Cathedral City Business Attorney's Best Advice

TO SARAH PALIN

1. Be mavericky.

2. Hire employees from Alaska.

3. No turkeys.

4. Claim that your competitors are socialists.

5. When in doubt what to say, just keep talking.

6. Never stop campaigning, even after you lose.

7. Claim that your competitors associate with the wrong kind of people.

8. Keep an eye out for Russia.

9. Never agree to be interviewed by Katie Couric.

10. Keep a good plumber on hand.

NOW TO EVERY ONE ELSE

Now here is everything (well, almost everything) you need in business about personal injury, car accidents, brain damage, wrongful deaths, business, real estate, landlord-tenant, homeowners association law, construction, patents, trademarks, corporations, entertainment law, advertising, copyrights, food and wine, hotel and restaurant law, and litigation without making any serious legal missteps.

You can also learn more about any of these business areas of law and how we can assist you as Cathedral City business attorneys, or as lawyers in any city, by calling the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers which can be found on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com .

1. Personal Injury, Car Accidents, Drowning Accidents, Brain Damage, Catastrophic Injuries and Wrongful Deaths in Cathedral City – If you’ve had a Cathedral City auto, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, bus, train, airplane or car accident of any kind, get the other driver’s information, take camera or cell phone pictures, call the police, get a report, seek medical treatment immediately, call us or another good Cathedral City personal injury lawyer, follow up with more medical treatment if you are still hurt, report the accident to your insurance agent, file a report with the DMV and don’t talk to anyone else or give a recorded statement until you talk with us. If you’ve lost a loved on in an accident, call us or another good Cathedral City personal injury lawyer immediately. If you’ve been bitten by a dog, get treatment, call animal control and then call us. If you or someone you know has come close to drowning, seek medical treatment immediately as death or serious injury can still occur hours later.

2. Cathedral City Business – Put everything in writing and preferably with our help or the help of another good Cathedral City business lawyer. Spend money only as you need to. A Cathedral City business attorney can tell you where to save costs and how to do it without risking liability. Limit your promises to employees and to customers. Buy insurance. Protect your intellectual property at the outset. Don’t disclose your inventions or any trade secrets to anyone without a non-disclosure agreement. Incorporate as soon as you are profitable. Get legal advice for problems or indications of pending lawsuits immediately. Keep all costs, including labor costs, to the bare minimum. Always use confidentiality agreements when disclosing valuable information and be careful what information you agree to receive. Tell customers they must pay in advance or on delivery. Do not agree to bill and be paid at a date after delivery. Otherwise you won’t be paid on a percentage of your products. Be wary of the potential for fraud by customers, business partners and employees.

3. Residential and Commercial Real Estate, Landlord Tenant Law, Mortgage Law and Homeowners Association Law in Cathedral City – Use a Cathedral City real estate lawyer who is also a Realtor, or a Realtor who is also a Cathedral City real estate attorney. Don’t buy or lease more than you need. Choose the right location. Choose the right mortgage. Don’t refinance if you think you may need to walk away from a home. Don’t buy more than you can afford. Check out the neighborhood carefully. Get a home inspection and a home warranty. Have a Cathedral City real estate lawyer look over the documents. Homeowner Associations are facing a host of problems stemming from the number of foreclosures. As fees are reduced by vacant homes and condos, projects must be trimmed back or delayed in order to save money. Some homeowner associations, who were already in trouble, may face additional problems in the future and both homeowners and their associations should consult with legal counsel to help resolve how to deal with such issues.

4. Construction in Cathedral City – With the construction industry in it’s biggest ever slump, down more than 90% from its peak in many areas, Cathedral City contractors need to shift their focus to energy free homes, apartment construction and to take advantage of contracts likely to be offered for bid under the new administration’s plan to create new jobs rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, construction of roads, bridges, the electrical grid and other utility projects. If you are dealing with contractors yourself, always use licensed contractors and have a Cathedral City construction lawyer look over your contracts. You can also investigate the contractor online to ensure he is licensed and insured and a Cathedral City construction attorney can do an additional investigation at little extra cost. Never pay a contractor the entire sum for a project at the start. Put all agreements in writing, including any changes.

5. Cathedral City Patents and Biotechnology – A patent should be applied for, for any new, and non-obvious process, or invention and to any new improvement of an invention at first opportunity. A patent is good for 20 years. Depending upon the complexity, most utility patent applications will cost between $8,000 and $12,000.00. A design patent can be applied for by a Cathedral City patent attorney, for the look of an item and is good for 14 years. A provisional patent can be applied for, good for one year at a cost of half of the usual utility patent cost but is only good for one year. If the inventor does not upgrade the provisional patent into a utility patent application within that period, usually for the cost of the remainder of the corresponding cost of a utility patent, the inventor loses his or her protection. A patent is pending once it has been applied for, and can be licensed, or sold outright. Without a patent, others can make and sell your invention with no compensation to you. Patent searches help the Cathedral City patent lawyer write an application around existing patents and cost an additional sum, usually under $1,000.00. Drawings must also be prepared for the patent application usually for under $500.00. A design patent can be sought for between $1,000 to $1,500 and a European design patent for between $2,000 to $2,500. Accelerated patent applications usually cost an additional 50% of normal patent applications. Foreign patent applications also require additional fees.

