This is the personal blog of Joseph Miner regarding the Remax All Cities
Realty Federal and State lawsuits. The blog is posted to keep interested parties
up to date on the day to day proceedings of this contentious real estate related
trademark litigation. This is the David v. Goliath story of a small real estate
company with a registered Federal Trademark battling the WORLDS third largest
Re/Max Franchise who decided to seize the registered Federal Trademark owned by
ALL CITIES REALTY, INC. > ALL CITIES REALTY
®
Certainly there are two sides to every story. This is my side of this
story and my opinion of the issues, the players, the interesting
history of the Re/Max players, and the twists and turns of battling one of
Re/Max International's largest franchisees for more the SIX YEARS. I believe
everything written here, if stated as fact, is 100% accurate, and if not stated
as fact it is generally commentary or opinion of Joseph Miner. Most of the FACTS
are backed up by public documents which can be downloaded. If you note ANYTHING
that is stated as a FACT that is not accurate, please inform me and I will
remove after investigation.
Welcome to my blog!
A note about FREE SPEECH.
We do have FREE SPEECH in the United States of America.Additional information about free speech is available through a
multiplicity of organizations. You may start here and read about your rights as
protected under the law and the First Amendment [link].
The Supreme Court ruled in
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.
418 U.S. 323 (1974), opinions could not be considered defamatory.
It is thus permissible to suggest, for instance, that someone is a bad
lawyer, but not permissible to falsely declare that the lawyer is ignorant
of the law: the former constitutes a statement of values, but the latter is a
statement alleging a fact. [cite wikipedia]
Their desperation
is getting more obvious. Now they [Kelli Todd and her attorney] are
trying to get rid of our attorney Jeffrey Sax. Must be a good sign that
Jeffrey Sax is a GREAT attorney. Below is the response we had to file in reply to Re/Max
Marquee Partners (Commbroker / Hollymax) dishonest motion. More good reading and
true information regarding the lawsuits. [Their motion to
dismiss our attorney Jeffrey Sax was denied by the court]
Added for clarification. It should be noted that
that, as a result of their motion, Judge Carney apparently did get angry with me for sending
out the settlement letter and trying to settle with the agents. I don't quite understand
that. I do know [my opinion] that what the Defense writes to the Judge is just about anything
they can fantasize about or make up with NO FACTS to back up what they say to
the Judge. I really don't understand why I was admonished by the
Judge. I was called by interested parties and no one that talked to me felt
threatened; it was just the opposite. The law should no be so complex
that one would need to spend $2,000 [with an attorney] just to send a settlement
letter. Just another opinion of course...
What is litigation abuse? It appears
to me [my opinion] in the definition of litigation abuse should be a BIG company who force
small companies to ENDLESSLY litigate, and to spend hundreds if thousands of
dollars defending a blatantly obvious federal trademark. That TOO should be
included in litigation abuse.
Also, my opinion, is that ANY ATTORNEY who partakes in fabricating and delivering consistent, frivolous,
wasteful, COSTLY, motions they can send to a judge [just because they can] then
filing the motion EX/PARTE so its a RUSH with everyone involved, [costing
everyone extra time and money] should definitely be included in litigation abuse. I am
certainly under the impression that ALL court filings, attorneys names and
all court information are PUBLIC INFORMATION unless made not public by the
Judge.
Here I am merely blogging [personally reporting and delivering my opinions] about the news and
important issues and my opinions of fighting California's largest Re/Max in
lawsuits that could have been TOTALLY avoided. If Re/Max wants to put up a blog
and tell their side of the story we would love to hear it!
If you have not heard, a settlement email was sent out the other day to all
agents, All Cities Realty has email address for, involved in these lawsuits .
The email was 100% truthful and had to do with statements made by Kelli Todd to
the court and obvious issues that are taking place right now in these cases. I
simply gave the agents an opportunity to settle and be removed from the case. I really
thought it was a nice gesture on my part.
Apparently Kelli Todd, based on a baseless claim of complete BS, has instructed her attorney to try and
silence my "100% truthful information" to
the agents and people interested in these legal actions! Or its possible her
attorney XXXXXXXXXXXXXX concocted
this entire legal maneuver himself! Of course this is only my opinion.
Its so sad the games these people play!
I will tell you that the email that went out to the agents the other day
is truthful, accurate, and was entirely written by me - Joseph Miner, and then
sent from this website by me. I take full responsibility for telling the truth,
writing and sending the email to the agents; Kelli even gave me most of the email addresses.
Someone has to tell the truth here... it should be noted that my attorney
Jeff Sax NEVER approved the email in question, and the All Cities Realty legal team
referred to is my wife and I --- because she has helped me through so much of this. We
make a great TEAM!
The fact of the matter is you that can't make certain statements like this
and have them go two ways at one time.... You can't be implying to me and the
court that you are broke, and at the same time telling your agents that you will
indemnify your agents and brokers for millions and millions of dollars! Its one
or the other... do you have lots of money hidden away under your mattress, or are
you broke? Nevertheless, to seriously indemnify every agent you would need
$15,000,000 in the bank. I am betting Kelli Todd does not have that amount in
the bank waiting to indemnify her agents.
