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JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
ELECTION CENTRAL: WHO'S RUNNING FOR JUDGE IN 2016 ..... UPDATED
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
NEW CANDIDATE FILINGS FOR ELECTION 2016 .....
In our post dated January 26th, we discussed the first filings for the Judicial Election of 2016. At that time, Judge David Young had filed to run in retiring Judge Rodriguez Chomat's Group 39 seat. On the same date that Young filed, attorney Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts filed to run in the same Group. Before I was able to finish writing the post, attorney Carol "Jodie" Breece filed to run in Group 52, the group of retiring Judge Michael Genden.
Well, in the past few days, things got much more interesting. Where do I begin?
David Young is still running for Judge, and he is still running in Group 39; but now, nobody is running against him.
As for Group 52, it just got very crowded, with four candidates having filed in that Group. Jodie Breece is still in the group, and she is joined now by Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts, who filed papers with the Elections Commission switching from Group 39 to Group 52. Joining Breece and Rodriguez-Fonts are:
Elena Ortega-Tauler.*** Ms. Tauler has been a member of The Florida Bar for 26 years. She runs a solo practice and specializes in the field of Immigration Law. Now, I have not had the pleasure of meeting Candidate Tauler, but if she has ever read my columns on this Blog, then she would have known that this was coming. You see, there is no Elena Ortega-Tauler that is a licensed attorney in the State of Florida. There is an Elena C. Tauler. And Ms. "Tauler" even has a web site for her law firm. I read through the dozen or so pages on that web site. Do you think I found any, even one, reference to her being called "Ortega-Tauler"? NO. NADA.
Not only does Ms. Tauler list her name on The Florida Bar's web site as Elena C. Tauler, but we were also able to find that the home she apparently lives in, in the City of Doral, has her name on that deed as Elena C. Tauler. Also, there are no less than 24 corporations listed on Sunbiz where Elena C. Tauler is either an Officer and/or the RA. And, check the no less than seven documents that Tauler filed with the Florida Division of Elections in Tallahassee when she filed to run for Judge; all seven have a signature that clearly appears to read "Elena Tauler".
Why Ms. Tauler do you feel the need to attempt to pull one over on the voters of Miami-Dade County? Why are you running for a job where the public expects nothing less than for you to be the class of judgment and professionalism; yet your first act in running for Judge is one of deceiving the public by adding the name "Ortega" to your last name? We have outed several potential judicial candidates in the past on this Blog; you are not the first, and you most certainly will not be the last.
If you are going to run for Judge under the name "Ortega-Tauler", then at least have the decency to use that same name in the Member's Section of the Florida Bar web site and change your name on your own law firm web site so it reads "Ortega-Tauler".
***Addendum***. Thank you to Wannabe Captain. That commenter reminded me of a post I scribed on April 24, 2008, that can be found here. Now I remember how I earned my reputation. Six and one half years ago I first reported on Ms. Tauler when she filed to run against Migna Sanchez Llorens. (Shortly after my post, Ms. Tauler withdrew her name from the race). In that post, we alluded to the fact that Ms. Tauler had been recommended for Disbarment by The Florida Bar, but the Supreme Court overruled that recommendation and Suspended her for three years. We also made mention of the more than 30 lawsuits Ms. Tauler was a party to in Miami-Dade County. Please take the time to review our earlier post and thanks again to Wannabe Captain for the reminder.
Raul Alberto Perez-Ceballos. Mr. Perez-Ceballos has been a member of The Florida Bar for 12 years. He has a solo practice and specializes in the field of Family Law. He was interviewed by reporter Julie Kay for the Daily Business Review recently and he indicated that: "I like to read, and I like to write," ...... "That's why I want to be a judge."
Perez-Ceballos had this to say about the crowded field in Group 52: "This could be a record," .... "I've seen a three-way race but I've never seen a four-way race go through."
