Aug 28, 2014

Crooked Lawyers for 9/11 Truth: Phil Berg suspended

Like the David Cole-stein situation, I'm a bit surprised I didn't hear about this earlier.  A throwaway comment at JREF a couple days back about Phil Berg possibly being disbarred inspired a Google search and it's not pretty.  For those who are wondering  "Phil who?", Mr. Berg is a long associate of Webster Tarpley, and patriot groups and Larouchies, was a signatory on the Kennebunkport Hoax document, and was better known for trying to rope any warm body into his misguided and possibly fraudulent RICO suits:

 http://911blogger.com/news/2005-04-13/update-911-rodriguez-rico-lawsuit

 An update to the 9/11 Rodriguez RICO lawsuit?
A while back there was a RICO lawsuit that was being handled by William Rodriguez. One of those represented was Ellen Mariani. Well, since then she has left the lawsuit, but apparently William Rodriguez, and Phillip Berg, have stayed busy at work.
A RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuit is a type of lawsuit developed origionally to try gangs, and now being used to try large portions of our government.
Phil Berg updated his blog on March 28th and at that time he posted a 180 page report outlining the case. I am about to go over it, thanks to indymedia for the link!
indymedia link
direct link to 180 page report(PDF)
911fortheTruth.com (official site)
 http://911blogger.com/news/2005-05-17/update-phil-berg-and-his-rico-lawsuit

Update on Phil Berg and his RICO Lawsuit
Philadelphia Lawyer, Who Filed RICO Case Against Bush and Cronies, Embarks on European Speaking Tour to Spread Word About Government Complicity in 9/11
But since filing a 2004 federal RICO lawsuit against President Bush and others for complicity in 9/11, the former Pennsylvania District Attorney, finally knows what it’s like to try and scale the world’s tallest peak.
..
Without much support or media attention at home, Berg this week is leaving on a 7-stop European tour to try and raise money and public awareness about the U.S. government’s involvement in 9/11. The speaking tour begins in Amsterdam then continues to Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London and Vienna.
 http://911blogger.com/news/2006-09-07/rodriguez-withdraws-his-rico-suit-against-bush-and-cheney


Rodriguez withdraws from his RICO suit against Bush and Cheney


Here is the text of a letter that was forwarded to me via my local 9/11 group. Withdrawing is certainly Mr. Rodriguez's personal business and his perogative, but without a new plaintiff, the suit is kaput.
---------
Phil Berg here.
www.911forthetruth. com
Urgent - By now, most of you are aware that William "Willie" Rodriguez
recently has asked for his name and therefore, our RICO law suit
against Bush, Cheney and 54 other defendants to be withdrawn.
There is a 5 year statute of limitations on RICO [9/11/06], although I
believe we can argue that since there is no statute of limitations on
murder, there should be no limitation on our RICO case re 911.
I need a plaintiff to file a new law suit on Monday, 9/11/06.
I am speaking with several people.
Do you know someone - the ideal person for RICO is a person or family
member that lost a loved one, that was also lost their business.
Second, I am looking for one that was injured and lost their job.
If you know of someone, please call me immediately:
free office # (800) 993-PHIL [7445]
Thank you.
Phil
Philip J. Berg, Esquire
706 Ridge Pike
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-1711

 http://911blogger.com/news/2006-09-13/william-rodriguez-no-longer-part-rico-suit


William Rodriguez no Longer Part of RICO suit

William Rodriguez wants everyone to know that he is longer associated with Phil Berg's RICO lawsuit.
Phil Berg's website here:
http://www.911forthetruth.com/
The site is still seeking donations, but Mr. Rodriguez does not have access to the funds, nor does he know how they are used. Just passing this message along from Rodriguez.

Phil Berg is an excellent example of someone who uses his professional credentials and influence to sell the "Truther" con.  To normal people it's inconceivable a lawyer in good standing would do any public controversial action unless they really did believe in what they were doing.  Unfortunately, in the "truther" community, crooked lawyers with God complexes are a dime a dozen.  Unfortunately, having a God Complex doesn't actally make one a God:

Supreme Court Ousts Attorney Who Sued to Oust Obama
It may be some time before Pennsylvania lawyer Philip J. Berg files another lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to expel President Barack Obama from office. Earlier this month, Mr. Berg, whose law license was suspended last year for misconduct, lost his right to practice before the Supreme Court.
In 2008, Mr. Berg filed one of the first “birther” lawsuits, asking a federal judge in Philadelphia to bar Mr. Obama from office because of groundless speculation by some on the political fringe that the Democratic nominee had falsified records of his 1961 birth in Honolulu.