Of course they don't want the agents to know the truth so they try to
shoot the messenger... ME! There would be the surfacing of some serious concern
--- as they are depending on Kelli Todd's statements as being 100%
true (I believe her statements are just about 100% untrue). Some of the facts
are that
Commbroker has been shutdown, and
Hollymax has been shutdown (all agents gone) and that Kelli has lost about
350 agents to date, and Dunn and Bradstreet keeps sending me credit alerts about
her Company.
I wish the court would force the Todd Family to prove to the agents they
actually have money to indemnify all the 1000+/- agents and just how much have
MONEY they set aside for indemnification? If they are claiming this to the
court, can't the court force her to prove
what she states is true and accurate? They [The Todd Family] have already
informed us and the court they have NO insurance to cover all this!!!
Her attorney XXXXXXXXXXXXXX is more like David Copperfield the magician.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX magically turns borderline lies and false and hollow statements
into unsubstantiated truths to the court!! Of course that is strictly my
opinion from what I have personally witnessed consistently in this litigation.
How can he send these things to a federal judge and not get punished?
Where are the morals and ethics here? Is this what our justice system has turned
into? Can you just lie to a federal judge time after time after time until you
get caught red handed? Like I said; AMAZING! Just my opinion of course...
Its sad they [The Todd Family] do not wish their agents to know the
reality and truth of this situation. The more they keep everyone in the dark the
better it will be for them. Don't you folks know what big companies do? This is
why they never told you about the Federal Lawsuit way back in 2005!
Look at all the companies that have gone down in flames that have not told
the truth... Enron, WAMU, Wachovia, Lehman, Fannie Mae, Freddic Mac.... and the
list goes on and on and on.
Who suffered?... the
employees, the stockholders, the investors - just like the agents and brokers
will suffer here. If the TRUTH had only been told! One can ONLY base appropriate
decisions and actions if one is being told the TRUTH!
People need to take responsibility for their actions.
David... your CISLO work IP is: 209.151.225.66 and we here at ACR are
watching you watch us.
PROOF
Note* don't use the "hidemyass" proxy because it does not work.
Comment added
October 16th, 2008
GREAT NEWS - FEDERAL JUDGE OPENS LAWSUIT!
Hollymax / Commbroker trial moves forward!!!
Federal Judge Cormac J. Carney rules in All Cities Realty's favor!!!
This affects ALL AGENTS AND BROKERS who worked for
Hollymax and Combroker from about May 2005 Read the 2008 FEDERAL LAWSUIT
Comment added
September 5th, 2008
***GREAT NEWS - Judge has directed us to file new motion to open case for
discovery!!! Yahoo!
Oxford Dictionary - Noun - LIE - 1. An
intentionally false statement. 2. A situation involving deception or founded on
a mistaken impression.
American Hertitage - Noun - LIE -
1. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a
falsehood. 2. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.
Word of the day #2 - perjury
Oxford Dictionary - Noun - PERJURY -
The offence of deliberately telling an untruth in court when under oath. [or
sworn declaration]
American Hertitage - Noun - - PERJURY -
The deliberate, willful giving of false, misleading, or incomplete
testimony under oath.
Comment added
September 4th, 2008
GREAT NEWS!... Out latest motion which I will post tomorrow has caused
some havoc at Re/Max Marquee Partners in Manhattan Beach California.
Let me tell you its tough fighting the Re/Max Manhattan Beach dark side!
These people are really giving Re/Max a bad name. BS, lies,
untruths, half truths, no truth, hollow misleading statements, all to the federal judge
hearing this case. We had enough of the blatant lies and finally called foul!
Lies are lies, and the truth is the truth, and we have all the exhibits to show
what we say is the truth.
Kelli Todd told the judge in a SWORN declaration that they had
removed our Federal Trademark All Cities Realty
®from all her Family's company websites... just more lies to the court. We showed the
court the truth in our latest motion. She also said that Commbroker, Inc.
(Re/Max Commercial Brokerage) was never made part of the Re/Max All Cities Realty website
it was just a "link" [see below]. Its just an ongoing stream of lies, diversions
and untruths to muddy up water then play hide and evade the from the court
system.
Dealing with these people and their attorney is like entering the Twilight
Zone. Up is down and down is up. We own all three companies, no we don't own
those companies the companies own the companies. Company A owns company B, no
Company B owns Company C which owns Company A and B.... confusing as a game of
3D chess.
THE BIG SHELL GAME!
This is a CONSTANT GAME OF GOTCHA! They lie, we
prove they are liars, GOTCHA! Then they move the shells around again....
they file something and try and confuse the court, we prove they are
liars again, GOTCHA! Welcome
to the Re/Max Lawsuit Carnival!
You will notice their key word "linked". They
try to claim time after time Hollmax and Commbroker were only "linked" like as
"outside" websites. Here is a big fat photo showing Commbroker as
PART of Re/Max All Cities Realty. I don't want to bore you and point out lie
after lie after lie, but here are some simple examples.
For reasons that would benefit her in thes
court cases, Kelli Todd recently stated that NONE her family's companies
were using the All Cities Realty®
name and of course that was just another lie.
