The NLRB has never ruled against
Continental in any of these claims.
In the June 1, 2005 opinion, the First Circuit first noted that the CROA's
expressed purpose is to "to protect the public from unfair or deceptive
advertising and business practices by credit repair organizations . In another such
action, on April 20, 2005, a federal district court froze the assets of Andris
Pukke, a convicted felon, who founded Ameridebt, Inc.

confessing excesses

"We have always acted in the best interests of the communities we serve
and in the best interests of our employees to provide a fair, secure and safe
working environment," said Gomberg. The plaintiffs further alleged
that John Puccio already had a history of fraudulent conduct and had been
banned for life by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission." Further, the Court
found that although Congress left the word "nonprofit " undefined in the CROA
exclusion, the concept was not difficult and that "nonprofit" status depended
primarily on proof that the entity did "not distribute profits to stockholders
or others. population ," said
Nancy Talanian, BORDC's director.

retrial gunshot

It not only held that "non profit" and "exempt from taxation " were
separate concepts, but that since tax exempt status determinations by the IRS
are exclusively based on material that is provided by the applicant, they are
not reliable indicators of how the organization is actually operating and thus
cannot be relied upon as precedent for purposes of the CROA.

jamal retrial

Continental
fully expects the SEIU will continue to file misleading accusations against
the company for publicity purposes."
Continental has been the target of the SEIU organizing campaign since
2003.thecontinentalgroupinc..

His conviction was upheld by the state Supreme Court on appeal , and has been appealed to Federal courts on fair-trial and Constitutional grounds.

mumia retrial

" The Court
then looked closely at the language Congress used for the nonprofit/tax exempt
exclusion. In fact, the reauthorization bill gives the
federal government new powers that further threaten constitutional rights.

gotten appealed

As the Court
noted even "the IRS' subsequent notification that an entity has qualified for
tax-exempt status contains a disclaimer stating that the IRS has made its
determination based solely on representations provided to it by the party
seeking the status."
Thus, the Court unanimously concluded, "to be excluded from the CROA .
Hennessy also represents plaintiffs in the Zimmerman case. history. This new measure, which was added to the reauthorization bill in
secret , has never been debated by Congress.

An attempt is made here to collect all available facts and opinions on the both the case and the controversy around it, so that readers can form their own opinions .

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where it expects a positive outcome.
Finally, the First Circuit opinion would also seem to have wider
implications than just application to the CROA and its rationale would include
all statutes where either non profit or tax exempt statuses are raised as
issues in private litigation.
Eight state legislatures and nearly 400 local and county governments have
responded by passing resolutions upholding the civil liberties of their 85
million constituents, who make up one-third of the U. The reauthorization
bill would reduce Americans' First Amendment rights to demonstrate by
criminalizing conduct considered disruptive by the Secret Service at locations
that a Secret Service protectee such as the President may attend or may have
attended.

confessing overturning

The NLRB has not yet ruled on these or any other claims.e. those already severely overburdened by debt that they were willing to do
and pay almost anything to avoid bankruptcy. The Zimmermans then appealed.

During the course of the appeals , the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal has attracted significant attention from a wide variety of groups, and has come to be seen as a symbol by organizations with a range of goals and political affiliations.

murdering spg

They alleged that Cambridge's non profit status was a sham and that
John and Richard Puccio had, through a complex series of corporate maneuvers,
personally made millions off the backs of America 's most vulnerable consumers,
i.
MORRIS POLICH + PURDY LLP
1055 West Seventh Street , 24th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90017
Telephone: (213) 891-9100

racially biased

NLRB Judge Dismisses SEIU Allegations Against Continental

C., Debticated Consumer
Counseling, Inc.

and several other ostensibly "non profit" tax exempt credit
counseling entities.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee Calls on Members of Congress to Heed Their Constituents and Fix the PATRIOT Act

jamal racially

Continental will appeal the few recommendations made against the company to
the NLRB in Washington D. ,
a credit repair organization must actually operate as a nonprofit organization
and be exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3). Pukke and his company are also
being sued by the Federal Trade Commission in the same court and various state
Attorney Generals have sued both the Cambridge and Ameridebt organizations.S.

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After several months on the
Cambridge debt management plan program, the Zimmermans owed more money to
creditors and had worse credit scores than before they contacted Cambridge.

excesses spg

Continental is confident that by following the NLRB process through to its
conclusion, the company will prove it has not violated any labor laws and will
be seen to have protected the democratic rights of its employees.

For more information about the SEIU's campaign against The Continental
Group , visit http://www.
Believing that they had been swindled, the plaintiffs sued Cambridge, its
owners John and Richard Puccio and several related entities for violations of
the CROA. For not only will credit
counseling be required under the new bankruptcy law, but prior to the First
Circuit 's opinion, there were conflicting lower court decisions on the effect
of an IRS determination of exempt status on whether a credit repair company
could be sued under the CROA. and is pending in Maryland.
The plaintiffs in both the Zimmerman and Polacsek cases are represented by
the Los Angeles office of Morris Polich + Purdy LLP, the Charlottesville,
Virginia office of Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen + Tweel PLLC and
Charlottesville attorney Gregory Duncan.
Said Talanian, "Widespread concerns over the PATRIOT Act have brought
together people of all political persuasions in hundreds of communities across
the country to work toward one common goal: to restore Bill of Rights
protections for themselves and all U.

inherently coercion

"The NLRB claims are part of an ongoing SEIU pressure campaign aimed at
forcing us to surrender the democratic rights of our employees to decide this
issue in a secret ballot election," said Gene Gomberg, CEO of The Continental
Group.

