Victims of the Hawaii Family Court System

An exciting new ad is circulating throughout Hawaii to gather stories from victims of the Hawaii Family Courts (see below).  Obviously, I must NOT be the only one suffering from the criminal actions and misconduct of the judges and attorneys, who are abusing their power and harming the public.

I completely support all efforts to reform the Hawaii Family Court System and I appeal to everyone who has been damaged to respond by contributing your contact information and stories.

I hope and pray that after dozens or hundreds of victims come forward, the perpetrators will be prosecuted and made to pay for their crimes and abuses.  In fact, I heard a rumor that the source of the ad may be the Hawaii State Attorney General or the U.S. Attorney from Hawaii.  I hope that this is true!

In my case, my divorce from Jan Weinberg, after 9 years of marriage, should have been a relatively simple, equitable, and inexpensive process.

At the time of the marriage, my ex-husband had more debts than assets.  His law practice was floundering and he admitted to being a poor businessman.  I gave up my acting career, moved to Hawaii, contributed all of my pre-marital assets and devoted my time and energies to turn his law practice around, resulting in a highly profitable enterprise.

When the marriage ended, my ex-husband and I negotiated a reasonable agreement where, if it had been executed, he would keep, among other things, his law practice and our beautiful home in the Nuuanu area of Oahu, which I significantly improved, increasing the market value of the property.

If the agreement had been executed, I would have received, among other things, an amount of money equal to what I brought into the marriage, our California condo, and a monthly spousal support payment, which would have enabled me to pursue the resumption of my acting career.

Unfortunately, the agreement was never executed.  Once my ex-husband retained attorney Chuck Kleintop, the Hawaii Family Courts engaged in an appalling sequence of events that resulted in the settlement agreement being thrown out, allowing Kleintop to literally dictate all the terms of my divorce, leaving me with none of my pre-marital assets, none of the marital assets that I should be legally entitled to and none of the spousal support, which Hawaii law clearly mandates in situations such as mine.

I did not receive a dime and I was left without a home.   I was also forced to liquidate my retirement savings to fund attorneys, some of whom charged unjust and outrageous legal fees, while doing no discovery and providing little or no value to me and my case.

In order to accomplish their objectives of stripping me of everything that I am entitled to, Judge Darryl Y.C. Choy threw me in jail twice, like a common criminal.  However, I was never convicted of any crimes and I was imprisoned without the option of posting bail.

Prior to the first incarceration, there was a trial in Los Angeles, where California Judge Valerie Baker ruled in my favor that jurisdiction of my California condo was in the California courts (not Hawaii) and I could not be evicted.  Judge Choy ignored Judge Baker’s order and incarcerated me for 17 days.  I was granted my freedom only when I agreed to sign to vacate my California condo.  I signed under obvious duress because, if I did not sign, I would have been returned to prison until I capitulated.

I later returned to Hawaii for the fraud trial challenging the totally one-side division of property that was awarded by the Hawaii Family Court.  Unfortunately, Judge Choy refused to disqualify (recuse) himself, so it was impossible to get a fair trial with Judge Choy once again presiding.  He insisted that I sign to remove my name from the deed of my California property.  When I refused, Judge Choy, Chuck Kleintop, and Jan Weinberg had me detained and sent to jail again, where I was left to rot for another 80 days, while many illegal actions were committed to sell my condo.

While I endured the most deplorable living conditions in jail, they illegally and unlawfully evicted me from my condo, removing my possessions and putting them in storage.  They illegally and unlawfully sold the property without a California judge overseeing the sale, defying the earlier order of Judge Valerie Baker.  Without an appraisal, they sold the property for well under the market price to a friend of my ex-husband.

To make matters worse, my half of the proceeds of the sale of the condo and my Nuuanu home were taken by the court in the form of sanctions (fines) of $455,000.  Not only were the sanctions unjust, unwarranted, and excessive, but instead of the sanctions going to the state of Hawaii, as required by law,  they were passed through to Judge Choy’s pal, Kleintop, and Jan Weinberg.  Approximately $130,000 of the $455,000 was given to Kleintop, $80,000 of which was designated to reimburse him for the court case in California THAT I WON.  The remaining $325,000 of the fines was awarded to Weinberg.  I suspect that paying the money obtained by state levied sanctions to Kleintop and Weinberg is illegal.  I believe that Kleintop’s fees for this case were just over $400,000, so by taking my entire share of the real property equity, Weinberg had more than enough to pay Kleintop’s entire bill at my expense.  So, in effect, I paid all of the attorney fees for both sides and was awarded nothing, while Weinberg paid no attorney fees and was awarded everything.

Very recently, my dear and wonderful mother passed away.  I am still grieving the loss.  I am sure that the stresses of the incessant injustices that I was subjected to contributed to the stroke that took her life and took her away from me at a time when I need her most.

