Category: Consumer Law

How has the Subprime Crisis affected you?  Foreclosure? Skyrocketing mortgage payments? Negative credit rating? Misled by lenders? Call or e-mail me to learn about your legal rights. Maybe all is not yet lost… Attorney General Brown Shuts Down Mortgage Scam Artists From the Attorney General of California’s Website: LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2008 —California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today shut down Lifetime Financial, Nations Mortgage, Greenleaf Lending, Virtual Escrow, Olympic Escrow and Direct Credit Solutions, accusing the predatory lending companies of pushing homeowners into “illegal and unconscionable loans.” “As the mortgage crisis worsens, a growing number of fly-by-night companies are employing utterly… Read More

With gas prices hitting over $4.00 per gallon in some spots around the U.S., we’re all searching for ways to save money on that which fuels our country: Fuel!!! ABC News did an interesting story — click here to watch video –on alternative means to power your car. Fred Crane invented the Mileage Master which appears to significantly increase gas mileage. You flip a switch when you reach a certain speed thereby cutting off gas flow to half of the cylinders. Crane says that a person getting 20 miles per gallon spending $100 per month could reduce that bill to $35 per… Read More

he National Association of Consumer Advocates is a fantastic organization comprised of attorneys and other individuals dedicated to championing consumer rights — your rights. They are there for the consumer when it comes to: Auto Fraud Credit Reporting Problems Debt Collection Abuse Identity Theft Lemon Law Military Consumer Rights Predatory Lending Practices Student Loans I have a particular interest in the substance of their organization as my practice is now taking on the types of cases which the National Association of Consumer Advocates addresses. Of topical note is their published piece on predatory lending practices, the substance of which is posted below: Predatory Lending Practices… Read More

The BBC has produced a shocking video depicting ex-subprime borrowers, once proud homeowners, now living in tent cities that have sprung up in Southern California as victims of the mortgage crisis lose their homes. How has the Subprime Crisis affected you?  Foreclosure? Skyrocketing mortgage payments? Negative credit rating? Misled by lenders? Call or e-mail me to learn about your legal rights. Maybe all is not yet lost… Lowell Steiger, Attorney at Law

The Subprime Crisis is complex, frustrating and, most of all, enraging. The 1000’s upon 1000’s of unsuspecting victims range from borrowers trying to get a home to major investors trying to make a legitimate return on their investment. As it unfolds, the litigation against mortgage brokers, lenders, appraisers and everyone in the chain will increase exponentially. The Subprime Primer is a comical, yet sobering, series of cartoon frames that explains the etiology of the Subprime Crisis. Beware, there are some four-letter expletives throughout but they enhance, rather than detract, from the subject matter. How has the Subprime Crisis affected you?  Foreclosure? Skyrocketing… Read More

Wow, it’s amazing! Airborne, the “cold remedy” du jour, has settled a false advertising lawsuit for $23.2 Million. What galls me is that I take Airborne. Maybe it’s the placebo effect, but I truly believe that it works. In the last 4 months, I started to come down with a cold twice and the symptoms literally disappeared after taking 2 doses of Airborne. This is pretty fascinating stuff, though, and I encourage you to click on the links below for some great reading and viewing. United Press International published the following: CARMEL, Calif., March 4 (UPI) — A California herbal supplement firm… Read More

Well, there is justice after all. No one, not even the multibillion dollar insurance industry, is above the law. I, for one, am glad to see that major corporate greed and deceit has not gone unpunished. Convictions for, among other things, mail fraud, conspiracy, and false statements to the SEC have humbled at least 5 insurance executives and have hopefully injected indescribable into many other insurnace executives sitting on the sidelines in anticipation of last week’s verdict. Essentially, the government presented evidence that the defendants engaged in a scheme to falsely inflate AIG’s reported loss reserves, a key indicator of… Read More

New York Personal Injury Lawyer Eric Turkewitz Reports The Following in his Blog: State Farm Hit With Civil RICO Claim Over Sham Medical Exams State Farm has been sued for racketeering in New York with a claim that it conspired with “Independent Medical Exam” companies and medical practitioners to produce fraudulent and sham medical reports. The suit, filed January 30th in the Eastern District of New York, is brought under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). (This story has not been previously reported.) State Farm acted in concert with “IME” companies and doctors to furnish fraudulent and boilerplate reports, according to the… Read More

Consumer Law & Policy Blog, an incredible blog which keeps you up to date on many aspects of consumer law such as the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis, has posted the following article of interest: Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Marsha Berzon, ruled that American Corrective Counseling Services (ACCS), the nation’s largest operator of “check diversion” programs, may not shield itself from a consumer class action over its aggresive debt-collection practices by invoking the doctrine of state sovereign immunity. (Information about the case, including the briefs and opinion, is available here.) I’ve blogged here before about… Read More

Thanks to Bob Kraft’s blog, P.I.S.S.D., for the following information: From the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission comes this announcement of a recall of Honda all-terrain vehicles: The following product safety recall was voluntarily conducted by the firm in cooperation with the CPSC. Consumers should stop using the product immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: Model Year 2007 Honda TRX 500 ATVs Units: About 40,000 Manufacturer: American Honda Motor Co., Inc. of Torrance, Calif. Hazard: Water can enter the throttle position sensor and freeze, causing permanent damage if the rider forces the throttle lever. This could cause the throttle to stick open, posing a risk… Read More