Credit Counseling Takes Another Hit

The Zimmermans' case was thrown out by the district court on the grounds
that the CROA excludes from its reach "any nonprofit organization which is
exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3)" and that Cambridge was organized
as a Massachusetts non profit company and the IRS had granted Cambridge
tax-exempt status.
"In the four years since the PATRIOT Act's enactment, a broad range of
Americans have petitioned their state and local governments to protect them
from unwarranted surveillance and other excesses of the federal government.S. residents .

Some facts are clear.

appealed upheld

That action is entitled Polacsek v. It is
unconscionable for members of Congress to imply that their colleagues who call
for bringing the PATRIOT Act in line with the Constitution are weak on
terrorism.

gotten murdering

In a case of first impression
nationwide, the First Circuit held that credit repair companies are not
automatically excluded from the definition of a "credit repair organization "
simply because they are organized as non profit tax exempt entities.

Among the authors of sites in this category are those who argue that:
- the original trial was unfair
- the death penalty is inherently unfair
- there is no excuse for the delay of final justice for Faulkner
- political bias has tainted the issues
- Abu-Jamal is only trying to delay his execution with endless appeals
- the US criminal justice system is racially biased
- Abu-Jamal should be incarcerated for life rather than executed
- police coercion of witnesses made many of them alter their original testimony
- Abu-Jamal was framed by police because of his role as a radical black journalist and former Black Panther
- this case is part of a pattern of misconduct by Philadelphia police at the time.

appealed excesses

Recommendations by National Labor Relations Board Judge Continues Trend of
Claims Found Without Merit Against The Continental Group

MIAMI, A judge for the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) has recommended in favor of The Continental Group regarding false
claims filed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). During this time, the SEIU has initiated numerous nuisance unfair labor
claims, the vast majority of which have been either withdrawn at the last
minute by the SEIU or dismissed by the NLRB. Guided by its Florida foundation
and focus and with more than 4,000 full-time employees, The Continental Group
manages and maintains more than 650 condominium and homeowner association
communities and services numerous municipalities, hotels and commercial
facilities. Rather,
the court held that to be immune from suit under the federal Credit Repair
Organization Act (CROA), the defendant must prove that it actually operates in
a manner consistent with both of those statuses.
The case involved a class action suit by the Zimmermans , a Virginia couple
paid approximately $1,000 in 2002 for a customized debt management program
with Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporation, which had advertised that it was
America's premier debt counseling organization. Debticated Consumer
Counseling, et al.

overturning excesses

Decisions made by the administrative law judge are recommendations to the
NLRB, not rulings. Indeed, it would appear to apply to any
instance where the IRS has provided a private letter determination on a
particular question that later comes up in litigation., As the USA PATRIOT Act
reauthorization bill heads toward passage in the Senate, the Bill of Rights
Defense Committee (BORDC) today appealed to the Senate and the House of
Representatives to continue working to correct the PATRIOT Act's most critical
shortcomings , which neither the reauthorization bill nor an amendment the
Senate approved Wednesday address. We ask Congress to follow
their lead and ignore partisan rivalries that get in their way.

biased overturning

upheld asserting

About the Continental Group
Founded in 1990, The Continental Group, based in Hollywood, Fla ."
The First Circuit decision is a landmark opinion in the increasingly
regulated area of consumer debt counseling."
Critics of the PATRIOT Act remain troubled that the reauthorization bill
does not address the original act's major shortcomings, such as its lack of a
mechanism for preventing FBI "fishing expeditions" into sensitive business,
medical, library and other records of innocent Americans.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a witness to the original traffic stop, was taken into custody at the scene , injured in the chest with a single gunshot from Faulkner's service weapon.

On July 3rd, 1982 , Abu-Jamal was convicted of first-degree murder of Faulkner and then sentenced to death.

alleging pvn

"
From this observation, the Court held that "if a credit repair
organization only needed to obtain a section 501(c)(3) designation to qualify
for the exception, the exception might well eviscerate the liability -creating
provisions" and that "Congress cannot have intended unscrupulous credit repair
organizations to have such easy access to CROA immunity.

On the night of December 9th, 1981, during a traffic stop, Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner was killed by multiple gunshots near the corner of 13th and Locust.

confessing gunshot

The
recommendations were issued following a local hearing by the administrative
law judge who recommended dismissal of most of the claims made by the SEIU. Continental's management team operated in
Florida for over 30 years without a single NLRB complaint before the SEIU
launched its campaign.. "Such a large, powerful, and nonpartisan
groundswell of people acting locally to hold their federal elected
representatives accountable is unparalleled in U.S.

abu alleging

"We support our employees ' right to choose to be, or not to be,
represented by a union and are prepared to protect that right ."

LOS ANGELES, Following Congressional hearings
regarding the abuses in the credit counseling industry and the increasing IRS
scrutiny, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has weighed
in with strong support for consumers. In all of these cases,
it seems that the rule will be that while the IRS may continue to treat an
entity for tax purposes in one way, federal courts can go the other way based
on the organization's actual operations where the same question is raised in
private litigation. Massachusetts attorney Steven G. Vendler, Esq.

jamal confessing

The
Continental Group is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation
(Nasdaq: FSRV; TSX: FSV., is the
largest manager of community associations in the state and one of South
Florida's leading private sector employers .
The Zimmermans' case is not the only class action suit alleging this same
type of nonprofit fraud in the credit counseling industry.

Press contacts can be directed to:
David J. We commend
Senator Feingold for reading the state resolutions of Alaska, California,
Colorado , Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, and Vermont, and the county and local
government resolutions of his home state of Wisconsin aloud to his Senate
colleagues yesterday."

spg pvn

SV). Continental provides opportunities, wages and benefits
that are significantly above the industry standard in South Florida.com and click on "Facts about
Continental and the SEIU. NORTHAMPTON, Mass.