Miscellaneous

• The IRS warns of Tax Preparer Fraud

  Timothy Smith | January 28, 2009 3:51 PM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  It's that time of year. We start gathering our tax documents and sharpening our pencils as we hope for the best. For those that use a tax preparer, be advied: the IRS is already issuing...

• Restore Integrity and Fairness to Michigan's Supreme Court

  Timothy Smith | October 21, 2008 12:05 PM | 3 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  This is the campaign slogan of Judge Diane Hathaway who is running against incumbant Chief Justice Cliff Taylor for a seat on Michigan's Supreme Court. She is a former prosecutor with more than 15...

• The Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct

  Timothy Smith | May 02, 2008 10:23 AM | 4 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  There is a code of conduct here in Michigan that mandates how Judges must act and carry themselves. The Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct was adopted in October of 1974 and outlines the behavior and...

• Justice Cliff Taylor Abolishes 30 years of Established Law..... Again

  Timothy Smith | April 30, 2008 11:40 AM | 1 CommentGrand Rapids, MI

  As an attorney, I’m sought out by individuals to give them advice and counsel on issues they are facing in their lives. Typically, I sit and have a cup of coffee with the new clients and listen to...

• Kent County Judge Retires

  Tim Smith | March 20, 2008 8:34 AM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  Judge Kolenda announced his retirement from the Kent County Circuit Court bench. His sense of fairness and an unwaivering quest for the truth makes his loss as a jurist a sad day for the folks of Grand Rapids. He issued an opinion in a case involving one of the Big-3 auto makers who had played games with the plaintiff's attorney and the court in obstructing discovery and witholding evidence. His...

• Countrywide Financial Admits to Fabricating Evidence

  Tim Smith | January 25, 2008 10:53 AM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  In a bankruptcy case pending in Federal Court in western Pennsylvania, Countrywide Financial Corporation admitted that it had fabricated or as they say "recreated" documents as part of their case. This comes at a time when Countrywide is confronting escalating complaints from borrowers who allege that Countrywide forced them into risky loans. The documents which were faked by Countrywide are...

• U.S. Insurance Companies Profit From Overpricing and Underpaying

  Tim Smith | January 21, 2008 1:52 PM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  The Consumer Federation of America recently reported that the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry systematically overcharges policy holders and underpays on claims. Robert Hunter, the Consumer Federation's Director of Insurance, reported at a news conference that the reason why insurance companies nationwide have secured record high profits is due to the fact that they have been...

• Senator Kuipers Protecting Drug Company Donors

  Tim Smith | December 13, 2007 9:34 AM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  Merck, the makers of Vioxx, got caught defrauding the FDA and the folks that they injured with their drug and agreed to pay $4.85 billion dollars in damages. But, none of the victims in Michigan will get paid a penny because we're the only state in the country that provides blanket immunity to drug manufacturors whose products injure or kill. This legislative immunity was enacted in 1995 and our...

• Supreme Court's Latest Victim

  Tim Smith | November 25, 2007 7:17 PM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  Less than a week after the Michigan Supreme Court victimized Carolyn Jones [see below], Justice Cliff Taylor and his fellow Justices Young, Markman and Corrigan are at it again. On the day before Thanksgiving, they threw out the case of Michele Kaseta despite the fact that her trial Judge in Macomb County Circuit Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals both held that her case had merit and she...

• You're in "Bad Hands" with Allstate

  Tim Smith | November 05, 2007 4:12 PM | 0 CommentsGrand Rapids, MI

  In Lexington, Kentucky, Attorney J. Dale Golden filed suit against Allstate on behalf of one of their insureds, Geniva Hager. Internal documents obtained during discovery against Allstate Insurance Company show that the company and their consultants created a computer program to generate low settlement values for injury claims, sent fraudulent data to government regulators to avoid...