Sacramento Law Firm News & Updates

I often have clients ask if they can save their home from foreclosure with bankruptcy. Sometimes, through bankruptcy filing, the answer is yes. Read more about how in my blog. However, I think that the better question is “should I save my home from foreclosure?” Here are some factors to consider when deciding whether you should keep or surrender your home:

• Can you really afford the mortgage payments? Your mortgage payments should total about 25 to 30% of your income.
• Is your interest rate scheduled to adjust? It may be that you can afford your payments now but maybe not once your payments adjust.
• Do you have negative equity in your home? If you owe $300,000.00, but your home is only worth $150,000 now, you have negative equity. You are essentially renting your home as you are not building equity, and it may be a good idea to let the home go.
• Is this where you want to live for the indefinite future? If not, perhaps you should use your financial problems to reevaluate where you want to live. Take advantage of the fresh start that can be offered by bankruptcy.

A too-big house payment can, at the very least, leave you with too little money for other goals: retirement, vacations, college funds for the kids.  Bankruptcy might help you save your home, but it can also give you a fresh start if you your mortgage payments are just too large. Read More »

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A 2-year old child was at the center of a two-state custody battle that stretched from Orange County, California to Dayton, Ohio.

Vanessa was born in Dayton, but given up for adoption one month before birth. Now the child’s father has stepped forward, saying he wants her back.

The courts just ruled in his favor, which meant, Vanessa would have to leave the only mother she has ever known in California, and come back to Ohio.

Stacey Doss, a single mother in Orange County, adopted Vanessa before her birth, and has cared for her to this day.

Doss said, Vanessa’s birth mother told her the child’s father was not in her life, in fact, she was not even sure who the father was.

DNA test results have proved that Benjamin Mills, Jr. is the birth father. He said he had no idea his child had been given up for adoption, and he wanted her back.

Susan Doss was shocked and devastated.

“I can’t imagine life without her and I think, seriously I don’t think she will do well without me,” said Doss.

Doss said she understood the father’s reasons for wanting his child back.

“He thinks that she was stolen from him and that’s part of his motivation is that something was taken from him,” said Doss, but she was also extremely concerned.

Court records stated that Mills served 18 months in prison for domestic violence against the child’s birth mother.

“He drug Vanessa’s birth mother around by the hair to the point where police found bloody clumps of her hair around the house. He strangled her until she was unconscious,” said Doss.

2 News spoke to the family of the Vanessa’s birth mother, who said they were also concerned for the child’s safety, and felt she was better off with her Orange County mother.

After a long custody battle, 2 judges and 6 lawyers met behind closed doors and made the tough decision of returning Vanessa to her birth father in Ohio, on Friday.

Stacey Doss was extremely emotional as she walked out of the courthouse.

“I only have until the 16th to save my daughter,” said Doss.

She planned to file an appeal.

2 News tried to track down Benjamin Mills, Jr. and went to several addresses listed on court records, but were unable to get ahold of him. We also left a message for his attorney from Legal Aid, and have not heard back yet.

An adoption hearing is set to take place in Ohio, by the end of the month.

We’re told Vanessa will be placed in foster care in Montgomery County, then she will be handed over to Mill’s mother, who is also taking care of two of his other children at this time. Read More »

Lafayette College, of Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $1 million and provide annual training to supervisors regarding sexual harassment following a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The suit was filed on behalf of a number of women in the Easton school’s public safety department who reported being the target of lewd comments, pornographic display, and groping from a supervisor.

One employee was so intimidated and disgusted with the treatment that she quit, losing her sole source of income. Read More »

BISMARCK, N.D. – The Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar – Bismarck South, owned and operated by Apple Core, Inc. and Food Management Investors, Inc. (FMI), violated federal civil rights laws by permitting a former store general manager to create a pattern and practice of sexual harassment and retaliation against employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed late yesterday.

According to the EEOC’s complaint, between 2002 and the end of 2007, the general manager of Bismarck South Applebee’s routinely groped female employees, solicited sexual relations, told sexually explicit stories and jokes and made highly personalized sexual comments designed to demean and humiliate female employees. The EEOC’s investigation indicated that on at least one occasion, the harasser coerced an employee into giving him oral sex in exchange for a raise. Additionally, the EEOC’s complaint alleges that the manager systematically retaliated against female employees who rebuffed his sexual advances, and retaliated against both female and male employees who complained about his behavior.

Sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC’s suit was docketed before Judge Daniel L. Hovland in the Southwestern Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Apple Core, Inc. and Food Management Investors, Inc. d/b/a Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar; Civil Action No. 1:10-cv-00048 DLH/CSM) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement out of court through its conciliation process.

John Rowe, director of the EEOC’s Chicago District, which includes North Dakota, said that the EEOC’s administrative investigation which preceded the lawsuit revealed that the manager provided various employment-related rewards and punishments to female employees, dependent on whether they accepted or rebuffed his sexual advances.

“No one should ever have to endure the abuse that these workers did just to try to make a living,” said Rowe. “It’s uncivilized and unlawful, and the EEOC will never flag in combating such misconduct.”

John Hendrickson, the EEOC regional attorney in Chicago, said, “It appears from our investigation — and our task will be to prove it in court — that Apple Core/FMI knew about this man’s unlawful behavior, but still allowed him to create a hyper-sexualized, toxic workplace to serve his sexual appetite.”

“At the heart of what EEOC alleges,” Hendrickson added, “is our contention that, despite repeated complaints and warnings about the general manager’s behavior at Applebee’s — year in and year out — this company, which cultivates a wholesome family-friendly,neighborhood image could not bring itself to call a halt to sexual harassment by one of its managers.”

In this case, the EEOC is seeking injunctive relief that will require Apple Core/FMI to adopt an effective sexual harassment prevention policy that complies with federal law and will seek back pay, compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the charging parties and a class of approximately 20 former employees of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar – Bismarck South.

The EEOC’s lawsuit stems from charges of discrimination that were filed by five former employees of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar – Bismarck South, located at 434 South 3rd Street in Bismarck. Read More »

The Department of Justice filed its hotly anticipated suit against Arizona’s immigration law today, after months of criticism of the law from the White House and immigrant rights advocates. The main thrust of the suit is that Arizona overstepped its bounds by enacting immigration legislation. Because immigration is already regulated under federal law, the suit alleges that Arizona’s decision to take the issue into its own hands violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which sets federal law as the “supreme law of the land,” and has been used to nullify state laws that run up against federal law. Read More »

Roughly 200,000 state workers will receive minimum wage paychecks next month under terms of an order issued Thursday by the Schwarzenegger administration.

Undoubtedly, this will be devastating financially to those employees affected. Bankruptcy may be the answer. Bankruptcy can wipe out your credit card debts, giving you more room in your budget to pay the mortgage and car payments. Read More »

When you take care of some of the details for your final arrangements, you alleviate some of the stress that typically falls to your loved ones during a difficult time. This alone makes it worthwhile to plan some of your own final arrangements.

What You Should Know About Planning Your Final Arrangements

One of the biggest misconceptions is that the best place to put instructions for your final arrangements is in a will. This is a bad idea because of the fact that your will may not even be read until long after all of the decisions for your final arrangements have already been made. Your will is the place to indicate who you want to care for your minor children, how to divide your property, etc.

To ensure that your wishes for your final arrangements are known, talk to your loved ones about what you want and consider creating a separate document that contains the instructions for your final arrangements. Make sure that the executor of your will knows where this document is located.

Sacramento Estate Planning Attorneys

Another fact to keep in mind is that if you don’t already have your final arrangements made at the time of your death, someone else will be left with this task, as well as being legally responsible for the expense. This responsibility typically falls to your spouse, your children, your parents or next of kin. By not making your own arrangements, you will be leaving a great financial burden on your family. In addition to this, it is not uncommon for there to be family disputes that arise over disagreements on how these arrangements should be carried out.

Some of the instructions that you can include in your final arrangements document include:

• Instructions for burial or cremation,
• What mortuary you have made arrangements with,
• Details for the funeral ceremony,
• The type of casket you want, if you have not already picked it out with the mortuary,
• Where you would like to be buried, or other instructions concerning your final resting place
• Details for your memorial marker

The cost of a mortuary’s services to take care of your final arrangements will vary, which is why it is important to plan long before you think these services will be needed. This way you can compare services and cost.