6. Cathedral City Trademarks – Trademark any original logos, designs, words, phrases, symbols or combinations that you use to identify your products or services as soon as possible. Call a Cathedral City trademark attorney as soon as anyone else’s trademark or service mark is so similar as to cause a likelihood of confusion in the public or if you receive a cease and desist letter from someone else accusing you of infringement. Trademark applications range from between $2,500 if there has not yet been any use of the trademark to $1,500 to apply for a trademark already in use. Therefore, to save money, create some products and advertising materials and apply for the trademark once they are ready to be sold and advertised.

7. Cathedral City Corporations – Never incorporate by yourself. Corporations will not protect you from liability if you do not follow corporate formalities correctly. Protect your intellectual property from the start with the help of a Cathedral City corporations attorney. Don’t borrow someone else’s employee handbook or fire problematic employees without legal advice. Don’t get investors without seeing one of our Cathedral City corporate attorneys. Cut costs to the bone. Use extra money to advertise, and sell in new markets. A Cathedral City corporations lawyer can provide you with advice as to which type of corporation or LLC to use for your business.

8. Entertainment Law, Sports Law, Marketing, Advertising, Media and Copyrights in Cathedral City – Whether you are a musician, an actor, a model, a writer, an athlete, a broadcaster or connected in any other way to the entertainment industry, contact us or another good Cathedral City entertainment attorney as soon as anyone gives you a contract to sign. Signing a bad contract can end your career before it’s ever begun. As soon as you have written any body of work, have it copyrighted. You can do this quite easily yourself, but if you need assistance or if someone else infringes your copyrighted work, you can then file suit against such a party.

9. Cathedral City Litigation – At the first sign that someone may sue you or your business, consult with a Cathedral City litigation attorney. Many times, a lawsuit can be forestalled before it has been filed or the matter resolved with letters between the litigation attorneys. If you are served with a lawsuit, hire a Cathedral City litigation lawyer like one from our firm who specializes in mediations and non-binding arbitrations so your litigation can be resolved at the soonest possible opportunity and limit your exposure to years of lawyer’s fees and costs as your case winds slowly through the courts.

10. Food and Wine Law, Hotel and Restaurant Law in Cathedral City – Today, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, bars and grocery stores face an ever increasing host of new regulations they never faced previously. From the usual licensing problems they face with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for adherence to and violations of ABC rules, to new state regulations involving menus and calorie counts in fast food restaurants and new rules requiring groceries to show the country of origin in labels on most of their produce and meat. The worst case scenario today for an establishment serving alcohol, is to serve a minor alcohol who later dies in an auto accident. Such an establishment will need legal representation by a Cathedral City food, alcohol and restaurant lawyer before the ABC as well as legal defense of civil lawsuits filed against it.

If you have a legal matter in Cathedral City, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, Indio, La Quinta, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Thermal, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms or anywhere in the Coachella Valley, our Cathedral City law firm has the knowledge and resources to be your Cathedral City Lawyers and your Cathedral City Attorneys. Be sure to hire a Coachella Valley law firm with experience in Personal Injury, Car Accidents, Drownings, Brain Damage, Catastrophic Injuries, Wrongful Death, Business, Real Estate and Landlord Tenant Law, Homeowner Association Law, Construction, Trademarks, Patents, Corporations, Entertainment, Sports Law, Marketing, Advertising, Media, and Copyright Law, and who will endeavor to ensure that your rights are properly represented.

Additionally, if you have a legal matter which involves Environmental and Toxic Tort Law, Litigation, International, Shipping and Maritime Law, Employment, Election and Campaign Finance Law, Consumer Law and Class Actions, Constitutional, Publishing, Publicity, Privacy Rights, Internet Law, Advertising and Media Law, Food and Wine Law, Hotel and Restaurant Law, Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts, Water, Agricultural and Natural Resource Law, Insurance Law, Bad Faith and Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Defense, Education Law or a Child Accident in Cathedral City or anywhere in Southern California, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and learn how a Cathedral City attorney from our offices can assist you.

The Sebastian Gibson Business Law Firm serves Cathedral City, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, Indio, La Quinta, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Thermal, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, the entire Coachella Valley and all of Southern California. We stand ready to assist you with any type of Personal Injury, Car Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents and Truck Accidents, Dog Bites, Drownings, Brain Damage, Catastrophic Injuries, Wrongful Death, Business, Real Estate and Landlord Tenant Law, Homeowner Association Law, Construction, Trademarks, Patents, Corporations, Entertainment, Sports Law, Marketing, Advertising, Media, and Copyright Law matter.
Visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com if you have a legal matter of any kind. We have the knowledge and resources to represent you as your Cathedral City Business Lawyer and Cathedral City Business Attorney for Environmental and Toxic Tort Law, Litigation, International, Shipping and Maritime Law, Employment, Election and Campaign Finance Law, Consumer Law and Class Actions, Constitutional, Publishing, Publicity, Privacy Rights, Internet Law, Advertising and Media Law, Food and Wine Law, Hotel and Restaurant Law, Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts, Water, Agricultural and Natural Resource Law, Insurance Law, Bad Faith and Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Defense, Education Law and Child Accidents.

DEAR NEWS REPORTER:

PLEASE: HELP ME FIND A REPORTER
WHO CARES ABOUT THE HOMELESS
IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

I am not eligble for any of the "Rehousing" money in San Bernardino County because I am not a "drug addict or alcolholic coming out of a transitional housing program, or menatlly ill, or a victim of domestic violence." RATHER, I am "cast off and forgotten in a maze of government bureaucracy."

