Now for part five of Boobus Americanus and the legal system. As I mentioned in parts one through four, I have worked in the legal field in the State of California for a long time. And I have seen some things that would curdle your blood.
I am currently working on a case where two women met and began dating, then began a romantic relationship. They started buying real estate together. They bought quite a few properties together, sold a few and then bought more. They should have sold the properties back in 2006 or 2007 when the market was a lot higher, taken their profits and moved on. But no, they wanted to play landlord. They must have thought they were playing Monopoly®.
The one woman I will call Amy had convinced the other woman to take her name off the title to one of the properties claiming that would help her with her tax problems. She is now refusing to place her name back on the title. Another property was purchased and title only placed in the name of Amy. She told the other woman who I will call Judy that once the escrow finished that she would add her name to the title. She did not add her name to the title.
Then in early 2012 their relationship began falling apart. They own five (5) properties here in Southern California as joint tenants. Judy contacted the attorney that I do some work for to have him file a complaint to partition the five properties they own together, and to request that the Court order that Judy’s name be placed on the title to the other two properties.
I began preparing the complaint which took a long time as I had to include the entire legal description of the properties in the complaint. I work out of my own office for the attorney but his support staff who work at his office are so incompetent that I cannot trust them to attach any exhibits to anything! It is really hard to find decent help nowadays. I think the main reason is that most attorney’s want to pay as little as possible for the people who work for them. I can command a decent rate because I know what I am doing, at least most of the time.
The attorney wanted me to prepare a whole slew of causes of action. I had prepared the initial complaint with just 3 causes of action, including the cause of action that would allow him to file a lien against the two properties that are only in the name of Amy. This would prevent her from refinancing or selling the two properties. But Amy and especially the attorney wanted to load the complaint up with as much horse manure as they could. Unbelievable.
I swear some of these attorney’s are something else. They want to add everything that they can. It is like they think they are building the ultimate cheeseburger or something. Give me a break! Go to Jack in the Box® if you want the Ultimate Cheeseburger®.
I e-mailed him the complaint last week and he e-mailed back saying that he wanted more causes of action. Guess what? Amy went to an attorney and filed her own complaint last week and then contacted Judy and told her that he was placing a lien on ALL of the properties, including a property that Amy had bought before she even knew Judy. So now I had to turn the complaint into a cross-complaint, also known as a counter suit. And Judy gained the upper hand because Amy and the attorney took their sweet time getting me the correct information.
Now Amy has the upper hand as Judy cannot refinance or sell the property that she has owned for over ten (10) years. And Judy keeps changing the information. The details change and certain amounts of money allegedly put into the properties changes. Either Judy is a scatterbrain or she is trying to pull something.
It is amazing what people will do once their relationship goes bad. They want to use the legal system to get back at the other person. You would not believe the number of cases like that I have seen in my many years of working in the legal field here in California.
To me these two women are nothing but two lemon sucking ditzes. Hey if they want to have a relationship together that is their choice. But do not use the legal system to get back at each other. Because once you start throwing mud around it gets on everyone. And when you get into Court if both parties have mud on them it gets really hard for a Judge or Jury to figure out who is who. As the old saying goes, do not come into Court with “unclean hands.”
I am working on another case where this husband and wife bought a vacation cabin in the mountains of Southern California. They rent it out on a short term basis for holidays and that sort of thing. It is a two story property and the stairs leading down to the first floor are very steep, although there is a warning sign posted warning that the stairs are very steep and that someone can fall down the stairs.
However, they did not have liability insurance to cover them in the event that someone injured themself at the vacation cabin. They do have the renters acknowledge that they have agreed to the terms of their guest rental agreement which states that they release the owners from all liability. Guess what happened?
Someone rented the cabin and fell down the stairs. She was injured quite severely and has sued the couple. Normally I do not work on defending personal injury cases because virtually everyone has liability insurance. Their insurance company hires an attorney to defend them.
This couple must have smoked a lot of dope when they were younger because in my opinion anyone who does not have liability insurance in California is nuts. This is the most sue happy State in all of the United States. You have probably heard the joke about why New Jersey got all of the toxic waste dumps and California got all of the lawyers. Because New Jersey got first choice!!! Give me a break. I have a vision of this couple, particularly the guy, probably the type who has one of those pictures hanging on his wall with some trite platitude like “Teamwork” or someone climbing a mountain, something like that. In other words a total idiot. The type of idiot who tries to save money on his insurance premiums by using a release in the guest rental agreement which may or may not hold up in Court.
This guy is going to spend at least ten or twenty times what it would have cost him in insurance premiums to defend this lawsuit, and that is assuming that he wins!
