William A. Miller, Esq.

At the law firm of William A. Miller in Phoenix Arizona, we take Arizona-granted licenses as a privilege. You cannot build a house without a contractor’s license. You cannot give legal advice without a law degree and license to practice law. Good luck suing in this State if you do not possess one. If you build a house without proper authority, good luck suing the homeowner, our Courts will toss you out.

The same goes for trying to sell beers at a burger joint, no license, no beers.

We just filed a multi-million dollar suit against a group of entrepreneurs who bought bank loans with unused lines of credit for pennies on the dollar. Now they are trying to foreclose. The law does not allow such and over the next few weeks, we will be reminding the Court and the entrepreneurs that acting like a bank requires a license! We’ll keep you posted on the results.

I know I am aging myself but like Bob Hope used to say in the “Road Show” flicks, “no ticky, no laundry.”

If some non-licensed group has hampered you, be it selling you worthless stock without a securities license or giving you liposuction without a medical license, give us a call to discuss your rights. Our number is 480.948.3095.

When I broke the NCFE (http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/01/business/fi-poulsen1) fraud back in 2002, the first thing I did was sue the third-party professionals, the lawyers, accountants and financial firms, who helped NCFE commit their crimes. My favorite law school professor Charles Ayers always said, “go for the deep pockets.” Well, it is now time for the Minnesota accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen to give back some of the money they got for helping Bernie Madoff. The firm has just been sued in both Madoff’s and Tom Petters’ Ponzi schemes.

Last week, an investment fund that placed $280 million with Madoff sued in Connecticut state court saying its auditors — Goldstein Golub Kessler in 2006 and McGladrey & Pullen in 2007 — failed to detect the fraud. And, in October, the Ellerbrock Family Trust filed a similar suit in federal court in Minnesota saying that McGladrey & Pullen failed to conduct thorough audits or take other actions that would have uncovered alleged fraud by Petters’ companies.

OK, it’s now 2009 and we are all looking for a fresh start. We settled three significant matters at the law firm of William A. Miller in Phoenix, Arizona, over the last 30 days. I like to say, “I am a patriot first and a conservative second” and this quote from Cicero in 55 BC is as timeless as the saying of the Bible.

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Sounds like there is nothing new under the sun. Good Luck to our President-Elect in 2009.

A San Francisco landlord for defunct white shirt law firm Heller Ehrman won a key court ruling earlier this month that means bankruptcy is now possible. What this means is the landlord accelerated all future rent due and has tied the Heller Ehrman partner hands from a midnight move or fire sale of its assets.

A Superior Court granted the landlord, 333 Bush Associates, a writ of attachment for $48 million on Dec. 19. The move makes the landlord a secured creditor, freezes a portion of Heller’s assets for the landlord, and leaves other unsecured creditors at a disadvantage, essentially waiting in line behind the landlord for dibs on leftover assets. This is ultimate hardball and is a tactic available in Maricopa County Superior Court under certain circumstances.

“The fact that they have reached the point where the landlord has gotten a writ, has obtained legal process to take their money on this scale, means that it is very likely they will file bankruptcy or be forced into bankruptcy,” said William McGrane, of McGrane Greenfield, who represented the three landlords that forced Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison into bankruptcy in 2003. Who would ever hire a law firm who cannot even pay its rent? This is a shame. At the law firm of William A. Miller in Scottsdale, Arizona, we applaud the landlord for playing hard ball against a powerful law firm. We handle all landlord tenant matters and can be reached at 602-319-6899.

My dad always used to tell me that ‘luck only happens once.’ What he meant was if someone is truly successful, it is not because of luck, it is because of hard work, street smarts and good planning. Not simply luck! Well, by Madoff standards I ain’t done much, but for a boy who grew up on 40th street in Phoenix, I have been lucky blessed indeed.

Anyway, I think this advice is the only time my dad was wrong. I got lucky twice. First, I married Andra.

The next stroke of luck was working for Tom Stoops, Esq. He is and has always been a top real estate lawyer in Phoenix. He is a true gentleman lawyer and faithful Arizonan committed to our cowboy roots. He taught me to prepare cases beyond what was expected. He told me to trust my instincts, not the books that would tell me how to think. He told me to be honest and faithful to the concept of justice. He told me to stay faithful to my Christian faith and defend the poor.