I am a 69 year old handicapped woman sleeping in my car -- for over a year now -- due to a provable retaliatory illegal eviction, and a victim of a bogus restraining order that I am fighting in court now in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court.

Opposing Council: Attorney Linda Hollenbeck for Briarwood Partners a.k.a. Ameriland Group.

Retalitory Evcitions and Retalitory Restraining Orders are too often used to ruin the lives of others by unethical attorneys who will do anything to win - and often times they do. I refuse to let that happen to me and have chosen to legally challenge them.

When I complained about "unsafe fire safety conditions" and "criminal behavior on the property" at Briarwood Manor, Montclair, California to owner Jules Auther http://cangress.wordpress.com/tag/jules-auther -- I was evicted. I have police reports, letters to the owners [slum lords] who have an MO of evicting elderly and handicapped people when they complain, and letters to HUD who did nothing to help the Section/8 elderly residents of this building.

I have always paid my rent.

I have documented everything.

The owners, Briarwood Partners, a.k.a. Amerland Group are "slum lords," and have evicted others from off their other properties in retaliation for complaining as well. It is part of a news story in the LA Times. When I began to complain regarding fire safety issues I didn't know these owners were in a million dollar lawsuit over the Alexandria Hotel in L.A. where they had "39 criminal fire code violations and five people died in a fire due to their lack of care and concern." When I began to complain I am sure I must have looked like "another law suit on the way," and they got rid of me -- but not without a fight that has now turned very ugly on their part.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/12/evictions_at_do.php
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/alexandria-hotel/recent/2

[Those tenants who complained and were made homeless finally won a million dollars for "relocation" etc.] In another recent fire on Ameriland Group property, another three people died in a fire. http://cangress.wordpress.com/tag/jules-arthur/

The City of Montclair has been informed of these slum lords, and seems to not be concerned, continuing to do business with Jules Arthur, and ignoreing code violations such as no fire drills, heat and air-conditioning improperly connected, and flooded apartments with standing water -- and more.

These slum lords have private contracts to rent apartments through HUD. HUD knew the problems and did nothing to protect me, or other tenants who had valid complaints.

When I challenged my eviction the owners and attorney took out two bogus restraining orders against me and they had me arrested five times with "no cause." The orders were for alleged work place violence [C.C.P. 527.8] that makes a claim for an employee being the victim of violence.

The law [criteria] to obtain such an order under C.C.P. 527.8 is that there must have been "acts of violence, and/or a credible threat of violence against an employee." Both charges must be proved by facts and law to the judge if he is to
issue a viable order.

The first judge dismissed the first case because such things never happened and could not be proved. The second judge either didn't know, or ignored the law and issued an order anyway -- even though the employees stated loud and clear in
court that I was "never violent, and never made any violent threats." And so I am now in court, Tuesday, 19, 2010 in Rancho Cucamonga, Superior Court, CA to begin to rectify this order as "void on the face" -- for, "one cannot violate or be punished on a void order."

Restraining Orders are the most abused document in the courts, and are used too often by unethical attorneys to win a case against the opposition when they know they can't win any other way. (The owner's attorney, Linda Hollenbeck has
presented provable perjured documents in court in an effort to win against me, and there is an County Sheriff's report filed against her and the managers to go to the DA next week. There is also a State Bar complaint in which Hollenbeck may
[ought to] lose her license.)

In California "void cases never die" and can be brought to court even twenty years after a case has closed. I am not waiting.

Unfortunately not many attorneys know how to fight a "void case" and this makes for a lot of people being sent to prisons who are in fact innocent.

The US Department of Justice believed in 1999 "...at least 10% of all who are incarcerated are innocent." With "one out of every one-hundred Americans incarcerated, that means thousands are innocent." (When called to serve this is one of the reasons I give for not sitting on a jury.)

I am writing a book, and have a BLOG. http://sharonstephens.blogspot.com/

The City of Montclair needs services for the homeless -- whom I meet on the street every day.

I am hoping to also attend the Washington D.C. National Alliance to End Homelessness in July. http://www.endhomelessness.org

Please will you consider helping me to find a reporter?

Most sincerely,
~Sharon Stephens

This Story Needs To Be Told re: The Elderly Homelessness

Sharon Stephens
HOMELESS
760.835.8210

In my part of the country, Montclair, California, there are aproximately 93,000 men, women and children living on the streets near the County of Los Angeles. I am one of them: A 69 year old handicapped woman sleeping in my car -- for over a year now.

When I complained about "unsafe living conditions" and "criminal behavior on the property" at Briarwood Manor in Montclair I was evicted. I have three police reports for a woman brandishing a knife on me, locking me in the library and refusing to let me out, and for a man who threatened me and several other women in the dinning room. The owners also used the excuse that I "harassed" a friend of theirs living on the property, Stan Harris who was calling himself a medical doctor, when I complained about him to the Cal State Medical Board. All complaints were done respectfully, appropriately through proper channels, and my eviction was in retaliation. I always paid my rent.

I have documented everything.

The owners, Briarwood Partners, a.k.a. Amerland Group are "slum lords," and have evicted others from off their other properties in retaliation for complaining as well. It is part of a news story in the LA Times. When I began to complain regarding fire safety issues I didn't know the owners were in a million dollar lawsuit over the Alexandria Hotel in L.A. where they had "39 criminal fire code violations and five people died in a fire due to their lack of care and concern." [Those tenants who complained and were made homeless finally won a million dollars for "relocation" etc.]