Why did the attorneys and judges allow one party in a divorce case to be deprived of her personal freedom and forced to live among convicted criminals in a Honolulu jail, while the other party and his attorney are awarded ALL of the marital property, including all monetary assets and a lucrative business that only became successful during and because of the marriage?  The answer is:  BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT OF MONEY IN IT FOR THEM AND THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT !

Since my case came into the public eye, I have been contacted by several victims of the Hawaii Family Court.  Many of them have opposed Kleintop and have been financially harmed or ruined.  Others have unjustly lost custody of their children.  Yet others are not given the opportunity to present their cases.  When the victims respond to this new ad with their stories, I am confident that patterns will emerge showing that Kleintop and other unscrupulous parties have an unfair advantage in court and they are not shy to exploit this power in any and every way possible, disregarding the written law and their responsibility for serving the public and families in a fair and just manner.

Hawaii has a disciplinary council to investigate and punish attorneys who violate the law or the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct.  I know that serious disciplinary grievances have been filed against Kleintop and others in the “Honolulu Boys Club”.  Is it a coincidence that Kleintop happens to be the Chairman of this Disciplinary Council?  Is this his license to perpetrate these atrocities without being punished?  Is this why he is above the law?

I could write volumes to describe all of the illegal, unfair, and unjust acts that have occurred in my case.  I welcome the opportunity to provide all of the details to any investigating or prosecutorial authorities.

I challenge the State of Hawaii to conduct an independent audit of my case, focusing on THE FACTS of my case.  Please look at the actions of Kleintop, Judges Choy and Radius, Jan Weinberg, and others for their roles in:

Something needs to be done to hold these people accountable for their actions.  Innocent people, including families and children, are needless suffering because of the actions of the Hawaii Family Court.   Although I brought assets into the marriage and significant assets were acquired during the marriage, I got nothing.  However, Jan Weinberg brought more debts than assets into the marriage and he was awarded $5.3 million in cash and assets.  He continues to gain assets through the business that I worked so hard to turnaround, while I do not own a home and am deprived of the spousal support to which I am entitled to.

In a December 2002 report to the Governor and the Legislature of the State of Hawaii by the Auditor of the State of Hawaii, page 14 states that “. . . complainants claimed that either the judge was sexually biased, the judge or court system was corrupt, the attorney and judge were in collusion, or that the judge violated due process.”  Virtually all of these complaints were disregarded by the auditor because of a technical flaw in completing the form or because the complaint was not within the scope of the audit.  However, nothing was done to investigate these complaints.  It is my belief that because these behaviors within the Family Court have continued unchecked, they have only gotten more numerous and brazen since the audit was conducted.

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More Details on the Spousal Support Fraud

Even though the Hawaii Revised Spousal Support Law states “Standard of living to restart live and career”, Judge Choy and the Honolulu Boys Club (including some women judges) make up their own laws.  In my case, we lived on $60,000 to $80,000 a month and traveled all over the world.  We had a lifestyle that my ex still maintains.  Yet Judge Choy and his dear friendship with Chuck KIeintop gave me NO SUPPORT AT ALL!! Imagine what an ex-husband would pay in attorney fees for this gift of a convenient lapse of the law.  Not to mention the money that could pass between friends.  Oh yes, make up your own laws to suit your friends and gain fees.  I qualify for all 8 criteria that are required to receive spousal support under the law, yet I got none.

More Details on the Real Property Fraud

My first day in court under Judge Radius, I was ordered out of my house – a house that was in MY name, with no support and no moving expenses. She ordered my home sold.  She hadn’t looked at a book or record (and I would not be allowed to).  She knew nothing of the case.  The home was a completely refurbished historical home – an estate with a 26,000 square foot lot so beautiful it was on the cover of “Home and Garden”.  I used my own money and it took me 7 ½ years to restore it, with little or no help.

The realtor was, of course, an admitted friend of Chuck Kleintop, an attorney by the name of Pat Case.  Attorney Pat Case came to the trial with no appraisal and admitted that she was not an appraiser.  The appraisal that I brought to the trial was ignored, of course, and Judge Choy allowed Pat Case to sell the home at a suspiciously low price.  It would be $1.3 million under market value to a couple who still own their own home, which was never listed for sale.  What a steal of a deal !!  My $1.3 million of equity that took 7 ½ years to build was given to a friend of Pat Case, whose home was never for sale (they still own it).  We subpoenaed the file of the sale of my home twice to attorney Pat Case.  She refused to release the file.  The reason for this was that she handed in a stack of “comparables” that had nothing to do with the property.  Even more incriminating was the lot that sold directly across the street for $900,000.  It was an ugly 10,000 square foot lot with no wall, no gate, no stream, pond, trees, and flowers.  Our 26,000 square foot lot, having all of those amenities was worth $2 million.  The home was insured for $1 million.  Pat case sold our home for $1.3 million under market price, for $1.5 million, not even the value of the lot.  Both Choy and Kleintop helped to hide the case files !!  To date, I cannot get the file from Pat Case on the sale of my home.  She came to trial and insisted that it be listed at $1.7 million, which meant it would sell for less.  The law requires a bone fide appraisal.  So again Judge Choy and his band of bandits made up laws to commit fraud.