Raul, Raul. Yo soy El Capitan! The Captain only has to go back to Election 2004 to recall that Don Cohn, Catherine Parks, William Thomas, and Josie Velis ran for Judge in the same Circuit Court Group. Or, how about Election 2002 when Alexander Akpodiete, Xavier Cortada, Raul Ordonez, and Sarah Zabel ran in the same Group. Or, Election 2000, when Gina Mendez, Dennis Murphy, Martin Zilber, and Peter Sylvester Adrien ran for Judge against each other. For 100 points, who won each Election? And for 50 bonus points, who was in each of the Runoffs?
So, what can you take away from this post? Well, for one thing - read the DBR and end up with quotes like "I like to read and write; that's why I want to be a judge". Read Rumpole's Justice Building Blog with crack political reporter El Capitan, and you get the story behind the story; Ms. Tauler!
That's your Election Central update for our Judicial Elections 2016.
CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
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44 comments:
El Capitan, tienes memoria muy corta!
How could you forget Ms. Tauler previously filed to run for judge??? How could you miss her litigation history? Or her disbarment proceedings? How did you miss her THREE year suspension (on a 5- vote of the Fla SC) while researching her use of a hyphenated surname? With two judges voting for disbarment????
Don't get distracted by the shiny trinkets. Focus, Captain, focus.
http://justicebuilding.blogspot.com/2008/04/captain-reports-election-update-be.html
PS Don't forget to read through the comments to that post and see all the ALLCAPS comments obviously written by Ms. Tauler. Rambling, grammar-less, and borderline psychotic.
Oh SNAP, Captain, you got Captained!!
This blog does a great service to the Miami community.
Wow. What a group. If you only knew....
Great stuff Cap.
So you're saying she has a chance.
I can't wait to call one of these characters "your honor"
Captain, please do your research before jumping to conclusions and accusing her of somehow using "Ortega" improperly to sound Hispanic. If you look at the Clerk's website marriage license records, you will see that her maiden name was Elena C. Ortega when she married Antonio E. Tauler (another Hispanic) in 1977. Maybe she feels that Tauler doesn't sound Hispanic enough, but she certainly can use her maiden name of Ortega.
Silly me for showing up at REG these days on time for calendar. Without fail half the judges are covering calendars for other, vacationing judges.
Meanwhile, a line of defense attorneys forms six deep, state employee PDs and ASAs while away time on their cell phones, corrections officers gossip, clerks and reporters share laughs, guys in orange sit staring vacantly... all on the public's dime.
Any other job where you can start forty-five minutes late or have your colleague "cover" your work for the day?
The PDs should start doing that. "Your honor, another PD is on vacation, so I am going to go cover his calendar. Just have everyone wait here, ok?"
I promise you that I will have a well qualfied, well financed latin attorney to run againstt Little David. His berating of lawyers will cause his defeat and he will never don the black robes again.
THE CAPTAIN RETORTS:
to 12:02 PM:
CAN YOU SAY DISINGENUOUS.....
Now it's time to call you out.
I pulled the Marriage Bureau Records Search last night when I was preparing this post.
On August 18, 1977, Elena C. Ortega married Antonio E. Tauler. They were subsequently divorced in 1987.
On June 15, 1989, Ms. Tauler applied for a Marriage License, using the name Elena C. Tauler with plans on marrying one Calvin Fox.
On February 10, 1992, Ms. Tauler applied for a DV Injunction against Mr. Fox, using the name Elena C. Tauler.
Ms. Tauler and Mr. Fox never did get married.
On March 15, 1994, Ms. Tauler, using the name Elena C. Tauler, married Joaquin Tomas.
I have been unable to locate any files recorded in Miami-Dade County showing that they were Divorced.
On January 1, 2012, Ms. Tauler, using the name Elena C. Tauler, married Jose Luis Napoles.
Please let me be clear that I am not accusing Ms. Tauler of bigamy; I am simply unable to locate a Dissolution of Marriage in Miami-Dade County records.
So, it appears that, for all things important, including her:
1. Marriages
2. Her Residence
3. The Florida Bar
4. Her Law Firm
5. Florida Dept. of Corp.
Elena C. Tauler has not used the name Ortega since August of 1977, some 38 years ago.
That is, until last week when she decided to use it for the first time in 38 years - to file her papers to run for a Judge of the Circuit Court.