These slum lords have private contracts to rent apartments through HUD. HUD knew the problems and did nothing to protect me, or other tenants who had valid complaints. Many elderly people end up homeless due to such illegal evictions. Once there is an eviction on one's record there is no land lord who will rent to them; they are stuck in the system and left to die on the street. (These slum lords also recently tried to evict two other tenants from the same building I was living in; both are handicapped.)

When I challenged my eviction the owners and attorney took out two bpgus restraining orders against me and they had me arrested five times with "no cause." The orders were for allegded work place violence [C.C.P. 527.8] that makes a claim for an employee being the victim of violence.

The law [criteria] to obtain such an order under C.C.P. 527.8 is that there must have been "acts of violence, and/or a credible threat of violence against an employee." Both charges must be proved by facts and law to the judge if he is to issue a viable order.

The first judge dismissed the first case because such things never happened and could not be proved. The second judge either didn't know, or ignored the law and issued an order anyway -- even though the employees stated loud and clear in court that I was "never violent, and never made any violent threats." And so I am now in court, Friday 9, 2010 in Rancho Cucamonga, CA to begin to rectify this order as "void on the face" -- for, "one cannot violate or be punished on a void order."

Restraining Orders are the most abused document in the courts, and are used too often by unethical attorneys to win a case against the opposition when they know they can't win any other way. (The owner's attorney, Linda Hollenbeck has presented provable perjured documents in court in an effort to win against me, and there is an county sheriff's report against her, and there is a State Bar complaint in which she may [ought to] lose her license.)

Restraining Orders are too often used to ruin the lives of others - and often times they do. I refuse to let that happen to me and have chosen to legally challenge them. Most people believe that judges know the law. That is incorrect. Judges specialize in law just as attorneys specialize in areas of law, or doctors specialize in medicine. Judges depend on attorneys to present the law and facts in court, and that is suppose to be how a case is decided -- based on facts and law.

When judges ignore the law, or choose not to follow the law a case becomes void and can drag on for months -- years -- it is one of the reasons our courts are over-flowing. It is the reason my case is over a year old, It has been estimated that "If all of the void cases were brought to court there would not be court room space to handle them." In California "void cases never die" and can be brought to court even twenty years after a case has closed. I am not waiting.

Unfortunately not many attorneys know how to fight a "void case" and this makes for a lot of people being sent to prisons who are in fact innocent. The US Department of Justice believed in 1999 "...at least 10% of all who are incarcerated are innocent." With "one out of every one-hundred Americans incarcerated, that means thousands are innocent." (When called to serve this is one of the reasons I give for not sitting on a jury.)

A few months ago a judge refused to read my Motion To Dismiss -- he did not know the law of void judgments, and sent me to jail for forty-four days. The attorney he assigned to me didn't know the laweither - and the District Attorney let it happen. I had Public Defenders who did not know the law of void judgments, and a Deputy District Attorney who "abused her discretion" and did no "due diligence" to make sure I would have a fair trial. District Attorneys have a higher standard than other attorneys to prove there is a case before they file a case.

I am writing a book, and have a BLOG. sharonstephens.blogspot.com/

I am also working in my city to try and get services for the homeless -- whom I meet on the street every day. I am hoping to also attend the Washington D.C. National Alliance to End Homelessness in July. www.endhomelessness.org

Most Sincerely~Sharon Stephens

THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA COMPLAINT:

Attorney, Linda Tracy Hollenbeck #145048

Rule 3-110 Failing to Act Competently.

Rule 5-200 Deception to Court

Rules of Professional Conduct - 3-200

Prohibitive Objectives

Rules of Professional Conduct - 5-200

Business and Profession Code Section 6068 -

Bus & Professional Code 6107-6109

Moral Turpitude

Battery on the defendant

Perjured documents

Barratry

_____________________________________________________________

I am 69 years old, was on the HUD/Sec8 program at Briarwood Manor, 9656 Exeter Avenue, Montclair, California. I am disabled with heart related problems, sleep apnea for which I am suppose to sleep with a B-Pap machine at night, hypertension, and proven stress and anxiety since my retaliatory eviction on January 23, 2009, which was carried out by Attorney, Linda T. Hollenbeck.

I have been sleeping in my car since my eviction.

When I made several complaints via letter about criminal behavior and the lack of fire safety in the building of 100 apartments, and these were ignored. I then sent an email and letter on June 8, 2008 threatening a lawsuit to sue the owners. [Exhibit 1] The owners then sent Attorney, Linda Hollenbeck [Kimball,Tirey & St.John] to talk with me. Attorney Hollenbeck told me she was “not interested in the police reports regarding a resident brandishing a knife on me, who had also locked me in the building’s library, nor in the email from Stan Harris regarding this woman’s behavior. [Exhibit 2]

I was a part of HUD supported Resident Council, whose purpose is to work with management to help run the property. (HUD’s Rule 24 CFR) Briarwood is 40% HUD/Sec8, and Briarwood Manor and the owners had blatantly ignored these rules, and were now in danger of being sanctioned , or losing their HUD/Sec 8 standing.

Attorney Hollenbeck also REFUSED to talk with me regarding my complaints of a lack of fire safety measures on the property. (There had been no fire drill in 7 years and many of the elderly and handicapped residents were concerned about how to get out should there be a fire.) Stan Harris claimed to be a special friend of the owners, and a doctor.

What I didn't know when I began to complain about fire safety was that the property owners, Ameriland was in a lawsuit in with one of their Los Angeles properties, The Alexandria Hotel, and had 36 criminal counts against them related to fire code violations, and 5 residents had died. (page 6, 2/9/2009© Los Angeles Downtown News; Anna Scott. Also, three people had died on one of their properties in Vallejo, California.

