Category: Current Affairs

Yahoo! News published a fascinating article by Nick Carey entitled “Troubled Homeowners Fall Prey to ‘Rescue’ Scams.” Among the byproducts of the U.S. housing crisis is a surge in scams that cheat people out of their money, their homes, or both, under the guise of offering to rescue them from foreclosure. “There is a lot of money to be made if you are good at committing fraud,” said Debra Zimmerman, an attorney at Los Angeles-based Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which provides free legal assistance to stricken home owners. “Foreclosure rescue scams are big business right now.” Groups like Zimmerman’s say that… Read More

DETROIT (Reuters) April 10, 2008 – Toyota Motor Corp and General Motors Corp are recalling more than 662,000 vehicles sold in the United States due to defects in power windows, the two companies said on Wednesday. Toyota will recall 539,500 Corolla and Matrix vehicles for the 2003 and 2004 model years, it said in a statement. GM said it would recall 122,598 Pontiac Vibe hatchbacks, which share the same platform with Toyota’s Matrix and are built by GM in a joint venture with the Japanese automaker. On vehicles equipped with power windows, the driver and front passenger glass bolts may… Read More

How has the Subprime Crisis affected you?  Foreclosure? Skyrocketing mortgage payments? Negative credit rating? Misled by lenders? Call or e-mail me to learn about your legal rights. Maybe all is not yet lost… Attorney General Brown Shuts Down Mortgage Scam Artists From the Attorney General of California’s Website: LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2008 —California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today shut down Lifetime Financial, Nations Mortgage, Greenleaf Lending, Virtual Escrow, Olympic Escrow and Direct Credit Solutions, accusing the predatory lending companies of pushing homeowners into “illegal and unconscionable loans.” “As the mortgage crisis worsens, a growing number of fly-by-night companies are employing utterly… Read More

The following posting is copied from the article Intellectual Property Bullies — This Time It Is the Grinch which was recently posted in the always brilliant Consumer Law & Policy Blog. I found it quite interesting and provocative and wanted to share it with you. Dr. Seuss –- or, at least, the lawyers for his estate — are at it again. The victim this time is Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which put articles on its web site and in its newspaper that portrayed Teamster President James Hoffa as the Grinch. TDU used an illustration of the Grinch, and used the distinctive font used in the… Read More

Last September I posted a blog piece which focused heavily on texting while driving. The situation continues to escalate. Living and driving in Los Angeles really brings to light the flagrant disregard that so many drivers have for their fellow motorists, not to mention pedestrians and bicyclists, whom they do not see when their focus is on texting or dialing on their cell phone. I truly believe that talking on the phone is not so much a distraction as the focus that it requires to text and/or dial while driving. Update: 2009 Law Bans Text Messaging while Driving – See Video… Read More

Well, there is justice after all. No one, not even the multibillion dollar insurance industry, is above the law. I, for one, am glad to see that major corporate greed and deceit has not gone unpunished. Convictions for, among other things, mail fraud, conspiracy, and false statements to the SEC have humbled at least 5 insurance executives and have hopefully injected indescribable into many other insurnace executives sitting on the sidelines in anticipation of last week’s verdict. Essentially, the government presented evidence that the defendants engaged in a scheme to falsely inflate AIG’s reported loss reserves, a key indicator of… Read More

New York Personal Injury Lawyer Eric Turkewitz Reports The Following in his Blog: State Farm Hit With Civil RICO Claim Over Sham Medical Exams State Farm has been sued for racketeering in New York with a claim that it conspired with “Independent Medical Exam” companies and medical practitioners to produce fraudulent and sham medical reports. The suit, filed January 30th in the Eastern District of New York, is brought under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). (This story has not been previously reported.) State Farm acted in concert with “IME” companies and doctors to furnish fraudulent and boilerplate reports, according to the… Read More

This video of the brutal strip search by male and female Stark County, Ohio deputy sheriffs of a young woman speaks for itself. I am so outraged and angered by what this video depicts that I had to post it to my blog. I hope that this never, ever happens to you or a loved one. What is truly galling is that the sheriff himself says that his deputies did nothing wrong — in spite of the fact that their own procedural handbook demands that strip searches be conducted exclusively by members of the same sex as the strip searchee. USA Daily summarizes the story as follows:… Read More

This video of the brutal strip search by male and female Stark County, Ohio deputy sheriffs of a young woman speaks for itself.  I am so outraged and angered by what this video depicts that I had to post it to my blog.  I hope that this never, ever happens to you or a loved one.  What is truly galling is that the sheriff himself says that his deputies did nothing wrong — in spite of the fact that their own procedural handbook demands that strip searches be conducted exclusively by members of the same sex as the strip searchee. USA Daily summarizes the story as follows:… Read More

I spend a good deal of time in the courtroom. The signs almost unanimously read “No Food, No Gum Chewing, Turn Off All Cell Phones and Pagers.” Most courtrooms have very heavy calendars comprised of a variety of different cases with a plethora of varied issues. In order to facilitate the meting out of justice, a judge must have the ability to focus on each individual matter as though it were the only matter before him. Although in an exalted position, a judge is only human sometimes reacts in a manner which is, well, human. This issue became of interest… Read More