Freedman Law Firm

The referendum solution The U.S. government is shut down and the strain of this impasse continues with no solution in sight. After one month of irrational, self-indulgent posturing by the President over his border-wall fantasy, and the lack of any political courage by the Senate to go ahead and override the possible veto of a budget bill, everyone has dug-in. The government through extremes of partisanship is paralyzed. But the government is the people of the United States... and the vast majority of people want the budget bill to pass. 71 percent polled said Congress should pass a bill to reopen the government while budget talks continue. If that question were a referendum, the impasse would be over. In California, the Article II, Section 9, of the California Constitution provides for the referendum process. in California, a proposition or initiative must first qualify and if the qualification criteria are met, the proposition is placed on the ballot. The US constitution has no such process. That 71 percent of people polled can only send a message to our representatives. The message is not getting through. Apparently, for the President, the decisions are dictated by his die-hard zombie-like followers who number about 30% of those polled. Therefore, as the Senate has now ceded all of its authority to the President, only this 30% controls. The President is correct in his thinking that this base of supporters who carried him to the whitehouse, together with the partisan Republican voters, will be needed again in 2020 for him to win. That is really what this shut down is all about. If we could put this national question of great importance to the voters, we could finally have some common sense in our government. Rather than be at the mercy of partisan politics, the electoral college, and corporate lobby money, we could have ordinary voters take charge of such major issues confronting our country. This would be a national vote, not an electoral college vote. There are many such questions that could be resolved by referendum. Gun control, for example, comes to mind. Again, polling shows that the vast majority of people want common-sense gun control. The national debt and budget deficits are again a question of great importance to the voters. But no such political courage exists to address it. Anyway, the US Constitution does not permit any such direct democracy. That is not to say that we are powerless to fix government. However, in times likes these, I would like to actually vote to end the nonsense, open the government, and get the EPA and FTC back to work. If we could actually vote what to do with $5.7 billion, I think that there are several better priorities than a wall. See more

Did you ever hear of a non-bias prosecutor? If you have any interest in the investigation of the Russian interference in the 2016 election, then you must have heard some of the exchange between former prosecutor turned S. Carolina super conservative, tea party congressman, leader of the Benghazi hearings, Trey Gowdy, versus Peter Strzok, the FBI agent punching bag for Trump and his syncophants. Yes, Peter Strzok should have known better than to use an FBI phone to text anythi...Continue reading

What is the point of the North Korean Summit? Of course, I have not had the experience of international negotiation on the scale of the upcoming North Korean Summit. I have been involved in complex and very tense negotiations of many various litigated matters over the course of 34 years, and I have learned a thing or two about the dynamics of a mediation, the agendas, the personalities involved, the importance of leverage, and knowing your ultimate goal and serving your clie...Continue reading

Freedman Law Firm wins appeal for his client in the California Court of Appeals 3rd Appellate District. In an unpublished decision, the Freedman Law Firm won an appeal for his client the trustee in the matter Bergland v. Isch, C077965. In this trust matter, Freedman Law Firm represents the successor trustee, Harry Bergland, of a trust which distributed the trust assets in equal shares to three children of the settlors. One of the children, Rudolf V. Isch, was named the tru...stee but was removed due to self-dealing and failing to account. Rudolf V. Isch, the removed trustee ultimately settled the claims against him but failed to pay the full amount of the settlement. The settlement called for a stipulated judgment which was entered by the court, and our client Harry Bergland, the successor trustee commenced enforcement proceedings to collect the judgment. Isch brought a motion to set aside the judgment and to otherwise seek claims such as set-off against the judgment. Our client prevailed against Isch in the Sacramento Superior Court, but Isch filed an appeal. The 3rd District Court of Appeals affirmed the Sacramento County Superior Court decision. See the full decision at http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov//mainCaseScreen.cfm

The mentally ill and their guns The killing rampage of innocent people gathered for a country music festival in Las Vegas once again raises the gun-control debate raging in this country for decades. Here's a very short reminder of only several such recent gun attacks: Orlando nightclub shooting, San Bernardino shooting, Emanuel African Methodist Church shooting, South Carolina, Sandy Hook Elementary, Newton, Connecticut. The list is longer, but, these particular tragedies ...Continue reading

Back to the 50s. With North Korea threatening the south, as well as their regional neighbors and the United States with nuclear war, the world appears to be paralyzed with no options. Mostly, what we hear from our political leaders and the press is that we are in a conundrum. Sanctions have already been imposed and deftly avoided by the North Korean regime, more serious sanctions are proposed, military action is not off the table and perhaps now even nuclear annihilation o...Continue reading

