Ginger Solicits Trademark Area Partners on YouTube

Hello Everyone!

I can’t thank you all enough for sending your surveys so promptly!  You all are getting the inside scoop first for taking the initiative to be at the Speech outlining what Richard is expecting out of area partners and your chance to see who we are , where we work and what we are about before moving forward. We want to make sure that there is very little room for error in how we communicate our vision into your backyards so…….Please log onto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9SDyM3FJUo and you can see Richard’s newest message to everyone, in the format we will use to breakdown the distance barrier, we really feel like this format will speed up the learning curve on both ends and not leave the possibility of miscommunication from interpreting the written word,   Cant wait to hear from all of you soon!  This is going to be very exciting!
 
Ginger Alexander, Investment Coordinator
Trademark Properties, Inc.

A quick note from your webmaster…

I’m sitting for the bar exam in just two weeks, and as such am focusing the majority of my time on studying.  At the same time, I’m job hunting and preparing to move to a new city.  If you guess that I have very little free time, you would be correct.

As a result, be aware that new comments may not appear as quickly has they have in the past.  I cannot allow comments to be automatically posted due to the number of spam posts we receive each day here on the site.  Please be patient; your comments will be made available as quickly as possible. 

For those of you new to this website, I encourage you to check out and comment on some of our more popular posts:

• From Richard C. Davis: Team Trademark No Longer On “Flip This House”
• Samuel Leccima of ATL Season 2 Cast – Real Estate License Revoked
• Melina Montelongo Seeks Actor for Flip This House
• The Real Deal
• Anyone purchased Armando Montelongo’s Real Estate Package?
• Fox 5 Atlanta – Sam Leccima
• Summary Judgment Motion Hearing – June 6

You might also want to review some documents from the Trademark Properties v A&E lawsuit:

• Trademark’s Amended Complaint
• A&E’s Answer and Counterclaims
• Trademark’s Answer to Counterclaims
• Transcript of February 6, 2007 Motion Hearing
• Transcript of Summary Judgment Motion Hearing

And finally, if you’ve flipped your own properties, please take a moment to share your advice with our readers in What Are Your Flip Tips?  Thanks for visiting!

Casting a new season of Flip This House

From Steve Grant of 813 Casting:

Get your team onto Flip This House!
 
813 Casting and Departure Films are looking for another great cast of characters to be featured on the new season of A&E’s #1 rated lifestyle show, Flip This House!
 
We’re looking for confident, charasmatic, motivated and opinionated people who “flip” residential properties for a living. We want real-estate adrenaline junkies who love the high risk, high reward nature of their jobs and who are devoted to doing a great job! 
 
If you would like your team to be featured on the upcoming season of Flip This House, send an email to FTH@813casting.com. Include your contact info, bios on you and your team, and some reasons why your team should be the next team featured on Flip This House! This is a nationwide search. We are casting teams of people (approx 3 or 4) and not individuals. No phone calls please. 
 
$500 Finder’s Fee

Did you know that Than Merrill and the New Haven team were found through a referral? If you think you know someone who would be GREAT on Flip This House – tell us about them! If they get cast, you’ll get a $500 finder’s fee (and a cool story!) Email us at FTH@813casting.com. Make sure to provide all necessary contact info.

Enormous blow to the Charleston Community, 9 firefighters dead

Richard just sent this email out to fans of the show:

I want to thank all of you who have emailed and called to send your condolences and support of the Charleston Community during probably one of the most tragic days in the history of this city. As you know, my good friend Rusty Thomas has been on a few episodes of both Flip This House and The Real Deal/Real Estate Pros over the last few years, usually talking about community involvement. He is the City of Charleston Fire Chief, one of the best people I know and a true inspiration to me and a big influence on why I believe Team Trademark has an obligation to give back, I watched him do it for years on James Island, whether it was cutting the grass at the high school, working the concession stand or teaching my son how to throw a curve ball, he always gave his time selflessly and anonymously.

Fortunately, he is still with us today and if you watched CNN a bit ago, you saw him give a heart wrenching assessment of his loss of nine friends and 100 years of service to the city of Charleston Fire Department. This guy is a true American hero and patriot, he sent his men to NYC after 911 to do whatever they could to help, but he is hurting today as we all are in Charleston because of the horrible blow to our community.

All I ask is for y’all to say a prayer for the firefighters we lost and their families and please go hug someone you love because you never know when it might be the last time. Many have asked where to send funds, the mayor announced a few minutes ago that you can go to ANY Bank of America branch in the country and donate to the Charleston firefighters family fund, so that would be my best guess.

Thanks for the continued support of team trademark and if you have a message for Chief Rusty or any other firefighters in Charleston, please feel free to email them to me personally ( Richard@trademark-properties.com) , I’ll print them all off tonight and hand deliver to his house tonight. If he ever needed our support it would be now!

Thanks again,
Richard

What Are Your Flip Tips?

We’ve learned that a number of the publications out there offering advice and assistance to would-be investors are either scams or are simply re-hashes of classic advice offered by old pros at this business. 

A number of my readers are skilled in the property rehabilitation game, and I’d appreciate you sharing your “lessons learned.”  What’s worked for you?  What hasn’t?  Have you made money?  Is real estate “flipping” viable in the currently real estate market?

What Ever Happened to Gus?

From a promotional email dated June 16, 2007:

Ever wonder what happened to Gus? Get your answer tonight during a brand new episode of The Real Estate Pros. Featuring Richard C. Davis and his team of professionals at Trademark Properties, this show is the real deal!

9:00PM
Life’s Little Surprises
TV-PG (L), CC
Richard is a businessman with a big heart but when his tenant Gus is hard hit by substance abuse and doesn’t pay rent owed to Richard for nearly a year, things have finally gone too far. The house will need to be renovated and sold.
Miss last week’s episode?? Catch a rerun tonight at 7 PM.
7:00 PM
Straightened Out
TV-PG (L), CC
Richard and Team Trademark help an old friend with substance abuse problems and a house that is on the verge of foreclosure and infested by rats. The team will help him renovate both his life and his home.

As always, we hope y’all have a fantastic weekend – thank you for the support and please be sure to let us know what you think!

Richard and Team Trademark

Richard Davis to Speak on July 27 in Charleston, SC

Richard Davis will be sharing a motivational message, “Come Get Inspired!”, at the Gaillard Auditorium in Charleston, South Carolina.  Tickets are $45 and are available online.

Trademark Properties is beginning a national rollout, and this presentation promises to also include information on how you can become part of the Trademark Team.

In related news, Richard Davis’ book will also be released on July 27.  Attendees will likely be able to purchase copies at the event.

Summary Judgment Motion Hearing – June 6

On Wednesday, June 6, 2007, Judge C. Weston Houck held a hearing on the Summary Judgment motions of A&E Television Networks and Departure Films.  Today, I received a transcript of the hearing.  For the most part, the hearing seems to have been routine. 

A&E/Departure argues that there was no written contract, that the verbal contract to split profits didn’t contain the terms that Richard Davis and Trademark claim, and that Richard Davis has been inconsistent in even his understanding of the agreement.

Several things of note were decided:

• The contract issues will be handled under New York law.
• The defense claims that an oral contract under New York law will fail unless it contains an express termination provision, under Burke, a case that was not fully cited in the hearing and to which my Westlaw account doesn’t provide access.
• The Court felt that an oral contract did exist between Trademark/Davis and A&E/Departure.
• If that oral contract is believed by the Jury, then it is enforceable.
• The Court ruled that issuing partial summary judgment, even if it was determined appropriate, would not reduce the discovery burden, and therefore would be denied in its entirety.
• The Court declined to restrict discovery information relating to costs and other finances to the view of only the attorneys, ruling that preventing Richard Davis from seeing this information would be fundamentally unfair.
• The Court believes that discovery should be scheduled to end within four months.

The thing that was a minor point in the hearing, mentioned at the end of the hearing only, but of significant note and concern to your humble webmaster, is the Court’s final message:

One other thing I was not going to mention today, because I just thought it might be best to ignore it, but upon reflection, I think it’s a matter of such seriousness that I do need to mention it.

It’s been brought to my attention that there is a web blog entitled Flip This Lawsuit. I haven’t looked at that blog, I haven’t studied it to see what it says. I have been told what it says.

Now, I’ve never had this happen before, and I consider it a very, very serious matter. At first blush, it appears to me to be an attempt to influence this lawsuit in an improper way. We can’t tell what’s happening there until we draw a jury.

But at some point in time, if I’m convinced that that has been the result of such a blog, in other words, if we have jurors that come in here and they’ve read that blog, and upon reading that, they cannot give the defendants a fair trial, then that is a serious matter, and it will be considered by such as this court. And an appropriate punishment and sanctions will be handed out. I’m not sure what those will be. I think you lawyers know that if you did that, what would happen to you, you would probably be looking for another profession. So that’s how I feel about that.

Now, whether what’s going on that blog is of such a nature that it in and of itself, whether members of the public read it and act on it or not, warrants a sanction by this court, and some sort of obstruction of justice, some sort of contempt of this court, I don’t know. But it’s because of those consequences that I see fit to bring this to your attention. This is a serious matter. This is a serious court. And we will not permit its function to be undermined in such an unseemly fashion.

Now, who is responsible for that blog? I don’t know. It may be that I’ll have to ask the FBI to look into it. It may be I’ll have to ask the U.S. Attorney to get the grand jury to look into it, I don’t know. Those are things down the road. But it seems to me that the information I have certainly shows that the defendants don’t have their name on this blog and that the plaintiff does.

And I would think that good, prudent action on his part would have gotten it off of there a long time ago. And that’s all I’m going to say on that. But when we get to the end of this case at some point, we’ll look at it again and see who is responsible; what the effects are and what action we should take.

But it just felt like that it is such a serious matter and such an unthinkable thing for a litigant to do in this court, that it needed to be commented on. I mean, we are not in Boy Scout camp; we are in serious court here and we don’t do business that way. And I’m not going to permit litigants in this case to do business in that way. Okay?

Thank you very much. We’ll be in recess.

I, of course, have no affiliation with Flip This House, Richard Davis, Trademark Properties, A&E Entertainment Television, or Departure Films.  I don’t work for any of their attorneys, agents, or employees.  The site is supported through my own funds and through revenue generated by advertising on this page.

I’m a fan, and one that was incredibly pissed off by the actions of A&E on the first night of season two.  Not only did they deceive me, as a viewer, about what I was about to see by running only ads for Trademark Properties, but when I went to their website – to the place that they set aside for viewer discussion – I quickly found that my voice, and the voice of others who disliked the new cast or simply wanted to learn more information about the change, were quickly edited with the delete button.  This heavy-handed moderation continues to this day, and I feel it only appropriate to provide a forum for open discussion of not only the lawsuit but also the subsequent developments in both television shows, Flip This House and The Real Estate Pros / The Real Deal. 

I informed all counsel, through email on February 23, 2007 that my website was open to accepting information from any party that they wished to share with this audience.  In that same email, I informed all counsel that I was not affiliated with any of the parties and requested that, if they submitted printed copies of pages from my website, that they include the entirety of the page so as to include the disclaimer which appears at the bottom of each page on this site. 

The information I post here is obtained through the public records of the Court itself.  Any potential juror who wished to learn these things could easily visit the courthouse themselves and check out the file or even read it through PACER in their underwear at home or from nearly any coffee shop in the world.  Unlike traditional media, which filter the information provided and determine what information you deserve to know, I make it a point to report on all possible information by providing you access, for free, to all of the court documents.  In this manner, you can view and decide for yourself what information is relevant – or even just interesting – to you personally. 

The Court’s comments regarding this website are the subject of an item in the Charleston, SC Post and Courier, which you can read online.  The article begins, “Is the Internet weaving its web into America’s court rooms? Not if a district court judge in Charleston has anything to do with it.” 

I’ve pulled new documents from PACER.  They are, as follows:

• Updated Docket (6/11/07)
• Response to Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment
• Exhibits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 to same.
• Transcript of Summary Judgment Motion Hearing held on June 6, 2007 before Judge C. Weston Houck.

I will continue to report on developments in the litigation, as well as on both shows, as events unfold.

EDIT – June 15, 2007 – I have removed Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and the exhibits thereto.  I was informed that this document is actually a sealed document, but because of a filing error was available for public access.  While I don’t believe this trial should continue being conducted behind a veil of secrecy, I do not desire to publish documents that are restricted by the Court’s order. 

David Montelongo Leaving FTH, Planning Teleconference

UPDATE – JUNE 13 – Flip This Lawsuit is informed that the teleconference has been rescheduled for next week. More information to follow soon.

From a blog post purporting to be from Melina Montelongo:

David and I have recently walked away from Flip This House for many reasons. We receive hundreds of emails asking us if the last show was “staged”. David has refrained from talking about it until NOW.

He will TELL ALL on a telecast on Wednesday Night. June 13, 2007.

“Dear Friends & Associates,

For over a year now you have peeked into my business life and have shared in some very fun and trying times with my family and myself. As I am sure you all know there have been many changes that have gone on within Montelongo House Buyers, and there is definitely more to the story than was presented to the general public, I want to share these very personal events with all of YOU. ……. “

Click on this link to get call in number and pin!

Click here to read more.

Update: You might also be interested in Angela Wilford’s explanation of the Atlanta shenanigans.

Trademark Properties v A&E Headed to Trial

From Peter Hull of the Charleston Post and Courier:

U.S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck ruled Wednesday that there’s enough evidence to suggest that the two sides made a verbal agreement to equally share profits from the show.

In making the ruling, Houck denied a request by A&E Networks to dismiss the suit brought by Richard C. Davis of James Island-based Trademark Properties.

A&E, which aired the real estate show until last summer, has said it never agreed to share revenue with Davis. He sued A&E last July, alleging that the network took his idea for “Flip This House” and did not pay him and his company their share.

Read the Entire Article

We’ve ordered a copy of the transcript, and will post it as soon as it is available.