Give me a break. I know California is like granola, full of fruits, nuts and flakes but that is unreal. Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Boobus Americanus and the 2012 elections
Election day is almost here. And who are the two most likely candidates? Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. They are doing all they can to sound different. But when you get right down to it they are pretty much the same. Apples and oranges may be different fruits, but they are still both fruits. Neither candidate is promising to deal with the mounting deficits, or with the endless wars all over the place. Neither one will remove the police state measures that are already in place. Neither candidate will bring the troops home. I have never served in the military but I do know one thing. The job of the military is not to spread democracy all over the world. Their job is to protect the United States of America. Period. And any ditz, idiot or moron who thinks otherwise is full of bad smelling material. If you want to help people in other countries then join the damn Peace Corps for gods sake! The job of the military is to make sure that bad people do not invade this country or harm the people living here. They are supposed to take them down, if that does not work than they are supposed to take them out. Period. Not have hundreds of military bases all over the world which are sucking up huge amounts of money.
Ron Paul says a lot of good things in my opinion but he has zero chance to win the Republican nomination. But I do like the fact that the establishment Republicans hate his guts. So do most establishment Democrats too! If they both hate his guts he must be doing something right.
Gary Johnson is the Libertarian Party candidate, having won the nomination not too long ago. I used to be a card carrying member of that party but I allowed my membership to lapse years ago.
Gary Johnson seems to also say the right things but his problem is that the Libertarian Party is also owned by Big Money. Different Big Money than what owns the Democrats and the Republicans but still Big Money. I am referring to the Koch brothers, also known as the Kochtopus. For some good articles on how the Koch brothers really operate that you will NOT seen on Huffington Post or any other establishment media, click here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon37.html here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon39.html and here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon86.1.html
But the average American cannot see that. I could not see it either for a long time. But I finally opened my eyes and what I saw made me sick to my stomach, literally. I now consider myself as having No Party Affiliation whatsoever. Big Money has everyone herded into three main camps, the “Conservatives”, the “Liberals”, and the “Libertarians.” All they do is argue over minutiae and trivia for the most part. The Democrats blame the Republicans who blame the Democrats.
Like a very dysfunctional family. I see it as a symbiotic relationship. The three main camps feed off of each other.
There are a few exceptions but not many. Not enough to really matter.
So now matter who you vote for things stay the same. As Emma Goldman once said, “If voting changed anything they would make it illegal.” Voting does not change much of anything despite all the rhetoric thrown about. At the local levels it does change some things but not much. But at the higher levels forget it.
Big Money owns and controls all of the foundations and other non-governmental entities in this country. And Big Money also controls Reason magazine and the Reason foundation. I did not fully realize that until a few years ago. I no longer subscribe to Reason and have not read it for about 10 years or so. Their dogmatic reliance on the “free market” as if Chevron, ExxonMobil and other companies actually want a “free market.” That is the last thing they want. They want a well managed “free market.” Because if the market were truly free they might not get to make so much money. It is all about the income stream. The legal system, the medical system, the dental system, Big Pharma. It is all about “managing.” Keeping that income stream going. Think about it. Does your doctor make money off of you if you are not sick with some chronic illness. No. Are there honest doctors? Absolutely. But they have to watch themselves because if they stray too far from the herd they will lose their license or worse. I know. That is why I never became a lawyer. They cannot kick me out of the bar association if I am not a member.
What is a sane person to do? Big Money owns and/or controls everything that matters in this country. Not literally everything but they do not have to. Because if they do not own or control it than it is something that does not matter. Period.
They say this country is the home of free enterprise. But that is not entirely true. The sad truth is that in this country as Gore Vidal has said you have socialism for the rich, for everyone else you have ruthless dog eat dog capitalism. Big Money always seems to keep their nest feathered one way or another. And unless something drastically changes they always will.
So in my opinion it will not matter much who wins the election. Because Big Money will win regardless of which candidate wins. And that is a crying shame. This country deserves a lot better than that. The title of this blog is Boobus Americanus but if only most Americans could see the actual truth it would be a better world.
Stay tuned. More posts to come.
Ron Paul says a lot of good things in my opinion but he has zero chance to win the Republican nomination. But I do like the fact that the establishment Republicans hate his guts. So do most establishment Democrats too! If they both hate his guts he must be doing something right.
Gary Johnson is the Libertarian Party candidate, having won the nomination not too long ago. I used to be a card carrying member of that party but I allowed my membership to lapse years ago.
