We succeeded in enjoining Rent-A-Wreck of America Inc. from terminating the franchise operated by its founder, David Schwartz.

• In August 2007 Gordon & Simmons obtained a Temporary Restraining Order from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Judge Peter Messitte, in the case entitled David Schwartz, et al. v. J.J.F. Management Services, Inc., Case No. 07-CV-01679. On September 17, 2008, attorneys Roger C. Simmons and Jacob I. Weddle, won in a full preliminary injunction halting Rent A Wreck of America, Inc.’s effort to terminate its very first franchisee. Dave Schwartz, the man who originated the Rent A Wreck name in 1973, owned its first franchise and was the founder of Rent A Wreck of America, Inc., was held to have a unique relationship with the national company. Described as Rent A Wreck’s first franchisee but paying no franchise fees, the injunction entitles Schwartz and his Los Angeles-based company to inclusion in the national franchising company’s website on a parity with other franchisees. John J Fitzgerald, a millionaire Maryland car dealer, and the man who recently bought Rent A Wreck of America, Inc. has been quoted as having attempted to terminate Mr. Schwartz “to see how high he jumps.”
| Roger Simmons | September 2008 |


Ruling on the Jan Pottker, et al. v. Kenneth J. Feld, et al. motions for summary judgment

Judge Rules on Key Motions in Circus Case:

• On August 14, 2008, the Honorable Brook Hedge for the Superior Court for the District of Columbia Superior Court’s civil division ruled on motions that had been pending for several years, clearing a path for the almost nine-year-old case, Jan Pottker, et al. vs. Kenneth J. Feld, et al., to go to trial. The Court ruled that Jan Pottker had presented evidence leading to “undisputed facts [that] form a sufficient basis to deny judgment to the defendants on all of the counts brought by Pottker and WCI [her writing company] against the Feld defendants.” These undisputed facts are the following:

(1) [Kenneth] Feld did not want Pottker to write about his family or the circus;
(2) Feld wanted Pottker diverted from writing about the circus;
(3) Feld contacted [Clair] George [former Deputy Director of (covert) Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency] to commission the writing of a favorable book about the circus to be used if Pottker appeared able to publish her proposed book on the circus;
(4) George, with Feld’s knowledge, consent and money, hired [Robert] Eringer to carry out the twin goals to see to the production of the shadow book and to divert Pottker from writing about the circus;
(5) Eringer sought out and befriended Pottker to obtain information about her writing and plans to secure her trust as to his value to her in the publishing world so that he could provide information to Feld;
(6) Eringer reported his information and findings to George through memoranda and dixcussions;
(7) Eringer received the money he needed to carry out plans to divert, such as securing the money from Feld entities to partner with National Press Books to co-publish the Mars family book, Crisis in Candyland, by providing PPB the money that went for Pottker’s advance and securing the right to edit the book, but all in confidence with NPB without Pottker’s knowledge;
(8) Eringer entered into a written agreement with Pottker to publish Celebrity Washington, but made editorial suggestions that, under any reasonable interpretation, were designed, at best, to impede or delay the publication; and
(9) Eringer had to listen to “all of Pottker’s life plans” because he was paid to do that.
| Roger Simmons | August 2008 |

| Dirty secrets under the big top | By Steven T. Jones | August 13, 2008 |

| Stranger than Fiction: Ringling's CIA Spy Headed to Court article on Blogs.cqpolitics.com
| By Jeff Stein | August 15, 2008 |


A Maryland Jury Finds Fraud in the Home Mortgage Market

• On July 31, a civil jury in Montgomery County, Maryland, Kimberly Thomas v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Civ. No. 279370-V, rendered a verdict for $1,250,000 in damages ($250,000 compensatory and $1,000,000 punitive) against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., for defrauding a home buyer who was seeking a mortgage loan. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., made an excessive loan at a higher than promised interest rate to Ms. Kimberly Thomas. In the course of the loan approval, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., was found to have engaged in fraudulent activity by misrepresenting income and assets of Ms. Thomas in order to justify a loan that she could not afford and could not repay in order to earn a commission on the transaction.

• In conducting its deliberations, the jury was provided evidence from which it could find that Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., did not comply with its own consumer mortgage loan policies, its own ethical standards and requirements and abused its position with respect to commonly used banking practices governing loan standards in the consumer area.

• Representing Ms. Thomas in the trial was Brian Maul of the Frederick, Maryland law firm of Gordon & Simmons, LLC. Other counsel at Gordon & Simmons who worked on the case were lead counsel, Roger C. Simmons.

• Subsequent to the entry of the jury’s verdict, the trial court reduced the verdict from $1,250,000 to $250,000. The trial court’s reduction of damages has recently been appealed.
| Brian Maul | July 2008 |

| Jury vindicates a homebuyer done wrong by her lender | Baltimoresun.com | By Jay Hancock |
08/08/08 |

| Attorney Brian Maul Wins Big for Sub Prime Mortgage Victim |
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com | By Brenda Craig | 08/13/08 |

| BaltimoreBusinessJournal.PDF | Baltimore Business Journal | By Eli Segall | 08/13/08 |


Montgomery Bakers v. Montgomery Distributors

• Roger Simmons won a judgment following a four day judge trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court in March 2008 before the Honorable Judge Dugan for shareholders, Sheldon Fischer and Ann Fischer, and their company, Montgomery Bakers, Inc., against two other shareholders of Montgomery Bakers and their separately owned company, Montgomery Distributors, Inc, for $654,000. The basis of the award was an equitable adjustment for wrongful taking of corporate assets.
| Roger Simmons | 2008 |