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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Food for Thought About Greed vs. Ethics...

I often wonder how Jeffrey Kaplan and Thomas Tatum sleep nights knowing that year after year their greed based business has hurt so many people.  I also wonder what their families, friends, neighbors and business associates really think about the egregious manner in which Jeff and Tom have acquired their wealth.  Are all these people truly accepting of the apparent lack of ethics displayed by these two bad boys or do they shake their heads and whisper in disgust behind Tatum and Kaplan's backs?  Maybe the article below will help explain why Jeff and Tom may feel that "greed and self-interest is a good pursuit."
  
Are Rich People Unethical? - ABC News
Feb 27, 2012 5:48pm

Are Rich People Unethical?

At last, an explanation for Wall Street’s disgrace, Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and other high-society crimes and misdemeanors: A new study published in the Proceedings of that National Academy of Sciences found that wealthier people were more apt to behave unethically than those who had less money.
Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley analyzed a person’s rank in society (measured by wealth, occupational prestige and education) and found that those who were richer were more likely to cheat, lie and break the law than those who were poorer.
“We found that it is much more prevalent for people in the higher ranks of society to see greed and self-interest … as good pursuits,” said Paul Piff, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate at Berkeley. “This resonates with a lot of current events these days.”
In the first of two studies, researchers found that those who drove more expensive cars (an admittedly questionable indicator of economic worth) were more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians at a busy San Francisco four-way intersection than those who drove older, less-expensive vehicles.
In other experiments, wealthier study participants were more likely to admit they would behave unethically in a variety of situations and lie during negotiations. In another, researchers found wealthier people were more likely to cheat in an online game to win a $50 prize.
Greed is a “robust” determinant of unethical behavior, according to the study.
“This has some pretty clear implications,” said Piff. “Inequality is very much on Americans’ minds, and the potential effects of severe inequality on individual levels of behavior are major.”
Large sums of money may give people greater feelings of entitlement, causing those people to be the most averse to wealth distribution, Piff continued. Poorer people may be less likely to cheat, because they are more dependent on their community at large, he said. In other words, they don’t want to rock the boat.
“People in power who are more inclined to behave unethically in the service of gains and self-interest can have great effects on society as a whole,” said Piff.
And it’s difficult to say whether richer people get to the top because of their unethical behavior or whether wealth causes people to become this way. “It seems like a vicious cycle,” he said.
Nevertheless, Piff said these results obviously don’t apply to all wealthy people. He noted that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett were among the wealthiest people in the world and also the most philanthropic. He also pointed to high rates of violent crime in the poorest neighborhoods in the country that counteract the study’s findings.
Piff said he hoped to further his research by figuring out ways to curb these patterns of behavior among wealthier individuals.
“What it comes down to, really, is that money creates more of a self-focus, which may account for larger feelings of entitlement,” said Piff. “We hope to further study how we can curb these patterns and how that will affect our social environment.”

Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Bastards Aren't Immune to Our Legal System...$1,625,000 settlement

I pulled the following from the Endeman Lincoln Turek & Heater website.  Goes to show you that the Tatum Kaplan bullies can be beaten.

Tatum-Kaplan Financial Group v. Ryan Davis
Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2009-00121487-CU-NP-CXC
[Related Case No. 30-2008-00112959-CU-BC-CXC]
The residents of the Orange Mobilehome Park located in Orange County won a significant battle in their lawsuit against the Park owner. Shortly after the residents filed suit over the substandard conditions at the mobilehome Park, the Park owner retaliated by suing one of the plaintiffs, Ryan Davis, for Malicious Prosecution. We represented plaintiff Ryan Davis. The Orange County Superior Court held the Malicious Prosecution lawsuit was a SLAPP Suit (Strategic Litigation Against Plaintiff), threw the case out of court and awarded our client his attorney fees and cost which totaled $50,000, when the case settled.


Orange Mobile Home Park
Irma Aguila, et al. v. Orangewood Investments, L.P.
Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2008-00112959-CU-BC-CJC
The residents of the Orange Mobile Home Park settled this lawsuit against their Park owner for $1,625,000. The Park owner did not own the land upon which the Park was built but instead had a contract with the land owner granting him the right to operate the Park. This contract was due to expire and for the last several years the Park owner refused to maintain the Park. As a result, the residents started having problems with the Park's sewer and electrical utilities. The sewer would back up and flow into residents' yards and down the street. The electrical system did not provide adequate power, causing blackouts and brownouts. The residents banded together and sued the Park owner over these conditions. Endeman Lincoln Turek & Heater represented them. The case settled for $1,625,000 at the time the contract to operate the Park expired. The land owner is now in the process of rehabbing the entire Park. This was a great result, the residents received a very significant amount of money and the Park will be completely rehabilitated.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Possible Arson in Another Tatum Kaplan Owned Park...

It appears that someone has been torching mobile homes in a MCM managed, Tatum Kaplan owned park since last November.  Although we don't condone these dangerous acts, we do understand how anger and frustration with the park management and owners could spur this behavior.  The following articles regarding Swan Lake Mobile Home Park are from The Press-Enterprise:

EASTVALE: Fire damages mobile home

BY STEVEN BARRIE STAFF WRITER  

sbarrie@pe.com


A fire damaged a mobile home tonight in Eastvale, but no one was injured.
Firefighters manage to contain the blaze to the bedroom and bathroom, dousing the flames in less than 30 minutes, the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said in a news release.
The fire was reported just before 9:30 p.m. burning in the Swan Lake Mobile Home Park in the 5800 block of Hamner Avenue, Cal Fire said. Twenty-two firefighters responded.
The cause of the blaze had not been determined as of 10 p.m.