On June 18, 2008 Attorney Hollenbeck sent me a NOTICE TO QUIT -- a precursor to an eviction, making me the person at fault, and warning me to not put “notes on apartment doors, i.e., my newsletter which is Constitutionally protected activity, as well as two personal notes re: Resident Council. I was stunned.

I responded with a letter to Attorney Hollenbeck on June 19, 2008. [Exhibit 3]

Next I was served with an EVICTION NOTICE, claiming I had harassed Stan Harris when I revealed he was not a doctor, and then privately asked him to leave his position on Resident Council. This was protected activity, and did not “disturb anyone’s peace” I decided to oppose the eviction on or about July 2008.

I then began to try and discuss this with the owners. They never responded. Attorney Hollembeck sent me an email “threatening me with a restraining order and arrest if I continued to try and contact the owners.” [Exhibit 4] I responded. [Exhibit 5]

I am an unsophisticated pro per, and have no legal training or background, and, Attorney Hollenbeck took advantage of my lack of knowledge, and was always rude and uncommunicative when I tried to speak with her. She even screamed at me in the hall of the court house, “You are a stupid woman and don’t know what you doing – go get a lawyer.” (If I could have afforded a lawyer I would have gotten one.)

The unethical and dirty tricks Attorney Hollenbeck put me through to get me out before the actually eviction were beyond belief: elder abuse, perjured documents, false police reports, and then when I approached the Appellant Court with a Writ to stay until the Appeal was heard, they went into court on an ex parte and charged me with two TROs for “Work Place Violence” – with no credible proof. I was ignored, shunned, yelled at, called names by managers Karen Brooks, and Cassandra Oseth, who told me “The attorney said “You are crazy and not to talk to you.’” I was not allowed to participate in community activities, and provably conspired against with Attorney Hollenbeck to evict me. (I have all of the documented complaints I made)

The two TROs were made under CCP 527.8 which has criteria that there “MUST be violence or a credible threat of violence.” None was offered in either one.

Case #CIVRS90016 was dismissed within ten minutes. [Exhibit 6]

The second case was heard by Judge Rex Victor who unfortunately made it clear he did not know the law of CCP 527.8, and he ignored the criteria to issue such an order. It is a void order. It is a void order and I have been fighting it ever since. Attorney Hollenbeck allowed me to put her under oath at the hearing and testified that she was willing to break the law and have me arrested for making a complaint to the management. (Constitutionally protected activity, such as making police reports, or complaints of any type are excluded from the meaning of "course of conduct" with regards to a restraining order. (Schraer v.Berkley Property Owners Ass'n, 207 Cal. App. 3d 719.); “Protected and/or legitimate activity, is not 'harassment.'” Byers v.Cathcart, 57 Cal. App. 4th 805 (1997); "There can be no sanction or

penalty imposed upon one because of their exercise of Constitutional Rights. (Sherar v. Cullen, 481 F. 2d 946 (1973)).

I believe it was this very day that Attorney Hollenbeck was “let go” from the law firm of Kimball,Tirey & St.John. What attorney admits she is willing to break the law -- and under oath?

Based on this void restraining order I was arrested four times and taken to jail, and several false police reports were made against me that went to the District Attorney. Finally the case was investigated and “victims” Karen Brooks and Cassandra Oseth admitted that I had not done or threatened any violence. Attorney Linda Hollenbeck could have prevented all of this IF she had done her “due diligence” and if she had known the law in the first place -- Failure to Act Competently.

Attorney Linda Hollenbeck, at the time employed by Kimbell, Tirey and St John , ignored her responsibility of due diligence and then filed these frivolous lawsuits: Rules of Professional Conduct - 3-200 Prohibitive Objectives -- Rules of Professional Conduct - 5-200 -- Business and Profession Code Section 6068 - Attorney's Duty to Investigate Case -- Butler v State Bar (1986) 42 Cal3rd 323 (329) -- Paul Oil Company v- Fed. Mutual Insurance (1998) 154 Fed 3rd 1049

During the hearings on Case #CIVRS900198, on May 13, 2009 in Dept. 8 Attorney Hollenbeck did present to the court two [2] written declarations that she claimed were from her witnesses, Karen Brooks, and Cassandra Oseth. However, both were almost identical in content, perjurious, and were provably signed by Attorney Hollenbeck, not by the witnesses. They are a part of the court record of that hearing.

Also, during this hearing Attorney Linda Hollenbeck did commit a Battery on me trying to shove papers down the front of my blouse while my arms were full -- in front of a witness, in the hall outside the court room. A report was filed with the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office, Case # 89090068, (This is moral turpitude, malum in se, State v.Stiffler, 788 P.2d 2205 (1990); Bus & Professional Code 6107-6109)

When the commissioner found for Logan, ignoring due process, and the law of what constitutes “good cause” and harassment, and granted their eviction I then filed for an Appeal; Case # ACIAS 900001

During the Appeal process I filed for a Writ for hardship to stay in my apartment and it was  granted. But Manager Karen Brooks was responsible for mail delivery, and, I never received  it. However, Attorney Hollenbeck answered and said I was running a “campaign of terror at  the building” [with no proof of course] and so my Writ was then denied. I was locked out on  February 23, 2009. The letter from the court granting my Writ, which was never delivered  to me, was taped to the front door.

