The Law Offices of J. Michael Vallee

Article #1:

”FORECLOSURE: BEHIND THE MESS” from the Coast News http://thecoastnews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Stopping+foreclosure-+the+truth+behind+the+ads%2520&id=3569973-Stopping+foreclosure-+the+truth+behind+the+ads

Article #2:

FORGERY, FRAUD and SIGNATURES

“That’s not my signature!”

It’s surprising the number of times that I have heard clients say that. What’s more surprising is that it really wasn’t their signatures; they had not simply forgotten that they had signed these important legal documents: these were outright forgeries! Here are some real-life horror stories involving real cases and, by way of example, things to watch out for as a consumer.

THE MORTGAGE BROKER AND THE GRAVITY PEN

When the wife found the foreclosure notice taped to the garage door she just about fainted. She thought the mortgage was paid and up to date. Things quickly got worse. When she confronted her husband (now ex-husband), he admitted that he had gone behind her back and taken out a large second mortgage on the home which he promptly squandered in a failed business. The home was lost in foreclosure and she went to live with relatives. She approached me to find out how her ex-husband could have gotten a loan on the home without her signature. As we have been reading about in the news lately, there are multiple ways that real estate fraud and forgeries happen. In this case, the ex-husband happened to have a friend who was a mortgage broker. Many mortgage brokers employ agents who also double as notaries.

This mortgage broker was especially ethically challenged. He applied for the loan with forged signatures of the wife on all of the loan application documents, knowing that she was completely unaware of what the ex-husband was up to. When the loan documents came in, again, the wife’s signature was forged. Then, his notary jumped in and notarized the document with the official stamp, but curiously, without the usual thumbprint in the notary book. He, surprisingly, couldn’t seem to locate his notary book later during the lawsuit.

We wondered how the forgeries had been done and who did them? While we never found out for sure who the actual forger was, we did find out some interesting information about the mortgage broker when we took depositions of several past employees. The mortgage broker had a favorite glass partition. He would put a document with the actual signature of a person on the glass partition with a light shining from the other side through the document. He would then place the document to be forged on top of that and then forge the signature on the new document using a gravity pen. A gravity pen is the type of pen used by astronauts in space which will work at any angle. Lessons to be learned? Pay attention to your financial and legal matters. Always read all documents.(Or at least attempt to!)

THE FIVE HOUR CAR DEALERSHIP ORDEAL

We recently interviewed a pleasant lady who told of being held “captive” at a car dealership for five hours! Most of us have had the experience of buying a car from a dealership at some time during our lives. Sometimes we end up doing something that we later regret and wonder “how did we agree to do that?” This pleasant lady experienced a longer version of what many of us have gone through, and her case serves as a good example of many of the tactics and pressures we face when buying a car at a dealership.

She received a key in the mail with a chance that she could win a new car, if the key worked. She went to the dealership, not to buy a new car, but to see if she had won a new car. Shockingly, the key didn’t start the free car. Thus began a long ordeal, being passed around from sales person to sales manager to finance manager etc. until she finally signed papers buying a new car for more money than she could afford after five long hours. Did anyone have a gun to her head? No. Was there pressure and manipulation? Of course, the dealership is in business to sell cars. However, selling cars should not violate laws and leave customers or consumers feeling cheated.

Many times, car dealerships as well as other financial institutions will ask consumers to sign the forms that are blank or not completely filled out. In this particular case, the nice lady signed a blank credit application, and when a copy of it was obtained later on, she was surprised to see her income was listed at almost 4 times the amount that she told the car salespeople. The income amount was in someone else’s hand writing. Lessons to be learned? Never sign a blank or incomplete document. Always establish from the beginning that you will need time to review all papers before you sign them. It is especially smart to insist that you be allowed to take the papers home with you overnight. It is best if you arrange for an attorney to review all important legal documents before you sign, regardless of any time pressures placed upon you by those trying to get you to sign. Remember, your signature is your word, and most times, legally binding. If you suspect any type of illegal or unfair business practice, contact a qualified attorney immediately.

Article #3

HEALTH INSURANCE: HERE TODAY, CANCELLED TOMORROW

The insurance industry makes billions of dollars. Why would they want to cancel your policy? To make even more money. Here’s the scam………..

