THE CONVENIENT DEATH OF ATTORNEY BRYAN STONE
Bryan Stone wasnt a criminal mastermind, as the State Bar of Texas would like the public to believe. He was short and overweight, and had a small practice when I first met him. Bryan Stone wanted to be successful, and for that he needed to play ball with the big boys at the State Bar of Texas. He needed to obey their orders, even if that meant breaking the law, and breaking the law he did. Bryan Stone took my case only to damage it as much as possible and prevent justice from being served. However, he couldnt keep up the pace of his deceit, and eventually it caught up with him. A year after both him and attorney Ilene Smoger forged my signature on the back of the insurance check and cashed it, Bryan Stone ran out of lies on why it was taking so long for the insurance check to arrive. In desperation, he had his former partner call my new attorney begging her not to proceed with my case because they would get in a lot o f trouble. Strong words coming from the mouth of a lawyer, pleading with a colleague not to do the right thing. The night before he was supposed to tell my new attorney the whereabouts of the insurance money, Bryan Stone met with somebody inside his car at a parking lot in Dallas, Texas. That night Bryan Stone died of a gunshot to his head.
The next day I received a call from my new attorney telling me that Bryan Stones former partner called her to let her know of his death, and that the insurance money was gone. Bryan Stones former partner kept calling my new attorney and directing her as to who to talk to and what to ask, which I thought was unusual. After that, my new attorney sent me a report painting Bryan Stone as a criminal whod defrauded many, many people, including somebody for over a million dollars (this last part was not written in her letter, but she told it to me over the phone). She insisted I could never recover my money because too many people were after his estate, and I had to forget about the insurance money both Bryan Stone and Ilene Smoger defrauded me.
Later, I found out that was a lie.
Here is a copy of her letter:
Talya B.
Attorney at Law
December 4, 2000
Dear D:
As I promised, I am sending you a summary of my notes regarding your case, sorted in order of the source. I am sorry your money could not be recovered from your former attorney.
Brian Stone
Deceased (?)
July:
First said he did have the check, but was prohibited from distributing the money by an agreement signed at the mediation, until all parties had signed the settlement documents, and the Defendant could not be located. He also said you refused to sign a settlement agreement he drafted. I know that I reviewed and did not approve of it, either. Then he said you did not want to sign until the Defendant had signed. He then said he had drafted a Motion to Compel and given it to you to sign, that he had filed with the court, and was awaiting hearing.
August 4, 2000:
Told me he had called the insurance company twice to request permission to release the money without the defendants signature, and that he was awaiting a reply.
Web Joiner
Home 972-XXX-XXXX
Office 972-XXX-XXXX
Former partner/associate of Stone.
Admitted that he was at the mediation. He said Stone told him there were problems in the language of the release prohibiting him from distributing funds, but that he thought this was ridiculous, that the Defendant did not need to sign a release in order to distribute funds. At the time, he said he believed Stone had not distributed the funds.
After Stones death, Joiner told me that Stones wife tried to have the corporation (P.C.) (as Stones business was incorporated) placed into bankruptcy. Joiner was apparently there, and told me that the Judge disqualified the corporate representative trustee Robert Newhouse, as Newhouse admitted that he did not actually know how much money, if any, the corporation had. The judge threw out the bankruptcy case.
According to Joiner, many people were missing money, and none of them were listed as creditors of the P.C., nor were any informed of the bankruptcy meeting. Joiner believed the P.C. had a $25,000 life insurance policy, but that the books were in such disarray that this might not even cover the cost of a forensic accounting. He said the only way to get an accounting of what there actually is and what happened would be to get the case into probate court, but that Stones wife was fighting this, for obvious reasons. However, she cant sell the house until it goes through probate if the house is in both of their names. Title must be cleared. Also, the people that have been ripped off on the estate may force the Stone estate into probate. But Joiner said he was not sure what would happen now.
Joiner told me that someone (he refused to tell me who and said he did not know how the source got the information) told Joiner that within a couple of weeks of Stones death, Stones wife paid off the house and the car. The house had apparently been purchased only recently.
Joiner suggested that I call Gino Cisco (sp?), an attorney who officed next to Stone because he represents a beneficiary to an estate of which Stone was the executor. Apparently Stone, over the course of the administration, sold a number of businesses belonging to the estate, and no one knows where the proceeds of the sale are. The client did not get them. In the spring, Cisko said that something was odd.
