Court to City of San Diego: Stop Discriminating Against Churches

In December 2005, I wrote about an article covering claims by a local pastor that the City of San Diego discriminated against churches by charging higher rental rates for use of City facilities than what it charges other nonprofit organizations. The Canyon Ridge Baptist Church filed a lawsuit to force the City to rescind what it alleges to be discriminatory rental policies. The Church rents a community center from the City for its Sunday services. In a recently published article, the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that the Church is winning the lawsuit

After reviewing media reports and court records, it was clear that the City charges the Church rates that are as much as 22 times the rates charged to other nonprofit organizations. The Union-Tribune reports that a federal judge issued an injunction temporarily that prohibits the City from the collecting the high rates. Instead of paying up to $818 per week that the City might charge to a private business, the Church will pay $208 like other nonprofit groups.

The lawsuit is apparently close to settlement, which will most likely result in reimbursement of rent to the Church and the City will most likely also have to pay the legal fees incurred by the Church. When I first brought this to the attention of Donna Frye, who represents the district where the Church is located, she declined to do anything about it.

When I contacted Frye's office, she refused to comment because the matter was in litigation, instead of asking to have this issue placed on the Council agenda to discuss changing the rental policies. It was never clear if Councilmember Frye opposed or supported the policies in question, but she refused to take a public stance and I find that very disturbing. I think Frye and the other members of the San Diego City Council owe it to the people they represent to stand up against City policies that are clearly discriminatory instead of hiding behind the questionable advice it received from the City Attorney's officen in this matter.

About the Author: Carl H. Starrett II has been a licensed attorney since 1993 and is a member in good standing with the California State Bar and the San Diego County Bar Association. Mr. Starrett practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business litigation, construction, corporate planning and debt collection.

Collecting California Judgments

Going to court is only the first step in collecting the money owed to you. It is up to the judgment creditor to actually enforce the judgment. There are a number of methods available to help us collect your judgment.

Voluntary Payment: Even after we have obtained the judgment, we can still make payment arrangements with the debtor. Recent experience has shown that some judgment debtors will voluntarily pay to clear the judgment from their credit rating.

Abstract of Judgment: This document is issued by the court clerk for a fee of $15.00. Also referred to as a judgment lien on real property, it creates a lien and clouds title to any real property owned by the debtor within the county in which it is recorded, including houses, condominiums, vacant land and even timeshares. The judgment debtor cannot sell or refinance the property without negotiating with the creditor or paying off the lien.

Judgment Lien on Personal Property: This is particularly useful when the debtor owns a business. When filed with the Secretary of State, this document creates a lien on accounts receivable, equipment, farm products, inventory and negotiable documents of title. It can make it difficult for the debtor to obtain credit after this document has been filed and served. The filing fee is $20.00.

Writ of Execution: This document is issued by the court clerk for a fee of $15.00. It tells the Marshal or Sheriff how much to collect on the judgment. A Writ of Execution is required for most judgment enforcement procedures such a wage garnishment or bank account seizures.

Bank Account Levy: Upon delivery of the Writ of Execution, written instructions and a fee of $30.00, the Sheriff will issue a Notice of Levy which freezes the bank accounts of the judgment debtor. However, the Marshal or Sheriff must go to the branch where the account is held in order to properly levy on the account. Information provided by the client such as a photocopy of a check from the debtor can often lead to collection of the judgment using a bank levy. In one recent case, our office obtained bank account information from a private investigator at a cost of less than $200 and our client was able to collect more than $14,000 of a $17,000 debt.

Earnings Withhold Order: Also called a wage garnishment, the Sheriff will notify the employer to withhold money from the debtor's pay check. The Sheriff's fee for this service is only $25.00 and the employer can withhold up to 25% of the debtor's net pay. In one case, our office started a wage garnishment on behalf of a client. The Sheriff served the Earnings Withholding Order on a Tuesday. The judgment debtor immediately delivered a cashier's check to the Sheriff on the following Monday to pay off the judgment.

Rent Garnishment: If we obtain information that a third party owes money to the judgment debtor, we can make arrangements to collect that debt directly. A common example is a rent garnishment. If the debtor owns a rental property, we can send the Sheriff to collect the rent directly from the tenant as a payment toward the judgment.