An unfortunate loved one gets the bad news: they have been diagnosed with cancer, or any number of horrible illnesses. But, we have health insurance so at least we don’t have to worry about that. Right? Not always. The newest battlefield in the health insurance arena is cancellation or “rescission” of the health insurance policy. It goes like this. The insurance company gets the word that they will be on the hook for thousands or even hundreds of thousand of dollars for expensive health care when someone comes down with a serious sickness. Not wanting to pay, they scour through the persons original application, which could be years old, and find some small omission or condition the person forgot to list. They then turn around and say, “You lied to us on the application many years ago so we no longer have to cover you and we won’t be paying for any of your medical bills, even though we cashed your premiums all of these years.” Fair? Hardly, but unfortunately, it’s happening all too frequently.

Outrageous examples of these “rescissions” abound. Individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer have been told “no coverage” when they need it the most. Mothers have been notified that they and their newborns have been terminated even after the insurer approve pre-natal services. Why? Perhaps they forgot to list an anti-anxiety medication they got in college decades ago, or the mother didn’t list that she was pregnant at the time the application was signed, even though she didn’t know she was pregnant because she had only been pregnant for 2 weeks!

These case are real. Regulatory agencies and attorneys are fighting to stop this conduct but it’s happening in hundreds of cases across California. Despite many multi-million dollar settlements, insurance companies continue to practice these unfair and outrageous business practices. It still makes economic sense for them, apparently.

What can a consumer do if faced with this situation? Seek legal help immediately. Call your lawmakers and complain. Write letters to newspapers. Make a lot of noise so the practice is brought to light. How do you think folks feel about an insurance company cancelling someone who just found out they have cancer because they forgot to list on the application one medication they took in college 20 years ago and that has nothing whatsoever to do with cancer and that the insurance company has been cashing this person’s premiums for years?

I doesn’t sit very well with people in the community. It doesn’t sit well at all with me.

Article #4

THOSE ANNOYING CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT NOTICES:

DON’T THROW THEM AWAY!!!!

We’ve all gotten them in the mail. Usually it’s a postcard with a bunch of small print and confusing instructions. Those notices saying there’s a class action settlement and somehow they got your name. My secretary just told me she just tosses them in the garbage!

“What!”, I said. “You could be throwing away a lot of money!”

“No” , she tells me, “I was just going to get a coupon for a buck off my next purchase of dog food.”

I don’t blame her. I used to toss them away, too, until I really started to examine them as a consumer attorney. Don’t get me wrong: class action lawsuits keep big corporate wrongdoers honest and provide justice to a big group of consumers who each only suffer a little bit of harm. If we had to sue individually for each person who bought a tainted bag of dog food, for example, no lawyer in America would take the case where, if you win, you get back the cost of the dog food. It allows lawyers to represent a whole group of folks at one time and makes it economically viable to do so. But…………..

There’s always a “but”, and that leads me back to the point of this article. Sometimes, the proposed settlement isn’t fair to the consumers who got ripped-off in the first place. Sometimes, the settlement doesn’t give each person enough, doesn’t make the wrongdoer pay enough, or gives the lead attorneys too much in fees. If you get one of the notices, have it examined for free by a qualified consumer’s attorney to look at the specifics of the proposed class action settlement. If you don’t agree with the terms, you may be able to object. If your objection is warranted, you may be entitled to extra compensation for helping the class get a better deal!

So, next time you get one of the annoying notices in the mail, have it looked at by a qualified attorney before you toss it. You could not only earn extra money, but you could help out a lot of other folks as well.

Article 5:

DEPUY HIP RECALL: WHAT’S GOING ON?

Hips, knees and other joints wear out as we get older. Artificial hip joints or hip replacements have been around for many years now; some brands and types proving more successful than others. Back in March of 2004, Johnson and Johnson through their subsidiary DePuy introduced the “next big thing” in artificial hip implants: the metal on metal DePuy ASR implant. After selling more than 90,000 of the units, they issued a recall in 2010 with overwhelming evidence that the product was defective. Here’s the rest of the story.

On the American market, the history of the DePuy ASR cup goes back to March 2004 when DePuy started a process known as “510(k)” approval. This type of FDA clearance only requires a medical device company to show that its new medical device is “substantially similar” to other devices already on the market. DePuy claimed its new ASR acetabular cup was “similar” to its prior cup, the DePuy Pinnacle device.

