Agree with @11:00.
I have not been keeping a log, but my impression from reading the bar magazine is that discipline has been willy-nilly. Sometimes overly harsh, sometimes really friendly to the disciplined.
5 year suspension in Nevada is the equivalent of disbarment in most states. Nevada is in a minority of states where disbarment is irrevocable. In most states, a disbarred attorney can reapply after 5 years. Still, I agree here. If this isn't worthy of disbarment then what is?
10:48 – Jeffrey Gross MD–please tell us the significance of this doctor and connection to Nevada. Not familiar. Is Gross MD a California doctor. Practiced in Nevada??
Not 10:48 but 30 seconds of Google-Fu shows it was a kick back scam from orthopedic surgeons with a Long Beach hospital. Sort of like the alleged medical mafia claims in Las Vegas, just no lawyers involved.
Gross practiced here in Las Vegas. Plaintiff friendly physician and sometimes expert witness. I imagine quite a few personal injury cases took a hit when he was indicted.
I wish I had the time to draw a flowchart of the incestuous relationships at the NSB. They are at the point now they make no pretense of being fair in discipline. I'll prove my point quickly: Go back through the NSB magazines and see that almost all discipline is SOLO practitioners (perhaps above 99%) while SOLOs make up a small percentage of the attorney population. I know there are some arguments such as SOLOs have less internal oversight, etc. but the statistics are so far from the curve, standard deviations, etc. as to be insane. By the way, it is pretty much this way in medicine, accounting, and other board controlled professions as the big firms control the governing boards. No excuse for the NSB but just some context.
12:04– This issue regarding only picking on solos and small was actually raised on the Supreme Court by then-Justice Cherry so told the OBC in not less than two ADKT hearings that it was disproportionately going after solos and smalls. But nothing changed. And Cherry voted with the unananimous/majority time and again so he is just as bad in many ways.
All these posts, as to the wild disparity and incredible inconsistency, of discipline are spot on.
Someone steals almost half a million dollars form their clients, and the attorneys has the right to seek reinstatement in a few short years.
But for many others, if they are very temporarily off by $1.18 between their Trust Account and General Operating Account, they must endure the rack in the public square.
Now say what we will about the Judicial Discipline Commission, but their discipline is a lot more consistent, proportionate and rational than State Bar discipline.
But then again, how could it not be when we see what we are comparing it to(State Bar Discipline).
Large firm partner here. You do not see much bar discipline for larger firms b/c they dont let them rise to that level. They take care of legitimate client concerns maintain adequate accounting controls.
2:29– Also a large firm partner. Also part of the Disciplinary Panels. You are right, and you are wrong. Bad things happen in large firms also. Egregiously bad things. But large firms have corporate clients who have the wherewithal to take a swing through litigation and do not want to get tied up in a disciplinary investigation; smaller clients have nothing to lose other than punching up in weight by trying to unleash the OBC.
However the State Bar is not going to punish a big firm and tar the other partners. Who is the last big firm lawyer who you saw the State Bar go after? Nelson Cohen? He was already booted and his firm came after him. Brian Jones from Kummer Kaempfer is the last one I recall and his firm basically tossed him to the wolves to avoid stigma to itself.
@2:29 Large firm's innocent?
2:29 speaks a load of large firm arrogance. First, most complaints originate from individuals, not corporate clients. Small firms represent more individuals who are generally unsophisticated. Large firm clients won't bother with a bar complaint, they will instead file a claim against the large firm's carrier, or just change firms.
Second, large firm matters tend to be more complex. Bar counsel is not sophisticated enough to prosecute a complex case, and I suspect as a result Bar Counsel tends to go for the easy kills against a solo/small firm.
A couple of excellent posts which illustrate the problem. Cushing embezzled money and then lied to his Wilson Elser. He was disciplined because the Complaint came not from clients but from the firm itself. Total discipline for stealing money? 9 months. The field is not level.
2:29–that implies that most, if not all, solo practitioners, and small firms, are scatter-shot, disorganized, unprofessional, irresponsible, unethical, grossly negligent buffoons.
Guest
Anonymous
May 25, 2021 6:34 pm
Evictions
In the LV Township, Judge Saragosa has a good handle on things and I suspect the backlog will be cleared out within 60 days. As to the tenant and landlord assistance programs, they are well intentioned. The old expression too many cooks in the kitchen is applicable. As of only a few weeks ago the proposed processes were still changing. More importantly, the funding for tenant mediations is only for the month of June.
As for the tenants who will be evicted, I don't know where they will land, I wish them well. I offer this opinion, after evicting non paying tenants, landlords will be looking for new tenants and may be forced to rent to tenants recently evicted by some other landlord, so long as they can show an ability to pay.
I understand that landlords have bills to pay and are not a social services agency, but I don’t see how this ends well. Kicking someone out because they can’t afford the rent means you have to replace them with someone who can, and given some of the rates I’ve seen, this could be a tall order.
