Timeless Secrets Legal Defense Collection Story, Stranger than fiction, Ageless Wisdom, universal truth, golden nuggests, common sense, and treasures of success for the promotion of ethical business practices and entrepreneurship.

This is all true. And while I'm sure my husband is not completely innocent in his actions and has made his share of mistakes, his heart has always been in the right place.

I will try to be as brief as possible in telling this story (lengthy as this is, this is just the bare bones). The places and names of the guilty have been changed to protect the ignorant.

My husband, "Joe", is president of a very small corporation. We live in a distant state from his sister, "Lizzie", who lives in "Lala Land". A few years ago, my helpful husband and his sister and her family decided that it would be a 'good thing' to form a family investment company in order to teach Lizzie's family financial responsibility. Lizzie had become a widow three years previously, receiving double life insurance coverage that gave the family a lot of money and a sense of independence that they had never known before. Unfortunately, experience and discipline in dealing with large quantities of money were noticeably absent.

Lizzie's eldest son, "Bill", took the matter of forming a family investment company seriously and immediately began to bring all kinds of opportunities to the table. Nothing escaped this young man's searching eye in his hunt for opportunity and not long after the agreement to begin, Bill presented Joe with the "opportunity of a lifetime", a gas station/convenience store that had been on the market for 3 years. "Bill, are you nuts? Think small, we are only beginning," Joe said. "But Uncle Joe, just look at it, this has so much potential." So it began, 10 months of off-and-on research that finally resulted in my husband's traveling to 'Lala Land' to meet with the motivated seller.

The opportunity was just as Bill described. The price was right and the owners were definitely motivated. Having purchased the business only 3½ years previously, the owners were ready for a change. Joe candidly told the sellers that the only thing he could not deal with was surprises. After receiving assurances that things were as they had been represented, the negotiations resulted in extremely favorable terms that would allow the family venture to build the business while keeping control of their limited resources.

Lizzie did not want to be responsible for any liabilities of the acquisition of the business so it was agreed that Joe's small corporation would hold controlling interest in the real estate. A new Limited Liability Company was created with equal ownership interest in the business by Lizzie and the corporation, with the corporation taking on the sole liability of the purchase and acquisition. Lizzie's role was to be simply advisory, since she was attending college, and her participation and interest were to be managed by her eldest son, Bill, although her other children, ranging in age from 14 to about 25, agreed to participate in helping to grow and develop the business. Lizzie's input, however, was felt to be important because of her stated previous experience in the gas station/convenience store industry.

Lizzie also owned a house that had been the family home long before the death of her husband, which remained in an unfinished and barely livable condition, having been heavily abused by Lizzie's many children over the years they lived there. After her husband's death, Lizzie had purchased and moved to a large, new home with the aid of her insurance windfall, and the previous home was held on to for sentimental reasons, unimproved and deteriorating. Bill and his wife, excited by the prospects of the new family venture, approached Lizzie with a supporting proposal. He and his wife would be willing to take joint ownership of the home with his mother, pay off the outstanding $25,000+ mortgage balance, and allow $55,000 from her equity to be placed in a Certificate of Deposit for the new business venture, after Joe had given her $5,000 cash to use as she pleased. Bill would make the mortgage payments, for which only he and his wife would be responsible, and they would improve the property as they made the house their home. This was a great opportunity - no-cost funding for Lizzie's new family venture and she would be able to eliminate the $25,000+ mortgage in the process. This was accomplished, with Bill and his wife taking out a new mortgage, but still sharing the ownership of the house with Lizzie.

It was a seemingly simple situation, especially since new business ventures take time to generate a profit as Joe had explained. No one needed any income from this investment (so Lizzie had said); the money provided from Bill's takeover of the house provided plenty of collateral for the new venture and Lizzie had fewer debts to worry about. With her other resources, income and investments she was in a much more secure position to continue on with her life.

The sale went forth. As Joe's wife, I wanted Joe to be sure to write up an agreement to cover everyone in the event that this business venture didn't work out as planned, but Joe felt that would indicate a lack of faith in the operation. "Besides," he said, "there is nothing that will go wrong. Lizzie's my sister."

