OC BLOGGER 'SLAPP'ED WITH 3 DEFAMATION SUITS,
SLAPS BACK IN FEDERAL COURT, CA STATE BAR IMPLICATED

After 2 Years of Fighting Corruption in Orange County Superior Court, Blogger Seeks Justice in Federal Court on Constitutional Grounds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2011, Orange County, California

A SLAPP is a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” and is often used by criminally predatory businesses in the form of meritless defamation lawsuits to frighten, intimidate and financially ruin anyone who dares to publicly expose or criticize its unlawful business practices. This tactic works 99% of the time because most people can't afford to hire an attorney and the fear of going it alone is overwhelming.

But blogger and consumer activist, Erin Baldwin, who was SLAPP'ed three times in seven months in 2009 for her consumer reports about loan modification fraud and the illegal residential leases of landlord, UDR, represents the rare 1% who proceeded without an attorney (“in pro per”) and through tremendous courage and determination has a second chance to right the wrongs in Federal Court.

On May 9, 2011, after two years of fighting the good fight against multi-million corporations that funded less than ethical judicial review and legal tactics, Baldwin filed a Notice of Removal to District Court in both pending cases against her, Parsa Law Group v. Bad Biz Finder, Erin Baldwin, et al., and UDR, Inc. v. Erin K. Baldwin, et al., with the hope of finally getting a chance to tell her side of the story to a jury of her peers.

On July 11, 2011, Baldwin, still in pro per, will appear before Federal Judge Cormac J. Carney in the Central District Courthouse in Santa Ana to fight off Parsa Law Group and UDR who are attempting to remand their cases back to Orange County Superior Court in order to conceal its unlawful conduct in filing and litigating these actions against Baldwin solely for the purpose of silencing her truthful reports.

The California legislature was so concerned about this rampant misuse of corporate power and money over individual citizens seeking to exercise their constitutional freedoms that it created Anti-SLAPP protection set forth in California Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16:

"The Legislature finds and declares that there has been a disturbing increase in lawsuits brought primarily to chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and petition for the redress of grievances … that it is in the public interest to encourage continued participation in matters of public significance, and that this participation should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process."

One might ask: "Why so much corruption and foul play over a blogger and free speech?" The answer lies in the fact that Baldwin also reported on the gross negligence and liability of California state agencies that profited handsomely from the foreclosure rescue fraud perpetrated by its members, namely the California State Bar and the California Department of Real Estate. Baldwin’s shockingly accurate reports brought these agencies to support the three SLAPP lawsuits and launched a frenzy of tactics to destroy Baldwin's credibility, illegally remove every shred of evidence, and leave Baldwin for dead personally and professionally.

Baldwin was the first journalist to identify and warn California consumers about what she coined "the lawyer loophole" in the California Foreclosure Consultants Act, prohibiting all loan modification service providers, except attorneys, from collecting fees in advance of work performed. She researched and reported about the fact that hundreds of California-licensed attorneys were renting their law licenses to real estate and mortgage brokers so they could circumvent the law prohibiting advanced fees.

Three weeks after launching her blog, one of the most prolific con artist teams in the California loan modification debacle, James M. Parsa, Esq. and non-attorney Arash "Alex" Dastmalchi paid their Irvine-based law firm, Burkhalter, Kessler, Goodman & George LLP to sue Baldwin for defamation. On January 26, 2009, the first SLAPP lawsuit was filed against Baldwin to silence her reports about Parsa Law Group's loan modification fraud as well as the fact that James Parsa had been convicted on three counts of statutory rape in the year 2000 but failed to report it to the California State Bar. Parsa was later suspended from the practice of law for crimes of moral turpitude, however, never served one day in jail for the rape convictions.

In March, 2009, Baldwin began to report about the illegal California leases of her then landlord, UDR, who retaliated by filing three meritless unlawful detainer complaints against Baldwin in a six week period during the same time Parsa Law Group was litigating against her for defamation. As UDR had also towed then sold Baldwin’s car, they knew it would be impossible for Baldwin to defend herself against all the litigation at once. Consequently, on June 2, 2009, Parsa Law Group obtained a Default Judgment against Baldwin. Two weeks later, on June 16, 2009, UDR unlawfully evicted Baldwin from her apartment followed three days later by the unlawful seizure of all Baldwin’s property including all her evidence, research and court documents.

Ten days later, on June 29, 2009, UDR filed the second of three SLAPP lawsuits against Baldwin having hired James Parsa's law firm to represent them. Two weeks later, on July 13, 2009, the Burkhalter law firm filed the third SLAPP lawsuit against Baldwin on behalf of two other attorneys with questionable loan modification practices, Jeffrey A. Cancilla and Craig Laverty.

On July 21, 2009, Baldwin moved to Big Bear to seek refuge, however, the retaliation continued, escalating to false accusations of criminal conduct, an in-custody beating by the Big Bear Sheriffs to further intimidate and frighten Baldwin, and on February 25, 2010 incarceration for 35 days so Baldwin’s property could once again be seized. Both Parsa Law Group and UDR filed criminal contempt charges against Baldwin based on the Permanent Injunctions they unlawfully obtained. The Parsa Law Group contempt charges were dismissed on September 13, 2010 due to the fact that the Permanent Injunction was deemed unconstitutional.

For more information, contact Joe Crandall at Documenting the Truth at [email protected], visit the website, http://documentingthetruth.wordpress.com, or telephone 678-386-8777.