Blogger accused of crimes subpoenas NJ gov-elect

A New Jersey blogger scheduled to go on trial next week on charges that he threatened three federal judges in hate-filled postings has subpoenaed the state's governor-elect to testify on his behalf.

Harold "Hal" Turner of North Bergen claims that he was a federal government informant and that the postings targeting the judges and other inflammatory statements were part of an undercover operation to ferret out violent left-wing radicals.

In an affidavit filed with the subpoena, Turner lawyer Michael Orozco says Gov.-elect Chris Christie knew of Turner's activities between 2002 and 2008 while Christie was U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Orozco says Christie issued a letter saying he would not prosecute Turner for his statements.

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Lawmakers subpoena Suffolk top cop's e-mails

Suffolk County lawmakers on Friday subpoenaed the police commissioner's internal e-mail and memos, expressing strong concern that they've been misled about controversial staffing changes within the department.

The unusual move by the County Legislature's Public Safety Committee creates a possible showdown with County Executive Steve Levy, who has said the subpoenas were part of an ongoing struggle with the police union at a time of fiscal constraint.

The committee approved the subpoena calling for Commissioner Richard Dormer to turn over his written communications with his top brass over recent moves, including the transfer of highway patrols to deputy sheriffs and other cost-cutting staffing changes throughout the department.

"I've not gotten truthful responses," said Legis. Jack Eddington (I-Medford), chairman of the panel.

But Levy branded the subpoenas as "payback" to the Police Benevolent Association "for their endorsements" on Election Day, and said the police staffing changes were designed to cut costs for county taxpayers.

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Unwed parents difficult to track

A car is in the driveway, but that might not mean much.

Penny Huston knocks on the door and hopes that the person who answers matches the name on the court document in her hand.

Nope.

"She says he doesn't live here anymore," Huston said. "It goes this way a lot."

At least a hundred times a week, the process server for Subpoena Service Plus parks outside a house or taps a car window or maybe even pretends to deliver flowers -- whatever it takes to serve the court papers seeking support for a child.

The job gets tougher as relationships between parents grow ever more tenuous: Sixty percent of the cases the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency handles involve mothers and fathers who didn't marry in the first place.

"There may be no bond at all," agency Director Susan Brown said. "It's challenging."

The march away from matrimony -- about 40 percent of babies in the U.S. are born to single women -- also has made things hard for the legal system.

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ServeNow.com Releases ServeManager, Electronic Service of Process Tracking Software