Unfortunately, after taking over the business operations of the store, a long series of family squabbles and conflicts arose among Lizzie and her children, with Bill, as store manager, getting the brunt of the conflict. The first conflict was an upset felt by Bill's siblings over the title Joe had given Bill as the Operations Manager. Bill was putting in 100-hour-work weeks during the first few months of operation of the store, and he was the only one of Lizzie's children to take a position of liability for the company. Bill was also holding down a full-time job elsewhere to provide for his young family. The matter was finally put to rest once Lizzie gave Bill's younger brother "Daryl" the title of General Manager. Many of his younger siblings worked at the store, but they resented being told what to do by Bill, things like changing the gas prices on the outdoor signage, which is kind of critical to running a gas station. Virtually anything Bill told them to do was met with whining and criticism.

As the sibling rivalries continued to escalate, Lizzie soon began using her influence as the mother to change the structure and agreement for the management of the business, continually blaming Bill of mistreating his younger siblings. Almost immediately, Joe was bombarded with emails from Lizzie's children claiming that Lizzie "needed her money". Joe was puzzled as to why Lizzie needed money, since she had already received $5,000 from Joe to do with as she pleased, was now free from making the monthly mortgage payment on the former family home and she had more than $25,000 of her debts removed, and especially since she had previously claimed that she did not need any income. To keep peace, Joe guardedly agreed that Lizzie could receive a monthly stipend.

Throughout, however, the store was doing amazingly well. Joe traveled to Lala Land several times and would stay for weeks at a time. He interacted with the customers and suppliers. He worked to update their store's inventory and reorganized the store layout. He worked on numerous projects around the store to fix and spruce it up. He got to know the people and leaders of their small community. The store later became a major contributor to the city's yearly festival celebration.

Lizzie and most of her other children were already using the business as their personal pantry, freely taking gas, food and sundry items from the store to the tune of about $60,000 in that first year, in addition to the almost $30,000 from the stipend that Lizzie was allowed to received in the first year of doing business. (Not to mention the $25,000+ benefit provided by her son Bill from the mortgage.)

About the sixth month of operation, Lizzie's second son, Dick, emailed Joe seeking assistance in having the business venture take over his current home so that he could buy a new house. When Joe indicated that the business was not yet in a financial position to help, Lizzie angrily complained, "What good is it to have a family investment company if it cannot help the family?"

About this time Bill and Lizzie discovered several "surprises" that had not been disclosed by the previous owners. Air conditioning units had to be replaced, faulty electrical circuits were discovered, outdated computer equipment had to be replaced, there were several areas of dry rotting floors throughout the building, and flooding was occurring in the basement that required the complete destruction of the fully finished basement of the facilities. Lizzie did inform Joe that they were experiencing challenges with some of these "surprises" but felt that Joe did not need to be informed of her decisions for handling the day-to-day problems at the store.

Joe sought and received concessions to the terms of their agreement from the sellers rather than disrupt their working relationship. Later, Joe would discover that the sellers did not know the extent of the flooding problem, which was caused from a foundation structural problem, and the enormous amounts of black mold that had been allowed to grow because the problem had been covered up by the party that they had purchased the building from. Yet, in her deposition, Lizzie had held Joe responsible for these surprises but had never said anything to Joe.

Lizzie and her other children reviled against any attempt by Bill or Joe to address or correct the deficit spending that had resulted from their indulgences, and a wedge in family relationships grew as the rivalries continued to escalate. Lizzie adamantly claimed that she had been trained by the best teachers and that she certainly knew how to run a business. Finally, in an attempt to stop the squabbling that was starting to publicly and adversely affect the business operations, Joe reluctantly agreed nine months after the acquisition of the store that the day-to-day management of the business would be transferred to Lizzie and Daryl, with Bill bowing out. Joe was reluctant to turn the reins over the Daryl because Joe could already see signs and symptoms in Daryl's health that he might not be able to function well under the stress of being store manager.

It was after this transfer in management that there was an immediate change. It was so pronounced that even one of the store's suppliers, three months later, wondered what had happened at the time.

Daryl, who was studying for a licensing exam unrelated to the business venture, was not very invested in running the business, despite Lizzie's insistence on him being in that role. He was also provided a wage, paid whether he put in time or not, which Bill had not had the privilege of receiving. Daryl was very seldom present at the store and did not keep on top of things, which resulted in chaotic inventories. Due to his absence, gas prices were not kept current so they were often underselling their gas and losing money. Hot, prepared food items were not being restocked by employees, which was critical as inside sales account for the vast majority of a gas station's revenue. Employees were scheduled on back-to-back shifts, resulting on one occasion in the store not being opened for several hours which created havoc with their customers. Within two months, Daryl was briefly hospitalized for the medical condition that Joe had seen, and after his hospitalization, Daryl's involvement with the business became non-existent.

