Category Archives: Legal Issues

City of Freeport Threatens Property Owners – Letter to All Property Owners Shifts Burden to Taxpayers to Prove They Don’t Own Residential Rental Properties!

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On March 6 all property owners in Freeport received a letter from the Freeport Police and Community Development Departments advising them of the requirement to register their rental properties. The letter stated that it was being sent to residential rental property owners based on information obtained from the Stephenson County Assessor’s taxpayer records. That Assessor’s Office is certainly a mess if they think every taxpayer in Freeport owns rental properties. The burden is put on the taxpayers of Freeport to notify the City by email or calling if the letter was sent to the taxpayer in error (means taxpayer does not own residential rental properties).

Another bureaucratic nightmare! Why don’t they send letters to every taxpayer in Freeport asking them about the condition of the streets around their homes?

When will the Freeport City Council wake up and start doing its job – instead they are in chronic slumber land!

Buy a Can of Soda and You Will Help Feed the Pigs in Springfield!

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Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter (Chicago Democrat) pictured in the red dress is proposing another new tax – a penny per ounce on each sugary drink sold in sealed containers. Said tax is under the guise of helping people eat a healthier diet. What a joke! Allegedly, the money raised would be used to pay for some health services and educational efforts. As usual in the State of Illinois, the solution to every problem is more taxes. Tell this state senator not to worry about the people in Illinois. She should spend her time finding ways to reduce spending instead of more taxes. Don’t worry about the taxpayers of this state getting too fat – the only ones getting fat at our expense are the pigs in Springfield who continue to over feed with our hard earned income. The politicians in Springfield should not give us advice while gorging themselves at the expense of the taxpayers of this State.

Case of the Week – Flash Your Vehicle Headlamps – And What Do You Get? – A Ticket!

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Michael Elli, a resident of the City of Ellisville, Missouri, observed a speed-trap in the City of Ellisville, and communicated to other drivers approaching from the opposite direction by flashing his headlamps to warn them that they should proceed with caution. The flashing of headlamps is commonly understood as conveying the message to slow down and proceed with caution. Of course, an officer in a marked police vehicle saw him and issued a ticket. When he appeared in municipal court, he was advised by the judge that the fine for using headlamps to communicate the presence of speed-trap is $1,000!

Elli went to Federal Court and requested a preliminary injunction to stop the practice of ticketing individuals who flash their headlamps.

Decision: Preliminary Injunction Granted. The judge stated that the loss of First Amendment freedoms for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.

So it looks like flashing your headlamps is protected free speech, at least in the Eastern District of Missouri!

Read the case at

Click to access Order_Granting_Preliminary_Injuction.pdf

Case of The Week – If You Have To Fall, Then Fall in an IRS Office – It Could Be Worth $862,000!

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A taxpayer undergoing an audit at an Internal Revenue Service office on Long Island successfully sued the IRS for $862,000 after he was injured by tripping over a phone cord. The taxpayer claimed in his lawsuit that he could not enjoy activities from golf to sex after he fell during a 2008 audit at an IRS office in Hauppauge, N.Y., according to the New York Post. He had visited the offices to work out a payment agreement for a $60,000 tax bill when he tripped on the phone cord. He then spent 17 days in hospitals and rehabilitation centers recovering from his injury. Attorneys for the IRS claimed he was exaggerating his injury, but the judge awarded him $862,000 for pain and suffering. He won’t have to pay taxes on the damages either.

The moral of this story – Don’t let an IRS agent come to your office. If the agent comes to your office, then you will not only end up paying your tax bill, but damages to the agent who falls in your office on a pile of your tax records stacked on your floor!

Read the judge’s decision at http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nyedce/2:2010cv03888/308197/57/0.pdf?1388754242

Case of the Week – If you Bowl for a Living You Better Win or Take Lessons on Improving Your Game!