One interesting note was that the bankruptcy meeting was originally supposed to take place the day before, but when the trustee arrived he realized he had a conflict; he had previously sued Stone for bankruptcy fraud, and he had received a judgment for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This judgment was upheld by the Fifth Circuit.
Joiner asked whether an autopsy would be done, and Earnest Leonard, the attorney who attempted to put the thing into bankruptcy, did not know.
Joiner thinks that Stone may have faked his own death, that this may not have been a suicide. Alternatively, he may have been murdered. Stone was president of his homeowners association, and acquired many clients that way, and stole from many of them. Stone got a check for $5,000 on behalf of one client, cashed it, and kept the money.
Stone had a client who had half-interest in a strip bar; the other owner owned a gun range in a bad part of Dallas. The day before he died, Stone went to (the) strip club on business. The next morning, Stone went to (the) gun shop and said (he) wanted to buy a) gun for his wifes protection. Was told (he) needed (a) background check, to come back at 1:00 p.m. Some time that evening, he was found 1 block away, Joiner thinks in a parking lot. Joiner does not know who found him.
Gino Cisco (sp?)
Mary is Ginos wife and secretary.
214/XXX-XXXX
Mr. Cisco qualified his statements by stating that a lot of his information was pure supposition. He guessed that your money was gone, that Stone spent it. Cisco didnt know anyone who had access to Stones books and records. Even the bankruptcy attorney for the P.C. didnt have any access to the P.C.s financial information. No one had authority to give the attorney rights to file for bankruptcy, and he could not affirm that it was really bankrupt. Therefore the proceeding was to be thrown out. However, the attorney that filed bankruptcy said he had seen a death certificate.
Ciscos client was taken for about $90k-$150k. Cisco said he heard that no cadaver had been logged in, the day after Stone was supposed to have died.
Cisco asked that I fax him the death certificate. As far as Cisco knew no one had been appointed to take over their financial records.
John Norris
Calloway, Norris, and Burdette
214/XXX-XXXX
Just custodian of files, in charge of making sure that files get back to their rightful owners.
Sophia at the State Bar in Dallas has the physical files. 214/XXX-XXXX. Legal Assistant.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. You will not be charged for this letter, though the time (with no charge) will be on your next bill. This letter took me approximately 45 minutes to write and send. If you would like me to take any more action on your case, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Talya B.
Fascinating, isnt it? Mr. Stone was quite a colorful character, per this letter. A thief multiple times, and STILL allowed to practice law in Texas with a clean record. Hed already been sued for bankruptcy fraud, and had defrauded several people. My money? Gone, spent by Stone. No way to recover it. Gone with the wind.
Oh, the intrigue! I guess Talya B. thought that this letter would be enough to make me forget all about being robbed by Texas attorneys. Her letter looks so professional.
However, regardless of what Bryan Stone did during his lifetime, or how many people he defrauded, or if any of the contents of this letter are true, this letter is nothing but a smoke screen to try to lead me to believe I cannot get my money back.
As fascinating as this letter is, it is irrelevant. Nothing written on that letter matters to my case. The one thing that matters, in order for me to recover my money, is that Bryan Stone is dead. Period.
In 1971, the State Bar of Texas established the Client's Security Fund to refund clients whove been defrauded by their attorneys, or whose attorneys have died before the client could collect the money. I qualified for both requirements. However, there was a big problem: Ilene Smoger. She and Bryan Stone had cashed my insurance check after my name was forged on its back. Her name was on the front of the check (even though I had fired her as my attorney because she had already defrauded me of a previous insurance check). The bosses at the State Bar of Texas were doing everything in their power to protect her, and that meant breaking every single law in Texas. They wouldnt - couldnt - allow me to learn about the Clients Security Fund and have me file a petition for the insurance money they owed me. The check had been cashed by forging my signature, and both Bryan Stone and Ilene Smogers names were listed as the attorneys representing me. So my new attorney wrote me a wi ld report depicting Bryan Stone as a master criminal who owed money to everybody and their mother. She never mentioned, not once, the Clients Security Fund, even though that was the place for me to request my money as it is the normal procedure when an attorney dies.
Another Texas lawyer breaking the law. Dj vu all over again.
Bryan Stone wasnt a mastermind, as the State Bar of Texas would like the public to believe. Bryan Stone was a patsy. We all know what happens to patsies in Texas.
Automatic blog by
iAutoblog