Gary Johnson seems to also say the right things but his problem is that the Libertarian Party is also owned by Big Money. Different Big Money than what owns the Democrats and the Republicans but still Big Money. I am referring to the Koch brothers, also known as the Kochtopus. For some good articles on how the Koch brothers really operate that you will NOT seen on Huffington Post or any other establishment media, click here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon37.html here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon39.html and here http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon86.1.html
But the average American cannot see that. I could not see it either for a long time. But I finally opened my eyes and what I saw made me sick to my stomach, literally. I now consider myself as having No Party Affiliation whatsoever. Big Money has everyone herded into three main camps, the “Conservatives”, the “Liberals”, and the “Libertarians.” All they do is argue over minutiae and trivia for the most part. The Democrats blame the Republicans who blame the Democrats.
Like a very dysfunctional family. I see it as a symbiotic relationship. The three main camps feed off of each other.
There are a few exceptions but not many. Not enough to really matter.
So now matter who you vote for things stay the same. As Emma Goldman once said, “If voting changed anything they would make it illegal.” Voting does not change much of anything despite all the rhetoric thrown about. At the local levels it does change some things but not much. But at the higher levels forget it.
Big Money owns and controls all of the foundations and other non-governmental entities in this country. And Big Money also controls Reason magazine and the Reason foundation. I did not fully realize that until a few years ago. I no longer subscribe to Reason and have not read it for about 10 years or so. Their dogmatic reliance on the “free market” as if Chevron, ExxonMobil and other companies actually want a “free market.” That is the last thing they want. They want a well managed “free market.” Because if the market were truly free they might not get to make so much money. It is all about the income stream. The legal system, the medical system, the dental system, Big Pharma. It is all about “managing.” Keeping that income stream going. Think about it. Does your doctor make money off of you if you are not sick with some chronic illness. No. Are there honest doctors? Absolutely. But they have to watch themselves because if they stray too far from the herd they will lose their license or worse. I know. That is why I never became a lawyer. They cannot kick me out of the bar association if I am not a member.
What is a sane person to do? Big Money owns and/or controls everything that matters in this country. Not literally everything but they do not have to. Because if they do not own or control it than it is something that does not matter. Period.
They say this country is the home of free enterprise. But that is not entirely true. The sad truth is that in this country as Gore Vidal has said you have socialism for the rich, for everyone else you have ruthless dog eat dog capitalism. Big Money always seems to keep their nest feathered one way or another. And unless something drastically changes they always will.
So in my opinion it will not matter much who wins the election. Because Big Money will win regardless of which candidate wins. And that is a crying shame. This country deserves a lot better than that. The title of this blog is Boobus Americanus but if only most Americans could see the actual truth it would be a better world.
Stay tuned. More posts to come.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Big Money and Boobus Americanus
Big money goes around the world, Big money give and take, Big money done a power of good,
Big money make mistakes, Big money got a heavy hand, Big money take control,
Big money got a mean streak, Big money got no soul.. The Big Money by Rush. Album: 1981-87 Retrospective II. Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
This blog post is mostly about Big Money. And how true that Rush song really is. That really says something when you consider that Rush were big fans of Ayn Rand. I believe in free enterprise as much as the next person but many of the things I have seen are unbelievable. Big Money, and even Medium Money try to get away with stuff that should land them in jail for god’s sake! If I tried to pull this crap I would wind up cracking rocks for the next few years! Of course I am not rich and politically connected.
As I mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I have worked in the legal field in the State of California for a long time. And I have seen some things that would curdle your blood.
I am currently working on a case where a large property management company (“big money”) leased a very large commercial building, it is over 90,000 square feet, to a much smaller corporation back in 2008. The problem is that big money had submitted a general plan to build over 200 condominium units at least one month before they leased the building to the smaller corporation. In fact the general plan had been approved by the County Regional Planning Commission before the lease was signed! Now that is proof positive that Big Money got no soul.
So big money knew that they planned to demolish the commercial building even BEFORE they leased it. When I reviewed the lease it was interesting. ALL of one paragraph and most of another paragraph relating to the condition of the property, and the compliance of the property will all applicable building codes had been lined out completely. You could read certain words but it was very hard to do so.
The company that leased the building eventually lost over seventy percent (70%) of the parking spaces as a result of zoning changes and fire safety codes. And they transported cars! So obviously they needed parking spaces. The lease even said at one point, “Lessee transports cars.” Talk about getting royally screwed by big money. Big Money got a mean streak for sure.
And by the way big money is a California Limited Liability Company that is managed at least partly by a its parent company, which is a Delaware corporation. I should probably keep following the trail and see where it leads. It might prove interesting. And if you think I am some kind of anti-capitalist you are sorely mistaken. I have no problem with capitalism. It is the way that the system is run that upsets me.
And for those “progressives” and “Liberal democrats” who would like to pull their “Huffington Post” crap I just want to point out that Delaware is a blue state, at least since 2000, and even before then it was a swing state. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Delaware_a_red_or_a_blue_state
So why does almost every large corporation pick that state. You want the plain English language explanation. So they can screw over the small shareholders, or in the case of Big Money, they can screw over every one else that they can. Give me a break. Screwing people over is not a partisan thing. It never has been. I have been screwed over by both Democrats and Republicans so I know it has nothing to do with politics.