ServeNow.com, the leading network of trusted process servers, launches ServeManager, the only online tracking software to allow legal professionals to efficiently manage service of process with multiple process serving companies from one interface. ServeManager revolutionizes the communication process between legal professionals and the process servers they use. Denver, CO (PRWEB) November 19, 2009 -- ServeNow.com is proud to announce ServeManager (https://www.servemanager.com), an online software application that allows legal professionals to receive real-time status updates on jobs from process servers. This software, free for legal professionals, lets users view and manage all service of process in one central interface, regardless of the number of process serving companies used. With support from ServeNow.com's trusted network of process servers (http://www.serve-now.com), ServeManager reduces the stress of finding an experienced process server while simplifying the communication during the life cycle of the serve. ServeManager helps legal professionals work smarter by providing:   Complete job life cycle management. A secure platform for uploading service documents and downloading affidavits. One easy interface to manage service of process across various companies. Service address geo-coding for address verification. Instant notification of changes to a job or successful service. Job history and document archival. 24-hour access to job status from any computer or smartphone. Multiple users accounts within the same company. With the ability to check serve status from an Internet connection at anytime, legal professionals can spend less time on the phone talking to process servers and more time focusing on other aspects of their job. "The development of ServeManager came in response to a major frustration from the legal community regarding service of process - 'What's the status of my serve?'," said ServeNow.com co-founder, Trent Carlyle. "In organizations that have a high serve volume, getting status updates via phone, fax and email was once a full-time job. We also found a number of other broken pieces in the process that the software solves. If you hire process servers, ServeManager enables you to focus on the more productive aspects of your law firm or business." Because ServeManager is tied into ServeNow.com, jobs can be assigned to local qualified process servers with one click. If a preferred process server is not a member of ServeNow.com, users can invite their favorite process servers to create a free account. ServeManager is easily integrated into any legal department or organization. An administrator can set up multiple accounts for all legal professionals within an organization managing service of process. With the ability to control permission levels, the administrator can access all jobs while allowing employees to manage specific jobs. The ability to manage permission levels keeps sensitive data involving court cases safe. ServeManager revolutionizes the communication process between legal professionals and the process servers they use. By allowing legal professionals to access the status of their serve around the clock, ServeManager simplifies service of process and reduces the stress of having papers served. Deadlines and court cases become easier to manage with ServeManager. About ServeNow.com Founded in 2004, ServeNow.com is the most widely used source for finding process servers worldwide. It is the only resource for locating legal support professionals that qualifies and actively monitors the quality of service provided to customers. With coverage throughout the entire U.S., ServeNow.com's goal is to help visitors find process servers local to the service, making service of process highly efficient. ServeNow.com assists thousands of lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants, subrogation, collection, default service professionals and government agencies in locating local process servers on a daily basis. Need a summons and complaint, subpoena, judgment or other legal document served? Need document filing and retrieval or skip traces performed? Visit the ServeNow.com process server directory at http://www.serve-now.com. About ServeManager ServeManager is an online software application that allows process servers and legal professionals to communicate and manage their service of process in a more efficient manner. ServeManager allows those who hire process servers to manage all their jobs and servers in one place while giving process servers the tools to manage their business. Legal professionals and process servers may set up a ServeManager account at https://www.servemanager.com. ServeNow.com and ServeManager are wholly owned subsidiaries of Westin Consulting LLC. Westin Consulting develops, owns and manages properties and software applications in the legal industry.

More subpoenas planned in D.C. contracts probe

D.C. Council members say they will issue a second round of subpoenas to government witnesses who failed to appear at a hearing Monday on the execution of a contract for parks and recreation projects that have come under legal scrutiny.

Council member Harry Thomas Jr. said he will draft subpoenas Tuesday to two employees in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development who did not respond to a request to testify.

Mr. Thomas wants director of development David Jannarone and project manager Jacquelyn Glover to explain their roles in an unusual arrangement in which millions of dollars in city funds were transferred from the Department of Parks and Recreation to the D.C. Housing Authority via the deputy mayor's office.

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Process Server Shot

A process server was recovering from a gunshot wound in his leg today and the man who allegedly shot him was in custody, an Escondido police official said.

Burk Neal Ashford, 65, allegedly shot the 50-year-old process server around 9 p.m. Tuesday outside Ashford’s home in the 1400 block of Red Bark Road, said Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton.
Ashford called 911 and said he’d shot the victim in the leg, Benton said. Escondido police officers responding to the call were flagged down by the victim on the street, he said. The victim was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido and treated for a non-life threatening gunshot wound, Benton said.

Officers arrested Ashford and recovered a .22 caliber handgun at the home, Benton said. Ashford was booked at the Vista Detention Facility on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and illegal discharge of a weapon, according to jail records.

Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-11-11/local-county-news/escondido-man-allegedly-shoots-process-server#ixzz0WfDJZlTn

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Man Served Papers On Own Home After Refinance Check Bounces

n early April, Jeff Franson refinanced his mortgage, switching it from Chase to SecurityNational Mortgage Co.

On a sunny Saturday in early October, as he was mowing the front lawn of his Mokena home, a process server drove up and handed Franson papers that showed Chase was planning to foreclose on his home.

Franson was current on his mortgage with SecurityNational. But the $93,702.51 check cut by Counselors' Title Co. to pay off the Chase loan bounced. After months of phone calls and letters between Franson, his attorney and the companies involved, Chase filed foreclosure papers in Will County Circuit Court.