The employees attempted to pick up the ever-growing slack but there were many things which they neither knew how, nor had the authority, to handle. About this time, Lizzie sought employment at the local Walmart while still taking her stipend.

The bank account began to be overdrafted several times. About two months after the transfer of management to Daryl, and about the time he was hospitalized, Joe was informed that the bank account was $20,000 overdraft and had been for 12 days. As Joe attempted to address this matter from his distant residence, more squabbles ensued with Lizzie refusing to discuss the matter with him. Finally, the next month Lizzie called Joe asking what they should do because by then the account was $30,000 overdrawn. Joe began addressing the matter with their supplier and Lizzie quietly made an effort to replace funds that had been indiscriminately taken from the business, borrowing from some of her children. Bill was specifically instructed not to discuss the matter with Joe. The bank continued to provide coverage for many of these overdrafts as Dick was an officer of the bank.

By now they had owned the business for a year. Lizzie faced another crisis at the end of the store's birthday month, when an employee burglarized the business. In addition, open rebellion was still taking place in the family and a few weeks later, Bill called Joe, desperately requesting his presence as it had appeared to him that Lizzie was suffering from an emotional breakdown. Joe immediately drove to Lala Land where labored discussions took place between Joe, Lizzie and her religious leader in an attempt to amicably separate the ownership of the business. Joe was trying to alleviate Lizzie's stress and get the business back on solid footing.

As a result of these discussions, Lizzie resigned from her position with the company, promising a letter of resignation. Joe agreed to immediately begin to restructure the business obligations to eliminate her liabilities. Just prior to his return trip home, Lizzie called stating that she had not yet submitted her letter of resignation as she needed to show possible income and assets for some refinancing work she was trying to complete, and Joe agreed to cooperate with her through the process. Since there was never any indication given by Lizzie that she had changed her mind or was unwilling to keep her voluntary commitment to resign, Joe continued forward with settlement discussions and tried to reach a mutual agreement for resolution. Unfortunately, Joe's understanding from their joint meeting with Lizzie's religious leader was that Lizzie was acting in good faith, which allowed Joe to continue to make improvements to the store. This would unwittingly jeopardize both the store's and his own corporate financial resources, resources which would have been better left in place had he known of her real intents, which were only uncovered much later.

Shortly after Lizzie agreed to resign, it was discovered that she had then proceeded to embezzle $8,000 from the store's bank account. Retracing this transaction Joe discovered that Lizzie drove about 20 miles to the bank branch that her son Dick worked at, driving past 3 different bank branches, to take the money out of the account. Although the transaction was not handled by Dick, the size of the transaction was such that it would have required a bank officer's approval, especially since the transaction left the bank account in an overdraft position. The bank has refused to answer Joe's questions about all the individuals involved in the embezzlement of these funds.

After Lizzie's embezzlement, Joe returned to Lala Land and addressed the embezzlement with Lizzie and her religious leader. Lizzie admitted that she had taken the funds and later testified in her deposition that she had done this under the advice of her attorney. After lengthy discussions, Lizzie agreed never to access any of the bank accounts again. Her religious leader firmly advised both of them to continue with settlement discussions in an attempt to avoid a lawsuit which would only further divide the family. Joe reluctantly agreed to continue with the negotiations for settlement despite Lizzie's violation of every prior agreement.

Lizzie's children had already begun demanding that Joe repay them for the monies they had given to their mother to help keep the store afloat. Since there was no money available to do that since Lizzie had just embezzled the $8,000, her children became angry and threatening, creating further rifts. After discussion with her religious leader, Lizzie agreed to repay her children so they would not become embroiled in the conflict. They were finally repaid through Lizzie's refinancing of her house.

Six months after Lizzie's resignation, and amidst her constant threats of a lawsuit, Lizzie rejected Joe's most recent generous offer. Lizzie then made a counter offer, demanding that Joe accept it, which counter offer Joe never responded to. And here is when things get sticky and convoluted, and things went quickly into a quagmire. Lizzie then asked Joe in an email to restate the specifics of what he had previously offered so she could address it with her attorney. Joe did so by way of an email, in which Joe unfortunately cut-and-pasted the specifics from his previously rejected offer into his response. Much to his surprise, Joe received an email from Lizzie's attorney a few days later in which the attorney claimed to be accepting his offer by basically stating "I accept your offer".

