Latest Scandal! Comic Book Dealer Disbarred As Lawyer!!!!

[Darthdiesel]

The look your wife gives you knowing you got busted for cheating

 

I know from personal experience

[Ze-man]

Wow, so how does everyone feel about Doug Schmell now? I hope some of the lawyers on here will weigh in on this, I'd love to hear how they view these charges and his disbarment.

 

So this is all your fault!! Asking a lawyer what they thought. Shame on you

Honestly!!! Asking a lawyer their view on "any" subject is akin to asking a kid if they want some ice cream.

Once the question is brooched..there is no turning back.

 

j/k scheradon, it's not really your fault ( I did the exact same thing)

 

Earlier I said not to add more rooms outside of General.. but as I rethink that statement.. I now say "YES" we need a "lawyers only" room..( they can even have a special key that unlock's the "executive little lawyer boys room".)

 

Take that ya bunch'a scurvy, ambulance chasing, charge by the second, sharks!!

 

Ze-

 

 

 

BTW...does anybody have books up on Pedigree right now? Will they remain there?..or rather..Has anyone noticed if alot of books are being pulled as a result of this news?

For that matter is anyone outside the forum(s) circle even privy to this recent information?

[Silver Surfer]

How many of those who proclaim to be on the moral high ground still have bid on Heritage auctions given the scuttlebutt about Halperin's past. I think many of us, including myself.

 

I admit it. I bid on and won a $35 raw comic in the last two years on Heritage.

 

Ah ha! Actually I spent alittle more than that.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I've never dealt with Heritage or Ewert. Thanks to this thread....I won't be dealing with Doug either.

[Fan4Fan]

I've never dealt with Heritage or Ewert. Thanks to this thread....I won't be dealing with Doug either.

 

 

 

Actually, thanks to a wife, kids, and property taxes I won't be dealing with any of those.

[Aman619]

"One is for YOUAR money. The other is holding OTHER PEOPLES MONEY. Whats so hard about that?

 

and to a previous poster, how can an escrow have to pay 9%?? thats more than any account can earn anyehere???"

 

First point: yes and no. He deposits this money in escrow, but he takes out his 1/3 (assume a personal injury contingency case) and reimbursement for expenses, assuming he didn't have the settling party cut separate checks (which they usually won't do given that they likely won't be privy to the specifics of a retainer) he's then supposed to cut the client a check for the remainder, explaining what he took for himself, etc. At least that's how I think it works. This isn't instant, I suppose a week or two isn't unreasonable before you cut the client a check. Maybe even at the end of the month.

 

Hypothetical scenario: So let's say he deducts 50% from the settlement than his usual 1/3 because he needs a little extra to pay the phone bill. His intention is to simply delay paying the client until he gets the money to pay the client what he owes them. When some more money comes in, he can give the client what they're owed. Problem is, you do this every month, aside from being a big-time ethics violation, perhaps you wind up finding yourself more and more behind. It really is borrowing from Paul to pay Peter. But in the process, by "borrowing" this client money and commingling with his own to pay bills, he has violated more rules.

 

Second point: 9%, I believe, is the statutory interest rate applied to judgments, etc. in New York. Cooked up at a time when rates were higher and not changed since then. Whether it would applied in this situation, I'm not 100% certain, but I'd try to get it were I suing him..

 

well since you are guessing at how it works, so will I.

 

First of all, there are more than one reason a lawyer gets control of a clients money. In one extreme, th emoney is held 'safely' until a case is resolved one way otr the other, or until certain obligations are fulfilled. If th ecase was settled and the payment made upon settlement, th elawyer would just pay it immediately. I dont think Doug touched those monies. There would be no oppoortunity, ar, at most a short window, since the client knows the case is won, and the money is forthcoming quickly as a result.

 

So Doug must have had monies under his control being held over a period of time, held pending resolution in court. Enough time that he was able to convince himself that he had time to replace it safely. ho knows, maybe Doug only thought he was taking an advance of his fees at first (still wrong) and it escalated from there since it was so easy)

 

as to the 9%.... the rules cannot say that an attorney is responsible for paying interest ABOVE the going rate at the time, so 9% cannot be current law. You may be confusing this interest with the debtor's obligation to pay "Prime plus a point or two" as interest on the money that the client SHOULD have received, the money the client hired Doug to sue to collect. Further, the laws must only dictate that escrow accounts be placed in interest bearing accounts, but couldnt dictate 9% if no banks or simple interest bearing vehicles currently are paying that much. Banks lately pay 1 to 4%. No way Doug or any other attorney has to kick in another 5% from HIS pocket.

 

Whatever, either way Dough is a dirtbag from hell and I STILL love him to death!

...or somewhere in between,

[Tomega]

Ah, lawyers.

[qualitycomix]

Ah, lawyers.

 

Yes, it's all the lawyers' fault for this happening!!