Okay. Enough digressions for now.
The small company finally moved out after they found another place. Big money has filed a lawsuit and is seeking what is called an “attachment” against them which means if they win they can attach their assets, bank accounts, etc., even before the case goes to trial. And get this, they tried to include the unpaid rent until early 2014 in their application for an attachment.
The lease had been amended twice. When I checked the second lease amendment I found that because only one authorized person from the small company had signed it, that the second lease amendment was invalid as one of the paragraphs specifically stated that two authorized persons had to sign. Talk about Big Money make mistakes, lol. Gotcha Big Money! I may not have a fancy sheepskin but I know how to read bull**** lease verbiage in my sleep!
And Big Money had not even tried to find another tenant. So I had them there as well. Gotcha again Big Money!
I prepared the opposition to the application for attachment. The attorney I prepared it for sent me an e-mail earlier today and told me the Judge had taken it under submission. The bad thing for the small company is that they owed over $200,000 in unpaid rent from when they occupied the building. Unfortunately we did not find out about their plan to build condo units until after we had submitted the opposition to the application for attachment. I am now working with that attorney on preparing a cross-complaint against Big Money to rescind the original lease agreement, fraud, and a lot of other complaints. So do stay tuned.
I just finished up working on another case for the same attorney. I had prepared some discovery questions to the opposing attorney who responded by objecting to almost all of the questions. I read his objections and then proceeded to read the cases that he cited in support of his objections. The first case involved something totally different from the case we were involved in, and the second case actually favored our position, not his! Can you believe that. This guy had most likely never even read either case. He just had his “assistant” look up the citations and they used it without even bothering to read it. Too busy, or too lazy to do their job right. The opposing attorney sounds like he is only a “figurehead” which means that his name is on the law firm but he is a “lawyer in name only.” To put it another way, the only time this guy wants to be an attorney is when it is time to collect the money! I have seen plenty of that type before.
It is unbelievable the things that I have seen in my many years of working in the legal field here in California. As I have said before, I have seen the legal system here in California up close and personal, and let me tell you what I have seen has horrified me at times.
Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system.
Big money make mistakes, Big money got a heavy hand, Big money take control,
Big money got a mean streak, Big money got no soul.. The Big Money by Rush. Album: 1981-87 Retrospective II. Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
This blog post is mostly about Big Money. And how true that Rush song really is. That really says something when you consider that Rush were big fans of Ayn Rand. I believe in free enterprise as much as the next person but many of the things I have seen are unbelievable. Big Money, and even Medium Money try to get away with stuff that should land them in jail for god’s sake! If I tried to pull this crap I would wind up cracking rocks for the next few years! Of course I am not rich and politically connected.
As I mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I have worked in the legal field in the State of California for a long time. And I have seen some things that would curdle your blood.
I am currently working on a case where a large property management company (“big money”) leased a very large commercial building, it is over 90,000 square feet, to a much smaller corporation back in 2008. The problem is that big money had submitted a general plan to build over 200 condominium units at least one month before they leased the building to the smaller corporation. In fact the general plan had been approved by the County Regional Planning Commission before the lease was signed! Now that is proof positive that Big Money got no soul.
So big money knew that they planned to demolish the commercial building even BEFORE they leased it. When I reviewed the lease it was interesting. ALL of one paragraph and most of another paragraph relating to the condition of the property, and the compliance of the property will all applicable building codes had been lined out completely. You could read certain words but it was very hard to do so.
The company that leased the building eventually lost over seventy percent (70%) of the parking spaces as a result of zoning changes and fire safety codes. And they transported cars! So obviously they needed parking spaces. The lease even said at one point, “Lessee transports cars.” Talk about getting royally screwed by big money. Big Money got a mean streak for sure.
And by the way big money is a California Limited Liability Company that is managed at least partly by a its parent company, which is a Delaware corporation. I should probably keep following the trail and see where it leads. It might prove interesting. And if you think I am some kind of anti-capitalist you are sorely mistaken. I have no problem with capitalism. It is the way that the system is run that upsets me.
And for those “progressives” and “Liberal democrats” who would like to pull their “Huffington Post” crap I just want to point out that Delaware is a blue state, at least since 2000, and even before then it was a swing state. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Delaware_a_red_or_a_blue_state
So why does almost every large corporation pick that state. You want the plain English language explanation. So they can screw over the small shareholders, or in the case of Big Money, they can screw over every one else that they can. Give me a break. Screwing people over is not a partisan thing. It never has been. I have been screwed over by both Democrats and Republicans so I know it has nothing to do with politics.