Joe never acknowledged this acceptance since the manner in which the acceptance was made appeared to be another one of Lizzie's tricks. So Joe waited to see if Lizzie and her attorney would perform and provide the needed documents, since from the very beginning of their discussions and all the way through negotiations, Lizzie had argued about Joe's inability to provide security to any agreement (meaning she was concerned about getting her payments) and she demanded that any agreement would have to be formalized in writing and prepared by her attorney. Joe just could not shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong with the acceptance since Lizzie had argued so adamantly about securing the agreement. After her numerous rantings, Joe felt that she was simply giving up too easily.

After "accepting" the offer, there was no attempt by Lizzie's attorney to formalize the supposed agreement. Nothing in writing as to a contract was prepared. No dates of when payments were to begin were agreed upon. There was no communication of any sort between the parties for the entire month. Joe was operating under the knowledge that Lizzie had declined his previous offer and that the right to accept or reject an offer was still in his court since she had made a counter offer. Joe had not thought that he was "re-offering" anything by sending Lizzie that email.

There was no further contact from Lizzie or her attorney after the supposed acceptance until Joe received notice of the filing of a lawsuit for breach of contract one month and a day after the "acceptance", stating that Joe did not follow through on the acceptance and defaulted on the agreement. Evidently, Lizzie's attorney was operating under the assumption that her acceptance was binding, and that payments were to be immediately forthcoming.

In hindsight, the only explanation Joe could figure out as a reason behind this lawsuit, was that Lizzie's attorney wanted Lizzie to be protected and have a priority claim in making sure Lizzie received her settlement payments. Knowing the business didn't have the resources to pay Lizzie off, and that by this time the prospects of business survival were still precarious, her attorney probably figured that if they could get a judgment against Joe and the business, that Lizzie would then be in a first position to be paid, before any creditors, thereby giving her confidence and security of a regular payment. This would give Lizzie a priority position of payment that would be lacking in a simple legal document. So in a sneaky gambit with the email acceptance, with no response from Joe, and no formal documents having been drawn up, she could lull Joe into thinking that negotiations were still ongoing, while in actuality, the clock was ticking against him during the month after the "acceptance".

Joe obtained legal counsel from a Mr. "Steele". Mr. Steele attended the first court hearing at which a protective order was implemented to protect the business and its operators. Despite having promised her religious leader months before to not touch the bank accounts, Lizzie immediately changed the passwords to the store's bank accounts, being a direct violation of the protective order, and causing more disruption to the business. Joe, however, was still able to use the accounts with bank cards and checkbooks until Joe later closed the accounts as part of his restructuring plan.

The lawsuit was later amended to include Bill, Lizzie's oldest son, as well as several innocent and unrelated parties, which parties except her son have since been dismissed.

Shortly after he filed the answer and counter claim, Mr. Steele, unfortunately, left private practice to serve as counsel for a large corporation and our file was then taken over by Mr. "Messer", his senior partner.

During Joe's deposition, questions were being asked that were puzzling to Joe. He later put 2 and 2 together and realized that there must be someone at the store feeding information to Lizzie. When Joe discussed the matter with Bill, Joe learned for the first time about an email account of Lizzie's that had been set up long before the family business venture had even been thought about. Bill had been given access to that account when it was set up. Bill had not been accessing that account, but when Joe mentioned about the "insider", Bill, in frustration, decided to take a look at the email account to see what might have been discussed there. Much to his distress and surprise, he confirmed that indeed, there was an employee, "Homer", who was in active discussion with Lizzie. This was evidence of her deliberate interference with Joe's attempts to save the business. This communication was in direct violation of the court-imposed protective (or gag) order.

Bill also discovered through Lizzie's email account, that her attorney intentionally had enjoined someone who she KNEW was an innocent party to the lawsuit. This behavior was nothing more than an attempt to cause harassment, and to frustrate Joe's litigation and their attempts to save the business.