There are only two parties Can you imagine what might happen if we had no party politics in this country? As far as I know, the U.S. Constitution provides no provision for nominating a presidential candidate. The Constitution does provide for the election of the President. See Art. II Section 1. This system of electing a President at some point in our history was named the "electoral college." The concept was that electors are selected by the States and the number of ele...Continue reading

The Syrian Refugee Crisis: The tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis is unfolding and on display in the evening news. After so many years of civil war in Syria with the outcome appearing more and more bleak, the ordinary people who want nothing more than to live in peace and raise their children, have given up and must flee now to survive. The rest of the world has sat on the sidelines during this Syrian war, with no clear solution. Talks between Putin, Bashar al Assad, an...d Obama have failed to yield any resolution to the conflict. U.S. military intervention is apparently off the table. U.S. military support for rebel groups is useless as there is no clear opposition to Assad or ISIS. And so, the people flee. The world again appears to be unprepared and indifferent to the crisis. Still, tens of thousands of people come looking for help and hoping to save their children. Why was the world so unprepared for this inevitable outcome? In Hungary, trains were stopped and refugees interned in refugee camps. People have taken to foot in an effort to reach Germany. The whole scenario is reminiscent of the exodus of the holocaust survivors from Europe as they tried to reach Palestine. And just like the holocaust survivors, the Syrian refugees will flee with their children in tow by any means available. The holocaust survivors built one of the greatest little countries in the world today. Today, Israel is really a testament to what a determined, indefatigable people can do despite the world's adversity to them. So, why not allow the Syrian refugees to emigrate to Israel? First, Israel is a short drive away and not a perilous journey crossing the Mediterranean. Second, Israel should be making a request to the "indifferent" countries of the world for foreign aid to assist the refugees and help them settle and assimilate. Third, Israel is fully capable of screening those people who may be tied to terrorist groups and thus will turn them away. Finally, Israel can and should absorb this new group of immigrants who would pledge allegiance to the country who saved them and their children from sure annihilation by Assad or ISIS. Israel would in the long term benefit from a loyal group of people who would defend Israel from the surrounding hostile groups of terrorist hell bent on Israel's destruction. When other countries turned their backs on the holocaust survivors, these survivor's founded a great nation. Now, when the world repeats its error and finds the Syrian refugees an undesirable group not worth accepting, Israel should open their doors and teach this group of people to assimilate, protect and defend Israel. See more

What will be the final verdict on deflate-gate? As more information and opinions on the psi of footballs starts to come out, the facts appear to demonstrate that a 1 or 2 psi less than the mandated 12.5 psi would have very little or no impact on passing and catching. The real challenge in rainy conditions is a wet ball, not a slightly deflated ball. But questions linger because controversy surrounds Bill Belichick as a penalized cheater in the spy-gate scandal where Belich...ick was hoping to learn the hand signals of opposing teams. Belichick was personally fined $500,000 for that. And he is now tarnished with a reputation as a guy who stretches the competitive edge to the breaking point. Even before deflate-gate, John Harbough complained of the Patriots offensive formation tactics used and the "ineligible" receiver announcement two seconds before the ball is snapped. I think Harbough has a point. Even if this is playing by the rules, do we really want to encourage professional sports teams to win games by sneaky tactics, and not by the virtue of athleticism? This is the same question we are now confronting in deflate-gate. Professional sports is only worth watching if the game is fair and credible. Otherwise, the sport devolves to the level of professional wrestling. So, even though Brady and the Patriots would have won the AFC Championship game against the Colts if they had to use a potato for a football, the fans deserve to know that the game is fair and no one is "gaming" the system. When we played street football, we had one football. Both sides had to deal with it. I think we instinctively know that the solution to the NFL's problem is that both teams need to be playing with the same footballs. Also, fine Belichick again because he is hurting the credibility of the game, and I'm a Bills fan, and it would just feel good. See more

Welcome to 2015, and best wishes for the New Year. For anyone interested in the changes taking place in 2015 to the estate tax exclusions, tax rate and gift tax exclusion, the following is a quick summary: Tax Exemption Inflation Increases for 2015 In 2015, there is a $5,430,000 federal estate tax exemption (increased from $5,340,000 in 2014) and a 40% top federal estate tax rate.... In 2015, there is a $5,430,000 GST tax exemption (increased from $5,340,000 in 2014) and a 40% top federal GST tax rate. In 2015, the lifetime gift tax exemption is $5,430,000 (increased from $5,340,000 in 2014) and a 40% top federal gift tax rate. In 2015, the annual gift tax exclusion is $14,000 (no increase from 2014).