The court dismissed the case, finding that Mr. Berg had no standing to bring the claim, and was upheld by the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia. Mr. Berg repeatedly sought Supreme Court intervention on his behalf, petitioning Justices David Souter and Anthony Kennedy, each of whom denied his claim, and then Antonin Scalia, who referred the case to the full court, which rejected the appeal without comment.
That's pathetic enough, but it gets worse when Berg ignores a paying client who is not part of his conspiracy clique, and digs a deep hole with his colleges:


But while Mr. Berg doggedly pursued Mr. Obama, he was not so assiduous in caring for his own clients, according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which in September suspended him from the practice of law for two years.

The U.S. Supreme Court followed by asking Mr. Berg to show cause why it should not disbar him from its practice; he responded by resigning from the Supreme Court bar, which the justices noted in an order earlier this month.


His website, obamacrimes.com, last was updated in September 2012 with a post seeking “$2 Million Dollars for a Reward to Expose OBAMA for the Fraud he is.”
“Please contribute as much as possible – $25.00, $50.00, $100.00, $500.00, $1,000.00 or $5,000.00 or more,” the post adds.

According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s disciplinary board, Mr. Berg was derelict in representing the wife of a Hell’s Angel, who had hired him to sue the Lancaster, Pa. police over an allegedly warrantless search and seizure of her home while investigating her husband’s stabbing of a rival motorcycle gang member.

The board found that Mr. Berg failed to answer a motion to dismiss filed by the police defendants, prompting a federal judge to throw out the suit. Mr. Berg dissembled when his client would inquire about progress in the case, the board found, until 2009, when she discovered through an Internet search that the suit had been dismissed years earlier.

The board reported that Mr. Berg was uncooperative with the disciplinary process, raising “frivolous issues” and pursuing “baseless motions that wasted the time and energy” of court officials. While he ultimately admitted violating several rules of professional conduct, Mr. Berg “did not apologize to [the client] but sought to justify his conduct by continually denigrating the merits of the case.”

Moreover, Mr. Berg “did not demonstrate genuine remorse for his misconduct,” the board said, noting that he previously had been disciplined for other rule violations, including “commingling personal funds” with those of his clients and neglecting earlier cases.
 This comes as less than no surprise.


Like many narcissists Berg manages to get the board to consider his dying mother excuse and volunteer work, never mind most people with dying relatives who volunteer are able to keep themselves out of trouble.

Berg has manages to dodge disbarment, but for how long?  As is noted in the comments, Hells Angels aren't known for their calm, reflective demeanor :

The suspension is the least of his worries.
He botched the case of a person tied to a Hells Angel?
Hells Angels aren’t known for settling disputes by filing a malpractice claim with his insurer.
 Wikipedia has more to say:

Berg was sued for legal malpractice by former clients on whose behalf Berg had neglected to file a response to a complaint in an ERISA lawsuit, resulting in a default judgment being entered against the former clients. Berg responded by bringing into the malpractice suit the plaintiffs in the ERISA action on a claim of fraud upon the court. The ERISA plaintiffs moved for summary judgment—which was granted after Berg failed to respond to the motion—and then moved for sanctions against Berg. Berg again failed to file a response.
On June 2, 2005, U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner granted the motion for sanctions, finding that the fraud claim "was inadequately pled, not grounded in fact, time-barred, and utterly irrelevant to the pending malpractice action against him." Observing that an attorney's signature on a complaint constitutes, among other things, a certification that the signer has conducted a reasonable inquiry into the grounds for the claim asserted, the court further found that "even the most limited investigation would have revealed that [Berg] had no standing to raise such a claim." The court also found that Berg's claim was motivated by a "desire to harass" and "delay litigation." The court fined Berg $10,000 and ordered him to attend six hours of ethics training.[4][5]
What's important here for any "expert" or "experienced activist" pushing Berg in 2005, is the RICO cases were concurrent with his malpractice case...and NO ONE in the "truth" movement noticed? Then or since?