Note this page
[Re/Max Commercial Brokerage] was captured before they finally changed this site in late 2007
showing Commbroker Inc. illegally being advertised as one of Re/Max All Cities
Realty's offices. This was another lie.
Pages from www.commericalrealestatela.com
8/29/2008 just a few days ago.
[website taken down 9/4 after we filed the perjury motion]
You will note that magically after filing our motion claiming perjury; the
website is taken down!
[www.commericalrealestatela.com]
WEBSITE HISTORY AS OF 9/4/2008!
Comment added
September 3rd, 2008
NEWS... we will have a great new motion for you to read tomorrow or so.
Tells you what is going on with Commbroker (Re/Max Commercial Brokerage) and
Hollymax (Re/Max Sunset Boulevard / Hollywood Hills) cases.
We were doing some figuring... we estimated that the TODD Family's (Kelli
Todd) ) suite of real estate companies, Commbroker, Hollymax, and Re/Max Marquee Partners,
Inc. have LOST ABOUT 300 AGENTS.. can you believe that... about 300 REAL ESTATE
AGENTS... GONE GONE GONE!
We were thinking the problem might be the management... that is what we
have heard from the street.
300 AGENTS... phew!
Remember what I said about FREE legal representation and
bankruptcy?
Comment added
August 31st, 2008
Actually its no big surprise that Commbroker, Inc. (Re/Max Commercial
Brokerage) and Hollymax, Inc. (Re/Max Sunset Blvd) are evaporating; we know the
reasons for this. Apparently some of the agents are being moved into CF Real Esate Loans, Inc. (Now Re/Max Marquee
Partners). 100s of agents have left the Todd family's suite of
companies in the past two years. We were also notified a while back that DAN VERDIN, the Executive Vice President, had left the company.
Too bad [for the company] Dan Verdin is gone. He seemed like one of the
shining stars and a positive influence while at Re/Max All Cities Realty. He
appeared to be one of the few who had a clear view of a genuine moral compass. Because of his prior efforts
to solve this matter we wish Mr. Verdin the best of luck in his new life path.
Comment added
August 28th, 2008
One down and one to go..... News is that Hollymax, Inc. is history (no
working agents) and that Commbroker is NEXT (next month according to Kelli's
court papers)... we are watching as the cookie crumbles.
Remember what I said about FREE legal representation and
bankruptcy?
Comment added
August 25th, 2008
Big news!!! We were notified that ALL REAL ESTATE AGENTS at Hollymax Inc.
is gone gone gone....
Does this mean Hollymax Realty, Inc. has been shutdown? Developing
info....
Comment added
August 18th, 2008
We have motioned the court to reopen the Hollymax Inc. and Commbroker Inc.
lawsuit. Keep abreast as this unfolds - join the
newsletter
for updates. The judge was clear that this case could be revisited if the CF
case as not completed by January 2009. Since that case has been continued by the
courts for the 5th time we believe we will be successful in reopening the this
case. Re-opening the Hollymax / Commbroker case will affect all of the following
companies and people.
Commbroker, Inc. - served
Hollymax Realty, Inc. - served
Brokers of record / designated brokers sued
Byron Rife Jr. - served
Dale A. Eleniak - served
Commbroker agents and brokers (to date)
Omid Benjamin Arasteh - served
Glen Beer - served
Maurice Benitah - served
Nina Dhillon - served
Mathew Freedman - served
Jack Khalili - served
Jihan Kim - served
Robert Melamed - served
Gina Saeidian - served
Simon Shaheri - served
Hollymax agents and brokers (to date)
Kenneth Davis - served
Farzad Andy Dorrani
- served
Jeanette Gurza-Junco - served
Allen Jackson - served
Ariane Kays - served
Julia Kuleck (Jiao Hong Kuleck) -
served
Rob O'Sullivan - served
Shannan O'Sullivan - served
Colette Stevens -
served
Susan Williams (Susan Solari)
- served
Comment added July
7th, 2008
Trial postponed. Keep abreast of all three trials and the 1700 agent
litigation against Remax Marquee Partners by subscribing to our new email
newsletter. We will send a short email when developments happen in any of the
three law suits!
Subscribe
Comment added June
15th, 2008
Only about 30 days to trial and we are ready!!!
We have 20 GIGABYTES (thousands and thousands of documents) worth of
infringement data that we have provided to the court. We have entire copies of
all the infringing websites with every agent who has used the trademark
ALL CITIES REALTY®
- basically everyone since 2002. We have working copies of all the Remax ALL
CITIES REALTY websites that we can show the jury on a wall size projector screen
-- even though Re/Max disposed of the evidence and changed their website in
December. We have web page after web page where the agents don't use a Remax. We
have 1000s of emails sent to us by many clients, customers, agents, and vendors
because of the actual confusion. We have a 'willful' use of the name because the
Re/Max management would not give it up even though we kept telling them in
emails and letters from attorneys that the name was trademarked and they could
not use the name.
