Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Jacob A. Korn, of Seattle, entered a guilty plea in Washington's largest mortgage fraud case. Korn was involved in the scheme that siphoned off millions of dollars from home loans.

Joshua Adam Hicks, writing for The Bellevue Reporter, reveals that Korn did not report real-estate transactions that he helped close and failed to file a 2008 income tax return.

Korn founded Emerald City Escrow which was based in Bellevue.

The article did not say when Korn would be sentenced but he faces a prison sentence of up to one year, five years of probation and a $25,000 fine.

Others indicted in the scheme were Emerald City Escrow co-owner Donata Baydovskiy, mortgage brokers Vladislav Baydovskiy of Bellevue, Viktor Kobzar of Federal Way and Alla Sobol of Renton, as well as Issaquah real-estate agent David Sobol and Renton resident Camie Byron, a loan officer with Kobay Financial Corp. and Nationwide Home Lending.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have suffered harm due to legal malpractice.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that the U.S. District Court in Spokane has awarded a man who was held in Grant County Jail for seven months $3 million dollars for legal malpractice in a civil suit. In making the award, the jury found that the public defender for Felipe G. Vargas, who was falsely accused of child molestation, did not mount a proper defense.

Vargas was arrested and placed in jail in November 2003 where he remained for seven months although his accuser recanted three days later. Vargas' court-appointed attorney was Grant County Public Defender Thomas Earl. Earl was working under a contract which paid him $500,000 annually. In finding Earl negligent in his representation of Vargas, the court heard testimony that Earl did not hire experts and investigators to clear Vargas, in part because of his case load, but also because he had a financial incentive not to spend money on services to defend Vargas. Earl was eventually disbarred.

A legal ethics professor at Seattle University, John Strait, testified in the trial calling flat fee contracts, "illegal and unethical for any attorney to enter into." Court watchers across Washington State believe that flat fee contracts for people needing court-appointed lawyers does not provide indigents a fair representation because defenders like Earl may not properly defend a client due to their own profit motive. In September, the Washington State Supreme Court barred any Washington lawyer from working under a contract such as Earl's.

In an ineffective assistance of counsel case the suit can proceed if it can be prove that an attorney's negligence deprived their client of their civil rights.

This information is provided by the Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury firm that represent clients for medical malpractice, hospital malpractice and for legal malpractice. If your damages are serious, then you need to contact a skilled attorney. At The Farber Law Group we have more than 30 years experience in representing malpractice cases. We often partner with co-counsel to make sure you have the best legal representation available.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free and confidential case evaluation.