Well, it looks like the long arm of the law finally caught up with Jack Ferm, J.D. (well, allegedly J.D.) For those of you who haven't been following, Jack has been a naughty boy, preying on venerable clients who trusted his claims that he could stop the foreclosures on their homes. Jack is the head of the U.S. Justice Foundation, which claims to "stop foreclosures" by providing forms to clients (for a $2,500 flat fee) that the clients use to sue their lender pro per by alleging that the lender does not have a valid note/mortgage, then demanding that the lender provide evidence of a valid note/mortgage. Of course, the lender's vigorously oppose the litigation and continue with the foreclosure. Jack, strangely, is nowhere to be found at this point.
Jack's website (taken down sometime today, cached here) was a fascinating read, chock full of bullshit. Let's look at his resume':
Jack Ferm, a law school graduate, was a talk show host in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1994 to 2003. His show was "Straight Talk" and was broadcast every Thursday from 5-6 p.m.Sounds ok ... wonder what law school he went to:
He attended Northrop University School of Law, and Bernadine University. He received his Law Degree from Bernadine University.
Where? According to Google, neither of those "Universities" exist. Well, there are a lot of small, unknown law schools in California. So, where did he take the bar?
Although finishing at the top of his class, Jack Ferm has declined to take the Bar exam because he believes the legal system is in a state of decline and chaos.Oh, so that "law school" wasn't "accredited." Some people protest the decline of the legal system by telling lawyer jokes, some protest by going through "law school" and not taking the bar. To each his own. Anyways, he was on the radio, so he must have some qualifications, right?
Jack has been involved in a variety of high profile cases working with Alan Dershowitz on the Sandra Murphy defense and appeal, and with Melvin Belli in a high-profile toxic mold civil case to name a few.That's a couple, Jack, not a few, but you're a fake lawyer, not a fake mathematician, so we'll let it slide. What is it that you do, Jack?
While Jack Ferm was practicing Bankruptcy Law, he filed more than 1,000 successful bankruptcies for his clients and taught Bankruptcy Law to the lay public and to attorneys. He has been personally involved in and won many important lawsuits.
Oh, so you're a bankruptcy attorney? And you never took the bar? Gee, Jack, that sounds suspiciously like the unauthorized practice of law. Not to worry, fellow readers (most of whom worked very hard in order to claim that you "practice law"), Jacky-boy is getting his. Yesterday, the Nevada Attorney General arrested him on two counts of felony theft and related charges in connection with his operation of the U.S. Justice Foundation.
Good luck, Jack. We doubt that any amount of "Straight Talk" is going to get you out of this one. Hope you paid attention in fake crim pro.
(Thanks TR)
I love that Googling "Bernadine University" produces, as the top 2 hits, Fern's website and this post. Nice due diligence, clients...err... victims.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see Nevada take this guy down. I had heard enough about him from other attorney friends to know this guy should be shutdown.
ReplyDeleteHis concept is one that works sometimes - requiring those doing the foreclosure to prove they hold the note. His problem was he didn't do it correctly - he should have done the marketing and outsourced all the legal work to real attorneys who want to do this type of work. There are legitimate attorneys who do this type of work.
I guess his thought was why bother with pesky attorneys when you can do it yourself illegally and very poorly, and keep all the money for your upcoming defense?
I'm glad he's being prosecuted, but I don't have much sympathy for fools who seem to crave being parted from their money by falling for such horrendously blatant scams. I think the NV bar should do more PR marketing. If they could do nothing more than get people to check the NV bar website before paying money to a "lawyer" these sort of scams would become less prevalent.
ReplyDeleteHe claims he "lived in a 4,000 sq. ft. home in Las Vegas for (5) years without making one month's payment". I suspect he'll be able to make a similar deal with the state of Nevada, although the size of the home will be around 40 sq. ft.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much sympathy for people who want help pursuing this kind of thing.
Anon: 11:08a
ReplyDeleteYES - ABSOLUTELY!
I've told people this SO many times - before hiring a lawyer to do something for you in Nevada, either call the NV State Bar (411 gets you their number), or go to www.nvbar.org and do an attorney search. If their name does not show up, then there's a problem.
This Jack guy was charging $2,500 for a poorly drafted complaint, with claims for relief wrong, claiming fraud but not with specificity, and including things in the complaint that was for another person's "case". He would draft the complaint for the 'client' and the client would file it. Sad...
from what i heard from acquaintances who hired jack ferm, jack ferm's sales pitch was not the usual loan modification where you simply try to negotiate with your lender for mod and the bank's willingness to modify is completely voluntary. jack ferm claimed that because the lenders committed predatory lending, the original mortgage would then be void, and the court would order the bank to modify the mortgage for a fair market value whether the lender likes it or not.
ReplyDeleteplus, most of these people never had to use legal services in the past and are, therefore, not familiar with legal process & hiring licensed attorneys. jack ferm always assured his "clients" that he had "in-house" licensed attorneys who are supervising every step of the lawsuit. it turns out ferm did have several licensed attorneys working out of his office (an acquaintance hired Denise Mikrut to appear to her hearing, and my friend checked her license with nvbar and came up legit), but these attorneys were never "employed" by ferm. their "in-house" attorneys merely took referrals, but this was not openly disclosed to the clients.
bottomline the great lesson here is every consumer nowadays have to do his own RESEARCH before making decisions, especially when you're purchasing INTANGIBLE services.
