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Soldiers seek foreclosures class action
Headline Topics |
2011/07/14 22:21
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Lawyers said they hope to get class action certification in New York for an increasing number of active-duty U.S. soldiers fighting mortgage foreclosures.
A federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in New York alleges CitiMortgage should have done a quick Internet check before foreclosing on the home of Army Sgt. Jorge Rodriguez of Del Valle, Texas, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Thursday.
In 2003, Rodriguez purchased a home with a mortgage eventually sold to CitiMortgage. He was deployed in 2006, and while he was in training at Fort Hood, Texas, the mortgage company sold his home in a foreclosure sale, the newspaper said.
Rodriguez was sent to Iraq and was on active duty until August 2007.
The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prohibits the foreclosure sale of an active-duty soldier's home without a highly detailed court order. Lenders can access a certain Web site to learn whether a soldier is on active duty, the newspaper said.
It's just an issue that we have seen percolating throughout the country, said Gary Lynch of Sewickley, Pa., an attorney for the plaintiffs. Major lenders operated on perhaps what might be a fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements of the statute.
The complaint indicates CitiMortgage may have initiated thousands of foreclosure proceedings ... without adequate safeguards to ensure that service members on active duty were not targeted. |
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Anthony lawyer rises from obscurity to legal fame
Legal Business |
2011/07/12 09:25
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Three years ago, Jose Baez's name was barely a blip in the legal community.
This was a lawyer who made his way to the profession after dropping out of high school, getting a GED and going into the Navy. He tried several failed businesses — including two bikini companies — before he eventually enrolled at Florida State University and St. Thomas University School of Law. It took another eight years for him to be admitted to the bar.
Now he's arguably one of the most recognizable attorneys in the country after his client Casey Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in a case marked by a captivated national audience and searing scrutiny of every legal twist.
For the last three years since, Baez faced questions from other attorneys and TV commentators about his lack of criminal law experience and tactics. Now he's a legal celebrity almost certain to be offered interviews, book offers and possibly movie deals that could bring hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I think this is obviously life-altering for Jose Baez, said Terry Lenamon, a former member of Anthony's defense team, who left the case in 2008 after a disagreement over strategy.
Baez, 42, took Anthony's case pro bono in 2008, after getting a referral from a former client who shared a cell with Anthony following her initial arrest. He has handled the case since then, operating on state funds available to Anthony because of her indigent status, and from an early $200,000 she received from licensing photos and videos to ABC News. |
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Biesecker named to NC investigations, court beats
Industry News |
2011/07/12 09:24
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Michael Biesecker, an award-winning reporter and investigative journalist for The News amp; Observer of Raleigh, has been hired by The Associated Press to cover federal courts, investigations and politics in North Carolina.
Biesecker is a North Carolina native and has spent his 15-year-career in his home state. He worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in a variety of positions including as a columnist and reporter before going to work for The News amp; Observer in 2003. He has covered the state capital for the newspaper since 2009.
His work probing the failings of North Carolina's mental health care system in 2008 uncovered more than 80 questionable deaths in state mental hospitals. The newspaper's series Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform led to new policies on how state facilities report deaths and monitor care. He has won numerous awards from the North Carolina Press Association, including for general news and for investigative reporting. In 2008, he was part of a team that won an Associated Press Managing Editors Association First Amendment Award for reporting on access to email written by public officials.
The appointment was announced Monday by South Editor Lisa Marie Pane, Chief of Bureau Michelle Williams and Carolinas News Editor Evan Berland.
Biesecker has some serious reporting chops and we're looking forward to his using those to cover the vitally important federal courts beat and being involved in some important investigative projects, Pane said. |
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Strauss-Kahn's French accuser heard by police
Headline Topics |
2011/07/12 04:24
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A French writer who contends that former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her gave a statement to French police investigators on Monday, a judicial official said.
Tristane Banon brought a criminal complaint last week, and the Paris prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into her allegations that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in an empty apartment during a 2003 interview.
A judicial official speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with French judicial regulations said police heard from Banon on Monday.
Banon made no official report of being victimized after the alleged attack eight years ago. Her lawyer, however, said he has evidence, including text messages related to the incident, and Banon has explained that her mother — a Socialist Party politician — dissuaded her from making a complaint immediately after the alleged incident.
A prominent Socialist, Strauss-Kahn had been seen as a leading potential contender and challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy for next year's elections — until the New York hotel incident embarrassed Strauss-Kahn's party and left him in the political wilderness.
Banon has told L'Express magazine that during an interview for a book project, Strauss-Kahn grabbed her hand and arm before the two fell to the floor of his apartment and fought for several minutes, with the politician trying to open her jeans and bra and putting his fingers in her mouth and underwear. |
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Ballard Spahr says Stewart new chair of national law firm
Network News |
2011/07/06 08:44
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Law firm Ballard Spahr LLP says that Mark Stewart, who helped the firm open six new offices, has been named its chair.
The law firm — its headquarters are in Philadelphia — said Stewart became chair on Friday, succeeding Arthur Makadon who took the position in 2002. He is returning to active practice with the firm.
Stewart joined the firm as a summer associate in 1981.
Ballard Spahr has more than 475 lawyers in 13 offices across the U.S. and offers litigatition, business and finance, real estate, intellectual propery and public finance services. |
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Orange County judge to restrict Costa Mesa layoffs
Industry News |
2011/07/06 08:44
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An Orange County judge said Tuesday that she will issue a court order to restrict Costa Mesa from laying off nearly half of the city's workforce and outsourcing jobs.
Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann said she would grant the Orange County Employees Association's request for a preliminary injunction. But the city has until Friday to file objections before she issues her ruling.
The union filed suit in May, arguing that the city's plan to outsource municipal jobs violates state law and the union contract.
In March, the Costa Mesa City Council majority voted to outsource jobs to mostly private companies in a drastic move to plug a $15 million budget hole.
Soon afterward, 213 of 450 employees got layoff notices that would take effect in September.
Union spokeswoman Jennifer Muir said the court order would protect employees' jobs until the case against the city goes to trial.
Schumann said the city must follow proper procedures when laying off workers, but she didn't explain what those procedures are.
Assistant City Attorney Harold Potter contends the city has been following procedures while pursuing austerity measures.
The judge's ruling won't stop the city from exploring outsourcing options, he said. |
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Bank of America settlement faces challenge
Legal Business |
2011/07/05 22:24
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Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement with investors over poor-quality mortgage bonds is facing a new challenge.
On Tuesday, a group of bond investors calling themselves Walnut Place said they objected to the terms of the settlement. In a filing with the New York Supreme Court, the investors said they wanted to be excluded from the settlement that was struck after negotiations between the bank and 22 institutional investors such as BlackRock Inc., the Federal Reserve Bank, and Pimco. The settlement was meant to cover a broader group of investors being represented by a trustee.
The Walnut Place group said the 22 investors were self-appointed and didn't represent or solicit the views of the broader group of bondholders. The group also said the talks were held in secret.
A Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson said in a statement that the conversations between the bank and investors were publicly disclosed and were far from secretive. The settlement agreement was designed to give certificate holders, like those behind the Walnut Place entities, an opportunity to have any objections heard, the statement read. |
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