Judge Saragosa is not hearing the majority of evictions. Summary evictions are handled by David Brown and he is clearing the docket with evictions, moratoriums be damned. The parties are left to appeal. When Scotti/Chuck Thompson were handling the appeals, there was at least compliance with the law. Crystal Eller is rubber stamping evictions out of Justice Court.
Moratoriums be damned?? You do understand there is not a blanket prohibition on evictions, right? A tenant must meet the requirements to avoid eviction. As a post from a few weeks back explained, many tenants don't complete the required affidavit.
Even if the tenant files the CDC declaration or equivalent, there are conditions that they have to meet. A motion challenging the conditions, requiring them provide paystubs, bank statements, communications showing they attempted to pay what they could, etc, usually leads to the tenant not complying, thus not proving they met the conditions, and thus not qualifying for the CDC exemption and they get evicted.
If you swear you've tried to pay what you could, and swear you've lost hours or lost your job, but then you're still working the same number of hours and never even offered the landlord anything as a partial payment and started to spend $1k/month at the casino – you're getting evicted.
2:27- As someone who has been down in those eviction hearings every week, yeah I mean moratoriums be damned. Fully completed, fully supported CDC Declarations being tossed aside and evictions granted. I fully understand how the CDC Declaration and moratoriums work.
Have you guys looked at the Rental Assistance programs? Landlord accepts 75% of back rent and gives up next three months of rent. So if Tenant owes 6 months rent, Landlord agrees to accept 75% of 6 months (4.5 months rent) in exchange for the past 6 months plus the next 3 months. So the Landlord has already gotten screwed and is supposed to thank the system for another three months of screwing!
I am sorry for the deadbeat tenants (not really), but if society wants to keep them in their unpaid rentals, society needs to pay for it without hosing the LLs.
@12:11 Saragosa not hearing majority of evictions.
Yes, Hearing Master Brown is hearing summary evictions, but he works under the direction of the chief judge, Saragosa.
Anyone tasked with enforcing the law, must enforce the law. PERIOD. If a hearing officer is ignoring the law (e.g. a moratorium) I think he subjects himself to going above and beyond his state granted authority and should be held accountable accordingly. A federal complaint should straighten him right up. Or a bar complaint, if he is not officially a "judge". Then again, don't get me started on the murder that the bar lets them get away with.
Jeffrey Gross, M.D. Sentenced regarding his guilty plea on conspiracy. 15 months in federal prison starting August 16. Also restitution of over $600K
How the hell was Padgett not disbarred. Unreal.
Agree with @11:00.
I have not been keeping a log, but my impression from reading the bar magazine is that discipline has been willy-nilly. Sometimes overly harsh, sometimes really friendly to the disciplined.
5 year suspension in Nevada is the equivalent of disbarment in most states. Nevada is in a minority of states where disbarment is irrevocable. In most states, a disbarred attorney can reapply after 5 years. Still, I agree here. If this isn't worthy of disbarment then what is?
10:48 – Jeffrey Gross MD–please tell us the significance of this doctor and connection to Nevada. Not familiar. Is Gross MD a California doctor. Practiced in Nevada??
Not 10:48 but 30 seconds of Google-Fu shows it was a kick back scam from orthopedic surgeons with a Long Beach hospital. Sort of like the alleged medical mafia claims in Las Vegas, just no lawyers involved.
Gross practiced here in Las Vegas. Plaintiff friendly physician and sometimes expert witness. I imagine quite a few personal injury cases took a hit when he was indicted.
Who did Padgett contribute to during campaign season to get the diet Pepsi discipline?
Re Padgett: Remember the dead woman in his bedroom?
To be reinstated Padgett will have to take the Nevada Bar Exam again.
Also any suspension over 6 months requires approval to being practicing again – it's not automatic.
I wish I had the time to draw a flowchart of the incestuous relationships at the NSB. They are at the point now they make no pretense of being fair in discipline. I'll prove my point quickly: Go back through the NSB magazines and see that almost all discipline is SOLO practitioners (perhaps above 99%) while SOLOs make up a small percentage of the attorney population. I know there are some arguments such as SOLOs have less internal oversight, etc. but the statistics are so far from the curve, standard deviations, etc. as to be insane. By the way, it is pretty much this way in medicine, accounting, and other board controlled professions as the big firms control the governing boards. No excuse for the NSB but just some context.
12:04– This issue regarding only picking on solos and small was actually raised on the Supreme Court by then-Justice Cherry so told the OBC in not less than two ADKT hearings that it was disproportionately going after solos and smalls. But nothing changed. And Cherry voted with the unananimous/majority time and again so he is just as bad in many ways.
All these posts, as to the wild disparity and incredible inconsistency, of discipline are spot on.
Someone steals almost half a million dollars form their clients, and the attorneys has the right to seek reinstatement in a few short years.
But for many others, if they are very temporarily off by $1.18 between their Trust Account and General Operating Account, they must endure the rack in the public square.
Now say what we will about the Judicial Discipline Commission, but their discipline is a lot more consistent, proportionate and rational than State Bar discipline.
But then again, how could it not be when we see what we are comparing it to(State Bar Discipline).