Joe also learned that prior to the supposed agreement to settle (the basis of the litigation) and long before the lawsuit was ever filed, Lizzie made public statements that "she was not going to let go of the store," suggesting that she was intentionally NOT negotiating in good faith. Joe also received an affidavit provided by a store employee that acknowledged that the employee had been informed by Lizzie of an "orchestrated plan to drive the business and Joe into bankruptcy", specifically stating that Lizzie's embezzlement of funds from the company bank account of $8,000, under the advice of her attorney after her "resignation", was the first step in their plan.

Joe began to have grave concerns about the level of representation from Mr. Messer that he and Bill were receiving. Mr. Messer agreed to more aggressively pursue our representation but his actions (or lack of actions) seemed to suggest that he was not all that interested in representing them. Specifically, Joe sent a large amount of communications to Mr. Messer detailing actions taken by Lizzie and her family to undermine the business, and filed several police reports addressing Lizzie's deliberate violation of the protective order, receiving little help or guidance from Mr. Messer.

Throughout the ensuing months after the filing of the lawsuit, attempts were made to keep the business afloat after the disastrous mismanagement begun by Daryl and Lizzie. As a result of the fiscal damages, gas suppliers changed their payment terms to less than favorable terms for the store. Several times the store was unable to procure fuel due to lack of payment to the supplier. This, naturally, resulted in less business, and the store continued its slow steady spiral down. Joe's small corporation was only able to help out so much until finally that source of monies was tapped.

Also during this time, it was discovered that Homer was unsuccessfully attempting to access Joe's computers to spy on business records Joe's email communications. These attempts were discovered after a mysterious computer suddenly showed up on the store's computer network, which later disappeared when it became known that the local sheriff was coming to check it out. They were also experiencing equipment breakdowns, and leaking pipes. There appeared to be sabotage of the gas pumps and equipment. The equipment maintenance people were brought in to investigate and they confirmed that sabotage seemed apparent. The sabotage was such that more gas was being pumped than the store was being paid for. Rumors started circulating around the community that the store was going under, rumors which seemed to point their way back to Homer (he was subsequently let go after Joe learned Homer had a criminal record that had not been disclosed). One community member even made comments that within a few months he would be the new owner.

After repeated attempts seeking Mr. Messer's assistance in reporting the violations of the protective order, Joe concluded an email communication last year with this warning. "So, I am appealing for help and guidance. There has been a complete disregard to the court-implemented gag order and there appears to be no sign of the behavior stopping. They are doing everything in their power to make me drop the ball and if something doesn't happen to put an end to the behavior soon, their objective will be accomplished."

Last summer Joe concluded an email to Mr. Messer with, "I am trying hard not to be a conspiracy alarmist at the moment, but we do have a serious problem on our hands. Whether it is a conspiracy or just a gathering of the sharks now that the waters have been sufficiently chummed, we are outnumbered in a plan to bring about our destruction! - Surely there must be some way to protect ourselves from this abusive behavior?"

Unfortunately, that is exactly what has been allowed to happen. Lizzie and her attorney have deliberately pursued this situation in such a manner as to have tied up all of Joe's and the store's financial resources, and Joe's time, to the point that nothing else has been able to be dealt with other than feeble attempts to outlast their orchestrated damage, which include their baseless complaint filed with their State Security Commissioner, who stated that there was no security involved in their situation. Joe has been dealing with Lizzie's temper tantrum for over 2 years now and his concerns about proper representation has only further empowered her in Hurricane Lizzie's course of destruction.

Lizzie has repeatedly claimed that she was defrauded and unaware of her lack of ownership interest in the business' real estate, yet a somewhat recently discovered document bearing her signature and signed the month the business was begun shows that she was completely aware of the ownership interests and her acknowledgement of the business arrangement. The document was provided to Mr. Messer but Joe does not believe that it was ever revealed, by either party, in the discovery process. This particular document shows that her claims and reason for the lawsuit are baseless and a frivolous waste of the court's time and resources.

Last fall Joe was informed by Mr. Messer that Lizzie's motion for summary judgment on the supposed agreement was denied with the following caution, "As you can see, the court found there were issues of fact that would have to be determined at trial. The decision does not go so far as to say there was not an agreement. After hearing the evidence at trial the court could still rule that there was an agreement to settle. However, at this time it is a victory for our side."

Mr. Steele's original plan was to take Lizzie's deposition and then file a motion for summary judgment while pursuing the issues addressed in Joe's counter claim. Joe has paid and accumulated legal fees from Mr. Messer somewhere between $30-40,000 to address, to advise, and to protect Joe and Bill from this abusive litigation. Mr. Messer did procure the release of most of the innocent parties from the lawsuit and has participated in a couple court appearances and depositions for his money.