[THE_BEYONDER]

as to the 9%.... the rules cannot say that an attorney is responsible for paying interest ABOVE the going rate at the time, so 9% cannot be current law. You may be confusing this interest with the debtor's obligation to pay "Prime plus a point or two" as interest on the money that the client SHOULD have received, the money the client hired Doug to sue to collect. Further, the laws must only dictate that escrow accounts be placed in interest bearing accounts, but couldnt dictate 9% if no banks or simple interest bearing vehicles currently are paying that much. Banks lately pay 1 to 4%. No way Doug or any other attorney has to kick in another 5% from HIS pocket.

 

If Doug was buying comics with client money, couldn't the client seek to claim any/all profits realized upon their liquidation?

[Aman619]

I think there might be a chance of that.... if he was empowered to "invest" the money, yeah I guess. Or, since his actions were illegal (or were they merely unethical?) the clients might get any proceeds/profits as penalities. But, then again, what if Doug lost all of it on a bad investment. Seems if they stood to make a gain theyd have to accept a loss. Since Dou was forbidden to touch the money though, I dont think clients can recoup more than they had originally coming to them, plus any extra interest etc for the extra time they had to wait...

[The Less Blob]

as for the 9%, i'm not talking about interest anyone earns in escrow. i'm talking about what a court may deem to be "damage" for money held on to for too long irrespective of escrow or any of that. someone was asking about civil lawsuits. if he paid the money back, i don't see much in the way of damages other than, perhaps, 9% interest, which is a statutory rate for judgments in NY and will often be applied as pre-judgment interest (starting from the time to debt is deemed owed to when the judgment is entered), i think. don't quote me on this. not huge money at stake. i don't see any opportunity for punitives, emotional distress or any of that for what is essentially a breach of contract action. that's all.

 

as for escrow accounts -- if he's doing personal injury cases, and that's what it sounds like he's doing, he has plenty of opportunities to sit on money. when i settle cases it can often take weeks (for private industry) or months (government) for a check to be cut, the settlement paperwork to be processed, the insurer to get its finger out of its rear and so on. so a lawyer can easily tell a client the settlement check hasn't arrived yet when, in fact, it arrived last week. an unscrupulous lawyer can take advantage of this "float".

[BlackHeartedDwarf-migratio]

I admit it. I bid on and won a $35 raw comic in the last two years on Heritage.

 

Jezebel.

 

[The Less Blob]

also, if you're dealing with a case in surrogate's court (because someone died, for example), it could be MONTHS before the client actually recieves the money because the surrogate judge needs to approve all this stuff.

 

alright, sorry, enough boring lawyer stuff.

[Aman619]

as for the 9%, i'm not talking about interest anyone earns in escrow. i'm talking about what a court may deem to be "damage" for money held on to for too long irrespective of escrow or any of that. someone was asking about civil lawsuits. if he paid the money back, i don't see much in the way of damages other than, perhaps, 9% interest, which is a statutory rate for judgments in NY and will often be applied as pre-judgment interest (starting from the time to debt is deemed owed to when the judgment is entered), i think. don't quote me on this. not huge money at stake. i don't see any opportunity for punitives, emotional distress or any of that for what is essentially a breach of contract action. that's all.

 

as for escrow accounts -- if he's doing personal injury cases, and that's what it sounds like he's doing, he has plenty of opportunities to sit on money. when i settle cases it can often take weeks (for private industry) or months (government) for a check to be cut, the settlement paperwork to be processed, the insurer to get its finger out of its rear and so on. so a lawyer can easily tell a client the settlement check hasn't arrived yet when, in fact, it arrived last week. an unscrupulous lawyer can take advantage of this "float".

 

sounds like Doug was floating pretty high on the hog there!

[OldGuy]

How many of those who proclaim to be on the moral high ground still have bid on Heritage auctions given the scuttlebutt about Halperin's past. I think many of us, including myself.

 

I admit it. I bid on and won a $35 raw comic in the last two years on Heritage.

 

say fifty Hail Marys and twenty five Our Fathers, plus two months of no "Clintons" as penance

 

Good lord! I'll give up comics before I give up that!

[grider67]

[esquirecomics]

Am I supposed to feel bad about letting people know that Doug stole money from 22 of his clients and probably used that money to support his comic fix?

 

I have confirmed, in fact, that Doug did in the past use his law firm checks to purchase comic books. The source who told me this had thought at the time that it was being done to avoid having his wife find out about the expenditure of money (a logical conclusion to be sure!).

 

In light of the disbarrment decision it would seem reasonable to deduce another reason prompted this strategy.

[WallStreet Trader-migratio]

I think the only Posts that were deleted were mine...... and they were deleted by ME personally, not anybody else...... change of heart on my opinions!! I should stay OFF these boards, as my opinions change like the weather ! And a lot of my comments are full of "heat of the moment" thoughts......(and Martinis)

[Rob]

I deleted some of mine, because I'm a insufficiently_thoughtful_person who posts before he thinks.

[awe4one]

The line in the sand must be drawn and I can't let my personal like of Doug get in the way of what's right.

 

Well said...Doug's personal site is not unlike taking escrow payments for clients in this case. There a decorum of trust involved in getting your money in a timely matter once your comic has sold (or a case settled). A history of not honoring this trust directly influences whether people can deal honestly with him. Apparently, this "trust" has proven to be nothing of the sort and, great guy or not, is a major obstacle in any dealings with him...

 

Jim