Sonoma County Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Well, spring training is upon us, but the sad travails of Giants' fan Brian Stow, who was brutally attacked outside Dodgers Stadium before a Giants-Dodgers game, continue on from last year.

The LA Times reports that while Stow's attorneys are asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to allow Stow's case to move back to California state court, the Dodgers are seeking to have the case dismissed entirely.

Stow says the Dodgers are trying to "gain unfair strategic and economic windfalls for ... personal injury litigation defendants and insurers" by taking the $50 million case away from a jury.

The Dodgers failed to adequately police the park and should have taken measures to eject Louie Sanchez, one of the accused attackers, as he was involved in two other altercations before Stow was battered.

"Had these feasible measures been taken by the [Dodgers], Bryan Stow would not have been brutally attacked ... and would not have to face a lifelong struggle to regain basic function," according to the filing.

My son recently completed his California public education (at least pre-Santa Rosa Junior College) and it was, shall we say, less than a satisfactory experience. We experimented with all kinds of options that kept us within the public schools, such as the REACH program.

Of course it's no secret that the quality of California education has plummeted, and Sonoma County is no exception. As government budgets have been squeezed, schools have made do with less.

Parents and students are asked to pay money for supplies, and teachers are increasingly incompetent and overworked. And through it all, the steady drumbeat of budget deficits rings. Government services need to be curtailed. Or privatized.

In point of fact, education has already been privatized, in that anyone who can send their kids to private schools is already doing it. Public schools are the domain of the middle class and the lower class. Some people are coming to just accept mediocrity. Others would be pleased if education were that good.

Is this just the way it is going to be? An elite of privately, well-educated students? A mass of poorly educated students? Private industry, having no choice, importing qualified workers from overseas, leaving most Americans to fight over middle management or blue collar jobs?

Yes, this is the agenda: the destruction of public education. Does it have to be this way? Occupy Santa Rosa is hosting a discussion on that issue. It's Monday, Feb. 20 at the Arlene Francis Center (a name hard to say without irony), 99 6th Street, in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square.

"Children have become a commodity, and education a tool for profit," says Jina Brooks, one of several Occupy Santa Rosa organizers who are helping with the Santa Rosa Teachers' Association Teacher Rally on February 25 at Courthouse Square. "We hope that the information and discussion shared at this teach-in will motivate people to show up and fight for public education beyond next Saturday's rally. We need to learn what is really going on so we know how to best support our teachers and children."

Starts at 6 p.m.

The Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa may be heaving a sigh of relief as Sonoma County filings have dipped down, but for many Sonoma County residents and businesses, bankruptcy continues to be an option.

The Press Democrat reports that Sonoma County consumer bankruptcies were down 8 percent in 2011 over 2010 but business BKs actually rose 3 percent.

Even with fewer cases last year, the court is still swamped with double the number of cases it used to see. "You could say the filings are down, but as far as we're concerned, we're still trying to keep our heads above water," Judge Alan Jaroslovsky told the paper.

The Santa Rosa bankruptcy court handles cases from Marin to Lake to Mendocino and all the way up to the Oregon border. Overall, North Coast cases are down 8 percent to 4,688 cases.

As the article points out, 75% of bankruptcies are "Chapter 7" cases, which give consumers a full discharge of most unsecured debt. Chapter 13 cases have also remained popular as equity values in real estate have plunged. Chapter 13 lets homeowners "lienstrip" second mortgages that are now unsecured.

The drop in filings in an indication that we're clawing our way out of the recession, but in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa, hiring is still anemic and there are plenty of people who are over their heads and underwater. Robert Eyler, director of Sonoma State University's Center for Regional Economic Analysis, said "There's still people out there hanging on by their fingernails."

If you are considering bankruptcy, give my office a call and see if Chapter 7 or 13 makes sense for your financial goals, and if you qualify for our low $994 pricing. (We are a debt relief agency.)