 

EASTVALE: Second trailer burns at mobile home park

BY DAVID KECK




A vacant double-wide trailer burned at a sprawling Eastvale mobile home park late Saturday night, the second fire there in two months, officials said.
The fire at the Swan Lake Mobile Country Estates is considered suspicious, Engineer Dru Snider of the Riverside County Fire Department’s Eastvale station said.
No one was at the residence and its electricity and gas connections had been shut off, he said.
No one was injured.
Fire also burned a mobile home at the park Nov. 23, damaging two rooms. No one was injured in that fire either.
Snider said it’s unusual to have two fires at a mobile home park in such a short span.
A passerby reported Saturday’s blaze at the park in the 5800 block of Hamner Avenue at 10:23 p.m., Snider said.
Twenty firefighters and five engines responded, a Cal-Fire/Riverside County fire news release stated.
Located between Limonite and Belgrave avenues and cornered by Interstate 15 and the Eastvale Gateway shopping center, the mobile home park was also where two people were arrested in November on suspicion of crimes related to methamphetamine sales, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Records on calls for sheriff’s service to the Swan Lake Mobile Country Estates over the past few months were not immediately available, department spokeswoman Cpl. Courtney Donowho said by phone Sunday.
A call to the mobile home park’s office on Sunday transferred to an after-hours answering machine.


EASTVALE: Arson blamed for 3 mobile home fires






Arson is to blame for three fires this weekend that caused tens of thousands of dollars damage to three vacant homes at Swan Lake Mobile Home Park in Eastvale, though an earlier blaze was not part of the crime spree, fire officials say.
“These (three) fires were intentionally set,” Cal Fire investigators said in a written statement issued today. “The fires destroyed one mobile home and caused extensive damage to the others.”
Investigators are seeking the public’s help in determining who is responsible.
The first arson blaze was reported at 10:23 p.m. Saturday. The second one erupted at 8:39 p.m. Sunday and burned at least one room of that home. And at 4 a.m. today, the third flared up and caused roughly $10,000 damage, about 20 percent of that building’s estimated value.
The park is along the 5800 block of Hamner Avenue between Limonite and Belgrave Avenues.
Anyone with information about those fires or who notice any suspicious persons or activity at the park may call the Riverside County arson hotline at 800-633-2836.


EASTVALE: Swan Lake residents urged to be cautious





Arson investigators are appealing for the public’s help in apprehending the person or persons responsible for setting a series of fires starting last weekend at Swan Lake Mobile Country Estates in Eastvale.
All three coaches were vacant and there were no injuries, but the fires destroyed one mobile home and caused extensive damage to two others, Jody Hagemann, spokeswoman for Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department, said in a news release.
Damage is estimated to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
The department’s Fire Prevention Bureau announced this week that the fires were intentionally set.
Because of the ongoing investigation, Hagemann declined to reveal if investigators believe one person or several people were suspected of starting the blazes.
A passerby reported the Jan. 28 blaze at the park in the 5800 block of Hamner Avenue at 10:23 p.m. The second was at 8:39 p.m. Jan. 29 and the third was 4 a.m. Jan. 30.
A fire also burned a mobile home at the 717-space park Nov. 23, damaging two rooms. Hagemann said that blaze is not believed to be connected to this week’s fires.
Eastvale Police Chief, Capt. Danny Feltenberger, said the department has offered the services of a liaison detective to work on the investigation.
Jim Nicholl, Swan Lake’s on-site general manager, said Wednesday that he has ordered additional security patrols and sent a letter to residents informing them of the arson.
“We’re urging them to be alert and cautious,” Nicholl said. “We’re very concerned. This is something very unusual.”
Resident Ricardo Ayers said he’s not particularly concerned about this week’s fires. He said he has seen additional patrols this week.
He said his mother-in-law’s car was set on fire a couple of months ago. No one was apprehended in that case.
Ayers said he doesn’t believe the incidents are connected.
“This is a separate individual doing this,” he said.
Arson investigators are asking people to report any suspicious activity at the mobile home park by calling the Riverside County Arson Hotline at 800-633-2836.
All calls are confidential and anonymous, Hagemann said in the news release.


Saturday, February 18, 2012

A Walk in the Park....

I recently noticed that "NO TRESPASSING" signs had been posted in the windows of empty mobile homes throughout Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park.


I decided to take a walk and count how many empty homes are actually in the park at this time.  What I found was that there are no less that 30 empty homes with "NO TRESPASSING" signs posted and in addition to that, there are approximately 17 empty dirt lots. These numbers reflect a 25% vacancy rate in our park which is, in my opinion, the result of the gross mismanagement by our park owners and the trojan horse contracts they employ.


These "NO TRESPASSING" signs also indicate a couple of things that may or may not be obvious to you. One is that since the signs were apparently placed in the empty homes by park management  the 30 empty homes most likely belong to our park owners. I have often pointed out that our park has had a history of an extraordinarily high eviction rate as well as residents walking away from their homes because they could not sell them and simply could not afford their escalating space rents. Consequently, guess who ends up owning the vacant homes???  The second thing is that quite possibly our mobile home park has deteriorated to the point of where there is a problem with vandalism and squatters.  I guess that says a lot about our "sophisticated" park owners.


If you reside in any of the Tatum Kaplan owned mobile home parks I challenge you to go take a walk in the park and see if what is going on there is much different than what I have reported above.  Let me know.