Okay. Enough digressions for now.
The small company finally moved out after they found another place. Big money has filed a lawsuit and is seeking what is called an “attachment” against them which means if they win they can attach their assets, bank accounts, etc., even before the case goes to trial. And get this, they tried to include the unpaid rent until early 2014 in their application for an attachment.
The lease had been amended twice. When I checked the second lease amendment I found that because only one authorized person from the small company had signed it, that the second lease amendment was invalid as one of the paragraphs specifically stated that two authorized persons had to sign. Talk about Big Money make mistakes, lol. Gotcha Big Money! I may not have a fancy sheepskin but I know how to read bull**** lease verbiage in my sleep!
And Big Money had not even tried to find another tenant. So I had them there as well. Gotcha again Big Money!
I prepared the opposition to the application for attachment. The attorney I prepared it for sent me an e-mail earlier today and told me the Judge had taken it under submission. The bad thing for the small company is that they owed over $200,000 in unpaid rent from when they occupied the building. Unfortunately we did not find out about their plan to build condo units until after we had submitted the opposition to the application for attachment. I am now working with that attorney on preparing a cross-complaint against Big Money to rescind the original lease agreement, fraud, and a lot of other complaints. So do stay tuned.
I just finished up working on another case for the same attorney. I had prepared some discovery questions to the opposing attorney who responded by objecting to almost all of the questions. I read his objections and then proceeded to read the cases that he cited in support of his objections. The first case involved something totally different from the case we were involved in, and the second case actually favored our position, not his! Can you believe that. This guy had most likely never even read either case. He just had his “assistant” look up the citations and they used it without even bothering to read it. Too busy, or too lazy to do their job right. The opposing attorney sounds like he is only a “figurehead” which means that his name is on the law firm but he is a “lawyer in name only.” To put it another way, the only time this guy wants to be an attorney is when it is time to collect the money! I have seen plenty of that type before.
It is unbelievable the things that I have seen in my many years of working in the legal field here in California. As I have said before, I have seen the legal system here in California up close and personal, and let me tell you what I have seen has horrified me at times.
Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Boobus Americanus and the legal system, part three
Now for part three of Boobus Americanus and the legal system. As I mentioned in parts one and two, I have worked in the legal field in the State of California for a long time. And I have seen some things that would curdle your blood. I have seen the legal system here in California up close and personal,
and let me tell you what I have seen has horrified me at times. I do
want to point out that I have also seen many good things as well. But
the bad things I have seen are really scary. But Boobus Americanus
thinks everything is just fine. Oh there might be a few problems but
they are the exception, not the rule. You know what I say to that.
Bull****!! Problems are in many cases, the rule, not the exception.
I collected Court judgments in California for many years until just a few years ago. I had two judgments assigned to me back in 2002 or so that were very large, over $500,000.00 each. The judgments were default judgments meaning that the defendants did not file any answer to the complaint.
They were against two individuals who were also partners in an auto sales business where they sold used cars. The individual who assigned the judgments to me who I shall call Mr. D. had sued them both individually, as partners in their partnership, and the partnership itself. The first person, I will call him Mr. C. had actually signed an agreement with Mr. D. in which he borrowed a certain sum of money which was to be secured by used automobiles. Mr. D. never got paid anything back and he alleged that they sold the cars and kept the money, and also defrauded him. That is the reason for the very large amount of the judgments.
I began collection proceedings and sent a garnishment notice to a finance company which Mr. D. had told me about. This finance company financed the cars for the partnership, and as the car buyers made their payments the finance company would release money into the account of the partnership. I was able to get over $65,000.00 from the first garnishment. I then scheduled judgment debtor exams for Mr. C. and his partner, Mr. T. When Mr. T. was served I received a call from his bankruptcy attorney informing me that he had filed a bankruptcy. I then requested that he fax me the bankruptcy information which he did. His attorney also told me on the phone that Mr. T. would fight any further attempts to collect on him as he did not sign anything, and had no knowledge of what Mr. C. was doing. I had to stop my collection efforts against Mr. T. at that point although I still got to keep the money because the account with the finance company was in the name of the partnership, not the individuals.
I reviewed the exhibits that were used to obtain the default judgments and it was then that I found that the attorney was right! Mr. T. had not signed anything in any capacity! Yet the Court found him personally liable even though he had not signed anything! His partner could legally bind him as a partner on behalf of the partnership, but he could not bind him personally to any contract. Anyone who knows the law would realize this. Yet that did not stop the Judge, who is no longer sitting on the bench, from entering a judgment against Mr. T. personally, for over $550,000.00 even though he did not sign the contract, either personally, or in his capacity as a partner.
