth. They saw the large 24' by 30' Pigeon loft/barn with 24' by 12' flight pens along the entire back. Just a wide open pigeon racers paradise with all kinds of space and sun for the pristine McLaughlin racing pigeons. In the real estate agreement we had to clean and sanitize the barn using Steri-fab. Strange Yvonne wanted Steri-fab because it is designed for cleaning daycare centers and not designed for barns. We cleaned and sanitized the barn to 100 times cleaner than it was when we bought the property. The barn was ready to be a barn.

Several months later my real estate agent contacted us stating that Yvonne Pea was not happy with the barn cleaning. At that point we thought, no problem, we want the woman to love the property as much as we did. We agreed to pressure wash and sanitize the barn again at our expense. The cost to pressure wash a barn including ceilings, walls and floors with a great agricultural sanitizer would cost approximately $300 to $400. Yvonne Pea told us she would send us her estimates for the cleanup. We originally thought she must have a friend in the business and wanted to give the cleanup to a person of her choice. Now without us knowing the 'fun' would soon begin.

1) Yvonne Pea sent estimates from $38,000.00 to $68,000.00 to clean the barn and remove some top soil. She wanted to hire a hazardous waste cleanup company to clean a clean barn and stick us with the bill. We now realized for the first time we were dealing with someone not in touch with reality. She claimed pigeon droppings were endangering her health and the health of others. Yvonne Pea had health issues and felt she was more at risk than most. We felt sorry for her because of her phobias and fear of imaginary germs.

2) We thought this cleanup request could not be serious and offered a sane cleanup solution again. We even agreed to have a 13 yard dump truck remove the wonderful compost pile that was used to fertilize the lawn and gardens. She did not agree and continued to send long incoherent letters that in some cases we did not even open. If Yvonne only knew that the neighbors were also using the pigeon compost around their properties. The neighbors probably fear a lawsuit and would never admit this. 

3) In one of our favorite rambling letters Yvonne called my wife Robin an unfit mother for allowing her children to be exposed to racing pigeons. She compared Robin to a Pit Bull owner that has a dog eat her child and then blames the child. As with all her letters you needed a bit of a 'Pea translation guide' to figure out what she was getting at. We did feel sorry for her until this letter arrived. We would never want to make light of the "Realistically Challenged" but this letter changed our attitude.

4) We set up mediation at the Real Estate office and it was amazing to watch the agents roll their eyes in disbelief at Yvonne's fears and outrageous claims. Again, we tried to offer a cleanup with us paying around $1,500, which was more than fair when we knew we owed nothing to Yvonne of Terry.

5) Soon Yvonne realized that she should probably take our offer and agreed to us cleaning, sanitizing and pressure washing the barn again along with the removal of 13 yards of top soil. I visited the home to see exactly what she wanted cleaned and realized immediately that this entire cleanup made no sense. Yvonne having a so called comprised immune system lived with two dogs, one cat and a four-foot iguana? All of these animals are more dangerous to one’s health than racing pigeons that no longer reside at the property.

6) Our only request was we wanted a 'release' stating that once we cleaned the barn we would not ever be bothered by the Pea's again. Yvonne told us absolutely not. She would never sign a release because what if someone got sick in the future. Without a release we would never spend another dime on her or her demands.

7) Within a short time, my real estate agent called me upon Yvonne Pea's request. Terry Pea had a heart attack and Yvonne wanted to know if I had a "secret underground electric fence". She was even trying to blame me for her husband’s health issue. We knew even more now that dealing with the realistically challenged was a tough thing to do. Our lawyer kept telling us to ignore the Pea's. He said there is nothing more you can do.

8) In September 2010 Yvonne Pea sent out blind emails to racing pigeon fanciers all over the world stating I do not uphold contracts and just an in general rambling bunch of lies. Our lawyer said this email is good for us because it shows defamation of character against me. We continued to ignore her hoping she would focus her endless free time and energy on something good. Who knows maybe she would take on a new crusade trying to shut down a homeless shelter. Wow I was not too far off when you read this link to the South County Spotlight. Scroll down to 'Fled Illegal Immigrants' by Yvonne Pea.

9) In November 2010 Yvonne Pea filed two nearly identical small claims cases in Small Claims court. She tried to double the highest amount that can be awarded in Small Claims by the now you see it now you don't claim. Her two claims were so identical that one claim was served to me at the lofts and the other claim was served to my wife at her work. She even confused the Sheriff into thinking it was one claim. We actually welcomed the claim. Now we could finally have closure and put this misery behind us. In typical Yvonne Pea fashion this was not going to be enough to just let the court decide. 

10) In January 2011 two months after Yvonne Pea filed in small claims she posted lies on rip off websites trying to destroy a 40 year reputation in the racing pigeon sport. Our lawyer said this defamation of character can be used against her in the future. If you need a letter from the American Racing Pigeon Union's Executive Director stating my expertise in the sport, speakers board, Northeast Zone Director, charity work and flawless reputation just ask.

11) May 2011 we went through Mediation with the Court. We offered our $1,500 along with a release and she refused.

12) August 2011, we had our day in court. I was told by the clerk we had 90 minutes for the case so was at ease there was plenty of time to present my case. The judge started by stating one of the two nearly identical cases would be dropped. This was a relief that she could not beat the system with the dual lawsuit. Yvonne and Terry Pea had pictures of who knows what some taken four years after the barn was left vacant to wild animals. She had stacks of internet printed literature about the dangers of pigeon dropping etc. Yvonne even said her neighbor has prostate cancer and she thinks it was caused by the pigeons. Yvonne read from some selected emails and to my amazement the Judge ruled. After four years it was over in ten minutes. I was stunned that I never got my chance to state my case. Yvonne and Terry Pea won if you can call it that. When they were leaving the court I asked them why they posted all those lies on the internet, Terry Pea said "it got your attention didn't it", I said out of frustration that 'what comes around goes around'. You would think the Sheriff serving us with court papers would have 'got our attention'.

13) Yvonne Pea sent us in typical Yvonne Pea style a letter for payment and she added in all kinds of additional fees and interest unrelated to the case. The entertainment value of her correspondence is maybe worth the expense and harm she has caused us. She also filed a police report because  I threatened her with ‘what comes around goes around’. We had to have our lawyer force her through the court to take the settlement from us. She refused and refused to pick up the check to have this all end. We could not find another case on the internet where the person would not accept what the court awarded. Our lawyer was going crazy trying to get her to take the outrageous settlement. He finally threatened with legal action for Pea to accept the court ordered settlement. She then took the money. Life is stranger than fiction.

This cautionary tale should be used to see what can happen when dealing with the Pea's or many like her that are also realistically challenged. I wanted to send the story to the local paper but my wife Robin just keeps telling me to let it go.