On June 19, 2013, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered Berg suspended for two years for neglecting the 2006 federal lawsuit, stating that he filed the lawsuit on the last day for filing and subsequently "did virtually nothing to prosecute his client's claim," resulting in the case being dismissed. Berg then failed to notify his client of the dismissal and "over the next two years . . . mostly ignored his client's requests for updates" while leading her "to believe that her case was still viable." As aggravating factors in supporting the suspension, it was noted that Berg failed to "express adequate remorse" or apologize to the client. Also noted was his extensive disciplinary history, including a private reprimand in 2005 for commingling funds, an informal admonition in 2006 for neglect of a matter that resulted in dismissal of a client's case and a private reprimand and one year probation imposed in 2008 for failing to pursue a workers' compensation matter.[6]
In January 2014, Berg resigned from the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States after it had previously ordered him to explain why he should not be expelled. Berg stated his intention to reapply for membership once the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania restored his law license.[7]
 Berg seemed to be trying to make a name for himself as a "birther", failing spectacularly , but at least getting the White House to put the matter to rest once and for all:

Of Course this will be called NWO "disinfo"

Berg apparently earned respect for filing this "case" against the Bush administration.  For the record this case is nothing like I remember people describing it.  Like the Bible, it's so voluminous the temptation to cherry pick must be irresistible even to people who were familiar with the details.  I'll copy the Wiki summary, highlighting in red the bits I don't recall being aware of and would have found dubious if I'd known:

 This lawsuit made hundreds of allegations including allegations that the Twin Towers were destroyed by means of "controlled demolitions;" that members of the FDNY were ordered, on instructions of the CIA, not to talk about it; that the FDNY conspired with Larry Silverstein to deliberately destroy 7WTC; that projectiles were fired at the Twin Towers from “pods” affixed to the underside of the planes that struck them; that FEMA is working with the US government to create “American Gulag” concentration camps which FEMA will run once the federal government’s plan to impose martial law is in place; that phone calls made by some of the victims, as reported by their family members, were not actually made but were "faked" by the government using "voice morphing" technology; that a missile, not American Airlines Flight 77, struck the Pentagon; that United Airlines Flight 93 was shot down by the U.S. military; that the defendants had foreknowledge of the attacks and actively conspired to bring them about; that the defendants engaged in kidnapping, arson, murder, treason, conspiracy, trafficking in narcotics, embezzlement, securities fraud, insider trading, identity and credit card theft, blackmail, trafficking in humans, and the abduction and sale of women and children for sex.[9]


Oh boy.  A wee obsession with underaged sex objects?  Wasn't that part of Jim Fetzer's misguided video harassment campaign, where Greg Thomson aka Ozzybinoswald, and Andrew Kelly aka Spiney made a plethora of videos with information about people obtained illegally and mixed them with underage "dancing girls" ?  And labeled this softcore pedo friendly porn "wq2rx"?    

Phil Berg is a friend of Fetzer:

Tarpley, Fetzer Berg: Three idiots of the Apocalypse?


What a bunch of dumbfucks.

UPDATE: Nov 6, 2015:

Phil Berg has finally been disbarred:

Montgomery County attorney who held office in Lafayette Hill disbarred

COURTHOUSE >> A Montgomery County attorney has been disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to a notice sent out Tuesday.
Philip Berg, who held an office in Lafayette Hill, was disbarred on consent according to the notice. The notice states Berg submitted his resignation letter to the Supreme Court. The notice states his resignation letter is under seal.
The disbarment, according to the notice, will take place on July 16.
According to an order filed the by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he failed to let a client know, for two years, her lawsuit had been dismissed by a federal judge. The woman took her complaint to the disciplinary board.
The order states he took care of his brother during the time of the lawsuit in question and it states he acknowledged that he failed in representing the woman.
Berg is known as a “birther” who sued to have President Barrack Obama removed from the ballots in 2008 because Berg claimed he was born in Kenya. The order mentioning the complaint against him states he ran for Governor in the 1990 primary race against Robert Casey.
 
One fraud down, who knows how many to go...



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