Taking care of your own arrangements not only leaves you with peace of mind, but it will help your family weather the difficulty of your death when that times comes.

The Estate Planning Lawyers of Bowman & Associates help clients throughout California. If you or someone you know has legal questions, contact our experienced Wills, Trusts & Probate Attorneys in Sacramento and Folsom.

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Jackson County prosecutors today accused a man of beating another man with a metal pipe on Father’s Day during a child custody dispute.

Prosecutors charged Roger Stanley, 41, of Kansas City, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

The 34-year-old victim suffered a four-inch cut to the back of his head that required 13 stitches to close. He also suffered long, narrow welts on his back.

Hospital security officers arrested Stanley and four others when they showed up at the hospital where the victim was being treated. Court records said Stanley had called the victim and threatened to show up at the hospital to hurt the victim more.

The incident began about 8:20 p.m. Sunday when the victim’s girlfriend’s mother showed up at the victim’s house in the 4300 block of Norledge Avenue and grabbed the girlfriend’s 9-month-old baby.

The mother marched outside and down the street with the baby. The girlfriend followed and got into an argument over the baby. The victim came outside after a while to check on his girlfriend and that’s when the girlfriend’s mother’s boyfriend charged him with two friends, according to court records.

The victim turned to run back into his house, but fell and the three attacked him, the records said.

A neighbor told police he saw the grandmother curse in the victim’s face and “snatch” the baby. The neighbor heard the victim tell the grandmother he didn’t want to fight. The victim even invited her inside for a beer, the neighbor told police.

The neighbor later saw the men attack the victim with bats and chair-leg-like weapons. The neighbor said the victim “didn’t contribute to this fight whatsoever.” Read More »

ROBBINSVILLE — Former Public Works Superintendent George Field has won a $500,000 discrimination and wrongful termination settlement from the township, with council approving the agreement at Thursday night’s meeting.

Field, now 63, of Hamilton Square, filed the suit back on Sept. 26, 2007, against the township, Mayor David Fried and then-Business Administrator Mary Caffrey.

In court papers, he detailed how he’d undergone bladder surgery in 2003, then in April of 2005 notified Mayor Fried and Caffrey that he’d require additional surgery, scheduled for July 21, 2005.

“On July 20, 2005, plaintiff met with the defendants … who claimed his position was being evaluated,” Field’s suit stated. “Plaintiff had surgery on July 21, 2005. On the following day, plaintiff was advised that when he returned to work, after medical leave, plaintiff’s foreman would be in charge.”

Field said he notified them he’d be back to work on Dec. 12 after another follow-up surgery, but then “received a call from Mary Caffrey and Mark Rosselli, Esquire, terminating his employment on the basis that he allegedly did not follow orders.”

Field said he “was wrongfully terminated by the defendant on the basis of his age (then 58), his disability or medical leave, and/or a perceived handicap in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.”

Field said he’d suffered injury and damage to his reputation, emotional distress, humiliation, the loss of past, present and future earnings and benefits, and charged the township’s conduct “was egregious and outrageous with actual malice …”

Field began employment in the road department in 1996 when the township was still named Washington.

He was named supervisor of Public Works two months later, and superintendent of Public Works in 2001.

The Municipal Excess Joint Liability Insurance Fund is paying its $250,000 half-share of the settlement, and advancing the township’s share of $250,000 since the township “is not able to pay at this point in time, with the specific understanding that the Township shall repay the $250,000 to the MEL in five annual installments of $50,000 …” Read More »

1. Bankruptcy will stop creditors from calling you, sending you letters and prohibit them from demanding payment from you.
2. Bankruptcy will stop creditor lawsuits. One of the scariest things about being hopelessly in debt is the threat of creditor lawsuits. Lawsuits are time consuming and scary, not to mention expensive, especially if the creditor wins the right to garnish your wages and seize your bank accounts and other assets.
3. Bankruptcy will delay foreclosure. Bankruptcy continues to be one of the most effective ways that homeowners save their home from bankruptcy. Not only does bankruptcy delay mortgage lenders from continuing a foreclosure, it can even give you more time to work with your lender to become current in your mortgage. Read More »