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In Phillips v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2013-215, the Tax Court rejected a taxpayer’s attempt to deduct expenses relating to bowling tournaments. The court noted that, although the taxpayer did win bowling tournaments in 2000 and 2003, by 2008 he had not won a tournament in three years and, despite this long losing streak, the taxpayer had done nothing to change his approach to the game. The fact that the taxpayer did not hire a coach, conduct additional research, or attempt to change his technique indicated to the court that he did not carry on his bowling activities in a businesslike manner. To make matters worse the taxpayer in his testimony could not identify a single tournament in which he had participated in 2008. Does this case mean that if you try hard and lose you can deduct your expenses, but if you lose and don’t really seem to try hard, you cannot deduct your expenses. Perhaps the old phrase “an A for effort applies.” (If you don’t know it, the building pictured is the IRS Headquarters in Washinington)

First Freeport City Council Meeting for 2014 Rescheduled for Monday, January 13 (Postponed on January 6 due to Extreme Cold) – Deputy Chief Wants to Spend $11,595.00 for a Computer Program for Rental Housing Registration Plus $1,595 Annually for Maintenance Fees!

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The meeting will be at 6:00 pm in City Council Chambers at 524 West Stephenson Street, 3rd Floor.
If you have Comcast Cable, go to channel 17 to watch live.

Items of interest:

Resolution to approve spending $32,100 for a preliminary Site Investigation for the Jane Addams Trail.

Request for approval from Deputy Police Chief, James Drehoble, to spend $11,595.00 for a Rental Property Registration and Crime Free housing software from Dynamic Design Software located in Bonita, California. In addition the program has an annual maintenance fee of $1,595.00. Pretty expensive program for a City the size of Freeport. In five years the City will spend almost $20,000 on a computer program for the Rental Program. I guess the City just wants to help a business in California!

For the complete agenda, go to http://www.ci.freeport.il.us/citygovernment/Agendas/A20140113.pdf

Heather McPherson of McPherson Law Offices, Freeport, Illinois Authors Article for Illinois State Bar Association

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When you of think decanting, you think of wine when you transfer the contents of a wine bottle into another receptable before serving which makes the wine taste better. In the estate and trust area, the term refers to transferring assets from one irrevocable trust to another trust. Many other states had statutes permitting decanting under certain circumstances, and as of January 1, 2013 Illinois has its own statute. Heather McPherson has written an article entitled “Pour Me Another Trust” which was published in the November issue of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Elder Law Section Newsletter. The article describes the circumstances where decanting would be beneficial, and how it is actually done. This is just another tool that experienced estate planners can use to be sure that the intentions of their clients are carried out by their estate planning documents. As Heather states in the article “Decanting is a great tool for practitioners to use in one’s estate, trust, and elder law practice, because it allows trusts that could otherwise not be changed to be rewritten to adjust to changed circumstances, as well as for corrections to trusts that were poorly drafted.”

Reverse Mortgages – According to Fred Thompson who ran for President Are the Economic Salvation for Senior Citizens!

If Fred Thompson had been elected president, he would have been right at home. American’s economic policies today are like one big reverse mortgage. Mortgage the country’s future so the government can spend and spend with no thought as to the consequences for future generations who will face the burden of paying for all the debt incurred. On AAG’s Reverse Mortgage website you will see Fred Thompson’s face, and the term “A Real Government Insured Financial Solution.” How can incurring more debt be called a real government insured financial solution?

Oh by the way, Fred Thompson ran as a conservative – greed does seem to trump principals in some cases.

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Case of the Week – Jay Leno of The Tonight Show Sued by Flight Attendant!

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A former flight attendant sued American Airlines claiming her co-workers falsely reported that she was carrying pet rats on work flights. Jay Leno joked about the lawsuit. To make matters worse, there was panel of comedians who commented on the lawsuit. The flight attendant in suing Jay Leno and NBC claims that she was falsely accused of “engaging in bestiality and sexual misconduct with a rat.” For an article on the lawsuit see http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/11/18/62987.htm

It is rumored that when Jay Leno was asked about the lawsuit replied – I don’t give a rat’s a## what they think. So much for derogatory comments about rats!

When the rat was asked to comment, the rat replied – I only fly American!

November 19, 2013 – 150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

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Five months after the battles, President Lincoln wearing his black suit, tall silk hat and white gloves gave a short speech at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery. Today the speech is referred to as the “Gettysburg Address.”

The picture is part of the Stephenson County Soldiers’ Monument Erected in 1869 in honor of the Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteer Regiment and all other soldiers from Stephenson County who fought for the Union in the Civil War. In order to preserve and repair the monument, the Civil War Monument Fund has been established save the Stephenson County Soldiers’ Monument. Funds are being solicited at his time. For details on how you can help go too http://monumentfund.org/