Trademark law is for the LITTLE GUY. Big guys like this Re/Max can fend
for themselves with unlimited funds to fight things like this lawsuit while
making people's lives miserable -- just as miserable as they have made mine and
my wife's for 6 long years. Just think when the jury hears of the long history
of misdeeds of this Re/Max and its management... bankruptcy, fraud, lies,
kickbacks, lawsuits. Do you think a jury is going to have any sympathy for them?
This Remax has sold 20+ BILLION dollars in real estate using our Trademark.
Would you have sympathy?
In today's OC Register there is a long story about Henry Nicholas III,
Broadcoms's co-founder and a Billionaire who lives in Newport. Well ole Henry is
in BIG BIG TROUBLE (see
smoking gun article) the entire article is fascinating. One thing really
caught my eye though... here is the quote "It goes hand
and hand. If they do one unethical thing, they do another." Sounds
familiar with this Remax does it not? It's a
must read article in the OC Register today. Imagine steering your life so
that in a court case everything you made went down the tube... Henry, the
Billionaire, is going to spend 5-10 years in federal prison. I'll bet on that.
I must reflect back to that day in State Court when Remax's attorney,
David Sandelands, argued to the Judge and said "your
honor, if CF is found guilty -- then they all are guilty" and that is the
reason the Judge stayed the State trial for the 1700 real estate agents who have
been named in that lawsuit.
The law is clearly on our side and we are grateful for that. The hardest
part of litigation today is that it is VERY expensive and it takes forever. You
have to be able to weather the storm until judgment day. Almost six years have
gone by and finally that day has come.
I am sure Re/Max was betting that I would die, run out of money, or would
just give up and go away before we got to court. They bet wrong.
Unfortunately for Re/Max Marquee partners and all its affected agents,
this court battle won't be the last; it will be the first. All we need to prove
in this action is simple Trademark infringement... then
the gates of ETERNAL LITIGATION HELL will open for this Remax, its management,
its companies, and ALL AGENTS who are named in the various legal actions.
People think they can hide their personal wealth behind the corporate
veil, do their mis-deeds, and then not have to pay; they can not... California
is a pro Alter Ego State and we believe that Kelli Todd is a perfect Alter Ego
candidate as the head of her "family business."
Read about ALTER EGO in California: Here is a
quote --- "On the other hand, they have also emphasized that “it would be
unjust to permit those who control companies, to treat them as a single
or a unitary enterprise, and then assert their . . . separateness in order to
commit frauds and other misdeeds with impunity."
Basically this says that if you are a sole-proprietor, you are responsible
for your mis-deeds and you can be sued because of them. Alter Ego means that you
are basically a sole-proprietor with a corporate name that you hide behind, so
if you do bad things behind the corporate name, and are found guilty, you can be
held the same way... personally.
The guy that owns the enormous OLEN properties is being sued Alter Ego to
collect on a huge debt his company won't pay. Here is another fascinating story.
This one is about Igor
M. Olenicoff of OLEN properties.
The rest of the story.... and one last
fascinating article.
Our Trademark
expert, who at one time was an official trademark examiner at the US patent and
trademark office, has set aside the date to fly out all the way from Virginia to
tell the Jury, in plain and simple terms, that we currently have, and
that since it was registered we always have had, a legal, valid, and enforceable Trademark;
simple
as that.
Because Kelli, Bob, Dale, Byron and the agents refused to change the mark after we repeatedly
notified them of it; the infringement will be willful and the damages will be
triple. They will also be responsible for the All Cities Realty
®
attorney fees totaling more than 400k at present.
(see Microsoft ruling below)
As stated by the Judge in
Hollmax / Commbroker case; once we prove the mark is valid and protect-able its
all downhill for Re/Max at that point! If Re/Max does not pay and cover the
damages at trial, we are then forced to go after the agents. At that point both the
1700 agent State and Hollymax / Commbroker Federal cases reopen.
If your name is on this list
LIST OF AGENTS SUED
then that would (unfortunately) be you. It is significantly in your favor
that Kelli Todd-Amundson and Bob Todd not lose this case, or for Re/Max Marquee
Partners Inc., Hollymax Inc., and Commbroker Inc. to settle the case before
trial. All the agents who have infringed will see, when this Re/Max files for
bankruptcy protection once again, that the piece of paper you signed allowing
them defend you and indemnify you will be WORTHLESS (I tried to warn
you). Of course this won't affect them personally you know, as they keep
everything worth anything outside of the corporation.
When they, this Re/Max, does lose then the
Pandora's box of legal action will open for evermore. Just first appearance
fee to try and defend all of you agents in State Court is more than $600,000.
A $525 per
person State Court Appearance fee. But defense will not be the issue, once
trademark infringement is found in federal court; its just the damages that will
be the issue in court at that time. If they claim bankruptcy again like they
have in the past when the real estate market slowed down it will be one big nightmare for every
real estate agent who has worked
there and used our registered trademark - All Cities Realty
®
- it will probably go on for years and years and years. All these damages, fees,
and costs add up to millions of dollars real quick.
Our new All Cities Realty website for our NetAgent®
program is coming along nicely and we have significant interest from potential
agents. www.allcitiesnetagent.com
(even Dan Verdin told me in person that this was a great idea).