I also worked on a case with the pompous drunk "attorney" I mentioned here, http://boobusamericanus.blogspot.com/2012/04/boobus-americanus-as-attorneys.html and here, http://boobusamericanus.blogspot.com/2012/05/boobus-americanus-as-attorneys-part.html .He had a client who was suing a furniture company claiming the furniture they had sold him was not what they had promised. When I first got the case the client was still saying that they had not credited him back for the furniture which he had returned. So I had prepared the default judgment paperwork for a certain amount. Later the client finally informed the “attorney” that the furniture company had in fact credited him back for the furniture which he had returned. So instead of the default judgment being around $18,000.00 or so, it was only about $4,000.00. I prepared the revised judgment paperwork But because I was working in the downstairs office I did not print out the paperwork and bring it to the second floor. Instead the office manager who was his girlfriend asked me to just save the documents in the client folder and she would print them out and submit to the Court. I saved the revised documents in the client folder and that was that. Guess what? Unbeknownst to me the office manager used all of the correct documents, except that the proposed judgment she submitted to the Court was for $18,000.00. And the Judge signed the judgment for $18,000.00 even though the supporting documents all stated that the judgment was for only around $4,000.00. When I received the filed documents back from the Court I immediately noticed the error and notified the “attorney”. He told me to go ahead and try to collect the $18,000.00 judgment even though he knew for sure that the amount was not correct.
Now that is scary. And those are only a few of the stories that I have to tell. Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system.
I collected Court judgments in California for many years until just a few years ago. I had two judgments assigned to me back in 2002 or so that were very large, over $500,000.00 each. The judgments were default judgments meaning that the defendants did not file any answer to the complaint.
They were against two individuals who were also partners in an auto sales business where they sold used cars. The individual who assigned the judgments to me who I shall call Mr. D. had sued them both individually, as partners in their partnership, and the partnership itself. The first person, I will call him Mr. C. had actually signed an agreement with Mr. D. in which he borrowed a certain sum of money which was to be secured by used automobiles. Mr. D. never got paid anything back and he alleged that they sold the cars and kept the money, and also defrauded him. That is the reason for the very large amount of the judgments.
I began collection proceedings and sent a garnishment notice to a finance company which Mr. D. had told me about. This finance company financed the cars for the partnership, and as the car buyers made their payments the finance company would release money into the account of the partnership. I was able to get over $65,000.00 from the first garnishment. I then scheduled judgment debtor exams for Mr. C. and his partner, Mr. T. When Mr. T. was served I received a call from his bankruptcy attorney informing me that he had filed a bankruptcy. I then requested that he fax me the bankruptcy information which he did. His attorney also told me on the phone that Mr. T. would fight any further attempts to collect on him as he did not sign anything, and had no knowledge of what Mr. C. was doing. I had to stop my collection efforts against Mr. T. at that point although I still got to keep the money because the account with the finance company was in the name of the partnership, not the individuals.
I reviewed the exhibits that were used to obtain the default judgments and it was then that I found that the attorney was right! Mr. T. had not signed anything in any capacity! Yet the Court found him personally liable even though he had not signed anything! His partner could legally bind him as a partner on behalf of the partnership, but he could not bind him personally to any contract. Anyone who knows the law would realize this. Yet that did not stop the Judge, who is no longer sitting on the bench, from entering a judgment against Mr. T. personally, for over $550,000.00 even though he did not sign the contract, either personally, or in his capacity as a partner.
I also worked on a case with the pompous drunk "attorney" I mentioned here, http://boobusamericanus.blogspot.com/2012/04/boobus-americanus-as-attorneys.html and here, http://boobusamericanus.blogspot.com/2012/05/boobus-americanus-as-attorneys-part.html .He had a client who was suing a furniture company claiming the furniture they had sold him was not what they had promised. When I first got the case the client was still saying that they had not credited him back for the furniture which he had returned. So I had prepared the default judgment paperwork for a certain amount. Later the client finally informed the “attorney” that the furniture company had in fact credited him back for the furniture which he had returned. So instead of the default judgment being around $18,000.00 or so, it was only about $4,000.00. I prepared the revised judgment paperwork But because I was working in the downstairs office I did not print out the paperwork and bring it to the second floor. Instead the office manager who was his girlfriend asked me to just save the documents in the client folder and she would print them out and submit to the Court. I saved the revised documents in the client folder and that was that. Guess what? Unbeknownst to me the office manager used all of the correct documents, except that the proposed judgment she submitted to the Court was for $18,000.00. And the Judge signed the judgment for $18,000.00 even though the supporting documents all stated that the judgment was for only around $4,000.00. When I received the filed documents back from the Court I immediately noticed the error and notified the “attorney”. He told me to go ahead and try to collect the $18,000.00 judgment even though he knew for sure that the amount was not correct.
