ATTENTION EPHREN TAYLOR VICTIMS OF NEW BIRTH CHURCH

By Cathy | Published February 8, 2013

I have had discussions with many, many victims of Ephren Taylor and their hesitation to pursue recovery because of the impact it might have on their church or minister.  Those of you who are members of New Birth Church know that I had not considered suing the Church or Bishop Long because I had no evidence of his wrongdoing.  However, this week the proverbial “smoking gun” was obtained by attorney Jason Doss, please view the news story on this link:

http://blackamericaweb.com/98906/documents-show-eddie-long-was-aware-of-ephren-taylors-ponzi-scheme/

IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF EPHREN TAYLOR AND A MEMBER OF NEW BIRTH CHURCH, PLEASE CONTACT JASON DOSS, ESQ. AT 770-578-1314 TO JOIN HIS LAWSUIT AGAINST BISHOP LONG AND NEW BIRTH CHURCH.  I CANNOT JUSTIFY THE CONDUCT OF BISHOP LONG AND OTHERS AT THE CHURCH WHO WERE WARNED ABOUT TAYLOR YET DID NOTHING AND ALLOWED TAYLOR AND HIS COHORTS TO SWINDLE NEW BIRTH MEMBERS.  THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT FOLKS. IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF EPHREN TAYLOR AND A MEMBER OF NEW BIRTH, YOU NEED TO ACT QUICKLY TO JOIN THIS LITIGATION.  IT IS THE BEST WAY OF OBTAINING RECOVERY. MEMBERS OF NEW BIRTH CHURCH WILL NOT BE PART OF THE  EPHREN TAYLOR CLASS ACTION.

REMEMBER, EVEN JESUS THREW THE MONEY CHANGERS OUT OF THE CHURCH.  DO NOT BE FOOLED BY WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING! STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT AND MAKE A STATEMENT THAT THIS KIND OF AFFINITY FRAUD WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCHES ANY MORE!!!! DO IT FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR GRANDCHILDREN!  My best to all of you, Cathy

 

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What Your Lease Says About Your Landlord

By Cathy | Published September 7, 2012

I frequently am asked to review both commercial and residential leases.  I thought it would be helpful to advise my readers about what the terms of a lease prepared by a landlord really reveals about the landlord and how that information may impact your decision to move forward with the lease.

I will give you some real life examples from some of my clients.  A lease I reviewed recently was a temporary month-to-month commercial lease that my client needed while their permanent space was being built out. However, the terms of this month-to-month lease were quite onerous. continue reading »

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DO YOU KNOW YOUR RIGHTS UNDER WAGE AND HOUR LAWS?

By Cathy | Published September 4, 2012

Regardless of whether you are an employee or an employer, you need to know the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) as well as applicable state laws governing the payment of wages. It is unfortunate that some employers seek to avoid  paying employees time-and-a-half for overtime hours and also may reclassify workers as “exempt” i.e., salaried to attempt to avoid  incurring liability for payment of overtime.  However, the law is very clear in this area. Because there is potential personal liability for violation of  FLSA, employers need to be aware of what is required.

It is common for employers, in order to avoid their employees’ overtime being documented “on the clock,” to force the employee to complete job tasks before clocking in or after clocking out.  However, this is a clear violation of overtime law.

Other common overtime avoidance methods used by unscrupulous employers include: failing to pay workers for breaks lasting 5-20 minutes, meetings and training session, take home work, and on call time; refusing to pay overtime because the employee did not obtain permission to work overtime; classifying employees as “professional” in order to deem the employee salaried and therefore exempt from entitlement to overtime; and averaging work hours for an employee over two work weeks.

If you are an employer with questions about your responsibilities under FLSA, please contact Ms. Lerman via email at clerman@lermanfirm.com  or via phone at 954-663-5818 for more information

If you are an employee and  suspect your employer is wrongfully denying you overtime pay,  please contact Ms. Lerman via email at clerman@lermanfirm.com or via phone at 954-663-5818. Our law firm may be able to recover damages up to twice the amount of unpaid overtime owed to you. However, you only have a certain amount of time to file your claim. Failing to file within this time period may prevent you from ever collecting unpaid overtime so please contact our law firm today for more information.

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The Four Most Important Legal Issues for a Start Up Company

By Cathy | Published August 30, 2012

As part of our law practice we represent  entrepreneurs that are launching businesses and provide legal advice on everything from Wage and Hour issues to intellectual property protection.  I thought it would be helpful to delineate here my advice to clients who are looking to start a new business. Even in this economy there are still niche, high growth companies launching regularly.

Here are our Four Most Important Legal Issues for a Start Up Company:

1. Does the start up company have a valid legal identity?  You would be surprised how many people think that by filing for and obtaining a fictitious business name (“d/b/a”) that they have created a legal entity.  But that is far from the case.  A fictitious name is nothing other than an alternative company name-it is not a company, partnership or limited liability company.  So make sure that your business is a legally recognizable entity under the applicable laws.

2. Is the start up company’s intelletual property protected?  This is a hot topic.  There is a lot of misinformation out there on trademarks and intellectual property rights.  People try to save money by not trademarking their brand name-and then spend 10 times as much money litigating the ownership of the brand name against a competitor.  Protect your brand and product names-it is critical.