Till Tap/Keeper Levy: If the debtor owns a business, the Sheriff can take money directly from the cash register, which is commonly called a till tap. For larger judgments, the Sheriff can leave a "keeper" in charge of the business for up to 8 hours. The "keeper" will collect all the cash and checks that come into the cash register for that day and can also prevent credit card transactions. This can be particularly useful in collecting judgments against businesses such as a retail store or a restaurant.

Vehicle Levy: In extreme cases, we can even have the Sheriff seize the judgment debtor's car and have it sold at auction. This can be very expensive and is better suited for large judgments.

Asset Investigation: Once an asset is identified, we can move aggressively to collect and sell the asset. The most difficult part is locating the asset. We have connections with numerous private investigators that will perform asset searches for as little as $200. We also have access to numerous computer databases to gather information on a judgment debtor. Our investigators can to the person's neighbors and find out where the debtor works. Every bit of information will help us to be successful in collecting your judgment.

About the Author: Carl H. Starrett II has been a licensed attorney since 1993 and is a member in good standing with the California State Bar and the San Diego County Bar Association. Mr. Starrett practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business litigation, construction, corporate planning and debt collection.

Proposition 45 Funds Available

On July 11, 2006, the state of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development director Lynn Jacobs with Sunne Wright McPeak, Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency announced over $210 million in Proposition 46 funds. The awards were distributed among 42 counties to provide housing opportunities for more than 11,000 of California’s families and residents. Proposition 46 is the $2.1 billion housing bond approved by voters in November 2002.

Housing affordability continues to be a problem in California, with the median price of an existing home in the state at $564,430 in May, up 8 percent from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors.

The real estate trade group also produces an affordability index, which measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase a median-priced home in California. The percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 14 percent in December, compared with 19 percent for the same period the prior year, according to the latest statistics available at C.A.R.'s Web site.

Awards Specifically to the San Diego Region
The San Diego Region will receive more than $20 million to provide housing for 412 families. This includes over $19.5 million creating affordable apartment homes through the Multifamily Housing Program, and $500,000 in Workforce Housing Reward Program funds.

Statewide HCD program award descriptions to assist specifically the San Diego Region:
The Multifamily Housing Program and its Supportive Housing Component will provide permanent low-interest loans for the construction of new affordable apartment homes and rehabilitation of existing affordable units. Californians who make up the vital workforce that is the backbone of our economy, including seniors, the disabled, homeless and those transitioning from homelessness, are among the future residents of the homes that will be constructed or rehabilitated. The awards will help California families or individuals realize the dream of an affordable rental home.

The Workforce Housing Reward Program which provides financial incentives for issuance of building permits for new homes affordable to lower income households. California cities and counties approved 6,228 new rental homes and issued permits for 666 homeownership units for lower income families. Of the 83 local governments receiving Workforce Housing Program awards, 44 also received bonus grant funds for their significant progress in meeting their overall housing need.

Housing affordability continues to be a problem in California, with the median price of an existing home in the state at $564,430 in May, up 8 percent from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors. The percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 14 percent in December, compared with 19 percent for the same period the prior year, according to the latest statistics available at C.A.R.'s Web site. First time homebuyer programs are one of the many ways San Diegans can buy a home. A first time homebuyer is a person(s) who has not owned a home in the last three years.

About the Author: Roberta Steele, Realtor. She is with the Apex Team, at Keller Williams Realty, located in La Mesa, CA. She is also a member of National Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors and the San Diego Association of Realtors.

For further information or assistance with your real estate needs, please contact Roberta Steele:

rsteele.yourkwagent.com/home

BuildALegacy@KW.com

619.667.8036 office/pager

Tips To Get Your Envelope Opened

Having been a bill collector and having been a debtor, I know how many envelopes are thrown away unopened. You carefully word your letter, check it over and over, and make changes until you think it is perfect. Then it never sees the light of day.

Your envelope has to be different in a way that gets it opened. The envelope is the first impression; it needs to scream “OPEN ME!” An invoice or a bill doesn’t scream that. It is your job to make it scream and get a reaction. If you can’t get your envelopes opened, you are wasting your time on what is inside.

Choose envelopes that are different shapes, colors and sizes.