Now that is scary. And those are only a few of the stories that I have to tell. Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus Americanus and the legal system.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Boobus Americanus as attorneys, part two
I am back with Boobus Americanus as attorneys, part two. As I mentioned in the first part, I have worked for many years in the legal field here in California and worked with quite a few attorneys. Some good ones to be sure. But I have also worked with some real “winners”.
Remember the pompous drunk I mentioned in my earlier post? I sure do, I doubt I could ever forget that guy unless they gave me a frontal lobotomy! I worked on a probate case for this guy where the woman who died owned like 20 acres of scrub-brush land in Nevada, and also a few acres out in the California desert. Well before I went to work for him, this “winner’ had filed a full blown probate case on her estate. The only problem was that she had sold her valuable residence back in 2001 or so. So the only assets left were several thousand in a bank account, the few acres out in the California desert, and the Nevada scrub-brush land.
The case had been filed and the probate referee had not appraised the value of the estate yet. This attorney had someone else working on the case who had said that, “the land out in the desert must be worth at least $30,000.00 or more”. Guess what folks, the California desert land was worth about $6,000.00 and there was about $5,000.00 in the bank, and the bank account could have been transferred without a probate.
This joker could have filed an easy probate and had the estate settled in about 2 months or less
without even going to Court!!But that would be too simple. And he could not bill as many hours that way.
Since the scrub-brush land was located in Nevada it could not be probated in California. It was valued by the county assessor at slightly over $1,000.00. And that was probably inflated!! It would cost almost what the land was worth just to get it transferred over.
There was probably more value in the rattlesnakes that lived on the land!! At least you could use them to make anti-venom for snake bites! Who knows you could probably have gotten some value out of the scorpions too!! Why not. The land was not worth much.
The “guy from Arizona” wanted to coordinate the two probates!! Give me a break. Talk about a huge waste of money. And he was serious. He told me, “with all due respect we should start an ancillary (coordinated) probate in Nevada.” It would cost more just in the filing fees to do what he wanted than the land was worth! And his client would never respond to the letters that we sent to her regarding the estate. This guy had some of the worst clients I had ever dealt with.
I worked on another case where his buddy downstairs had prepared a trust for someone. There was also a will that had been prepared but the will was only signed by one person. The law in California states that a will must be witnessed by at least two persons. So the will was invalid, not even worth the paper it was printed on.
I did some checking on the pompous drunk online and found out that he was sued for malpractice only two years or so after becoming an attorney. And he did more appeals than you could shake a stick at. I looked at a few of the cases and this guy lost every appeal I looked at. Twice he prepared and filed the wrong objection to a probate and the Court’s turned him down. Twice he appealed and lost. I checked recently and found out that not only did his clients lose an arbitration case by someone who alleged that they defrauded them, but the person they defrauded had recorded some of the conversations. They tried to get her in trouble but when it went to Federal Court the Judge ruled that she was justified in recording the conversations because she had a reasonable belief that a felony would be committed. And while I was working for him these same clients wanted to resign from a certain organization of which they were members and he asked me to research to see if that organization could still press charges against them even if they resigned. I did the research and found out that they could in fact still press charges.
The joker’s office was something else. He had his offices on the second floor of an old building in an Orange County, California beach city. I worked in another office he had that was mostly used for storage on the first floor. The building was very hard to find, even if you did a mapquest search the directions would not be correct. Many of his clients had trouble finding his office.
There was a situation where the men’s restroom was locked and could not be used for around 2 weeks or so. Nobody could figure out why. Even when it was open there was usually no paper towels or soap. Right before I left someone had broken into the box that was used for outgoing mail. I had to walk about two blocks to place some outgoing mail
in a mail box down the street.
This guy was constantly asking me did you finish this work. I would tell him that I was still waiting for his client’s to give me the information that I needed to finish the work. The Friday before I left on a short vacation he called me around 4:00 P.M. to ask me if I could do some work on a probate case for one of his client’s because she was asking about it. I checked and his client had never responded and given his office the information that we needed.
This guy was constantly saying, “Oh I have plenty of work”. The fact is he went on vacations about every other week and many times while he was gone I would not come into the office for a day or so because I knew there was not enough work for me. I was supposed to get about 30 hours a week of work. Most of the time I was lucky to get 20-25 hours a week. This guy would have his booze ready to drink before he had even left the office!!
Right before I left, in fact on my last day I came into the office and there were several cases that he wanted me to work on. I did the work and then he called downstairs all pissed off stating that I had not done the work right which was not true. I had in fact done what he had asked. He then deducted some of my hours off what he owed me and wrote me a check. I did not object. I promptly took his check to his bank about two blocks away and cashed the check. There was no way I was going to take any chances on this guy. Good riddance to him. I would rather sleep on a park bench than work for him again.