3.  Have you also protected your company’s trade secrets by having contractors, employees and potential investors or others you have shared your business plan with sign valid non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements? If not, then you have a problem.  Non-disclosure agreements are critical to protect your  company’s strategic objectives, business plan and your brand. The best advice for entrepreneurs-trust no one-make everyone sign a non-disclosure and confidentialty agreement. Why take the risk?

4.  Do you have a five year strategic plan for your business? A  lawyer’s advice is only as good as the facts it is based upon. Having a growth plan for your business aids your counsel in providing sound advice-and assessing legal risks.  You MUST have a roadmap of where you are going and how you are going to get there. You particularly need to assess financial growth and head count since these factors impact application of certain state and federal regulatory laws to your business which your counsel will guide you.

So there you have it. This is our Top Four Legal Issues for Start Up Companies! Please email us with comments or questions.

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NEW EPHREN TAYLOR CLASS ACTION FILED IN SAN FRANCISCO

By Cathy | Published August 22, 2012

Please go to the Ephren Taylor Class Action Newsroom to view a copy of the Class Action Complaint that was filed in San Francisco District Court yesterday.

I would like to introduce the new Legal Team to you.  Attorney Tim Fisher is a principal of Bursor & Fisher, PA in San Francisco, Attorney David Dorenfeld is a principal of Snyder *Dorenfeld LLP in Los Angeles,  Attorney Mike Brown is an Associate with Snyder *Dorenfeld LLP in Los Angeles and I am sure you remember me! continue reading »

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EPHREN TAYLOR/CITY CAPITAL VICTIMS

By Cathy | Published August 21, 2012

Today in San Francisco Federal District Court a new Class Action Complaint was filed against Ephren Taylor, Meshelle Taylor, Ephren Taylor Senior, Equity Trust, Robert Batt and a host of other defendants.

Tomorrow I will post the new complaint in my Newsroom. I encourage you to read the stories of the new named Plaintiffs and compare them to your own.  Bill Lee, Trudy Morgan and Gennet Thompson remain Plaintiffs in the law suit filed in Los Angeles. In addition, there are other Taylor victims that have joined a class action suit previously filed in San Francisco District Court with the new legal team against multiple self-directed IRA custodians including Entrust and Equity Trust.

We now know that there are over 500 victims of Ephren Taylor Junior in at least 43 states. Because of that, we will be communicating to Class Members via this Blog. It is simply impossible to move these cases forward and at the same time respond to each individual victim and update them via phone calls and email.

Thank you again for your prayers, words of encouragement and support.

“Do Not Be Overcome By Evil, But Overcome Evil With Good.” Romans 12:21

Regards, Cathy

 

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FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF THE ELDERLY BY PONZI SCHEMERS

By Cathy | Published August 20, 2012

I am going to disagree, somewhat, with articles analyzing financial exploitation of the elderly, as it relates to frauds perpetrated by Ponzi Schemers.  I have noticed a pattern of conduct by the Fraudsters in these cases and it differs somewhat from the characteristics normally attributed to persons engaged in financial exploitation and abuse of the elderly. continue reading »

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What do Ephren Taylor Senior, Joel Osteen and Bishop Eddie Long Have In Common?

By Cathy | Published August 15, 2012

My dear Readers, I am sure you have guessed already.  Taylor Senior, Osteen and Long all allowed Ephren Taylor Junior access to their congregation and permitted Taylor Junior to swindle them but they were certainly not alone. There are churches and other regligious organizations all over the country who have members who have lost their life savings to the Ponzi Schemes and affinity frauds of Ephren Taylor Junior. Certainly religious leaders would abhor helping Taylor ”fleece their own flock.”

Ephren Taylor Junior was permitted access to congregations because he was a “Man of God,”  “Ordained Minister,” and  “Preacher.”  Taylor Junior was supposed to be spreading the word about his “ministry” that helped  Christian investors by giving them above normal returns on their investments and at the same time giving back to the community  by helping those less fortunate.  continue reading »

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SHOW ME YOUR MONEY-DO YOU KNOW THE REAL VALUE OF YOUR SELF-DIRECTED IRA?

By Cathy | Published August 10, 2012

As you read this, there are thousands of people across the U.S. who have invested in fraudulent schemes through self-directed IRAS (“SDIRAS”) and don’t know it.  Yep, I said they don’t know it.  The reason these defrauded investors don’t know they are victims is because everytime they go online and view their SDIRA account statements or they receive a  copy of their SDIRA account statement in the mail-its says that their SDIRA has either increased in value or has maintained its value since the last SDIRA account statement!  continue reading »

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WILL EPHREN TAYLOR, THE BLACK BERNIE MADOFF, GET OFF WITHOUT CRIMINAL CHARGES?

By Cathy | Published August 10, 2012

There is not much difference between going into a bank with a gun and telling the bank employees to give you all the money so you can steal it and going into a church and telling the congregation to give you all of their money so you can steal it.  The only difference is that with one of these crimes you have a physical weapon.  I am not so sure that using race and religion to steal from people is not also using a weapon albeit a psychological one. Should the lack of a physical weapon preclude criminal prosecution of the thief?   I don’t think so. continue reading »

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