Bad Biz Finder states that their mission is” To offer consumers a source of unbiased facts vital to making informed decisions about issues facing them every day.” Apparently this mission includes drive-by character assassinations using information found on the internet which suits a pre-determined agenda. The case in point is the Bad Biz hack job on Steven Feldman of The Feldman Law Center. In an earlier Bad Biz blog Steve Feldman had been described as “seemingly sketchy” with details to follow. Pre-determined agenda in place, the next step was to find a couple things to talk about. The first item concerned a child support matter for which Bad Biz Finder called Steven Feldman a “dead beat dad”. Had Bad Biz Finder taken a few minutes to get the details of the issue they would have found that, after many years of sharing custody of their two sons, Mr. Feldman’s ex-wife had filed a baseless claim of back child support when he tried to get full custody of his two sons. When the matter was settled four months later, the claim for back support was retracted and Mr. Feldman was re-instated by the California Bar to active status. A full and complete accounting was requested and completed by The Office of the District Attorney – Family Support Division. Less than nine months later on February 27th, 2001, a letter was issued by the District Attorney wherein it was determined “that a review of the child support account on this case reflects that there is an overpayment and that an adjustment is needed to balance the account”.
Regarding the issue of the late payment of Mr. Feldman’s bar dues Bad Biz Finder again gleefully skips over details that don’t fit their agenda. Mr. Feldman, after the suicide of his law partner, shut down the office and moved to a new location. Due to an oversight in trying times he neglected to inform the California Bar of the new address so the following year’s bar renewal was sent to the old address. As a formality, his license was administratively suspended until the dues were paid. On receipt of the notice that his dues were delinquent, a check was sent to the Bar and Mr. Feldman was re-instated immediately. There is a huge difference between an administrative and disciplinary suspension. A disciplinary suspension stems from a formal charge of ethical misconduct in violation of The Rules of Professional Conduct or the State Bar Act. There was never any kind of disciplinary proceedings initiated against Mr. Feldman at any time.
Articles such as this one by Bad Biz Finder call into question every article they have ever written. Finding the facts of the story, in both cases would have been accomplished by doing a little extra work and maybe making a phone call or two. It’s truly unfortunate that group that talks about holding everyone to higher standards would be willing to stoop so low in attempting to assassinate a person’s character.