LAW OFFICES OF GEOFFREY D. MUELLER, LLC

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"The state Supreme Court has censured a lawyer for paying 131 unauthorized referral fees totaling $142,432 over a six-year period.

"David Bolson, a South Orange solo, concentrates his practice in workers' compensation but has never been certified by the court in that specialty or any other, such as would allow fee splitting under Rule 1:39-6(d).

"As a noncertified lawyer, Bolson violated Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(e), which allows fee divisions only if in proportion to the services performed by each lawyer or if each assumes joint responsibility in a written agreement with the client.

"According to the Disciplinary Review Board, which recommended the censure, a random audit in October 2011 turned up evidence that Bolson was paying what he had documented as "forwarding fees" to lawyers who had referred him contingent-fee matters.

"The Office of Attorney Ethics directed Bolson to document all referral fees paid since 2006."

Full article after the jump...

Per The Consumerist:

"Four of the nation’s largest banks — Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bank, U.S. Bank and Regions Bank — are involved in high-interest, short-term loans that may not always be called 'payday' loans but might as well be. Thus, a group of five U.S. senators have asked regulators to put a stop to the practice altogether.

"Last week, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent a letter — also signed by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, Sen. Chuck Schumer from New York, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Tom Udall from New Mexico — to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg and Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, calling on them to use their authority to end the payday lending by federally regulated banks, which is already illegal in 14 states and can not be offered to active-duty U.S. servicemembers.

“'These bank payday loans are widely recognized as predatory products designed to trap low-income consumers in a cycle of debt,' reads the letter."

More after the jump...

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"Five lawyers, the largest number since 2006, are seeking State Bar Nominating Committee backing for the post of secretary, the first step on the six- year trek to the presidency.

"The candidates are all current Bar trustees. Three — Robert Brass, Bonnie Blume Goldsamt and Amirali Haidri — are solos, while Robert Hille and John Keefe Jr. are partners at litigation firms.

"The candidate selected by the committee usually runs unopposed, but the wide field of contenders could point to a contested election, as occurred in 2011."

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"Before the 2011 race, the Bar's last contested election was in 1993, when the Nominating Committee's choice for secretary, Raymond Londa, was defeated by Joseph Bottitta.

"Once elected secretary, the officer moves lockstep each year through the posts of treasurer, second vice president, first vice president, president-elect and president."

Full article after the jump...

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"County boards of taxation have been put on notice that they should refrain from dismissing property owners' appeals of their tax bills except in the most egregious of circumstances.

"Tax Court Judge Vito Bianco, in a decision released Monday, chided the Morris County Board of Taxation for dismissing appeals by two property owners on the ground that the appraisals they submitted failed to overcome the assessments' presumption of validity.

"'[T]he Board's refusal to allow the Taxpayers to proceed with their appeals despite appearances by counsel and appraisers effectively created a situation where the Taxpayers were precluded from satisfying the evidentiary standard needed to avoid a dismissal for lack of prosecution,' Bianco wrote in Schaefer v. Chatham, 12912-12."

From Schaefer v. Chatham, 12912-12:

"[A] county board of taxation may not create a basis to dismiss for lack of prosecution by improperly denying a taxpayer the right to present testimony which may be adequate to avert such a dismissal[...]

"In this court's observation, recent dismissals by the Board for lack of prosecution occur with much too great frequency for a consequence intended to 'be granted only in the most egregious circumstances[...]

"Clearly this is not the envisioned purpose in the tax appeal process that County Boards were intended to have[...]

"[D]ismissing appeals for lack of prosecution on facts as here fall far short of the 'square deal' for every taxpayer Governor Stokes had hoped for[.]"

More after the jump...