William A. Miller, Esq.

I just sent in my annual money for registration of a vintage car I own to the great State of California. I drive it too much, yet I cannot bear to drop the California plates. The car is classic, just like my memories of California. It is where I was born, but I was raised in Arizona. Back then in the 60’s and 70’s, we did things right in Arizona. Self made men. No excuses for failure. No social climbing needed. You fight, you win. You quit, you lose. That is it! “Buckle down kid”, that is what my dad said. Yet, California went French on me over the last few years.

California is now in a French-like bind: unable to afford a welfare-type state, and unable to overhaul it. “The people say they want all these programs, then there’s nothing they want to pay for,” says Hector De La Torre, a Democratic assemblyman. “The schizophrenia in the legislature reflects the peoples’.” Let us pray that Arizona stays true to Goldwater type freedom and self reliance.

We do not take wimpy cases at the law firm of William A. Miller in Scottsdale. No coffee burn scams. No the-teacher-was-mean-to-my-kid nonsense. But, if you really have been injured by a real estate or stock scam, give us a call at 480-948-3095. We will strive to make things right the old fashion way. The Arizona way.

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.

No one wants to even think about the F-word — “Foreclosure.” It is so sad to see so many good folks losing their homes in foreclosure. It is also good to see some banks playing “fair” and trying to work with defaulted borrowers. Yet note something curious in Arizona law. Normally after a default and foreclosure, all the bank can do is get your house and sell it in the open market. If it does not fetch a higher price than the loan, it is not your problem, other than botched credit. They cannot sue you for the difference (deficiency).

Arizona’s laws that prohibit deficiencies are found in Arizona Revised Statutes Sections 33-814.G and 33-729(A).  These types of laws are also called “anti-deficiency legislation.”

A.R.S. § 33-729(A) states: “. . . if a mortgage is given to secure the payment of the balance of the purchase price, or to secure a loan to pay all or part of the purchase price, of a parcel of real property of two and one-half acres or less which is limited to and utilized for either a single one-family or single two-family dwelling, the lien of judgment in an action to foreclose such mortgage shall not extend to any other property of the judgment debtor, nor may general execution be issued against the judgment debtor to enforce such judgment, and if the proceeds of the mortgaged real property sold under special execution are insufficient to satisfy the judgment, the judgment may not otherwise be satisfied out of other property of the judgment debtor, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary.

A.R.S. § 33-814(G) states: “If trust property of two and one-half acres or less which is limited to and utilized for either a single one-family or a single two-family dwelling is sold pursuant to the trustee’s power of sale, no action may be maintained to recover any difference between the amount obtained by sale and the amount of the indebtedness and any interest, costs and expenses.”

At the law firm of William A. Miller in Scottsdale, Arizona, we can help you sort through these laws to give you as much protection as possible. So give us a call at 480.948.3095 if you want to have us look over your case. LAW is not a four letter word.

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.