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LawBidding.com
A New Way To Find A Lawyer
http://www.lawbidding.com/

Current Project

To view the online docket, follow the below URL link to the Clerk of Court, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit

http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/home.aspx

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, Florida  
http://www.fljud13.org/

Introduction and Overview

For over five years I have sought representation in the matter set forth in Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint. The process has been highly inefficient. The inefficiency is due in part to the lack of an open and accessible free market or exchange for legal services. This runs counter to free market principles in a market that may exceed a trillion dollars annually.

Attempts to find counsel were, and continue to be, laborious and time-consuming. Many lawyers to whom I was referred had no interest in the matter, so that effort was wasted. As for lawyers who were interested, the information they needed to evaluate my case was sizable and onerous to provide and review in paper format. The age-old task of matching buyer and seller was more than inefficient, it was dysfunctional.

Nonetheless, a number of lawyers have advised me in this matter, although they do not want to enter an appearance. While the lawyers acknowledge I have valid claims, in essence they believe the legal system cannot hold one of its own accountable. Then there was attorney Robert W. Bauer of Gainesville, a referral from The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service.

Mr. Bauer represented me for over a year. One of his last statements on the record was the following: "…Mr. Rodems has, you know, decided to take a full nuclear blast approach instead of us trying to work this out in a professional manner. It is my mistake for sitting back and giving him the opportunity to take this full blast attack." (transcript, August 14, 2008, emergency hearing, the Honorable Marva Crenshaw, p. 16, line 24).

Mr. Bauer moved to withdrawal shortly thereafter. Mr. Bauer’s representation was not very effective, other than churning $33,000 in attorney’s fees. An attorney I met on Craigslist recently offered this insight: "I think most attorneys are shying away from it because it is a suit against other attorneys".

The Florida Bar, with more than 87,000 members, is the statewide professional and regulatory organization for lawyers. There is no corresponding entity for business or consumers. One goal of this justice network is to create an open and accessible free market for legal services.

PDF links to key documents

Florida Bar complaint against Robert W. Bauer

On July 19, 2010 The Florida Bar responded that my correspondence was being returned without action having been taken because the material submitted was too voluminous to process and contained media they cannot process.

In compliance with The Bar’ request to limit the complaint to 25 pages, the complaint was resubmitted July 23, 2010

On July 30, 2010 William Gautier Kitchen, Bar Counsel for the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, wrote me that a response from Mr. Bauer was due in the Bar’s office by August 13, 2010 and that Mr. Bauer was to provide me a copy.

As of August 16, 2010 I did not receive a response from Mr. Bauer or any word from the Florida Bar. I called Mr. Kitchen August 17, 2010 and he said that a 10 day extension was given to Mr. Bauer allowing him until August 23, 2010 to respond. You can listen to my phone call with Mr. Kitchen here.

I spoke with Mr. Kitchen August 25, 2010 by phone and he accused me of threatening a lawsuit against the Florida Bar during our August 17, 2010 phone call. You can listen to Mr. Kitchen’s accusation here and draw your own conclusion.

Letter to Dean Weidner, FSU College of Law

$250,000 payment to Florida State University College of Law.

The Florida Attorney General intervened in Neil Gillespie v. ACE Cash Express, Inc., Hillsborough Circuit Civil, Consolidated Case No. 99-9730, Division J (originally case no. 8:00-CV-723-T-23B, in United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division). The Florida AG and ACE entered a Settlement Agreement December 30, 2002. (Exhibit 21 of my lawsuit against Barker, Rodems & Cook, PA).

ACE paid a total of $500,000 in settlement and for issuance by the Florida Department of Banking and Finance, Division of Securities and Finance ("DBF") of authorizations, licenses, or other approvals necessary for ACE to continue in business in Florida, and for releases and other stipulations. ACE paid $250,000 to the DBF Regulatory Trust Fund in full satisfaction of all attorney's fees, costs, and other expenses incurred by the DBF in connection with this matter.