The impact of the litigation has taken its emotional toll on Lizzie’s family. Just after Thanksgiving, Bill received a phone call from his brother Dick that their paternal grandmother was on her deathbed in a hospital 2 ½ hours away. Bill, who was working, arranged for someone to cover his shift while he traveled with his young family to say their good-byes. Upon their arrival at the hospital Bill and his family were verbally accosted by Bill’s youngest sister demanding to know why Bill refused to allow their mother (Lizzie) to see his children? Moving into the grandmother’s hospital room Bill’s other sister immediately attempted to take Bill’s daughter out of his wife’s arms. When she was unsuccessful in her attempts she turned her intrusive attention toward Bill’s son. As Bill tried to dissuade his sister’s unwanted advances, an altercation erupted and Bill was physically assaulted by his sister and his youngest brother. The ruckus and verbal assaults brought hospital staff and other grieving family members on the run as Bill painfully determined that it would be safer for them to return home and completely avoid the company of his estranged family. Bill returned home and called to report the incident to the county sheriff and was later informed that Lizzie’s family had already filed statements with the local police department. Regrettably, Bill chose not attend his grandmother’s funeral out of his concern of another confrontation and reprisal.

Bill and his family spent the Christmas holiday with his wife’s family in another town. The day after Christmas, Bill received a telephone call from one of his neighbors informing him that a locksmith had just left their home after changing the locks. The locksmith has spoken with another neighbor during his assignment stating that he had been told that the locks were being changed because the tenants had vacated the property and did not leave the keys. Bill called the county sheriff again to report the incident and was informed that this was a civil matter and that Lizzie had every right to change the locks, but that he also had every right to break into his own house and change the locks as well.

Disgusted with the insanity, Bill sought the assistance of independent legal counsel. While they were preparing to take the matter to court, Lizzie filed another lawsuit against Bill demanding complete ownership of the house.

Sadly, Joe was recently informed by Bill that his new attorney, while preparing Bill defense against Lizzie’s latest lawsuit, was told by Mr. Messer that their "legal file was a mess."

As a result of Mr. Messer's recent resignation due to Joe's inability to pay, they have been left in a compromised position, with few workable options and trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of abuse that look like it can only end in destruction.

The attorneys for Lizzie and Bill requested Court ordered mediation, in which Joe agreed to participate. A judge from a distance of 2 ½ hours away was agreed upon to act as the mediator. The mediation process began on the appointed day as both Bill’s attorney and the mediator tried to explain the futility of Lizzie’s position and desired outcome, but Lizzie remained relentless in her demands. The majority of the day was spend in negotiations over ownership of Bill’s house intermixed with conciliatory promises not to pursue assault charges for the incident at Bill’s grandmother’s deathbed. Lizzie finally agreed to buy the house back from Bill for little more that he had acquired it for. Even though Bill would be left with a $30-40,000 loss, he reluctantly agreed knowing that he would finally be free of the lawsuit and would no longer have to deal with the insanity of his mother or her litigation. The mediator turned his attention to Joe and from their discussion came one offer, “Drop the lawsuit and help us protect and rebuild the business so your losses can be repaid.” After a short discussion, the mediator came back into the room Joe was sitting and simply said, “You might as well just go home.” He then made it clear that Lizzie and her attorney didn’t care what it would cost and that they were more than willing to bankrupt Lizzie in her pursuit for “justice.”

Finally after 1 ½ years of litigation, all of the innocent parties have been removed from the lawsuit. During that time the disruption has caused the business losses to exceed $1,000,000 in sales revenue and the deficits continue to grow at an astounding rate.

These losses are directly associated with the protective order violations and the issues addressed in Joe's counter claim against Lizzie. Yet, because these issues have never been addressed in the legal system, Joe continues to be trapped in this endless cycle of abuse.

Lizzie’s plan to drive Joe and the business into bankruptcy was well thought out. Disruption and continuous strategic attacks certainly would allow chaos to follow to a natural conclusion. Surely it would only be a matter of time before Joe would be in a position to have to defend against an onslaught of creditors seeking to protect their positions.

