|
|
|
|
|
|
This page displays a selection of news and may not be the most recent ones from our database. Click the sub-navigation links above to view the most current news. All articles are listed at the bottom of each page and they are in chronological order.
|
|
2008 has been a tumultuous and traumatic year for many homeowners in homeonwer associations. Homeowner associations have been ravaged by the soaring number of foreclosures. Homeowners, scammed by the denizens of Wall Street and made unemployed in the resulting nightmare, have struggled to stay afloat. At the same time, the usual legal vultures in the legislatures, courtrooms and homeowner associations preyed on homeowners. But the year was not completely bleak...........All the staff at AHRC wish each homeowner all the blessings that flow from Christmas, so that we may work harder in the coming year to redress more wrongs, and secure more rights. Happy Christmas
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (3) |
| |
|
Supreme Court Denies Review of Ruling Tossing Judges' Benefits
|
|
December 24, 2008
|
|
by
Kenneth Ofgang
|
|
Website:
Metropoliton News
|
|
The California Supreme Court yesterday denied review of a Fourth District Court of Appeal ruling that Los Angeles County's payment of benefits to Superior Court judges, over and above those given all judges under state law, violates the California Constitution. The justices, at their last weekly conference of the year, voted 6-0 to deny the county's petition for review in Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 630. Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar was absent and did not participate. Although further proceedings must take place before the benefits are discontinued and legislative action remains a possibility, two judges have already identified the ruling as a factor in their decisions to leave the court, and others are reported to be considering leaving as well. Early Retirement Judge William Pounders, who has served on the court since 1985, said he had planned to leave at the end of next year but will move that up if the benefits are terminated, since his combined pensions as a retired judge and deputy attorney general would exceed his state salary. Judge Joe W. Hilberman is leaving the court Jan. 31, and told the MetNews that the impending loss of the county benefits is one of a number of financial pressures that are forcing him to leave his post after seven years to become a private judge.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (4) |
| |
|
|
|
Likely handing Los Angeles County judges a $46,436 pay cut, the California Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the county's appeal to continue paying judges extra cash benefits. In October, an appellate court in San Diego found the county's practice of making extra payments on top of judges' state salaries of $178,789 was unconstitutional because only the Legislature can fund court operations. In 2007, each judge was eligible to receive $46,436 in supplemental compensation from the county on top of the state salary of $178,789.......Taxpayer-advocate attorney Richard I. Fine has alleged the extra payments make it nearly impossible to get a fair trial in cases against the county. "What this means for the people of Los Angeles County is in every case dealing with the county, there is the possibility that the judges were biased against the people because the payments were unconstitutional and the judges did not disclose the payments," Fine said. "There is the possibility these cases could be reopened."
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (0) |
| |
|
FRAUD: MADE IN THE U.S.A. - PART 6
|
|
Homes Become Cash Registers for Lawyers and Judges
|
|
December 18, 2008
|
|
by
Kevin McAllister
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
We have seen in Part 4 of this series how the home has been commoditized by the grasping hands of the few. In Part 5, we examined how these same grasping hands have created a legal system whose objective is not justice but the wealthification of the few. In Part 6, I want to examine how both these streams came together in an area of the economy that has not hit the national radar screen yet, but which is destined soon to do so - namely, the homeowner association. As we have seen before, lawyers swarm to money like locusts. They are ever searching for new sources of money - and some of them realized that homeowner associations presented a golden opportunity - literally! As most homeowner associations are corporations, and as lawyers have made sure that laws were passed that require corporations to be represented by lawyers, homeowner associations were compelled to hire a lawyer. Some lawyers realized that if they could market themselves as "specialists" in homeowner associations, they had a captive market
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (3) |
| |
|
PETERS AND FREEDMAN LOSE ANOTHER BIG CASE
|
|
An Appellate Court Reverses an $820,000 judgment
|
|
December 18, 2008
|
|
by
Rod Clifford
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
The homeowner association collection and home foreclosure law firm of Peters and Freedman lost another big one on December 1, 2008. An Appeal Court in Santa Ana, California, reversed a trial court judgment against two homeowners for $820,000. As Peters and Freedman had admitted in court documents that they were doing it on a contingency for their homeowner association client Palacio del Mar, the law firm bears the full brunt of the loss.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (3) |
| |
|
ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA JUDGES AND CAI FORECLOSURE LAWYERS WORK TO SHUT DOWN HOMEOWNERS' WEBSITE
|
|
The National Voice of American Homeowners Threatened with Extinction
|
|
April 14, 2008
|
|
by
Jan Jackson
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
 |
What would you do if you and your husband were in the middle of fighting the good fight against the tyranny of your homeowners association, when your husband was suddenly hospitalized, and during his hospitalization, your homeowners association's CAI lawyer got a judge to summon your husband to court to pay the CAI lawyer a $5,000 sanction -- when the CAI lawyer knew full well that your husband could not attend his deposition because he was in the hospital?