Then there is the fraud on the California condo sale.  Judge Choy, Kleintop, and Weinberg locked me up in Honolulu so that they could reach across state lines to violate a California judge’s order and sell my condo.  This abuse is unbelievable!!  They deliberately took all of my personal and business possessions out of the condo and put them in storage.  My clothes and personal items have been in storage for over 2 years.  Defying California law, they sold my condo for $500,000 below market value to a friend or acquaintance without a proper 2007 appraisal.  They violated a California judge’s order that I could not be evicted from the condo and that Judge Choy’s (fraudulent) decree be domesticated and that a California judge oversee the proper marketing of the property to the public.

More Details on the Denial of Due Process

Judge Choy, in his infinite wisdom to set me up and help Weinberg to defraud me, told my attorney that she could not have new trial date when she informed him that she had another case at the same time.  Judge Choy ordered her to get of the case herself.  And then he left to go on a cruise, leaving me unrepresented.  The money that I needed to obtain substitute representation to mount the trial was frozen by the court.  Judge Radius left the money frozen until the day before the trial.  My new attorney had 24 hours to prepare for the trial.  This was a multi-million dollar case and my attorney was not able to look at a book or record in preparation for the trial.  There was no time available for my attorney to do discovery prior to the trial and there was not even time for us to meet.  In addition, Judge Choy arranged for me to have no witnesses or experts at trial.

More Details on the Business Evaluation Fraud and Awarding of Assets

As a result of the court denying me the right to prepare my case, the resulting valuation that was assigned to my ex-husband’s law practice was a bad joke.  Although the business makes $4 million per year, the court approved a valuation of just $387,000.  We brought a case list to the trial that proved $3.3 million was settled within the days and weeks that followed the initial evaluation.  Judge Choy decided to give Jan Weinberg all of the $3.3 million, disregarding the fact that the law entitles me to ½ of those funds.  Kleintop argued that taxes had to be paid, but if overhead, expenses, and taxes owed are factored in, each of us would have been left with approximately $1.2 million each, if the money was divided equitably, but I was awarded NOTHING.  The judge allowed my ex-husband to commit perjury AND awarded him ALL the money.

We also proved that other assets valuing $2 million existed in the form of annuities and brokerage accounts, which were acquired during the marriage by Jan Weinberg, but were registered in his name only.  Judge Choy awarded Weinberg with these assets, plus cash and others assets totaling $5.3.  I was awarded NOTHING.

Each of the pending cases in Weinberg’s law practice was worth between $1 million and $5 million.  The entire caseload was also awarded by Judge Choy to Jan Weinberg and was worth approximately $30 million.  Judge Choy knew that Weinberg had no caseload when I married him, but I was awarded NOTHING.

Weinberg had significant pre-marital debts.  Judge Choy forgave all of that debt, allowed Weinberg to keep $300,000 per month in cash from the firm and gave me NOTHING.  Judge Choy also awarded Weinberg his pre-marital assets of $85,000, but did not award me any of MY pre-marital assets.  While Judge Choy allowed Weinberg to purchase two cars with marital funds, he left me with $75,000 of credit card debt with no way to pay for it.

In Closing

The injustices and illegal acts that were perpetrated in my case go beyond the state lines of Hawaii.  However, the unbelievable actions that occurred in Hawaii that took away my personal freedom and my deprived me of my rightful share of the marital estate, are totally appalling.

My ex-husband, who is an attorney in Hawaii, was well aware of the “Honolulu Boys Club” and the corruption in the Hawaii Family Court.  Although illegal and unethical actions were committed by several others in my case, the responsibility for this travesty lies squarely on the shoulders of Jan Weinberg, who approved the underhanded measures that were used to invalidate the initial settlement agreement that he indeed signed.  He even stooped so low as to commit perjury (which has gone unpunished thus far) by claiming under oath that his signature was forged.   Even after nullifying the settlement agreement, he could have taken measures that would have avoided my incarceration and that would have resulted in maximizing our joint return on the sale of our properties.  He could have acknowledged that I was responsible for the refurbishing of our Nuuanu home, but instead he took me completely out of the sale.  He could have insisted on a fair division of our liquid and real estate assets and a fair settlement by identifying the true value of the law firm that I helped him to develop, but he chose to use an unfair court system to take everything that he could get away with and LEFT ME WITH NOTHING.

Please speak with your friends, neighbors, and elected officials to express your outrage over what is happening at 777 Punchbowl.  My case was NOT an isolated incident.  Unless something is done to reform the Hawaii Family Courts and the Office of Disciplinary Council, this type of injustice could happen to you or someone close to you.

Thank you for caring and for your overwhelming support.
Brenda

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