He taught me how to cowboy up when the white shirt law firms and their big money attack the little guy. We put real estate con or two out of business back in those days. One crook sold bogus lots in Northern Arizona at The “Grand Canyon Estates” to European visitors. A thousand bucks down & hundred bucks a month. The problem was, the lots had no water, roads, sewer or nor could they even be found. One German who looked like Otto in Malcom in the Middle bought the same lot about 15 times. Tom taught me how to stand up to these type of cons.

I just went to Tom’s Christmas party. It was full of his long time friends and business associates. There was a ton of good cheer. I was kind of surprised that I knew some of his folks after so many years of not seeing Tom. His staff still worked with him. 

So, I now will tell my kids that luck can happen twice.

I also tell them that every successful guy I know sticks with his friends and business partners. Jerry C. who owned the Phoenix Suns still has his secretary Ruth. Bob Russell has the same accountant for 40 years. Mike Dorn still works with his accountant and lawyer after 30 plus years. The Van Arsdale brothers do not quit on their partners or contractors, nor does Bob Fraley, Skip Hancock, Howie Basuk, The Tangs, The Gongs, Andrew Cohn, Bob Alpert, Chris Peacock, Tim Louis, Mark Stein, Jim Harrison, Ezri Namvar or a whole host of multi-bill/mill-ionaires I know and work with.

Mom told me you know a person by who their friends are. I’ll amend that too mom, you know a business guy based on who still hangs around him after 25 plus years. To Lou P., Erv S., John H., Steve S., etc. thanks for sticking in there with the Law Firm of William A. Miller and God Bless you Tom.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some mortgage companies are slashing the amounts that borrowers owe, deciding that permanent cuts in loan balances may pay off by helping teetering borrowers avoid foreclosure.

There are few lawyers in Arizona who have negotiated more loan workouts than Bill Miller. The most important factors are: (1) Honesty in the original loan applications; (2) The story (why you cannot pay); and (3) Why a workout is better than a foreclosure. If you can satisfy these three factors, a workout is possible, but full disclosure of current assets and your updated financials must be tendered.

So what’s up in Arizona and national litigation? Everyone is suing everyone. We opened four new files last week at the law firm of William A. Miller in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In its latest annual 2008 Litigation Trends Survey, the international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. predicts a rise in corporate litigation. “This year’s survey appears to mark an inflection point for American business, between the end of a prolonged period of prosperity and the start of a period of economic challenge that is likely to fuel litigation over who is to blame and who should pay for the consequences,” said Stephen C. Dillard, who chairs Fulbright’s global litigation practice. “Given that we were polling in-house counsel on the cusp of that transition, it’s no wonder that this year’s findings highlight both the evident calm before the storm, as well as the sense that disputes are on the rise.” Do you think? Bill Miller has always said the two times people in Arizona litigate is when there is no money floating around … like now and when there is too much, like the late 1990’s.

If you lost money in a real estate deal or some crazy investment, you need to call Bill at 602.319.6899 to see what your rights are in the GREAT STATE OF ARIZONA.

Have you been the victim of a “real estate con”? A real estate con is normally set up and performed by a confidence man. The first known usage of the term “confidence man” was in 1849; it was used by the press during the trial of William Thompson. Thompson chatted with strangers until he asked if they had the confidence to lend him their watches, whereupon he would walk off with the watch; he was captured when a victim recognized him on the street.

All kinds of real estate cons have been thought up. From the simple, such as selling lots two, three or four times, all the way to securities cons where the unsuspecting is led into investing in bogus real estate developments and deeds of trust.

Seldom will you meet a nicer, more friendly person than a con artist. That is how he or she gets your confidence. I once sued a prominent Phoenician who was selling Grand Canyon lots to Europeans. One problem, he did not own them. Nor could anyone find them. His con worked for years. He protected himself by donating to politicians and charity. I felt guilty suing him. Imagine that, he almost had me.

Arizona and Phoenix are ripe with these cons. Examples of cases I have worked on will be posted soon.