If I was Re/Max Marquee Partners I would be just a little more than
concerned about this, and so should each and every agent and past agent who is
named in the lawsuit (of course that will be updated as agents are STILL using
our trademark). I am not a
Martyr, I admit my wrong doings and don't do things like this. The clock is
ticking... but the window of opportunity is open only for a short time before its too late.
These rulings are NEW and that is because the Internet is new. It has
taken years to get these cases through the court system so case law is just
coming in. But with each and every
ruling our case gets stronger and stronger and stronger.
2007
US App LEXIS 29871 (9th
Cir 2007). Decided December 28, 2007
Ruling: Atrademark
registration is prima facie evidence of the validity of a trademark
and whether defendant has used the mark on the goods specified in the
registration is irrelevant in establishing Plaintiff’s protectable interest.
If there is a protectable interest, the next question is whether Defendant’s
use of the mark creates a likelihood of confusion.
Prima Facie evidence means that the mark is VALID just because we have the
registration and the USPTO issued the trademark to us.
We have had lots of confusion, 1000s of emails (did I say 1000s?) lots of phone
calls, mail you name it.... lots of actual confusion. How about
www.allcitiesrealty.com and
www.allcitiesrealty.net or how
about www.allcitiesescrow.com and
www.allcitiesescrow.net ?? Are
those confusing? Of course they are. They have registered and used both
allcitiesrealty.net and allcitiesescrow.net causing significant confusion. No
one we have talked to does not believe that Re/Max All Cities Realty and All
Cities Realty®
are confusing names.
Then when we prove its willful its 3 times the damage.
Check this recent 9th Circuit Count Ruling regarding as to how simple this is.
Microsoft was granted 3 separate default judgments for trademark and copyright
infringement lawsuits brought in California since March 2008.
(more…)
Microsoft was granted 3 separate default judgments for trademark and
copyright infringement lawsuits brought in California since March 2008. In
all three cases, Microsoft alleged that it had informed the defendants of the
violations and the violations continued - making the infringements willful (and
hence enhancing the statutory damages).
When willful its up to three times the damages and also attorney fees.
Significantly increasing the size of the judgment.
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 25726 (9th Cir. 2007). Decided November 5, 2007
Ruling: Because of the way internet search engines interpret
text, the mark “Perfumebay” and “Perfume-bay” infringe and dilute the mark
“eBay”. However, the mark Perfume Bay does not.
(more…)
In this case just the ebay in www.perfumebay.com
was found to be infringing. You will note there is NO more
www.perfumebay.com that name is GONE
and they have lost even on appeal.
Comment added May 1st, 2008
Amazing! After close to 6 years of trying to create an umbrella name,
first using All Cities Realty, and now Marquee Partners this Remax finally got
it right. They finally changed the name of the Corporation to Re/Max Marquee
Partners, Inc. and can now have DBAs that fall under that name. However, the
damages are still damages and the trial is slated for July 15th.
Dale Eleniak forced Re/Max to get him his own attorney at their expense. I
am wondering why the other agents have not obtained an attorney that would best
represent them? It should be interesting how this all plays out. There is not a
single person we have talked to that does not believe that Re/Max All Cities
Realty and All Cities Realty are confusing names and marks.
You might ask Remax mangement why they are putting all their past agents
at risk and where is the money to pay for a $15,000,000 damage award? If they
don't have the money, all the agents and past agents are still on the hook....
Its not too late, if you have information that may help us at trial we'd
love to hear it. Please give us a call at 213-623-5700 and ask for Jeff Sax.
Sorry, if you are represented by an attorney in this case Mr. Sax can not
ethically talk with you.
Comment added April 13th, 2008
Trial July 2008 - its almost showtime!
Once we prove confusion we immediately reopen 1700 agent State litigation.
We have now included all three corporations and all agents in the legal
actions now. We have have the Trademark and we have actual confusion and we
can't wait for our day in court!
Still NO Department of Real Estate license
for
Re/Max Marquee Partners Why? Are you using this name illegally?
Comment added February 21st, 2008
New federal lawsuit filed on 2/21
Hollymax Realty, Inc., [Re/Max Sunset Blvd] along with certain agents and brokers.
Commbroker Inc. [Re/Max Commercial Brokerage] along with certain agents and brokers.
Serious things you might think about... your
defense.
With our federal trademark trial set for January 2008 apparently Kelli
Todd-Amundson and Dan Verdin planned to change this Re/Max from Re/Max All
Cities Realty to Re/Max
MarqueePartners in
an "attempt" to wash their hands of the trademark infringement just prior to the
federal trial... kind of like a big corporate "hit and run" don't you think?
Obviously this trademark infringement [alleged] was one MAJOR corporate boo boo.
Instead of arrogantly continuing the damage for more than FIVE YEARS as they
have, the honorable thing to do would have been to change the name [a long time
ago] and settle the lawsuit so the 1700+ agents are not at risk.
We are looking at two trials. The first will be the Corporation CF Real
Estate Loans, Inc. and the second trial will be the 1700+ agents who used the
name, this includes Commbroker, Hollymax and the agents of Commbroker and
Hollymax as they were displayed on the Re/Max All Cities Realty website and who
were infringers.