ACE made a contribution of $250,000 to the Florida State University College of Law in full satisfaction of all attorney's fees, costs and other expenses incurred by the Attorney General in connection with this matter. ACE also agreed to loan forgiveness by an affiliated company, Goleta National Bank for the "Goleta Loan Consumers" with an independent audit paid by ACE.

Justice by the Numbers

Amy Bach, member of the New York bar, has written for The Nation, The American Lawyer, New York Magazine & other publications.

For her work in progress on Ordinary Injustice, Bach received a Soros Media Fellowship, a special J. Anthony Lukas citation, and a Radcliffe Fellowship. She was a Knight Foundation Journalism Fellow at Yale Law School. And she is a graduate of Stanford Law School. Read more here. http://www.ordinaryinjustice.com/author/author.html

National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. was developed and is being operated by people who understand that at this time in America, successfully litigating for the public good can require more than clever legal arguments and compelling facts.

NJCDLP founders assembled and laid the foundation for recruiting some of the most formidable legal scholars, civil litigators, investigators, public relations and marketing experts, journalists, fund raisers and special events coordinators to oversee a virtual ADVOCACY MACHINE for representative victims of legal abuse.

The objective is legal reform through litigation, galvanized by every imaginable form of advocacy that can lawfully and effectively help preserve the "rule of law" in the United States on a case by case by case basis. Read more here. http://www.njcdlp.org/index.html

Trial lawyer Gerry Spence says draft judges

13th Circuit JNC interviews June 15, 2010, Tampa, FL

YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtswMgV0lkE

13th Circuit JNC Interviews, June 15, 2010, Tampa, Florida

Applicants to the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) for vacant judicial seats are not accountable to the public as they would be during elections for the same judicial offices.

The Florida Constitutions requires that whenever a vacancy occurs in a judicial office the governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment from a list of not fewer than three persons nor more than six persons nominated by the appropriate judicial nominating commission.

This video shows applicants to the 13th Circuit JNC refusing to answer voluntary follow-up questions after their mandatory interview with the JNC. Gov. Charlie Crist convened the 13th Circuit JNC to fill the circuit court vacancy created when he appointed the Honorable Anthony Black to the Second District Court of Appeals.

Filmed June 15, 2010 at the Law Offices of Bajo Cuva, PA, Tampa, Florida. Produced by Neil Gillespie for the Justice Network.

Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Color of Law

The FBI is the lead federal agency for investigating color of law abuses, which include acts carried out by government officials operating both within and beyond the limits of their lawful authority. Off-duty conduct may be covered if the perpetrator asserted his or her official status in some way

U.S. law enforcement officers and other officials like judges, prosecutors, and security guards have been given tremendous power by local, state, and federal government agencies—authority they must have to enforce the law and ensure justice in our country. These powers include the authority to detain and arrest suspects, to search and seize property, to bring criminal charges, to make rulings in court, and to use deadly force in certain situations.

Preventing abuse of this authority, however, is equally necessary to the health of our nation’s democracy. That’s why it’s a federal crime for anyone acting under "color of law" willfully to deprive or conspire to deprive a person of a right protected by the Constitution or U.S. law. "Color of law" simply means that the person is using authority given to him or her by a local, state, or federal government agency.

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/color.htm

Booking photo of Rosa Parks after being arrested under the color of law in the historic Montgomery bus boycott February 22, 1956. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Park’s act of civil disobedience led to the bus boycott.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

A Montgomery, Alabama Sheriff's Department booking photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. after being arrested under the color of law in the historic Montgomery bus boycott February 22, 1956.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5499858/ 

National Black Farmers Association
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Republicans for blocking a measure that would compensate black farmers engaged in a decades-old discrimination suit against the U.S. Agriculture Department.
http://www.blackfarmers.org/

NAACP Amicus Curiae Brief, Robert J Pleus, Jr. vs. Governor Crist, Case No. SC09-565, Supreme Court of Florida
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/09/09-565/Filed_04-24-2009_Brief_NAACP.pdf

Florida's Bar Exam: Ensuring Racial Disparity, Not Competence
The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, by Rachel L. Gregory
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/1173023-1.html