One crucial distinction between the Pinnacle and the ASR, however, was external fixation. While the Pinnacle was designed to be fastened to the bone with screws, the ASR offered surgeons no means to fasten it to the patient’s bone. Its only means of fixation was for bone to grow into the device.

Based on the representation that the ASR was the same as a different device, DePuy began marketing and selling the ASR. DePuy and Johnson & Johnson were never required to go through extensive clinical trials or to otherwise prove that the ASR was free of dangerous defects. Almost immediately, the ASR began to fail at alarming rates. Metal by-product seeped into patient’s bloodstreams and inflamed surrounding tissues. Revisions and removal became commonplace. Now, evidence has surfaced that the company knew of these defects long before the recall in mid 2010, yet chose to keep the information from patients and doctors.

Patients who have DePuy ASR implants may face other serious health issues in addition to revision surgeries and the pain associated with such procedures. Metallosis has now been linked to DePuy implants. Metallosis occurs when the metal-on-metal movement of the hip implant causes friction and releases potentially dangerous levels of chromium and cobalt ions into the body. This condition can result in nerve damage and rashes. It can also require the need for corrective surgery.

As can be imagined, many injured and affected patients are pursuing legal action. Many lawyers and firms are advertising for these cases. As with any personal injury case caused by a defective product, damages can include medical bills, wage loss, future cost of care and healthcare, and past and future pain, suffering and other non-economic damages.

Article 6

WRONGFUL FORECLOSURE: LATEST BATTLEGROUND

Banks are becoming more ruthless when it comes to seizing homes in a foreclosure situation-even when the foreclosure is unfounded. Doors are kicked in, locks broken, personal items damaged, not to mention the fear and stress of having strangers lurking around your property. There are other ways that a bank can wrongfully forclose on a home as well. No one should have to suffer this, and it may be possible for you to get compensation for damages in a wrongful foreclosure lawsuit. Types of Damages in Wrongful Foreclosure action: California courts have held that consumers may be entitled to a variety of damages in these situations. First, compensation for physical damage to the home or the personal property taken or destroyed has long been recognized as a routine portion of damages allowed. More controversial is emotional distress or non-economic damages as they are known in legal jargon. This damage can be substantial based on what was done by the bank or servicer; the more outrageous the conduct, the more emotional damaged would be expected to occur. Punitive damages can also be recovered along with possible attorney fees. Specific Examples of “Wrongful Foreclosures”; Wrongful forclosure has been defined as “an illegal, fraudulent or willfully oppressive sale of property under a power of sale contained in a mortgage of deed of trust”, (Munger v. Moore, 11 Cal App 3d 1 (1970)). This broad definition gathers a litany of types of acts and behaviors that would be deemed, “wrongful foreclosures”. Here are some categories I’ve come up with in my practice: 1. Lockout and Trashout Cases: Here, the bank or those hired by the bank enter your property illegally, change the locks, and maybe even steal or trash your belongings. I recently read of a high six-figure settlement of this type of case in Michigan. I think everyone can recognize that this type of bullying behavior is just plain wrong and would anger most jurors. 2. False Information and Advice Cases: I lump quite a few different types of cases in this category. Homeowners are told they must stop making mortgage payments in order to “qualify” for a loan modification only to then have the same bank start foreclosure proceedings against them for non-payment. Similarly, often a dual track is set up by the bank; one hand is negotiating (supposedly) a loan modification, while at the same time, the same bank is also going forward with a foreclosure. Forced insurance is placed on the home even though the homeowners have their own insurance. Sloppy accounting by the servicer tells the homeowner they owe more than they really do. There are many other examples under this heading but space does not allow. 3. Phony documents and Robo-signing: Only the valid owner of the security interest in the home can foreclose in California. Sounds simple enough, but if you’ve been following this issue, it’s a huge mess. Back-dating, forgery, and notary fraud run rampant through the mortgage industry; all in an effort to prove the right to foreclose. Without this right, the foreclosure is illegal and wrongful. These are just some of the types of cases we see. If you’ve been a victim of wrongful foreclosure, contact a qualified attorney!

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