David Sandelands, Re/Max All Cities Realty's trademark attorney, was able
to get the state court stayed [paused] until the federal trial has been
completed. I was there in court and will never forget his "argument" to the
judge. Basically he said - Your honor, if CF is found guilty in the federal
trial, then THEY ARE ALL GUILTY.... referring to the agents. With that,
the judge stayed the trial until the federal trial is complete.
To me, spending ALL THAT MONEY to change the name of all the offices, the
signage, the stationary, all the websites - etc, from Re/Max All Cities Realty
to Re/Max MarqueePartners, just before
trial looks to me like Re/Max was/is not so sure about winning as Kelli
Todd-Amundson boldly stated when this first started...
So what happens if this Re/Max goes bankrupt again or has no money to
indemnify the agents [past and present] after the FIRST trial? The agents are
part of the second trial. If we get a good judgment in the first trial the
company may attempt to go bankrupt to avoid paying. If so, how are they going to
pay for the agents legal representation OR indemnify them against judgment with
NO money? Its OK for us if they do go bankrupt as we will just move on to the
second lawsuit and sue the agents.
The lawsuit has now been reset for July 2008. We HOPE the agents are
asking these IMPORTANT questions. Big signs, big offices and fancy cars don't
mean a deep corporate pocketbook. It often depends on where the owner wishes to
place the money... keep it in the company or move it to other ventures or to
their pockets.
Agents should know that owners of corporations like this, in preparation
for financial catastrophe, may CHOOSE to take all the money OUT of the
Corporation and put it in their own pockets to show the company has no money,
but that is a story for another day. BEWARE as the day of trial comes closer
this Re/Max could CHOOSE to file bankruptcy once again - now where would that
leave all these 1700 real estate agents they promise to indemnify? Promises
won't protect you.
It took them, this Re/Max, 64 months +/- to decide to start changing the
name. Apparently keeping this name any longer was not a good idea.
The agents should know that NO SETTLEMENT has taken
place and both court actions are still pending - the corporation, and 1700
agents are STILL being sued. The trial date comes closer and we are
all going to see each other in court very soon. We will be revising our agent
list soon to include all Re/Max agents during the time of infringement.
Interesting that a company would take another company's trademark during
the hottest real estate market on record and then release it after the market
cooled... and just before their court date. No problem for us as we have
gigabytes of data on the infringement and they a a long long long way from a no
infringement situation. There are 1000s and 1000s of links and stories and
agents links and pages on the net that they will never be able to change. Re/Max
MarqueePartners is still a long
way from a name change and a point of non-infringement.
Also I find it peculiar how many legal infringements this goliath Re/Max
company can rack up.... According to the Department of Real Estate website they
don't even have a real estate license for the new name Re/Max
MarqueePartners.
No California Real Estate License for Re/Max Marquee Partners! [as of
12/19/07] If they started this name change WAY back in November you would
think they would have a real estate license prior to using the name and
having all their agents advertise Re/Max Marquee Partners when the DRE has
not issued a license under Re/Max Marquee Partners name.
CLICK
HERE --
PDF
This stuff just amazes me - can you believe it?
We are ELATED however that Kelli Todd and Dan Verdin have finally given
the order to stop using our trademarked name ALL CITIES REALTY®.
What took so long?
Comment added October 19th, 2007
This website was erected to combat the purported and alleged lack of information
provided by CF Real Estate Loans, Inc. to its Re/Max agents regarding a legal
action concerning the federal and state trademarks being used by them which were
and are legally registered by ALL CITIES REALTY, Inc.
CF Real Estate Loans Inc., Kelli Todd-Amundson, Bob Todd, their staff, and
associated companies were (are) promoting the use of the ALL CITIES REALTY®
name, and the ALL CITIES REALTY® mark to its agents.
According to agents we spoke with, they had no knowledge of the allegations and
litigation and were told to use the mark by this Re/Max organization, its staff
and owners; further damaging All Cities Realty, Inc. That, of course, does not
indicate that all agents did not know that the mark was registered by All Cities
Realty, Inc. and was the subject of litigation.
We believe that all agents and associated brokers, past and present, are
personally guilty of trademark infringement as independent contractors. This is
why this website was constructed; on our information and belief that all have
used the mark and are guilty of trademark infringement. Whether they still work
there or not; they are guilty of harm to us and the site was constructed for
informational purposes.
The website grew to effectively tell the entire David vs. Goliath story of
a small company with vision and a big dream, A company who's dream was later
destroyed by the actions of one of the planet's largest real estate franchises.
This situation started way back in August 2002. We believe that CF, it's
associated companies, its principles and agents have knowingly, willfully, and
maliciously seized our federal trademark and it began many many years ago.
As the story unfolded it was found by All Cities Realty that Re/Max All
Cities Realty, its owners, its founder, its prior and current associated
companies had 100s of lawsuits, the founder and many persons from the company
had been convicted of federal loan fraud involving both the real estate company,
the agents, and their escrow company. We found that the owners and others had
used bankruptcy laws to rid them and the company of debt while they brag how
successful they are.