Design the envelope for “eye flow”. Studies show people will look at their name, any comments below that return address and then the postage.

Make sure the name and address are correct, check spelling!

Stamp or print something on the outside of the envelope in a larger font and/or color.

Use many stamps rather than a metered piece or one stamp.

Stamp the envelope FIRST CLASS to show importance.

About the Author: Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in Credit and Debt collection. She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, teacher, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter. Michelle started and ran M.A.D. Collection Agency for 8 years. She owns and runs Credit & Collections.com a nine year old online community for credit and business professionals with over 950 members. She also has a popular blog devoted the collection industry called Biz Credit Policy.

San Diego Police Department Withdraws From Warrant Task Force

In a recent guest column, retired judge Larry Stirling wrote about the lack of resources devoted by the San Diego Police Department ("SDPD") to warrant enforcement as a method of crime prevention. Now that the SDPD has fully withdrawn from a regional law enforcement task force designed to serve and enforce outstanding warrants, SDPD no longer has any officers actively working warrants. This will severely hamper crime prevention efforts in the City of San Diego. The real trick on serving warrants is to have every field officer be responsible for serving warrants, a policy that Chief Lansdowne refuses to implement.

According to Judge Stirling, the SDPD did something like this when he worked for them as an analyst back in the 70's. A warrant sergeant would show up at every line up and assign warrants to patrol officers. The warrant sergeant would pick up the results of the field investigation and then follow up.

SDPD uses a computer system called the Automated Regional Justice Information System ("ARJIS"). The ARJIS system can present warrants by priority, all the violent crimes up first, recency, those hot off the clerks desk, and geographically and all the warrants on that officers beat.

Officers should be told that their primary job is to find and arrest criminals and that following up on warrants is a great way to do that.

The ARJIS system, which Judge Stirling helped create, should have the ability to accept annotations on each warrant "inputted" by field officers who can let everyone else with access to the system know that they followed up on that warrant and what they found (i.e. "Defendant Caine no longer at that address according to current resident Smith-2-2-06, Officer Dudley, SDPD Badge number 1").

This policy would have the effect of chasing the bad guys out of the county as they got word from their neighbors that the cops had been there looking for them just an hour ago.

Or best case, they would be arrested.

This would also have the effect of having officers constantly nosing around people and places that are problems rather just cruising the streets hoping someone commits a crime on the hood of their car.

The regional task force is a great idea to follow up on the intelligence that the patrol officers cumulate during their beat times. If the beat officer learns that the defendant has fled to Phoenix, they can pass that information to Phoenix officials who should be doing exactly the same thing.

The citizens of San Diego should call upon Mayor Sanders to compel Chief Lansdowne to implement the policies outline above and return to participating in the regional warrant task force. Instead of manipulating crime statistics, Chief Lansdowne should focus on his primary mission: to protect and serve.

About the Author: Carl H. Starrett II has been a licensed attorney since 1993 and is a member in good standing with the California State Bar and the San Diego County Bar Association. Mr. Starrett practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business litigation, construction, corporate planning and debt collection.

More on Challenging Old Debts

My recent on article on challenging old debts has generated a number of inquiries. In one case, I was made aware of a law firm called Wolpoff & Abramson, LLP that was trying to collect on a debt that was barred by the statute of limitations. In another matter, a collection agency tried to collect a debt that had been included in a bankruptcy more than a decade ago. I write this article to provide just a little more follow on the subject.

Other than reporting a debt on your credit report and make angry phone calls, the only real power an attorney or a collection agency has agaisnt you is the power of fear and the ability to file a lawsuit. If the collection or attorney files a lawsuit and obtains a judgment against you, then your property could be taken or your wages garnished. But if the debt is disputed, time-barred or included in a bankruptcy, they cannot touch you in most casses. Knowing your rights and standing up to the attorney or collection agency will often get them to back down.

I found a great website that offers free sample letters to dipsute old debts. The letters are professional and should stop the harassment in most cases. If you are in California and still need further assistance handling a disputed debt, please feel free to contact us.

About the Author: Carl H. Starrett II has been a licensed attorney since 1993 and is a member in good standing with the California State Bar and the San Diego County Bar Association. Mr. Starrett practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business litigation, construction, corporate planning and debt collection.