I became an attorney after working for several years in management in the distribution industry.
I felt I had more to give back to my country and so I attended law school.
While at Florida Coastal School of Law, I developed a keen interest in Consumer Law because I wanted to work in an area of the law where I could help people, and I could relate to the unfairness that consumers feel in what seemed to be an unfair playing field controlled by businesses. Fighting for those who have been victimized in mortgage loan transactions or car purchases or other consumer transactions seemed to be a fulfilling way to apply my law school education.
After law school, working just north of Jacksonville, and then in Bradenton, Florida, I have experienced the satisfaction working with consumers who:
· had inaccurate information on their credit reports and could not get it corrected;
· had purchased a car that had been wrecked and rebuilt;
· were being sued or harassed by debt collectors for debts they did not owe, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (a federal law that protects consumers from abusive collection tactics);
· were misled into financing a purchase or the refinancing of their home on terms that they never agreed to (many of whom are now being sued in foreclosure proceedings) based on the fraudulent acts of mortgage brokers and banks.
I have more recently been able to help consumers by providing the opportunity to file Bankruptcy to stop legal actions against them, stop harassing phone calls from debt collectors, and get a clean start with their lives.
Now that I have opened my own practice in Bradenton, Florida, I will continue helping consumers in these areas and other areas of consumer law.
I am a member of the Florida Bar and the Manatee County Bar Association. I am licensed to practice in Florida state courts, and in the Middle District of Florida Federal Court and Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court.
I am also a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, a legal association dedicated to helping consumers.
I have my Law degree from Florida Coastal School of Law, my MBA from San Jose State University, and my Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
I love Florida and intend to have a long career here helping consumers with their legal issues.
BANKRUPTCY
Bankruptcy is a mechanism of the Federal Government to allow debtors (people who owe money) to restart their lives when they have gotten into a financial dilemma where there is no reasonable way to repay the debts they owe. Consumers who lose their jobs, face foreclosure, or become injured and face daunting medical and other bills, suddenly or gradually realize there is no way to repay in full the debts they owe to their creditors.
Bankruptcy allows those debts to be discharged if the debtor can show there is no money left to pay creditors after the rent and food and gas and other monthly necessities are paid, and the debtor does not have assets (beyond those which are exempt under Florida law) that can be sold to pay creditors.
Bankruptcy also provides a means to partially repay creditors over 3 to 5 years based on what is available from the budget, and then at the end of that time frame, the remaining amounts due on unsecured debts are discharged.
Once a discharge is granted, the debtor is no longer obligated to that creditor for the discharged debt. The debtor can then begin rebuilding his or her life.
Bankruptcy is a valuable tool as a defense to mortgage foreclosures and debt collectors. Once a bankruptcy petition is filed, all court action is stayed and all debt collection must cease. Any claims against the debtor must take place through the bankruptcy court. This process can provide a level of comfort to debtors who have been harassed by debt collectors.
Please call me to discuss your situation to determine if bankruptcy may be an option in addition to other consumer defenses to abusive debt collection.
Consumer Law is an area of the law dedicated to helping consumers in transactions with businesses.
A consumer is defined as "A person who buys goods or services for personal, family, or household use, with no intention of resale; a natural person who uses products for personal rather than business purposes." -Black's Law Dictionary, Second Pocket Edition.
Consumer Law includes a wide variety of consumer transactions including:
* Bankruptcy
* Fair Debt Collection and Credit Transactions
* Automobile Purchases
* Home Purchases or Refinancing
* Credit Reporting
* Banking Transactions
* Discrimination in Consumer Transactions
* Warranty Laws
* Student Loan Laws
Often consumers are at a loss as to how to proceed when a lawsuit has been brought against them, or they have been taken advantage of and are unaware of their rights.
Consumers often appear in court at a disadvantage against a business represented by legal counsel.
Consumers often FAIL to appear in court and the other party may get a default judgment against the consumer, simply because the consumer did not understand the seriousness of the legal process, and failed to seek counsel to represent him or her, or was misled by the creditor as to the legal response necessary.
At the earliest stage of a legal proceeding, or even earlier in a conflict, a Consumer attorney may help educate the consumer as to the legal consequences, defenses, or opportunities of the situation.
MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES
The recent state of the economy and the government action related to it have brought into focus the mortgage market - particularly the sub-prime mortgage market, where consumers purchased or refinanced homes with initial low interest rates that often increased beyond the ability to pay.
As the consumer home owner became further and further behind on the mortgage, a foreclosure action by a lending institution often resulted.
Many in the media and in government have blamed consumers for this situation by spending beyond their means to live in a house they can't afford by signing a contract they should have read and understood.
However, often, the situation is much more complex than simply blaming the consumer. The federal government changed the rules related to banks and instructed them to give loans to those who previously would not qualify for them.
Mortgage brokers and lending institutions sometimes misrepresented what the true terms of the loan consisted of or falsified income and other requirements for loans so they could make a short term profit at the expense of the consumer's ability to pay.
Mortgage brokers and lending institutions further misrepresented to Wall Street trusts, who purchased the loans without proper research or oversight.
In order to save a few dollars on the recording of the mortgage with the local government, lending institutions use a "nominee" to represent it owns the mortgage so that the actual ownership can be split up and sold to unwitting investors.
Because the laws were changed to allow homes to be sold to those who would not otherwise qualify for them, the balance of supply and demand was broken and demand for homes outstripped supply and home prices rose to values that would not be supported in an otherwise balanced marketplace.
It was inevitable that, as consumers began to fail to make the payments on these unbalanced loans, that the credit markets would stop offering them and overprice homes would not have consumers to buy them any more.
Now, millions of homeowners are living in homes they cannot afford, and are often unable to make the payments. Despite plans to refine the initial low interest rate into a fixed rate loan, they have no bank willing to make such loans, and no credit remaining to qualify for them.
Lending institutions, often not related at all to the initial purchase or refinance, but, instead, representing Wall Street Investors as trustees, are foreclosing on the consumer, often without being in possession of the actual note and mortgage upon which a contractual obligation exists.
A consumer attorney is often necessary to look at this complex series of transactions and determine what options are available to defend the consumer in the ownership of their home, including bankruptcy as a powerful tool to level the playing field with banks.