Pinellas County lawyer Robert L. Tankel advocates showing no mercy toward property owners who fall behind on their homeowners association fees.
"If you have to sue some people, that's life," Tankel advised associations in a YouTube video.
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How charming. A lawyer who prides himself on exploring the outer reaches of ethical behavior in his pursuit of owners who are behind on their assessments.
Thanks to Robert Racansky for the link.
5 comments:
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A comment made here is worth repeating:
Special scorn is reserved for Walter Olson and Ted Frank, editors of a conservative/libertarian web site called Overlawyered.com , which describes itself as "chronicling the high cost of our legal system." Over the past dozen years, this duo has given a free-pass to the activities of H.O.A. lawyers, a group that Professor McKenzie (a former HOA attorney himself) has described as "so rapacious that it's just shocking" ("The Myth of Privatopia" SFGate. December 17, 2002). It's not as though there was a shortage of material for Messrs. Olson and Frank to work with, so some other motive is at work. All I can be sure of is that their claims to be motivated by their concern for consumers is as sincere as Al Gore's concern for the environment.
According to a comment by "janberg Jul 2, 2011 10:23 AM", which I'm assuming is Jan Bergemann of CCFJ:
Complain about Tankel's methods? Please consider that Tankel is as well a member of the Advisory Council of CAN (Community Advocacy Network) -- the lobbying group of the law firm of KGB (Katzman Garfinkel & Berger) claiming to lobby for associations/owners. These are the folks that give homeowners' associations a bad name.
Berger is, of course, our old "friend" Donna Berger, who urges her clients to "be aggressive with your foreclosure actions."
And from the comments section of that link:
Be sure to read her follow-up post, "Spend $$’s to Recoup More $$’s."
> The first thing you want to do is to make sure that your governing
> documents provide you with all the right tools to deal with your
> foreclosure and other issues.
{ . . . }
> Adding late fees (if you don’t already have them) and increasing the
> amounts you can charge for late fees and interest to the “highest
> amount permitted by law”.
{ . . . }
> Add an acceleration of payments clause in the event installments
> are not timely paid. This gives the association a larger hammer
> to collect for the whole year which obviously benefits cash flow
…because the economy isn't squeezing homeowners enough.
Do the "victims," really owe any money?
Says who? I trust, anyone, who is aware of what has been happening to innocent, unsuspecting bill, assessment, maintenance paying homeowners in these groups when they are targeted for this extortion and forced homeless, knows what I am referring to, when I question, "if they really owe any money?"
What does it take for people, real people to understand what is happening in far to many of these cases? My opinion and experience, is any type of fraud, fraud upon the courts, financial exploitation (esp.vulnerable populations), extortion, and whatever terrible victimization, the abusive groups and their friends can dream up for money and ultimately, their property. "Property predators," as one very knowledgeable property investor, recently expressed to me.
In North Carolina, a few weeks ago, North Carolina Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall (http://www.sosnc.com/) was going to be speaking in Wilmington, NC (please see this link: Secretary of State Marshall to speak Thursday | Business ...
downtownwilmington.wect.com/.../secretary-state-marshall-speak.../... - Cached
Jun 15, 2011 – WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The topic of investor education will take center stage Thursday in Wilmington when North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. ... Secretary of State Marshall will speak along with Geraldine Walsh ...) about scams, frauds, elder abuse frauds, financial exploitation elders, other vulnerable and general population. The focus of her appearance/speech was SCAMS. I spoke with her, prior to her speech, asking she specifically address the HOA issue. North Carolina has been holding hearings on the outrageous abuses of some of these groups and their associates, existing legislation, proposed legislation, licensing, etc...for over a year. Ms. Marshall's website has links to questions for homeowners within these groups, "with issues," advising the homeowner that her office has no oversight, enforcement, investigative, or other powers, for homeowner assistance.
Given the topic of her speech that was to take place, later that day, I believe, I asked her, "if she would, please address the "financial fraud" aspect of many of the HOA Homeowner abuses."
I was greatly appreciative of what she had to say and especially, about the limitations of her office, but one comment she said to me summed up the the situation as she saw it, I suspect.
That comment, as best as I recall was, "the homeowners who live, (purchase) within these groups (HOA,COA,CID) believe they have private property rights, when in fact they have none."
Many may not like what she had to say, but at least it was the truth, as she saw it, concerning North Carolina
Thank you, North Carolina Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall!
Do the "victims," really owe any money?
Says who? I trust, anyone, who is aware of what has been happening to
innocent, unsuspecting bill, assessment, maintenance paying homeowners
in these groups when they are targeted for this extortion and forced
homeless, knows what I am referring to, when I question, "if they
really owe any money?"
What does it take for people, real people to understand what is
happening in far to many of these cases? My opinion and experience,
is any type of fraud, fraud upon the courts, financial exploitation
(esp.vulnerable populations), extortion, and whatever terrible
victimization, the abusive groups and their friends can dream up for
money and ultimately, their property. "Property predators," as one
very knowledgeable property investor, recently expressed to me.
In North Carolina, a few weeks ago, North Carolina Secretary of State,
Elaine Marshall (http://www.sosnc.com/) was going to be speaking in
Wilmington, NC (please see this link: Secretary of State Marshall to
speak Thursday | Business ...
downtownwilmington.wect.com/.../secretary-state-marshall-speak.../... - Cached
Jun 15, 2011 – WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The topic of investor education
will take center stage Thursday in Wilmington when North Carolina
Secretary of State Elaine F. ... Secretary of State Marshall will
speak along with Geraldine Walsh ...) about scams, frauds, elder abuse
frauds, financial exploitation elders, other vulnerable and general
population. The focus of her appearance/speech was SCAMS. I spoke
with her, prior to her speech, asking she specifically address the HOA
issue. North Carolina has been holding hearings on the outrageous
abuses of some of these groups and their associates, existing
legislation, proposed legislation, licensing, etc...for over a year.
Ms. Marshall's website has links to questions for homeowners within
these groups, "with issues," advising the homeowner that her office
has no oversight, enforcement, investigative, or other powers, for
homeowner assistance.
Given the topic of her speech that was to take place, later that day,
I believe, I asked her, "if she would, please address the "financial
fraud" aspect of many of the HOA Homeowner abuses."
I was greatly appreciative of what she had to say and especially,
about the limitations of her office, but one comment she said to me
summed up the the situation as she saw it, I suspect.
That comment, as best as I recall was, "the homeowners who live,
(purchase) within these groups (HOA,COA,CID) believe they have private
property rights, when in fact they have none."
Many may not like what she had to say, but at least it was the truth,
as she saw it, concerning North Carolina
Thank you, North Carolina Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall!
The story is a follow-up to another one the St. Petersburg Times ran a week earlier about Tankel and his business partners.
www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1177196.ece
Real Estate Investors Beat The Banks To Profit On Foreclosures
By Kris Hundley and Susan Taylor Martin, Times staff writers
In Print: Sunday, June 26, 2011
www.tampabay.com/news/article1178381.ece
Experts: Pinellas Lawyer Takes Foreclosure Fight To Ethical Edge
By Susan Taylor Martin and Kris Hundley, Times staff writers
In Print: Sunday, July 3, 2011
Still no mention of Tankel, or the HOA extortion and foreclosure racket, at Overlawyered.com. But Ted Frank did take the time to gloat over
Jury rejects Jamie Leigh Jones rape claim against Halliburton/KBR. Next, a round of apologies from naive commentators and some who used the case to advance anti-arbitration talking points?
Yea for mandatory arbitration!
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