It was time! - And Joe is not a quitter. Returning to Lala Land he found himself attending several Court hearings by himself and eventually lost ownership of the business and assets when the Judge awarded a default judgment and an order of eviction within 10 days against Joe's corporation because there was no attorney representing it in the Court proceedings. Recognizing the seeming injustice the Judge made a special note in the Court record stating that Joe had been exemplary in his behavior before the Court and earnest in his attempts to be honorable.

In the Pre-Trial hearing which followed on the same day, the Judge then ordered Joe to obtain new legal counsel within 10 days before proceeding with the hearing, warning Joe that if he did not comply with the Judge's order he would grant a default judgment in favor of Lizzie against Joe's corporation. Lizzie and her attorney, Ms. Ringer, were more than a little upset about what they perceived was another delay of justice but elated with the thought that a victory would be theirs shortly because of the difficulty Joe would have in obtaining representation.

Joe made contact with Ms. Ringer's former Senior Partner, one of the foremost names in the legal community. After listening to Joe's story this prominent attorney acknowledged that he held no sadness in the termination of their association and that Ms. Ringer had a history of chaotic litigation tactics, and even suggested that many a female client had paid tens of thousands of dollars for excessive and overreaching litigation. Adding "Ms. Ringer was just as aggressive in her billing practices as she was in her Court room tactics." Apologizing that he was unable to take Joe's case, as his firm had received fees for the collection of an insurance policy from Lizzie's husband's death, this kind man suggested that Joe needed the assistance of someone who hated Ms. Ringer. He provided Joe with a list of names for attorneys in the immediate area, each of whom openly despised Ms. Ringer.

Joe made contact with all of the attorneys on the list and others whom he had selected from the yellow pages. The very mention of Ms. Ringer's name brought immediate reaction and a colorful dialogue from the legal assistant of the first name on the provided list. An appointment was set but latter canceled once it was learned that a potential conflict of interest within the law firm existed.

Joe made contact with the second name on the list, another prominent attorney in the area. In their meeting this attorney candidly expressed his personal disgust for Ms. Ringer stating that the only manner he would ever communicate with her was in writing, as he was sure that she was not above lying, and he strongly felt the need to have written records of all correspondence with Ms. Ringer. The attorney expressed no surprise as Joe related his experiences and Ms. Ringer's involvement in Lizzie's actions and the attorney even stated that the Judge's predecessor had almost jailed Ms. Ringer for contempt of Court. But when Joe asked why Ms. Ringer was still allowed to practice law when her professional conduct is so grievous, there was no reply. There was a current case in Court which would not allow the attorney to respond to the Judge's ordered time requirement, but he seemed to keep the possibility of representation open once his current case was finished.

Joe called and made an appointment with the last name on the list, a former State Senator late in the afternoon on the ninth day. Joe met with the Senator and his son and once again began laying out the details and long chain of events. The Senator acknowledged to Joe that "he (Joe) certainly had been put through the screws," and could certainly see how his former counsel, Mr. Messer was not prepared to handle the likes of Ms. Ringer. From their discussion the Senator also recognized a conflict of interest by their representation of one of the lending institutions involved with the business and real estate. As a final plea, Joe asked the Senator what someone in his position was supposed to do? Everyone he had spoken to openly acknowledged that there appeared to be no redeeming quality to Ms. Ringer and yet no one was willing to step in and defend Joe against Ms. Ringer's abuse. The Senator and his son openly discussed optional names for Joe's consideration in the short time remaining. Providing Joe with one last name, the Senator promised to write a letter to the Judge on Joe's behalf acknowledging Joe's diligent efforts to comply with the Judge's Court order.

Joe returned to the office and called the attorney whose name was provided by the Senator, who reluctantly expressed his concerns about the short time frame in which Joe had to comply. The next morning Joe sadly loaded up his van leaving the property before the arrival of the County Sherriff who would be executing the order of his eviction.

On the long trip back home, Joe contemplated his options and his need to file the required Pre-Trial Questionnaire within the next three weeks. Once Joe arrived home he immediate began searching the internet for information about what was required for the filing of the Pre-Trial Questionnaire and he researched for other Motions that he could use to bring Joe's story before the Court.

He discovered that it was possible to address the Court in an Ex Parte Motion without having to inform Ms. Ringer, so Joe prepared an Ex Parte Motion for Relief asking the Judge to remove the "gag-order, dismiss Lizzie's lawsuit and have Lizzie ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

He later learned that he could seek to have irrelevant evidence, which Ms. Ringer intended to use, excluded from the lawsuit so Joe filed two additional Motions with the Court.