The "attorneys" in his office were never employees of Ferm. They were outside counsel who were saddled with pleadings so awful that they were not even defensible. Ferm claimed that the pleadings were drafted by the attorneys in his office; the outside attorneys never were even told until after the fact that they were the alleged scriveners of the pleadings.
ReplyDeleteevidently, Ferm told his clients things & promises which even his so-called "in-house" attorneys were not aware of.
ReplyDeletewhat's so disgusting is almost every day last week, Ferm had the guts to have interviews with several TV stations portraying himself as the good Samaritan and a "consumer advocate" who only wanted to help and called his former "clients" liars for claiming they paid him money.
he was always boasting about how he invested his "own" money ($100,000, as he stated) to establish his "Foundation" to be the defender of working-class people as if he was some great philantrophist. if he knew he's going to make close to $1.5 million within 6 months, no wonder he'd put in $100,000 of his "own money" in his scam - if there's even some truth to that number.
look at his ridiculous blog:
http://facingfreedomschallenge.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-good-deed-goes-unpunished_01.html
i am seriously convinced he is borderline mental case.
CourthouseNews.Com provides a copy of a class-action lawsuit against Jack Ferm.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.courthousenews.com/2009/03/15/JackFerm.pdf
Jack Ferm believes that he is the absolute best litigator in the world and for his own cases he is better than if it is for someone else. He does not like to type so in this case he gave a job to this outstanding Australian young applicant for a Florida US Attorney helper position. The Australian native was Jack's victim too. The federal court found Jack Ferm in contempt but not the duped employee thank goodness. Jack almost ruined the career of an up and coming trusting temporary employee and I am so glad he did not ruin him.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Jack Ferm and his wife Linda Riegle bought a home in St. George UT in 2006 but only in the wife's name so that Ferm would not have an asset in his name. Then a foreclosure started and in 2008 Ferm and his wife sued their mortgage company. That suit is ongoing. All the interest in the property is in the name of Linda Riegle separately. She is the typist for those 2 and has always been. Ferm decided to be a Plaintiff in their lawsuit against their mortgage company even though Jack made sure he was not liable on the mortgage. To me this is further bad faith suing. I think he needed the Justice Foundation money to sink into his wife's past due mortgage and then I bet his wife used the place to bail Jack out of jail. Jack should be careful or they might move to revoke his bail and then he can get really familiar with the criminal justice system and learn the criminal law too. He can help all the inmates he wants but cannot charge any money. Jack had some real potential and should have learned this lesson 40 years ago. This guy even successfully sue his former client Alfred Sapse in federal court for back fees of $25,000 or so and WON. That was appealed and LOST. Jack Ferm got himself lots of orders to show cause during Sapse's petition for rehearing with the Ninth Circuit hopefully just in time for Sapse to convince the Ninth Circuit to re-hear the appeal. Poor Dr Sapse is in his 80's and Sapse's wife is even older and very sick but this guy Ferm had no problem picking on is former clients mostly for letting him go. His original lawsuit against them asked for more than Ten Million Dollars. The federal judge seemed afraid that if he ruled against Ferm (who was a document generator extraordiniare) that the Judge would be Ferm's next defendant. Thankfully the chief federal judge was not afraid of Ferm but if you note that actual order holding Ferm in federal contempt is not put on the Internet as an image. Hopefully no one else will become afraid of this Jack of all law master of none.
very nice thanks for sharing.............
ReplyDelete___________________
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Its Amazing how people who know nothing can make such stupid comments. If you knew how Jack Ferm worked, HE HAD 3 full time attorneys on staff and some 20 or more employees including paralegals to help these people and literally dozens are still in their homes because of what he did! These posts are not only untrue, but fabricated by losers. I hope Ferm sues this blog over every incorrect and false statement made here.
ReplyDeleteI worked for Jack Ferm in 2009 so I know him and what he was attempting to accomplish. He was successful with many cases. He filed over 400! I have read through this Blog, and can honestly say, I am seeing comments that are not true. Comments by people who have no idea what happened because they were not there and are just plain ignorant. The foundation had (3) full time attorneys "on staff" paid for by "Jack Ferm" who prepared the filings for court. NO attorney would take on the banks before Jack Ferm did! He has Not been convicted of any crime! so the rants here are false. It is amazing how stupid people so easily make stupid comments with little knowledge.
ReplyDeleteHe's still a dishonest man. I wonder if he paid his taxes on the funds he earned from the barter/trade company he worked for? Once a con, always a con.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your post. It is well written. It looks like you spend a large amount of time and effort on your blog. I appreciate your effort. Please check out my site.
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Well a tax attorney trying to drum up business I would have never guessed.Vabna Islam, the things an attorney will do out of desperation!
ReplyDeleteThen we have another anonymous comment..."he's still a dishonest man" I would say you are smart to remain in hiding...You could be forced to prove your false comment.
This blog ia another example of what a fraud really is, I would bet anything the owner is in hiding from Jack Ferm. He does not identify himself! I guess that says it all doesn't it