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (10) |
| |
|
ANTI-FORECLOSURE WEBSITE IS THREATENED WITH FORECLOSURE
|
|
AHRC.com at risk of shut down by powerful realty interests
|
|
April 13, 2008
|
|
by
Danny Schechter
|
|
Website:
Media Channel.org
|
|
 |
Mediachannel.org appeals to its readers and the independent media community to publicize this issue, appeal to the local press to cover it and to civil liberties groups to defend them. This is an issue of economic justice and free expression in the context of a national foreclosure crisis. A California website representing homeowners fighting against foreclosures and arbitrary actions by Homeowner Associations is at risk of being shut down in the same way that a muckraking whistle blower site, Wikileaks.org was removed from the internet by a California Judge until a public clamor forced him to reverse himself.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (27) |
| |
|
Investigation on Homeowner Association Foreclosure Filings - Part I
|
|
Reveals Serious Flaws By Lawyers,Peters & Freedman
|
|
April 9, 2004
|
|
by
AHRC News Services
© AHRC News Services
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
 |
The law firm of Peters and Freedman with offices in Encinitas and Palm Desert, California, claim to represent several hundred homeowner associations. A number of homeowners have been investigating some of the practices of this law firm, especially when they conducted foreclosure sales on behalf of homeowner associations. An investigation of 5 foreclosures has the following in common. 1. The foreclosure sale was handled by David Peters of Peters and Freedman. 2. The notice of foreclosure sale was posted in a publication called Uptown Examiner. It has a circulation of approximately 165. 3. Each home was sold to the same attorney, Carlos Sosa. 4. The homes were sold at foreclosure for amounts ranging from $1400 to $7,000. The equity in each home was estimated to be between $150,000 to $300,000.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (17) |
| |
|
THE $140,000 PARKING TICKET IN A CALIFORNIA HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION
|
|
Analysis of Daily Journal Article
|
|
July 18, 2004
|
|
by
Peter Amherst
© AHRC News Services
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
Simon Freedman of Peters & Freedman, the attorney for the association, is quoted as saying that the association had a duty to enforce its rules. Of course, a homeowner association lawyer would say that. He stands to make a lot of money from the homeowners for that noble stance. If the Madigans' legal fees were $80,000, it is safe to assume that the homeowners paid at least that for Mr. Freedman to prosecute the complaint. That is $140,000 out of homeowners' pockets over a vehicle that was parked on the street. That is quite a hefty parking ticket. This law firm has been criticised by many homeowners in Southern California for being excesively litigious.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (4) |
| |
|
Court Documents Show That Homeowner Association lawyers Peters & Freedman Ask for Tens of Thousands in Non-Allowable Legal Fees
|
|
Court Documents Signed Under Penalty of Perjury
|
|
October 31, 2004
|
|
by
HOA Voices
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
 |
It has been a banner year for homeowner association foreclosure lawyers, Peter & Freedman. They have been collecting untold amounts from victimized seniors and homeowners who fell into their legal traps in Riverside County, San Diego County and Orange County. Hundreds of seniors in Desert Crest Homeowners Association, other associations and their families are fighting their liens and lawsuits.This month Peters & Freedman lawyers had fellow lawyer Michael Kim unsucessfully attempt to overcollect tens of thousands of dollars from homeowner victims they terrorized in lawsuits by giving judges legal bills that included billings from other cases.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (3) |
| |
|
DEVASTATION IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
|
|
Seniors forced to sell their trailer home shelters to pay homeowner association lawyers Peters & Freedman
|
|
November 6, 2004
|
|
by
David Osterpil © AHRC News Services
|
|
Website:
AHRC News
|
|
 |
Approximately 150 liens were filed on homes. One resident reports that each homeowner had to pay about $9,000 - $6,000 of which went to the law firm of Peters and Freedman. The total bill is estimated at about $1,350,000. But that is not the end of the story. CLICK HERE TO VIEW FOX 6 NEWS REPORT ON SAN DIEGO HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION FORECLOSURES AND LAWSUITS BY PETERS & FREEDMAN. It is reported that about 50 seniors sold their homes at fire sale prices to local realtors in order to be able to pay the judgment. It is estimated that the realtors were snapping up $40,000 homes for $20,000.. Approximately 20 seniors died during this process.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (11) |
| |
|
|
 |
Homeowners may think that when they go to court, the two sides will both calmly tell the truth, and then a judge will calmly make a ruling. The following story may give you pause for thought. This story shows that when a homeowner goes to court against certain types of lawyers, the homeowner has to be prepared for anything - including this dirty pool lawyering. Homeowners report that this seems to be particularly true of homeowner association lawyers. Truth seems to be first casualty of such lawsuits.
|
|
| Read More... | View comments (18) |
| |
|
|
|