I lost the Appeal on technicalities. I’m a pro per. However, I shall still be suing Ameriland 
for this void retaliatory eviction. An APPEAL will NOT prevent the court from at any time  lopping off what has been termed a dead limb on the judicial tree -- a void order."  (MacMillan Petroleum Corp. v. Griffin (1950) 99 Cal. App. 2d 523, 533 [222 P.2d 69];  accord: People v. West Coast Shows, Inc. (1970) 10 Cal. App. 3d 462, 467 [89 Cal. Rptr.  290]; Svistunoff v. Svistunoff (1952) 108 Cal. App. 2d 638, 641-642 [239 P.2d 650]; and  see: 6 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1971) Appeal, § 7, pp. 4024-4025.)

On December 18,, 2009 Attorney Linda Hollenbeck and I went into the Appeal Court for  “Oral Testimony,”  Case # ACIAS 900001. The only thing I could testify to was, “Attorney  Hollenbeck had deceived the court when she implied there were not transcripts.” She  replied “There were none because there was not a court reporter.” On rebuttal I told the  court she was “deceiving the court, as Judge Plotkin had told her during a hearing, on  Case # UDRS802820,  ‘There are transcripts electronically recorded.’ ”  (It is in the transcripts) CAL STATE BAR Rule 5-200 Trial Conduct In presenting a matter  to a tribunal, a member: (A) Shall employ, for the purpose of maintaining the causes  confided to the member such means only as are consistent with truth; (B) Shall not seek  to mislead the judge, judicial officer, or jury by an artifice or false statement of fact or law.  This is NOT “harmless error” on the part of Attorney Hollenbeck; rather it is unethical,  blatant, deliberate and willful misconduct .

In filing for these three [3] corrupt, vexatious and malicious void orders: the retaliatory  eviction, and two workplace restraining orders, Attorney Hollenbeck did commit barratry:   (People v. Sanford, 202 Cal. App. Supp. 1 (App. Dept. Sup. Ct 1988); 18 Pa.C.S. 5109.)

California Penal Code Section 158: "Common barratry is the practice of exciting groundless judicial proceedings, and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months and by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000)."

California Penal Code Section 159: "No person can be convicted of common barratry except upon proof that he has excited suits or proceedings at law in at least three instances, and with a corrupt or malicious intent to vex and annoy."



I DO DECLARE UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY OF THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THE FOREGOING IS TRUE TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY.



December 6, 2009



                                                         ________________________________________

                                                        Sharon Stephens

HOW I BECAME HOMELESS AT AGE 69

Most of the more than estimated 4 million elderly, homeless people in America are overlooked by the American public. The unkind result is the elderly homeless population is often held responsible for their own homelessness, that is, blaming the victims for their own affliction.

My homelessness began at age 68 when I was locked out of my HUD/Sec8 senior community apartment on February 27, 2009 for making complaints about criminal behavior and the lack of safety in the building of 100 apartments. The owners [Amerland Group; San Diego, California], Management [Logan Property Management, Martha Enrique] and Resident Manager, Karen Brooks, along with Attorney, Linda Hollenbeck [Kimball,Tirey & StJohn] had no care or concern that they were putting an elderly disabled woman onto the streets.

HUD ignored every complaint I sent to them.

My eviction was never even given a "due dilegance" investigation by Attorney Hollenbeck. Attorney's Duty to Investigate Case: -- Butler v State Bar (1986) 42 Cal3rd 323 (329) -- Paul Oil Company v- Fed. Mutual Insurance (1998) 154 Fed 3rd 1049 –

The unethical and dirty tricks this company put me through to get me out before the actually eviction were beyond belief: elder abuse, perjured documents, false police reports, and then when I approached the Appellant Court with a Writ to stay until the Appeal was heard, they went into court on an ex parte and charged me with “Work Place Violence” – with no credible proof.

They weren’t happy with one; they took out two identical TROs. However, one judge who was well versed in the law saw through their scheme and dismissed it immediately as “void” because they “did not make their case.” I am fighting the second one in court, going beyond the new year. It was heard by a judge who did not know, or ignored the law which means he has lost his immunity and may now be sued. When a judge does not follow the law, i.e., they are a trespasser of the law, the judge loses subject-matter jurisdiction and the judges orders are void, of no legal force or effect. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1687 (1974) stated that "when a state officer acts under a state law in a manner violative of the Federal Constitution, he "comes into conflict with the superior authority of that Constitution, and he is in that case stripped of his official or representative character and is subjected in his person to the consequences of his individual conduct. The State has no power to impart to him any immunity from responsibility to the supreme authority of the United States." [Emphasis supplied in original].

The Court sent a decision regarding my Writ to Ameriland, Logan Property Management, and Attorney Hollenbeck that it would be an extreme hardship [because of my medical problems and age] if I had to move out. I never received the letter as the management who is responsible for the mail drop, never gave me the letter. They posted it on my front door the day they locked me out. They knew my health problems from reading my Writ, and yet they put me into the street knowing it would cause me physical and mental suffering.

California Penal Code, Section 368 (1) Any person who, under circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily harm or death, willfully causes or permits any elder or dependent adult, with knowledge that he or she is an elder or a dependent adult, to suffer, or inflicts thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, or having the care or custody of any elder or dependent adult, willfully causes or permits the person or health of the elder or dependent adult to be injured, or willfully causes or permits the elder or dependent adult to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison for two, three, or four years.