Large firm partner here. You do not see much bar discipline for larger firms b/c they dont let them rise to that level. They take care of legitimate client concerns maintain adequate accounting controls.
So what about the Medical Mafia? Were Mark Kabins and Gage the fall guys? What happened to those sealed indictments.
2:29– Also a large firm partner. Also part of the Disciplinary Panels. You are right, and you are wrong. Bad things happen in large firms also. Egregiously bad things. But large firms have corporate clients who have the wherewithal to take a swing through litigation and do not want to get tied up in a disciplinary investigation; smaller clients have nothing to lose other than punching up in weight by trying to unleash the OBC.
However the State Bar is not going to punish a big firm and tar the other partners. Who is the last big firm lawyer who you saw the State Bar go after? Nelson Cohen? He was already booted and his firm came after him. Brian Jones from Kummer Kaempfer is the last one I recall and his firm basically tossed him to the wolves to avoid stigma to itself.
@4:29 Kym Cushing?
@2:29 Large firm's innocent?
2:29 speaks a load of large firm arrogance. First, most complaints originate from individuals, not corporate clients. Small firms represent more individuals who are generally unsophisticated. Large firm clients won't bother with a bar complaint, they will instead file a claim against the large firm's carrier, or just change firms.
Second, large firm matters tend to be more complex. Bar counsel is not sophisticated enough to prosecute a complex case, and I suspect as a result Bar Counsel tends to go for the easy kills against a solo/small firm.
A couple of excellent posts which illustrate the problem. Cushing embezzled money and then lied to his Wilson Elser. He was disciplined because the Complaint came not from clients but from the firm itself. Total discipline for stealing money? 9 months. The field is not level.
2:29–that implies that most, if not all, solo practitioners, and small firms, are scatter-shot, disorganized, unprofessional, irresponsible, unethical, grossly negligent buffoons.
Evictions
In the LV Township, Judge Saragosa has a good handle on things and I suspect the backlog will be cleared out within 60 days. As to the tenant and landlord assistance programs, they are well intentioned. The old expression too many cooks in the kitchen is applicable. As of only a few weeks ago the proposed processes were still changing. More importantly, the funding for tenant mediations is only for the month of June.
As for the tenants who will be evicted, I don't know where they will land, I wish them well. I offer this opinion, after evicting non paying tenants, landlords will be looking for new tenants and may be forced to rent to tenants recently evicted by some other landlord, so long as they can show an ability to pay.
I understand that landlords have bills to pay and are not a social services agency, but I don’t see how this ends well. Kicking someone out because they can’t afford the rent means you have to replace them with someone who can, and given some of the rates I’ve seen, this could be a tall order.
Judge Saragosa is not hearing the majority of evictions. Summary evictions are handled by David Brown and he is clearing the docket with evictions, moratoriums be damned. The parties are left to appeal. When Scotti/Chuck Thompson were handling the appeals, there was at least compliance with the law. Crystal Eller is rubber stamping evictions out of Justice Court.
12:31 is right about Eller. Not good.
Moratoriums be damned?? You do understand there is not a blanket prohibition on evictions, right? A tenant must meet the requirements to avoid eviction. As a post from a few weeks back explained, many tenants don't complete the required affidavit.
Even if the tenant files the CDC declaration or equivalent, there are conditions that they have to meet. A motion challenging the conditions, requiring them provide paystubs, bank statements, communications showing they attempted to pay what they could, etc, usually leads to the tenant not complying, thus not proving they met the conditions, and thus not qualifying for the CDC exemption and they get evicted.
If you swear you've tried to pay what you could, and swear you've lost hours or lost your job, but then you're still working the same number of hours and never even offered the landlord anything as a partial payment and started to spend $1k/month at the casino – you're getting evicted.
2:27- As someone who has been down in those eviction hearings every week, yeah I mean moratoriums be damned. Fully completed, fully supported CDC Declarations being tossed aside and evictions granted. I fully understand how the CDC Declaration and moratoriums work.
Have you guys looked at the Rental Assistance programs? Landlord accepts 75% of back rent and gives up next three months of rent. So if Tenant owes 6 months rent, Landlord agrees to accept 75% of 6 months (4.5 months rent) in exchange for the past 6 months plus the next 3 months. So the Landlord has already gotten screwed and is supposed to thank the system for another three months of screwing!
I am sorry for the deadbeat tenants (not really), but if society wants to keep them in their unpaid rentals, society needs to pay for it without hosing the LLs.
@12:11 Saragosa not hearing majority of evictions.
Yes, Hearing Master Brown is hearing summary evictions, but he works under the direction of the chief judge, Saragosa.
Where is Betsy Gonzalez when you need her?
Anyone tasked with enforcing the law, must enforce the law. PERIOD. If a hearing officer is ignoring the law (e.g. a moratorium) I think he subjects himself to going above and beyond his state granted authority and should be held accountable accordingly. A federal complaint should straighten him right up. Or a bar complaint, if he is not officially a "judge". Then again, don't get me started on the murder that the bar lets them get away with.