In his research he discovered that it was also possible to have Ms. Ringer disqualified as Lizzie's attorney if there was sufficient evidence to support the request. Studying the Rules of Professional Conduct and letters between Mr. Steele and Ms. Ringer, Joe soon realized that Ms. Ringer had already been warned of her inherent conflicts of interest in her representation of Lizzie and the business.

Two days prior to his next Court hearing, Joe filed a Motion to Disqualify Ms. Ringer as Lizzie's attorney for Ms. Ringer's violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct citing Ms. Ringer's acknowledgement that she was in fact representing both Lizzie and the company which Lizzie and Joe's corporation held equal interest.

Joe pointed out that Ms. Ringer's primary responsibility was the protection of the company and that since Lizzie was only a fifty percent owner of the company she did not have authorization to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the company. He also showed that in order for Ms. Ringer to represent Lizzie Ms. Ringer was required to advise everyone involved about any possible conflicts of interest in her representation of Lizzie and that Ms. Ringer needed to obtain approval from those parties for her to continue with her representation of Lizzie, which of course never happened.

Joe further showed that Ms. Ringer had a responsibility to counsel Lizzie about the adverse affects her decisions could have on the company and that Ms. Ringer has shown no evidence that she attempted to dissuade Lizzie from her injurious behavior. He also pointed out that Ms. Ringer never attempted to warn Joe or his corporation about Lizzie's intent to do harm in violation to her representation of the company.

Then after providing a copy of Lizzie's deposition, Joe showed Lizzie's testimony that Ms. Ringer had in fact instructed Lizzie to take the money from the company's bank account for her personal use in multiple violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Joe then showed where Ms. Ringer's erroneous filing of the complaint with the Security Commissioner created multiple violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Pointing out statements made in her recently filed Pre-Trial Questionnaire and the complaint filed with the Securities Commissioner, Joe showed that Ms. Ringer made false statements to the Court and a third party in multiple violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

The inclusion of a letter to Ms. Ringer from Mr. Messer showed that Ms. Ringer continually made frivolous discovery requests in violation to the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Joe pointed out a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct in which the Court had been subjected to a continuous series of undignified and discourteous conduct employed by Ms. Ringer to distract the Court from relevant matters in the lawsuit. Specifically pointing out that on two separate occasions Ms. Ringer cell phone had interrupted the Court and both incidents were followed by Ms. Ringer's arguments with the Judge.

Joe also showed that Ms. Ringer had attempted to schedule numerous hearing dates without conferring with Joe's legal counsel along with Ms. Ringer's intentional involvement of innocent parties as a method to harass and intimidate Joe.

Joe then concluded his Motion with numerous violations of the section on Misconduct in the Rules of Professional Conduct and a restatement of the Preamble of the Rules of Professional Conduct illustrating the Legal Profession's responsibility of self-government and each lawyer's responsibility for observance of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

When Joe arrived for the Court's Pre-Trial hearing, the Judge indicated that he had received the Motions Joe had filed with the Court. Thumbing through the Motion to Disqualify, he asked Ms. Ringer if she had read the Motion. Ms. Ringer stated that she had and adamantly claimed that she did not have a conflict of interest. The Judge calmly stated that it didn't matter what he or she thought about the matter and expressed concern that a third party could rule that she did have a conflict of interest and that any decisions made by the Court could be set aside.

Ms. Ringer then turned to Lizzie and explained that if the Court continued forward that there was a chance that any decision could be over turned and then asked Lizzie if it was alright with her to continue. The Judge leaned over the bench and firmly stated to Ms. Ringer, "It isn't her decision to make."

The Judge then turned to Joe and after expressing his uncertainty as to who was offering Joe advise, ordered Joe to take the Motion to Disqualify, within 10 days, and deliver it to the Ethics Board for a decision as to Ms. Ringer's misconduct. He then stayed all other Court proceeding until the Ethics Board had rendered its decision.

Sadly, Joe still waits for the matter to be properly addressed by the Ethics Board .

For this purpose I am offering this ebook in an attempt to raise some desperately needed funds. Also, anyone who would like to contribute to the legal defense fund which we have established to assist them, and others who find themselves in a similar position, can do so by following the link below.

Contact us.