For consumers refinancing mortgages, sitting down in a sterile conference room of a title company is considered the last step, a formality, in the loan process. After signing a thick stack of documents, borrowers leave happy that they've just saved money by obtaining a lower interest rate.

But like any business transaction involving the transfer of large sums of money, risks loom, and trusting consumers can pay the price. Franson and at least seven other Midwestern homeowners who did business with Counselors are wondering what's in store for their homes and what happened to the $1.6 million that was supposed to pay off their loans.

The Illinois attorney general's office confirmed last week that it is investigating the now-shuttered Counselors' Title, a real estate title insurance agency that had six offices in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, after receiving three consumer complaints. The state also began investigating two other, but unspecified, title companies in the past several months. All the complaints involve mortgage refinancing and situations in which the payoff checks to the original mortgage holders bounced or wire transfers were never deposited in accounts.

"There's a very similar fact pattern we're looking into," said spokeswoman Natalie Bauer. "These are homeowners who were trusting these companies to protect their interests and take responsible actions, and now you have consumers in danger of potentially losing their homes."

Late Friday, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issued a cease and desist order against Counselors and its three principals, James Erwin and Shari Erwin of Chicago and Damian Sichak of Homer Glen, meaning they cannot easily operate a title agency in Illinois.

"It will be on their records with the state of Illinois," said spokeswoman Sue Hofer. "We have no authority to make victims whole. We can stop them from doing it to the next person but don't have the legal authority to reverse the financial loss."

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Hailey Glassman to Be Subpoenaed in Jon Gosselin Lawsuit

Jon Gosselin's girlfriend Hailey Glassman and his friend Michael Lohan are among the witnesses TLC plans to subpoena in a breach of contract lawsuit filed against the reality star, according to new court papers.

Maryland's Circuit Court of Montgomery County has granted motions filed by the network's lawyers to depose Glassman, 22, Lindsay Lohan's dad Michael, 49, as well as Gosselin's lawyer Mark Heller, manager Michael Heller, bodyguard Thomas Meinelt and his talent rep Matthew Kirschner.

In October, TLC sued Gosselin, 32, for breach of contract, accusing the Jon & Kate Plus 8 star of making paid and unpaid television appearances without TLC's permission.

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Mayor served with claim before council meeting

Safford Mayor Ron Green was served with a small claims court complaint Monday at the only place the process server could find him — the Safford City Council meeting.

The complaint requests Green pay the remainder of the amount due for various signs and decals he ordered from Kim's Window Tinting. The signs and decals were for a new newspaper spearheaded by Green, the Southwest Express News, and were picked up on May 4. Some of the signs were a large banner Green used in the Cinco De Mayo Parade and magnetic signs he placed on his own truck. Kim Prentice, the owner of Kim's Window Tinting, told the Courier that Green said payment for the signs would be in the mail.

After waiting more than a month, Prentice called Green for payment. She said he told her he was having problems financially and asked if he could make payments on his bill, which was about $1,000. He then charged $200 toward the bill on his personal credit card June 23. The Southwest Express News' last issue went out the following day, and the publication was suspended due to restructuring, according to Green. A Courier reporter went to the publication's office in Green's building Downtown on Friday and found it locked and deserted.

Prentice's records show Green made another $200 payment June 30, but he has not made a payment since then. After failing to make a payment for three months, Prentice wrote a text message to Green asking for payment Sept. 8. Green allegedly called Prentice a couple of hours later, and the two argued before Green hung up on her. Prentice then filed a claim the next day for the $603.10 still owed — plus interest. She told the Courier since Green would not sign a certified letter in reference to the claim, she will be including the cost of having to hire a process server to notify him.

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Sussex sheriff takes over delivery of court docs

GEORGETOWN -- The county sheriff's office is moving forward with a plan to deliver Family Court documents, which could lead to an $80,000 contract being returned to the county government.

 

While sheriffs and deputies have long performed the duty of process servers, delivering summonses and carrying out tax sales, the Family Court has used private contractors for the last 20 years.

Under the plan, the county sheriff's office will take back those duties.

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