I was ignored, shunned, yelled at, called names by managers Karen Brooks, and Cassandra Oseth, not allowed to participate in community activities, and provably conspired against to evict me. (I have all of the documented complaints I made)

Welfare & Institutions Code § 15610.53. Mental suffering: "Mental suffering" means fear, agitation, confusion, severe depression, or other forms of serious emotional distress that is brought about by forms of intimidating behavior, threats, harassment, or by deceptive acts performed or false or misleading statements made with malicious intent to agitate, confuse, frighten, or cause severe depression or serious emotional distress of the elder or dependent adult.

My life was filled with duress, anxiety, depression and I had to seek medical help.

I didn't know it is a general "right...to be free from acts constituting duress" (Leeper v. Beltrami (1959) 53 Cal.2d. 195) and the propriety of a "cause of action for wrongful acts in the nature of duress...examples of such wrongful acts include a bad faith threat to breach a contract ..." (Rich Whillock v. Ashton Development, 157 Cal. App. 3d at p.1159) I was told by a psychiatrist it is Post Traumatic Stress

February 27, 2009 was a frigid night in Southern California, and I was now sleeping in my old car, in a parking lot in the City of Montclair.

This is elder abuse.

It is a struggle to remain humane in the face of inhuman conditions, and that is a story in its self.

Two weeks later San Antonio Hospital admitted me for uncontrollable diarrhea, breathing and heart problems – I had a heart attack in 2002 and triple by-pass surgery that same year. Later I will be diagnosed with Bradycardia – an abnormally slow heart rate. I have sleep apnea and suppose to sleep with a Bi-pap machine at night to help my breathing; there is no access to an electrical outlet in a parking lot.

For elderly people actually facing the streets, shelters do not exist for them. It is strange, there are at least some shelters for battered women and children, and I keep in mind that homeless children evoke more sympathy than homeless elderly. We are a youth oriented culture and the elderly are becoming more and more expendable. We are called “useless eaters” by some.

There are shelters for vagabond teens, alcoholics and drug-users, and even sex offenders; shelters for dogs, cats, exotic birds, tortoises, snakes and ferrets, but the elderly seem invisible and forgotten. Most of the elderly on the street are over the age of sixty and if they do find a shelter to take them in they are often victims of physical violence and other abuses, as well as predatory strong armed thievery. Health care is almost nonexistent. Many die invisible, in the heat of summer, but more in the cold of winter -- that takes its biggest toll.

My thoughts became focused at what had happened, and why: It was obvious that when I began to complain, particularly about fire safety I found myself retaliated on by AMERLAND GROUP owner, Martha Enriquez, who is also the President of LOGAN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, and who is required by law to protect her residents; the California rule requires a landlord to exercise due care with regard to the premises it owns, i.e., A Duty of Care to protect residents, and also, "There is a legal duty, which every person owes to others- that is, a duty to refrain from conduct that imposes an unreasonable risk of injury on third parties" (Lamden v La Jolla Shores Club Codominium HOA (1999) 21 Cal.4th 249).

I had complained to owners, management and HUD about unsafe living conditions and criminal behavior on the property, and they ignored their Duty of Care to me. (1) A landlord has "a duty to take affirmative action to control the wrongful acts of a third party … where such conduct can be reasonably anticipated... The foreseeability of a criminal act determines not only the landlord's duty, but also its 'scope,' which "is determined in part by balancing the foreseeability of harm against the burden to be imposed." (Barber v. Chang (2007) , Cal.App.4th [No. G036448. Fourth Dist., Div. Three. Jun. 13, 2007) (2) The landlord has a duty of warranty of habitability, (Green v. Superior Court (1974) 10 Cal.3d 616 [111 Cal.Rptr. 704].)

It is elder abuse to ignore the above.

What I didn't know when I began to complain was that the property owners, Amerland was in a lawsuit in with one of their Los Angeles properties, The Alexandria Hotel, and had 36 criminal counts against them related to fire code violations, and 5 residents had died. (page 6, 2/9/2009© Los Angeles Downtown News;Contact: Anna Scott at http://webmailb.juno.com No wonder they were so concerned and anxious to get rid of me when I complained about the same issues.

One attorney who participated to win the above lawsuit told me, "There are thousands – not hundreds – thousands of incidents with this company."

I was first "threatened" with eviction, but then when I exposed Stan Harris for violating the law, and calling himself "Doctor" -- I was evicted. This was a breach of my HUD/Sec8 lease, where eviction is only allowed for "good cause," such as criminal activity, but Stan Harris is a personal friend of Martha Enrique, and Karen Brooks.

I went to the Eviction Hearing on November 17, 2008. Attorney Linda Hollenbeck had paid five residents to perjure themselves --one a mentally challenged women was paid $350. but did not even know why she was going to court. The court did not hear these witnesses, nor mine, and ignored much of the law. I filed an Appeal, [Case # ACIAS 900001, San Bernardino California, Appeal Court]

On December 21, 2009 I was called into the Appeal Court to give oral testimony. All I had to testify to was that Attorney, Linda Hollenbeck had committed "fraud on the court" -- again! I might add -- and give them proof she was lying. The proof was substantial, and involved another judge who had told her the truth -- and still she lied, knowing the truth, to the Appeals Court, as she had done in the Superior Court. I am awaiting formal notice on my Appeal.

I am still sleeping in my car, almost a year later. I am still suffering ongoing medical problems and have had to be admitted into the hospital on several occasions, and not being able to sleep at night is taking its toll on me.