Because of their immense power and arrogance, this enormous company then
forced a single individual, Joseph Miner, and his small company All Cities
Realty, Inc., to defend his trademark and spend literally 100s of thousands of
dollars in legal fees, an enormous amount of money to most individuals, all the
while CF Real Estate Loans Inc. [Re/Max All Cities Realty [ now Re/Max
marqueepartners ]] promoted the
use of the mark to their army of 700 agents, named their franchises using the
mark, and published 1000s of pages of web information knowing another company,
All Cities Realty, Inc. was the owner of the registered trademark.
Hypothetically, if the Re/Max All Cities Realty [ now Re/Max
marqueepartners ]'s defense
costs were equal to Mr. Miner's cost to save his registered trademark, their
cost, based on the 700 agents they claim, would be in the vicinity of
$210,000,000 (two hundred ten million dollars)!. An amount we doubt they could
have spent and in this respect the justice system is unfair. The effective cost
for Re/Max All Cities Realty [ now Re/Max
marqueepartners ] is a mere
$400+/- per person [estimated].
With all this said, we at All Cities Realty are committed to this! ALL
CITIES REALTY, Inc. will take this to the end because we are morally right and
legally right and we can't wait for our day in federal and state court to prove
it. We are doing it for the little guys of this world so that case law states
these big companies can not just slap a "house mark" in front of a registered
mark and seize the mark as Re/Max has done.
We wonder how eagerly CF and the Todd's would have seized our name if they
knew it would have cost them 210 million dollars to defend it? Our logic tells
us that would have never touched it.
We are lucky that we have the money to defend our legal rights, typically
there is no free defense or contingency attorneys available to small business.
This is the reason a typical jury slams the big company in situations like this.
We are truly David and they are Goliath.
Why we sued the agents. One prominent reason is that we believed (and it
was indicated to us) the parent company, CF Real Estate Loans, Inc., at trial as
one of its defenses may blame it on its agents, indicating they are independent
contractors and should have known not to use the trademark of another company
and they should make their own decisions. With that knowledge were also forced
to sue all agents that we believed used the name for whatever reason. Although
we have not named many of the newer agents, if their name or photo shows up
under our mark All Cities Realty,
as in this PDF file of their website, they will be added to the State Case
when it proceeds, or if we believe they have used the name in any way that
infringes on our rights or dilutes our name. We understand many of the agents
don't believe they have used the mark; we believe we can show they have, and we
will continue with the lawsuit against the agents immediately when Re/Max is
found guilty.
How your name got on our list - We
obtained your name through the discovery that Re/Max provided us in the form of
the "agent roster" starting in 2002 when this first began, through the time the
legal action was initiated. We compiled ALL names from three reliable sources:
1. the agent roster provided by Re/Max All Cities Realty [ now Re/Max marquee partners ], 2. the
Department of Real Estate list of agents, and 3. the Re/Max All Cities Realty [
now Re/Max marquee partners ] own website
that displayed the agents names prior to the State legal action. There are NO
fictitious names as Kelli Todd-Amundson states, these are sources for the
defendant real estate agent names.
NOTE - anyone we can name, that we believe has harmed us, that has not
been named, will be named, when the state lawsuit resumes. For example, if your
photo and name appears under our mark "All Cities Realty" as in a situation such
as this
as in this PDF file of their website you will be named when the state legal
action resumes. Just because you have not been served to date does not mean we
will not name you and serve you when the time is appropriate.
NOTE - Please do not be angry at All Cities Realty or Joseph Miner for
this!!!! We were happily working along when Re/Max seized OUR NAME. We are only
protecting our mark as Re/Max would do. If Kelli Todd would have stopped using
OUR NAME this would not have happened. Believe me, if we named our company All
Cities Realty - Real Estate Maximums, or ACR
REMAX, you can bet Re/Max
international would sue us. We asked the management at Re/Max All Cities Realty
to quit using our name many times. It did not have to come to this. If you are a
real estate agent you are named because, as real estate agents, you are
independent contractors, and you are responsible for the decisions you make.
Their attorneys inferred to us they may blame this whole thing on you. Whether
you no longer work there is of no consequence - if you have worked there during
the time of infringement which continues today - you will be named if we feel
you have damaged us.
Complain to your management and ownership at Hollymax
Realty, Inc., Commbroker, Inc. and CF Real Estate Loans, Inc. - and all the
fictitious names they go by - please do not complain to All Cities Realty, Inc.
This site is based on the facts that have been uncovered in the
investigation of this situation and although there is some commentary made;
mostly facts are presented for you to base your own opinion. Our objective is
only to bring the truth into the open and make the information available to
interested parties. The site contains our story, commentary, and our
investigation of the Goliath we are fighting and the owners who make its
decisions.
To date we have uncovered court convictions related to real estate, 100s
of lawsuits, articles about the FBI, kickbacks, loan fraud, broker license
revocation, bankruptcy that have now ALL BEEN ASSOCIATED with our good name ALL
CITIES REALTY. All of this has been brought to light within this website. We are
now informed on who we are fighting, and you can be too.
IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION THAT YOU FEEL MIGHT
BE HELPFUL TO OUR SIDE OF THIS CASE, or any questions that we may answer,
AND YOU ARE NOT OTHERWISE REPRESENTED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY please feel free
to contact the attorney who is our point of contact for the State of California
Superior Court and Federal Court action:
PLEASE NOTE - IF YOU ARE
REPRESENTED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY YOU NEED TO CONTACT HIM OR HER AND OUR
ATTORNEYS CANNOT ETHICALLY SPEAK WITH YOU.
NOTE - DO NOT consider anything I have said
"legal advice". Please consult an attorney, or several attorneys and do what is
absolutely the best for you. We want you to have the BEST defense in this
situation that you can get.
END OF LETTER
NEW! - Re/Max Beach Cities MEGA FRAUD
Case; the full DRE PDF version -
Click here
Read for yourself the tale of conspiracy and
fraud within the Re/Max Beach Cities Realty organization.
The Department of Real Estate lays out all the mis-deeds of Re/Max Beach Cities
Realty and Bob Todd.
Federal Court indictment and case files
coming soon for public download!
Your personal real
estate reputation is no better than the company your work for!
Current and former office names of Bob
Todd, Kelli Todd and this Re/Max organization in Los Angeles California:
Robert Todd
Robert K. Todd
Bob Todd
Bob K. Todd
Kelli Todd
Kelli Amundson
Kelli Todd-Amundson
Kelli P. Todd
Kelli P. Todd-Amundson
Kelli P. Amundson
Kelli Patrice Todd
Kelli Patrice Amundson
Kelli Patrice Todd-Amundson
CF Real Estate Loans, Inc.
C F Real Estate Loans, Inc.
C.F. Real Estate Loans, Inc.
C. F. Real Estate Loans, Inc.
Cf Acquisition Corporation
Hollymax Realty, Inc.
Combroker, Inc. (old company)
Commbroker, Inc. (new company)
Coastal Financial Real Estate Loans Inc (old company)
Oceanfield Inc (old company)
Security Financial Real Estate Loans Inc (old company)
RE/MAX All Cities Realty
ACTIVE AS OF 10/25/2002
Re/Max Bay Cities Realty
ACTIVE FROM 03/28/1995 TO 04/30/2002
Re/Max Beach Cities Realty
ACTIVE AS OF 07/17/1995
Re/Max Beverly Hills
ACTIVE AS OF 03/12/1997
Re/Max Coast Cities Realty
ACTIVE FROM 03/28/1995 TO 04/30/2002
RE/MAX Commercial Brokerage
ACTIVE FROM 02/27/2004 TO 01/07/2007
RE/MAX Commercial Brokerage
ACTIVE FROM 11/24/1999 TO 02/08/2004
RE/MAX Crestline
ACTIVE AS OF 08/25/2003
Re/Max Estate Properties
ACTIVE AS OF 03/12/1997
RE/MAX Hancock Park
ACTIVE AS OF 10/01/2001
RE/MAX Hollywood Hills
ACTIVE FROM 05/10/2001 TO 01/07/2007
Re/Max Lake Arrowhead
ACTIVE AS OF 03/12/1997
Re/Max Los Angeles
ACTIVE AS OF 03/12/1997
RE/MAX Mountain Resorts
ACTIVE AS OF 07/23/2007
RE/MAX Sunset Boulevard
ACTIVE FROM 05/10/2001 TO 03/09/2005
RE/MAX VIP
ACTIVE FROM 10/25/2002 TO 01/07/2007
Re/Max Westside Properties
ACTIVE AS OF 12/19/1996
Coastal Financial Real Estate Loans
ACTIVE FROM 05/06/1991 TO 10/31/1995
Platinum Realty
ACTIVE FROM 05/22/1992 TO 08/03/1992
Re/Max Beach Cities Realty
ACTIVE FROM 05/30/1984 TO 10/31/1995
Re/Max Of Hermosa Beach
ACTIVE FROM 01/26/1983 TO 06/01/1994
Re/Max Of Manhattan Beach
ACTIVE FROM 01/26/1983 TO 06/01/1994
Re/Max Of Palos Verdes Estates
ACTIVE FROM 04/09/1984 TO 03/20/1989
Re/Max Professionals Realty
ACTIVE FROM 03/20/1989 TO 06/01/1994
Re/Max Westside Properties
A Division of Re/Max Beach Cities Realty
ACTIVE FROM 01/26/1995 TO 10/31/1995
RKT Realty
ACTIVE FROM 07/08/1993 TO 10/31/1995
PLEASE NOTE - IF YOU ARE
REPRESENTED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY YOU NEED TO CONTACT HIM OR HER. OUR
ATTORNEYS CANNOT ETHICALLY SPEAK WITH YOU WHILE YOU ARE REPRESENTED.
IF YOU
HAVE INFORMATION THAT YOU FEEL MIGHT
BE HELPFUL TO OUR SIDE OF THIS CASE, or any questions that we may answer,
AND YOU ARE NOT OTHERWISE REPRESENTED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY please feel free
to contact the attorney who is our point of contact for the State of California
Superior Court and Federal Court action:
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