UPDATE: Status of Case & GoFundMe Campaign
Status of PERC Hearing
Many of you have asked me what was the outcome of the Public Employee Relations
Commission hearing on Friday, June 3, 2016. Here is the answer to your queries.
NOTE: The reason for my delayed response is that I was too busy dealing with all of the developments such that I was not able to take time out to inform you every step of the way. Please remember that like you, I have other obligations. I teach at MDCPS, tutor, work for a university, spend hours every week on this cause, and I then of course, have to take care of myself and family. I do not have a personal assistant who I can delegate matters to.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have had several disagreements with the attorneys who I initially agreed to retain not only for the PERC hearing, but also for the class action which will follow. At first, I thought we would be able to resolve these differences, but as sometimes happens between clients and attorneys, they are not able to see eye-to-eye. As you may know, I am an attorney myself, and I fully understand what an attorney-client relationship should entail. The reason for terminating the relationship was that a conflict of interest arose on several levels. In any event, it happens. We move on.
It is for this reason that the hearing on Friday, June 3, 2016 was postoned. But, I am actively looking to retain counsel, and I am hopeful that by the end of this incoming week I will have secured counsel and will have rescheduled the hearing. Forward!
Status of the GoFundMe
This is the link to the functional GoFundMe:
Due to the issue of representation, explained above, an issue also arose with the GoFundMe account. The retained attorney was appointed "beneficiary" of the GoFundMe account. This was done to facilitate the transfer of donations to the attorney trust account. The removal of the "beneficiary" designation, since GoFundMe delegates that to yet another company called WePay, is complicated. It is for this reason that GoFundMe advised that the original campaign be frozen and that a new one be created.
I heeded GoFundMe's advice, and I created a new campaign. The funds from the original campaign are being transferred into the new campaign. In effect, nothing has changed. The problem is solved.
Going forward, the monies will be transferred into an Attorney Trust IOTA Account which I opened in Wells Fargo. This account is subject to the Florida Bar rules that govern the holdings of attorneys' clients' monies. Pursuant to Florida Bar rules, these accounts must follow a certain set of controls or guidelines. To ensure that this money is compliant with these procedures, this week I will be hiring a CPA who will keep track of all of the donations. As soon as I talk to her and finalize the details, I will come back to this article and post her contact information here. In this way, anyone can request to review the "books" anytime.