MLK on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA

Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech given on August 28, 1963

Study Finds Blacks Blocked From Southern Juries

New York Times
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: June 1, 2010

In late April in a courthouse in Madison County, Ala., a prosecutor was asked to explain why he had struck 11 of 14 black potential jurors in a capital murder case. The district attorney, Robert Broussard, said one had seemed "arrogant" and "pretty vocal." In another woman, he said he "detected hostility." Read more here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/us/02jury.html

Bill Moyers, Justice For Sale (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdTm_bR7k0k&NR=1

"We are in a system where [judicial] elections can be bought"

February 19, 2010 - Bill Moyers Journal takes a hard look at how campaign cash in judicial races may sway America's courts. The Journal revisits the 1999 FRONTLINE special "Justice for Sale" which looked at the growing concern - even among Supreme Court justices themselves - that campaign contributions may be corrupting the judicial process.

Bill Moyers, Justice For Sale (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq6leR5w1ZU

February 19, 2010 - Bill Moyers Journal takes a hard look at how campaign cash in judicial races may sway America's courts. The Journal revisits the 1999 FRONTLINE special "Justice for Sale" which looked at the growing concern - even among Supreme Court justices themselves - that campaign contributions may be corrupting the judicial process.

Book TV, C-Span2 - YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkAvxIVrEWg

Are Florida's Judges For Real?

The Florida Bar v. John B. Thompson, Permanent Disablement, September 28, 2008

The Florida Bar v. John B. Thompson, Public Reprimand, October 1, 1992

How to Bring Justice to Judges, article by Bob Hurt

This article examines lessons from the book Suing Judges, and propounds explanations of the difficulty of obtaining justice in the face of judicial immunity against lawsuits for injuries jurists cause. Read more here. http://bobhurt.com/articles/law%20-%20How%20to%20Bring%20Justice%20to%20Judges.pdf

Suing Judges: A Study of Judicial Immunity, by Abimbola A. Olowofoyeku

"A straightforward comparative case law study of the liability at law of judges and other judicial actors for their acts and statements during the judicial process. This is an issue critical for the vital concept of an independent judiciary, a pillar of the U.S. system....Simply written and clearly organized."--Choice

When a person is injured by the act of someone else one response is to seek redress in the courts. When the person to be sued happens to be a judge, a number of potentially insurmountable obstacles often appear. This book presents an in-depth study of the substantive, procedural and theoretical issues that arise when a judge is sued. Drawn mainly from English and American Federal case law, the study also incorporates Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand case law.

Paying Workers A Living Wage

Joseph Bozich, C.E.O. of Knights Apparel, and Mireya Perez, a union leader. In the Dominican Republic, a Knights plant pays far above industry averages.

A Factory Defies Stereotypes, but Can It Thrive?
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: July 16, 2010
The New York Times
VILLA ALTAGRACIA, Dominican Republic

An apparel factory in the Dominican Republic has committed to pay a living wage — three times the industry average there.

"We never had the opportunity to make wages like this before," says Ms. Castillo, a soft-spoken woman who earns $500 a month. "I feel blessed."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/business/global/18shirt.html?hp

Poverty. When the powerful take everything worth having, little is left to trickle down.

This is a justice network engaged in advocacy, education, news gathering and dissemination, and reducing inefficiencies in the legal system through the free market.

Advocacy by an individual or by an advocacy group normally aim to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an asset of interest. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research or poll or the 'filing of friend of the court briefs'. Lobbying (often by Lobby groups) is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on an issue which plays a significant role in modern politics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacy

Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by
which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education

News Gathering and Dissemination. News is the communication of information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News

Reducing inefficiencies in the legal system through the free market. A free market is a market without economic intervention and regulation by government except to outlaw and prosecute force or fraud. It is the opposite of a controlled market, where the government regulates how the means of production, goods, and services are used, priced, or distributed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

Washington Crossing the Delaware, December 25, 1776

by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, c. 1851

History of the event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%27s_crossing_of_the_Delaware_River

About the painting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware