Attorney Ben D. Manevitz Threatens Betsy Combier After New York Court Corruption Posts the Picture of Attorney Wally Bock, Now Being Investigated For Criminal Misconduct

I received a letter on August 12 or 13th, certified, from Attorney Ben Manevitz. This is my reply.

August 24, 2014
Dear Mr. Manevitz,
You have ordered me to reply to you within 14 days of your letter dated August 11, 2014, and as I returned late last night from an upstate arbitration, I am posting my letter and yours so that we all know I replied in a timely manner to your demands, which in my opinion are reckless, unthethical, and legally unsound. I will explain.

 You sent your demands for money to a  private Foundation, The E-Accountability Foundation, a  non-profit which assists people who have been wronged by corrupt politicians, judges and lawyers, or....anyone. We do not have a website. The Foundation, of which I am President, has no legal attachment at all to a blog called New York Court Corruption.

As you seem to be linking the Foundation to the blog's use of a photo that has no link whatsoever to the Foundation or to Parentadvocates.org (the Sadowski photo of Attorney Wally Bock is not on the website), you obviously are reckless in your search for money from anyone and decided it should be me..

Again, the E-Accountability Foundation has no connection or liability for anything posted on the blog New York Court Corruption.

Additionally, Parentadvocates.org. is not the website of the E-Accountability Foundation. These are two completely different entities.

Finally, your reckless actions can be seen on the fact that the picture by Christopher Sadowski of Attorney Wally Bock leaving court is, as I stated above, not on the website Parentadvocates.org. There is no connection between the website Parentadvocates.org and the blog New York Court Corruption .

I am the Editor of this blog and Parentadvocates.org and I am an investigative news reporter. As such, I post news stories under "Fair Use". Please see the disclaimer on Parentadvocates.org. As a news reporter, I can, and do, use my rights to publish newsworthy articles from news organizations, TV, magazines, etc., on the internet. As you know, Mr. Sadowski's picture of Wally Bock was published by NBC News on 9/1/2010 by Bill Dedman. I re-posted the article on my blog as a news article of interest, particularly because Wally Bock was the Attorney who did my mom's Will in 1989, and encouraged the Associate Pastor and the music Director of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, John Weaver, to get the Will written and stored at his office, filed, before I filed the last Will of my mom in March 1998. Four years later you are threatening me with a lawsuit, and, you will have to prove that my copying of NBC news led to a loss of income to Mr. Sadowski. I have never been paid a penny for any article on this blog or on my website. I hope you have the data you need to pursue this, if you decide to do so.

Of course I will sue you back as well as Mr. Sadowski for the damages incurred by the writing of the letter published below, your reckless behavior, and demand for money. I was never given any notice about my infringement and I am not an attorney.

I have removed the photo on my blog as a courtesy for now. Anyone may go to the link on my blog to see the original article published by NBC and photo of Wally Bock. Should I find out that your demands and your ordering me to give you $450.00 is indeed arbitrary and capricious, not only will I put the picture back up but I will take legal action against you and Mr. Sadowski.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Betsy Combier
Editor and news reporter for New York Court Corruption.

Attorney Ben Manevitz

MANEVlTZ LAw FI RM LLC

Intellectual Property Counseling, Prosecution, Enforcement and Litigation

805 Clifton Avenue

Clifton, NJ 07013-1815

tel: 973-594-6529

fax: 973-689-9529

http://manevitzlawfirm.com

                                                                                                     August11, 2014

The  E-Accountability Foundation/ParentAdvocates.org Attn: Betsy Combier

315 East 65th Street Suite 4C

New York, NY 10021

 

by: USPS Cert/return receipt

 

Re: Unauthorized use of photographs; Reference number 39140-1156

 

To Whom it May Concern:

 

This firm represents the professional photographer Mr. Christopher Sadowski. It has come to our attention that you are using an image or images owned by Mr. Sadowski on your website, without authorization and without having licensed same.  Attached for your reference is  a  copy   of  the  image  in  question   as  used   on  your   website,   found  at  the  url(s):

I

[http://newyorkcourtcorruption.blogspot.com/    2012/07Inyc-public-administrator-ethel-

griffin.html].

 

As you may be aware, your use of Mr. Sadowski's creative work without a valid license is a clear copyright infringement in violation of United States Code Title 17 (The Copyright Act). Statutory penalties for copyright infringement (where available) range from $200 to $150,000 per work infringed , and under normal circumstances are rarely less than $750 per work infringed. Of course, under certain conditions damages for copyright infringement can run to amounts significantly higher. Further, where statutory damages are awarded, the courts also have the power to order that you pay Mr. Sadowski's legal fees as well. 

 

 This letter is a demand letter requiring your response, and further requiring your immediate compliance as follows.   Within  14 days of the date of this letter, we demand:

(a)              You must provide proof to these offices of a valid license of the image or images in question, by emailing proof of same to PhotoLicense@manevitzlaw.com. Please make sure to include your company name and the reference number above in the subject line.

(b)              If you cannot provide such proof of a valid license, then you may continue to use the images by immediately remitting the ongoing­ license fee of $1125. The license is for exactly the use that you are currently making of the image, and is not transferable or subject to sub-license. We will provide you with the appropriate settlement and release agreement at your request.

(c)              In the alternative, if you cannot provide proof of a valid license, and you do not wish to continue to use the images, you must immediately cease and desist use of the images. In addition, you must remit the termination-license fee of $450. Merely ceasing use of the images does not eliminate liability for payment of fees due. We will  provide you with the appropriate settlement and release agreement at your request.

Mr. Sadowski's livelihood is based on his offer of these images for license, and your infringement is causing him direct and immediate harm. The license fees quoted herein are calculated based on Mr. Sadowski's normal charges for a license for your type of use and the number of images you have improperly used.

In anticipation of some of the common objections and responses this firm has encountered, it may be worthwhile to make clear certain points of law:

•  Under the relevant statute, copyright infringement is a strict liability offense, which is to say that it is not a defense to say that you infringed the images "by accident," or by automated system, or without knowledge.

                     •  Resizing the picture does not make your use "fair use."

•  Neither correct attribution to the photographer nor linking back to the original source lessens the severity of the copyright infringement. In fact, it may serve to demonstrate your knowledge that the image was not rightfully yours to use.

•  The fact that the image is only linked from your site and is not stored on your server is not a defense.

•  An image is not in the public domain merely because it is on the internet.

 

Please be in touch with these offices and confirm your compliance with the demands herein. If we do not hear from you promptly, my client will be forced to consider all of his options for further enforcement of his rights. We would strongly prefer to resolve this matter without resort to the more costly and time-consuming mechanism of bringing suit in federal court.

If you feel that you have received this letter in error, please contact me by email at PhotoLicense@manevitzlaw.com. Please make sure to include your company name and the reference number above in the subject line. Nothing in this shall be deemed a waiver of any of Mr. Sadowski's rights or remedies in connection with this matter, whether at law or in equity, all of which rights and remedies are hereby expressly reserved.

                                                                  Sincerely

                                                                                                   Ben D. Manevitz

A Culture of Violence Against Teen Inmates at Rikers' Island Jail Brings In the US Attorney To Investigate

Preet Bharara

Rikers: Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail

Andre Lane talks about a confrontation he had with correction officers at Rikers. This incident

is one of 129  documented cases of beatings that resulted in severe injuries to inmates

Corruption Sweep at Rikers Island Leads to 22 Arrests

Rikers Island

 Rikers Island Struggles With a Surge in Violence and Mental Illness

Inmate Who Fought With Another at Rikers Island Dies After Leaving Hospital

 

Mentally Ill, and Jailed in Isolation at Rikers Island

 

Rikers Island Guards Are Found Not Guilty in Prisoner Assault Case

U.S. Inquiry Finds a ‘Culture of Violence’ Against Teenage Inmates at Rikers Island

By BENJAMIN WEISER and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ AUG. 4, 2014

LINK

 

In an extraordinary rebuke of the New York City Department of Correction, the federal government said on Monday that the department had systematically violated the civil rights of male teenagers held at Rikers Island by failing to protect them from the rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force by correction officers.

The office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, released its findings in a graphic 79-page report that described a “deep-seated culture of violence” against youthful inmates at the jail complex, perpetrated by guards who operated with little fear of punishment.

The report, addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio and two other senior city officials, singled out for blame a “powerful code of silence” among the Rikers staff, along with a virtually useless system for investigating attacks by guards. The result was a “staggering” number of injuries among youthful inmates, the report said.

 

The report, which comes at a time of increasing scrutiny of the jail complex after a stream of revelations about Rikers’s problems, also found that the department relied to an “excessive and inappropriate” degree on solitary confinement to punish teenage inmates, placing them in punitive segregation, as the practice is known, for months at a time.

 

 

Although the federal investigation focused only on the three Rikers jails that house male inmates aged 16 to 18, the report said the problems that were identified “may exist in equal measure” in the complex’s seven other jails for adult men and women.

In just one measure of the extent of the violence, the investigation found that nearly 44 percent of the adolescent male population in custody as of October 2012 had been subjected to a use of force by staff members at least once.

Correction officers struck adolescents in the head and face at “an alarming rate” as punishment, even when inmates posed no threat; officers took inmates to isolated areas for beatings out of view of video cameras; and many inmates were so afraid of the violence that they asked, for their own protection, to go to solitary confinement, the report said.

Officers were rarely punished, the report said, even with strong evidence of egregious violations. Investigations, when they occurred, were often superficial, and incident reports were frequently incomplete, misleading or intentionally falsified.

Among more than a dozen specific cases of brutality detailed in the report was one in which correction officers assaulted four inmates for several minutes, beating them with radios, batons and broomsticks, and slamming their heads against walls. Another inmate sustained a skull fracture and was left with the imprint of a boot on his back from an assault involving multiple officers. In another case, a young man was taken from a classroom after falling asleep during a lecture and was beaten severely. Teachers heard him screaming and crying for his mother.

“For adolescent inmates, Rikers Island is broken,” Mr. Bharara said at a news conference announcing the findings. “It is a place where brute force is the first impulse rather than the last resort, a place where verbal insults are repaid with physical injuries, where beatings are routine while accountability is rare.”

 

 

 

Rikers Island emergency services entering the jail's juvenile detention facility. Credit Julie Jacobson/Associated Press   

 

 

 

The federal investigation was conducted by the civil division of the United States attorney’s office. Officers involved in specific incidents were not identified by name. But the report listed more than 10 pages of remedial measures, and it warned that if the city did not work cooperatively to develop new policies and procedures, the Justice Department could bring a federal lawsuit asking a judge to order the imposition of remedies. Mr. Bharara said the city had 49 days to respond to the findings.

Joseph Ponte, the city’s new correction commissioner, said in a statement that his agency had “cooperated fully” with the Justice Department, and would work with it to carry out whatever changes were “appropriate and feasible.”

The report, which covers 2011 through the end of 2013, touched on many of the same issues raised in an investigation by The New York Times into violence by guards at Rikers, particularly against inmates with mental illnesses, published last month.

The Times article documented 129 cases in which inmates of all ages were seriously injured last year in altercations with correction officers, including several attacks that were also singled out in the report.

New York is one of just two states in the country that automatically charge people aged 16 to 18 as adults. That population, which averages close to 500 inmates at Rikers Island, is among the most difficult at the jail complex, the report said. In the 2013 fiscal year, about 51 percent received a mental illness diagnosis, compared with about 38 percent for the overall population. And nearly two-thirds were charged with felonies.

Even so, the report found that adolescents were overseen by the least experienced correctional staff members, who, often out of frustration or malice, lashed out violently against them. The violence against teenage inmates has steadily increased year by year, the report found. In the 2013 fiscal year alone, inmates younger than 18 sustained 1,057 injuries in 565 reported uses of force by correctional staff members.   

 

Moreover, the report found, many violent episodes go unreported.

Officers and supervisors used coded phrases like “hold it down” to pressure inmates into not reporting beatings. “Inmates who refuse to ‘hold it down’ risk retaliation from officers in the form of additional physical violence and disciplinary sanctions,” the report said.

One inmate said that he was continually harassed by the correctional staff after reporting that he was raped by a guard and that he was warned by guards not to speak about the episode in an interview with a consultant on the investigation.

The report also found that civilian staff members, including doctors and teachers, also failed to report abuse and faced retaliation when they did.

One teacher told an investigator that when abuse occurs, civilian employees know “they should turn their head away, so that they don’t witness anything.”

Even when abuse was reported, the report found, the investigations typically went nowhere. The federal inquiry was highly critical of the Correction Department’s investigative division, which is overseen by Florence Finkle. The report described the investigative division as overwhelmed, understaffed and reliant on archaic paper-based record keeping. Investigations, which are supposed to take up to five months to complete, often take more than a year.

Photo

            

Investigation Into Violence Toward Teenagers at Rikers Island

The federal government said on Monday that the New York City Department of Correction had systematically violated the civil rights of male teenagers at Rikers Island by failing to protect them from the rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force by correction officers. The office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, released its findings in this 79-page report addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio and two other senior city officials. AUG. 4, 2014

Greg Fischer Puts His Hat In The Ring To Win NY State Governorship And Unseat Corrupt Cuomo

Greg Fischer

EQUAL PARENTING TICKET LOOKS TO CHALLENGE CUOMO IN NOVEMBER
MEDIA ADVISORY…………………………….………….…………..August 11, 2014
CONTACT ADAM WEISS………………………………….…………..917-863-1155
 
Governor Cuomo has yet another worry in his bid for reelection: A third party ticket that’s picking up steam to challenge him in November.
 
The Equal Parenting Party will give parents a greater voice in child custody matters, as well as press the governor on key issues including:
 
·         Albany corruption and the botched Moreland Commission
·         New York’s standing as the highest taxed state with the worst business climate
·         Cuomo’s raid of Hurricane Sandy recovery funds to promote himself
·         Disastrous Common Core roll out
 
“The Equal Parenting Party will be a powerful platform for reform not just on family issues, but the many other ills Governor Cuomo has perpetuated in our once great state,” said Greg Fischer, a Calverton resident and the new party’s candidate for governor. “A very large segment of the state’s population has been affected by child custody issues and other state government problems and are mobilizing under our banner.”
 
According to Fischer, over 1,000 volunteers statewide are circulating nominating petitions and should have more than enough to place a full slate on the November ballot, including candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and comptroller.
 

A father of two, Fischer’s eyes were opened to the injustice of state law when he was embroiled in a child custody case. He’s been an advocate of pending legislation that would require judges to seriously consider giving guardianship to both parents in custody disputes, instead of only one or the other as current law mandates. "This way, extended family ties are more likely to be preserved," Fischer said, adding that states adopting equal parenting are discovering a reduction in crime and government costs as a result.

“In fighting for changes in the child custody law, we found that tens of thousands of residents are impacted by the same issues,” Fischer explained. “These voters are tired of the way Albany operates to the detriment of the taxpayers and have organized to draw attention to any number of issues that are plaguing our state. Unless you have a team of lobbyists in Albany, it’s clear that the only way you’re going to get any attention is at the ballot box.” 

Adam Matthew Weiss Public Relations
Office 212-542-3146
Mobile 917-863-1155
www.amwpr.com
222 Broadway Street
New York, NY

LONG ISLAND, N.Y., July 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ --

• Over 1,000 volunteers stand ready to petition for STATEWIDE NYS Candidates
• Parent's group to run a Third Party Line for NYS Governor to draw attention to New York State Family Court crisis
• With a strategy in place, over 1,000 NYS voters are organizing a new political party to focus on Family Law reform. The group known as THE EQUAL PARENTING PARTY NYS ("EPP") seeks to introduce its own statewide balloting petitions to put Governor, Lt. Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney General candidates up on it's own ballot line for the November 2014 elections. 
• The EPP has a central platform issue: the presumption that both parents are equal (especially upon marital separation, divorce, or child custody decisions). In law, NYS currently has a sole-custody presumption --- in the event of any Family Court litigation a judge MUST award sole-custody even if it is against a child's best interest. Judges may, however, "So Order" joint parenting if the parties stipulate to it.
• Equal Parenting (a/k/a: "co-parenting", "shared parenting") is a mainstream issue with a slight majority of national equal parenting organizations now led by women. 
• NYS Equal Parenting legislation has a long history. "Shared Parenting" legislation was passed in the 1980's but was vetoed by then Governor Hugh Carey.
• The current 2013 NYS Bills at hand are:  S5316 and A6457
• "We are a serious effort with a very basic Civil Rights EQUALITY issue. We have every intention of achieving ballot access", said Greg Fischer, one of the original EPP organizers, "We ran a judicial candidate, and if you multiply out the numbers to statewide, we will get more than enough votes to become a statewide official party".
• The EPP asserts that "shared parenting" is an issue which is paramount to a large untapped NYS constituency that may number in the millions; they are the divorced, separated, custody-battle victims that may be litigant parents, grandparents, children, or other sensitized family. This is a political issue to awaken a significant "sleeping constituency" of disenfranchised voters to become active. The EPP claims to attract members that are severely emotionally damaged and who are now finding their recovery and self-expression through a channeled and lawful participation in the grassroots political process. 
• The EPP plans to ask incumbents and challengers to become its cross-endorsed candidates. If any of the incumbent or challenger candidates reject or ignore EPP endorsement offers, the EPP intends to use that rejection in public forums around the state. 
• The group is being organized on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EqualParentingParty/ and by "word-of-mouth". Its own website is planned. The EPP also has a candidate's pledge card and plans to publish and praise the names of the politicians that pledge to support parental equality and lambaste those that refuse.
• "Strategically, what we are doing is no different than what the Right to Life Party did; we have a central issue but we also support related legislation. We also want to aid grandparent's and other extended family in child access, create better judicial review, have cameras in the court rooms, improve attorney disciplinary procedures, improve oversight of Child Protective Services, and more." said an EPP member. 
• Press contacts:

1. Scott Lewis, r.scott.lewis@greenspacepros.com or call 888-653-6204
2. Andrea Zeledon-Mussio, cleanapothecaries@gmail.com or call 516-637-3832 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EqualParentingParty/

(Release 1, Version 1.4)

Media Contact: Greg Fischer, The Equal Parenting Party, NYS, 6317279637, perfect100@hotmail.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE The Equal Parenting Party