CAPTAIN OUT .....
Horace. Your blog is el fuego today. We don't get this investigative reporting with either the Miami Herald and Ovalle or with Julie Kay at the Business Reciew. Your Captain deserves a raise. Well done. Well done indeed.
Same thing as when Denise Martinez Scanziani was blasted here for using her Martinez maiden name and her Scanziani married name from her also Hispanic husband. Nothing wrong with using a Hispanic name when you are Hispanic.
Do you remember when Eugene Steele changed his name to Shapiro because Steeledidn't sound Jewish enough. Or when White Attorney Calvin Leroy Fox changed his name because it soundedblack?
Boom.
If everyone only knew who Elena Tauler really is. I had the displeasure of having her employee me and three other young attorneys. While we worked for her in what used to be her Doral office, she had a staff of about 50 employees doing foreclosure defense work. It took me a while to ask the right questions. It wasn't till I received a Florida Bar complaint for monies she took and I was completely unaware of (as the attorneys did not take payments from clients) that I decided to really pay attention to the fees aspect of her practice. The Florida Bar found my facts to be true and dismissed the complaint. However, it was then I asked the right questions to the right people. She lied to clients about results that she knew were unachievable, took thousands and thousands of dollars from them and only reviewed files when clients wanted to stop paying the hefty monthly fee. I'll never forget the time she sat across the table from one of her very good friends and told her that she would not lose her house and we would fight the case, she only needed to keep paying the monthly fee. This was despite the fact that I had attended a mediation with the client and the lender told her there was nothing that could be done to save her home. She later lost her very pretentious office in Doral when all of her clients left the firm because they finally figured out that the $10,000 in legal fees they had paid could have actually been used to negotiate with their lenders. I finally had the last straw when on top of realizing she was defrauding innocent people, she also tried to defraud her own attorneys by not paying them and telling them their checks were in the mail. Last time I checked, the USPS delivers mail in the same county in less than three months time. Stories like this I have way to many. I hope the people of Miami-Dade county are spared from Mrs. wannabe Ortega Tauler.
I intentionally gave my child her mom's maden name of Hernandez as a middle name so she will not have this problem when she runs for office
Just another group of unqualifed attorneys who cannot make a living in private practice and most, if not all have probably never tried a jury trial, civil or criminal. Well qualified attorneys hardly ever run for judge. except Stanford, Kevin and maybe a few others. This bench is as bad and as unqualifed as I have ever seen. Most make Rosemary Jones and McKenzie look like Judge Learned Hand.
She is a Cuban lady I've met her. She is cool also. Would be a good judge. Fair. Trust me. She might be dealing below the belt her but we could do a lot worse. Take a chill pill captain.
4:49 pm ;
Wait, is that the same Calvin Fox that was engaged to be married to Elena Tauler? Check El Capitan's comment at 3:59 pm.
Based on all this bad stuff regarding Tauler, she will probably only get 40% of the vote.
This woman is the worst. But her one right decision was not marrying Calvin Fox. She would have been his 5th wife. He was previously married to Rina Cohan and Emilia Diaz among others. But he also played her same game, changing his middle name to David from Leroy in a blatant racist ploy to snag a judgeshipn for which he was woefully unqualified.
Thomas, Zabel and Murphy won those elections.
ScottAfrica
This is really good:
"Ms. Tauler and Mr. Fox never did get married."
GB
I have vacillated over appointment versus election for years. On the one hand, appointment brings us agenda driven judges, particularly now, but every once in a while someone really outstanding squeaks through. On the other hand, election brings out the dregs, fighting for a larger paycheck, but every once in a while someone really outstanding runs and squeaks through.No matter the system, the quality of judges in this community has changed and not for the better. Qualities such as scholarship, experience and patience are no longer valued by either system.
I pity the fool.
Mr. T
Regardless of whether Tauler is "nice" as one reader commented - it is clear she has NO BUSINESS wearing a black robe. With her Bar issues alone, she should be disqualified. I am so incredibly disenchanted with the quality of the upcoming judiciary. I used to look up to them as a young lawyer. Now, as a middle aged one, I am so disappointed in what has been appointed / elected / wants to run. There are, of course, exceptions but for the most part, it's incredibly sad.
Perez-Ceballos, although a seemingly nice person, isn't impressive either.
Of the group thus far, my vote goes to Rodriguez-Fonts. Saw his work in the REG. He has trial experience, is smart, and will work hard. I just hope that he isn't too nice, quiet and reserved for his own good. Oscar, get out there and talk to people!!
I'm running with support from all communities.
Any suggestions on the Board of Governors election?
What a wonderful start to the election season. The blog is never as much fun as during the campaigns. When can we expect that asshole "professor" to contribute his usual inanities?
I still recommend that in each judicial race the last choice should be "None of the above."
The name game doesn't only apply to judicial races. Recall when Katherine Fernandez Rundle was challenged for election by retired Judge Murray Z. Klein and she successfully persuaded the elections department that her last name, although not hyphenated, began with an F not an R and she was therefore entitled to have her name on the ballot above Klein's.
Prior to that when Klein won in 1984, his opponent's PR guy Gerald Schwartz complained that the only reason Murray finally won that year was because the voters confused him with the other Judge Kleins. Murray retorted that if that was true why hadn't he won the previous 13 times he ran?
The appointment system gave us Jason Bloch as Circuit Judge .......rest my case
Any comments on the Florida Supreme Court decisions regarding juvenile sentencing? One case found that a an extended period of incarceration for a non-homicide juvenile crime such that is tantamount to a life sentence is unlawful pursuant to Graham. The other case found that Alabama v. Miller, holding that juveniles cannot be sentenced to mandatory life sentences on homicide crimes can be applied retroactively. I foresee a lot of new sentencing hearings in the RGB.
Congratulations to Miami appellate aces Elliot Scherker and Karen Gottlieb for a ground-breaking win in Falcon v. State. I have two clients who have been waiting for this breakthrough to get some relief from their life sentences.
Elena Tauler's ex-husband, Antonio Tauler M.D., is a psychiatrist at Miami Behavioral/Spectrum programs at 38th avenue and Flagler Street, that's why the name sounded so familiar
Some hyphen needs to run against Young. He's awful.
I see El Capitan's point about Tauler f/k/a Ortega -- She hasn't used Ortega in 38 years, so she should be estopped from doing so now (or at least questioned about it, if she uses the name). On the other hand, she is, apparently, legitimately Hispanic. To me, at least, this seems different from others who aren't Hispanic at all yet use Hispanic-sounding names (e.g., "Camacho"). I express no views on whether Tauler is qualified. But her use of Ortega doesn't totally bother me. It is politics, after all, and her point, in the end, is obviously to show voters that she's Hispanic -- which, apparently, she is.
How does this grab ya...... Ortega-Tauler married a former divorce client. si si si. She represent Mr. Napoles in his 2009 divorce from Barbara Perez. A lovely lady by the way. Case no 07-13105
Victoria Sigler is not Hispanic, yet she has a very Cuban name which happens to be her actual name.
Yes, she was named after Queen Victoria princess of Havana.
4:31. Names that end with a vowel aren't owned by Hispanics. You're like the father is Big Fat Greek Wedding who thought that every word in any language was a Greek word. You guys think you're the center of the universe.
Victoria is the Latin ( ROMAN, not Spanish ) word for 'victory' or 'conquer' and is used as the feminine form corresponding to the name Victor.
In Roman mythology, Victoria was the name of the goddess of victory, corresponding to the Greek goddess Nike.
Sigler is as German as it comes.
7:50, Sigler may be German but it is quite common in Cuba and Cuban Miami. Any Cubans who sees "Victoria Sigler" in a ballot thinks that she is Cuban.
Judges were away at judicial college not even close to a vacation. It's 7:30 am -5:30 1 hour lunch and some 5 minute breaks. It's excruciating and intense. So stop jumping to conclusions.
Trialmaster: why make a comment about how "unqualified" the candidates are? If you think the candidates are unqualified, then why not grow a pair, file your papers and run to become a judge? This site is joke with a bunch of cowards and that includes Rumpole.
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