Stay tuned. More to come on the subject of Boobus Americanus as attorneys.
Remember the pompous drunk I mentioned in my earlier post? I sure do, I doubt I could ever forget that guy unless they gave me a frontal lobotomy! I worked on a probate case for this guy where the woman who died owned like 20 acres of scrub-brush land in Nevada, and also a few acres out in the California desert. Well before I went to work for him, this “winner’ had filed a full blown probate case on her estate. The only problem was that she had sold her valuable residence back in 2001 or so. So the only assets left were several thousand in a bank account, the few acres out in the California desert, and the Nevada scrub-brush land.
The case had been filed and the probate referee had not appraised the value of the estate yet. This attorney had someone else working on the case who had said that, “the land out in the desert must be worth at least $30,000.00 or more”. Guess what folks, the California desert land was worth about $6,000.00 and there was about $5,000.00 in the bank, and the bank account could have been transferred without a probate.
This joker could have filed an easy probate and had the estate settled in about 2 months or less
without even going to Court!!But that would be too simple. And he could not bill as many hours that way.
Since the scrub-brush land was located in Nevada it could not be probated in California. It was valued by the county assessor at slightly over $1,000.00. And that was probably inflated!! It would cost almost what the land was worth just to get it transferred over.
There was probably more value in the rattlesnakes that lived on the land!! At least you could use them to make anti-venom for snake bites! Who knows you could probably have gotten some value out of the scorpions too!! Why not. The land was not worth much.
The “guy from Arizona” wanted to coordinate the two probates!! Give me a break. Talk about a huge waste of money. And he was serious. He told me, “with all due respect we should start an ancillary (coordinated) probate in Nevada.” It would cost more just in the filing fees to do what he wanted than the land was worth! And his client would never respond to the letters that we sent to her regarding the estate. This guy had some of the worst clients I had ever dealt with.
I worked on another case where his buddy downstairs had prepared a trust for someone. There was also a will that had been prepared but the will was only signed by one person. The law in California states that a will must be witnessed by at least two persons. So the will was invalid, not even worth the paper it was printed on.
I did some checking on the pompous drunk online and found out that he was sued for malpractice only two years or so after becoming an attorney. And he did more appeals than you could shake a stick at. I looked at a few of the cases and this guy lost every appeal I looked at. Twice he prepared and filed the wrong objection to a probate and the Court’s turned him down. Twice he appealed and lost. I checked recently and found out that not only did his clients lose an arbitration case by someone who alleged that they defrauded them, but the person they defrauded had recorded some of the conversations. They tried to get her in trouble but when it went to Federal Court the Judge ruled that she was justified in recording the conversations because she had a reasonable belief that a felony would be committed. And while I was working for him these same clients wanted to resign from a certain organization of which they were members and he asked me to research to see if that organization could still press charges against them even if they resigned. I did the research and found out that they could in fact still press charges.
The joker’s office was something else. He had his offices on the second floor of an old building in an Orange County, California beach city. I worked in another office he had that was mostly used for storage on the first floor. The building was very hard to find, even if you did a mapquest search the directions would not be correct. Many of his clients had trouble finding his office.
There was a situation where the men’s restroom was locked and could not be used for around 2 weeks or so. Nobody could figure out why. Even when it was open there was usually no paper towels or soap. Right before I left someone had broken into the box that was used for outgoing mail. I had to walk about two blocks to place some outgoing mail
in a mail box down the street.
This guy was constantly asking me did you finish this work. I would tell him that I was still waiting for his client’s to give me the information that I needed to finish the work. The Friday before I left on a short vacation he called me around 4:00 P.M. to ask me if I could do some work on a probate case for one of his client’s because she was asking about it. I checked and his client had never responded and given his office the information that we needed.
This guy was constantly saying, “Oh I have plenty of work”. The fact is he went on vacations about every other week and many times while he was gone I would not come into the office for a day or so because I knew there was not enough work for me. I was supposed to get about 30 hours a week of work. Most of the time I was lucky to get 20-25 hours a week. This guy would have his booze ready to drink before he had even left the office!!
Right before I left, in fact on my last day I came into the office and there were several cases that he wanted me to work on. I did the work and then he called downstairs all pissed off stating that I had not done the work right which was not true. I had in fact done what he had asked. He then deducted some of my hours off what he owed me and wrote me a check. I did not object. I promptly took his check to his bank about two blocks away and cashed the check. There was no way I was going to take any chances on this guy. Good riddance to him. I would rather sleep on a park bench than work for him again.
Stay tuned. More to come on the subject of Boobus Americanus as attorneys.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)