THIS IS ELDER ABUSE.

AGENTS OF THE LAW AND ETHICAL DILEMMAS

Ethical dilemmas are dilemmas of a certain kind of conflict between the rightness or wrongness of actions and the goodness or badness of the consequences of the actions.

What complicates the issue, as it happens, is the difference between duties of omission and duties of commission:

Duties of Omission imply negative rights of others, e.g. abused victim ignored

Duties of Commission imply positive rights of others. e.g., duty to victim

There are some fundamental differences between the two kinds of duties. For a duty of commission to be binding, someone, an agent of the law, i.e., police, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must be able to carry it out. However the ability verses the consequence of responding are often problematic and becomes matters of judgment which can blur the nature of such duties.

If judges, prosecutors, and defense attorney all belong to the “Lawyer’s Club,” they may all consider the “protection” of each other from the consequences of not following the law rather than do the right thing for the victim. This is the kind of dilemma that arises from human limitations, and The Partiality of Friendship, not from the structure of value itself. Now, all in the legal field know they ought to be impartial; that is the essence of legal morality they tell themselves, but this belief is rejected as each resolves that in partiality of friendship there is a moral importance to each other that permits, and perhaps even requires partiality in some circumstances, so as to protect each other from the consequences of their own omissions of justice.

The human condition, which is ignorance and fallibility (especially for those in authority, deceived by their own, as Shakespeare says, "insolence of office"), is what makes the presumption of innocence a good principle, if it is put into practice, for is a good basis for the protection of the innocent, allowing that the lay citizen will have the protection of the law beyond their own familiarity or understanding of it.

Now the situation becomes a dilemma when we want to makes duties of commission matters of law, as in "good Samaritan" laws. The breach and a duty of omission results in a wrong of commission, because of ignoring some empirical physical evidence, i.e., abused victim and the law that protects the victim -- even though it is relatively easy to know that a crime has been committed through empirical evidence, and the law, both of which provides relevant evidence of the crime, but the agents turn a blind eye to both.

This sort of a breach of a duty of commission results in a wrong of omission, which by its very nature produces no causal effects due to the agent. This means we often will never even know that a wrong has been committed if the evidence is ignored, and the law is not followed, and nobody notices. The Minute Order will simply read “Motion Denied” and no one, apart from the agents; will ever know that a wrong was involved.

This is important point to consider in relation to the nature of law. Someone who is prosecuted for not being a "good Samaritan" is not guiltier than the unnoticed callous agents, but is simply more unlucky. Legal sanctions should not fall more heavily on the unlucky than on the guilty. That makes for a bad law.

Duties of commission, however, where it is not known, or ignored, about a prior positive obligation of the victim to do the right thing, are about matters that by their nature may produce not enough evidence, or even false evidence that a wrong has occurred, which means we can never know how many of the guilty, evenly grossly guilty like the callous agents, escape the consequences of their behavior. Furthermore, since ability and consequences cloud the nature of duties of commission, it becomes very easy for agents to distort the evidence or to unfairly second-guess a victim who did the right thing and throw that victim to the prosecutorial wolves, who, as they now operate, go for convictions rather than the truth, and would be perfectly happy to portray the victim who did the right thing as a dangerous violator of the law.

The whole project of examining moral dilemmas is a relatively modern one. We don't find it in Plato or Aristotle who propounded relativism. With them, as in life, what we just really want to know is what a person is like morally -- are they a good person or a bad person? If they are a good person, we want to believe they will try to do the right thing, and the occurrence of dilemmas will not subtract from their goodness.

Most of us do not come across dire situations that present a moral dilemma, but it is always a very interesting exercise to consider a dilemma and what our reaction to it may be.

Large scale evils require the cooperation, and conspiracy of the many against the few. A large number of people are just going to go along with the crowd and afraid of being different and/or victimized by the agents themselves. However if even one example can give heart to those, then right action can suddenly produce the best effects.

New York City Homeless

Homeless Population in Shelters Hits Record High

This year is the "worst on record"

By VICTORIA CAVALIERE

Updated 4:15 PM EDT, Tue, Oct 13, 2009

Getty Images

There number of homeless people using city shelters each night has reached an all time high -- a 45 percent increase since Mayor Bloomberg took office eight years ago, according to a new report.

The statistics, released today by the advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless, find that over 39,000 homeless people -- including 10,000 homeless families -- check in to city shelters every evening.

In 2002, about 31,000 people were using city shelters -- and those numbers have steadily increased each year, the group said.

This year has turned out to be "the worst on record for New York Cityhomelessness since the Great Depression," they said.

City officials have a slightly lower tally. According to the New York Department of Homelessness, its daily census for October 8 found 37,912 total homeless individuals in New York.The 10,000 families sleeping in shelters each night includes 16,500 children. That's an increase of 12 percent from last year, the data suggests.

Either way, the numbers appear to indicate a problem for Mayor Bloomberg -- even in light of the recession. In 2004, the mayor vowed to slash homelessness in the city by two-thirds over five years and end "homeless as we know it."

Critics, like the Coalition for the Homeless, said Bloomberg has "resoundingly failed to achieve its primary goal" of slashing the number of people using city shelters.

Still, the city has gone to some creative lengths to move out the chronically homeless -- including buying one-way plane tickets for homeless families to other cities -- under the agreement that they won't return.

The city's shelter system costs $36,000 a year per family, the city said.

More than 550 families have left New York since 2007.

First Published: Oct 13, 2009 2:29 PM EDT