Heller Highwater (hellerdrone.wordpress.com)
Last Modified: September 14, 2008
- Don't be a dill weed.
- Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
- Ladies and children first.
- This is a rescue, not a bitch session.
- Help don't harm.
- Save the snarks for the attorneys and
Above The Law.
Heller Highwater is not:
- a place to practice viscious and vindictive "whisper down the lane" rumour-mongering;
- a place to bad mouth co-workers;
- a place for diatribes against specific people or specific incidents;
- a place to heap pity on poor Heller Ehrman staff by outsiders;
- a place that discriminates or sets margins noting who is outside and who is inside - we even welcome supportive Heller Ehrman attorneys!;
- meant to further the demise of Heller Ehrman, LLP.
Heller Highwater is:
- a place for support, a place of empowerment, a place of passion;
- a place to learn about job leads, resume preparation, skill building, training, new opportunities, and how to succeed in a new workplace;
- a place to keep up on the latest news as to how Heller Ehrman management intends to treat its support staff as it winds down its operations - will it be every woman for herself? or will it be "let me hold the door for you and is there anything else I can do for you"?
- a place of refuge.
Note: in no way, shape or form is
Heller Highwater sanctioned, supported or even recognized, (but it is very likely monitored) by the management of
Heller Erhman, LLP. The opinions represented here and on each and every page of Heller Highwater do not constitute the opinions of Heller Ehrman, LLP or its shareholders or its management. In addition, the comments left by visitors do not reflect the opinions of Heller Highwater.
Nothing yet. Supposedly collections are going well and “they” hope to have the banks paid off by year’s end. Who knows if there will be anything left after that to pay the rest of us.
Anyone have any good legal theories on how to go after the partners individually if the firm ends up not having money? Clearly, if the firm is ultimately unable to pay staff and associates and was borrowing money to pay partners their draws during the months leading up to the dissolution, then the partners should not have been receiving draws during that timeframe. But how do we get through the national LLP and the state corporations to get at those who profited at our expense? Do individuals have standing, or do we need to push the entity into bankruptcy and have the trustee do it on behalf of the entity?
Just some food for thought. Let’s keep these comments coming — it gets a bit isolating not seeing the people we’re used to seeing every day for years, and these comments help soothe that a bit.
Former Associate – I’m totally with you. Us employees have to stick together. Nobody is telling us when (or if) we’ll get our money so we just sit around thinking someone is looking out for us.
Who can tell us what legal options we have to secure what is owed to us?
I heard a similar rumor: collections are going well, bank may be paid off by end of year, which means the shareholders will have control of any remaining funds, if any. Who knows if/how it may be distributed…
Hurtin’
Your plight is your own. There are several posts on this site and others as to what your options are to secure your money. Sitting, hoping, thinking, praying, and any other sedentary verb is going to net you nothing. If the share holders wanted to pay you, guess what? They have OTHER funds other than A/R to pay you. They don’t want to pay. You have to take action and make your fate.
Some have filed a class action. If you’re the lazy type and don’t care about paying lawyers’ fees, join it. If you want to get the state working for you, file a wage claim.
Many options for all kinds of people. No options for the praying type.
If the banks are paid out, accrued vacation and other amounts owing to staff, associates, will be paid prior to any distributions to partners.
You can file a DLSE claim; info on that is here:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileWageClaim.htm
Individuals do have standing to file your own lawsuit for what you are owed. Neither a bankruptcy case nor a class action is necessary for that. Unless you can interest an attorney in doing it on a contingency fee (unlikely, IMHO), though, it gets expensive. In such an action, you can see partners individually if you want. But I have no view (insufficient knowledge) on whether that would be legally viable. People have confidently told me ‘you can’ and ‘you can’t’ hold the partners individually liable.
Some who went through the Brobeck dissolution have a very sour view, based quite legitimately on how the Brobeck ‘leadership’ tried to manipulate the dissolution. (A messy bankruptcy case followed, in which the landlords got the best result.) I don’t see that happening here, but no one can make that judgment accurately for you — in either direction.
Most of the people I know have filed an individual wage claim with the Labor Board for the accrued vacation due them from Heller. Also, just as a side note, I have two friend unrelated to Heller and unrelated to each other, who have filed similar claims in the past and they both have said it was a breeze to get the monies due them, plus penalties. And, that it was done in just a few short months.
Anyone have access to the Callaw article about the day that Heller died? It appears tomorrow, but as usual, posts online at 7 p.m. the day before.
Here is a link to the Callaw/Recorder article appearing tomorrow:
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202425894567
Don’t know if this will require a login for you to access.
Much more insightful is this one, Why Heller Didn’t Survive:
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202425894093
Has anyone filed a claim yet in DC? If so, do you mind sharing a link or an explanation as to what the process is?
I believe in DC a wage claim is filed through the department of labor. I am in the process of getting a copy of the firm’s policy on accured vacation pay out. The woman I spoke informed me that having the policy is critical, because it is the policy that they force the firm to pay. Once I get the policy, I will forward.
Has anyone received COBRA info from the firm or from PayFlex?
I have the same question concerning COBRA. Our benefits are retroactive to Nov. 1 but I am concerned about not receiving a COBRA packet from PayFlex. Has anyone received any info?
I received my COBRA packet yesterday.
The price is more than I think I can cover given my current situation.
It makes me sick every time that I think about their legal obligation to pay us through the end of November.
anyone that filed a wage claim in San Francisco, did the office accept it? I’m curious what language you used so that the office didn’t reject it.
dob, did you have a claim rejected? If so, did they tell you what their issue with it was?
No COBRA packet yet – and it’s almost the 15th of the month. WTF would I want to go through that hassle only to have COBRA terminate in 15 more days – Nov. 30. I’m going to purchase Kaiser on my own. They have several options and are really helpful in explaining everything to you. Screw Heller and Cobra.
I hope you get it, anon2 – I got turned down for individual coverage. Their excuse basically boiled down to “you’ve used medical services in the past, so you probably will in the future, and we don’t want you.”
The insurance broker said that if one rejects you, they all will, so my only good option is to “get a job.” Gosh, I never thought of that!
Mr. Jones, are you implying that I’m not trying “to get a job”? Way to add insult to injury. The market is saturated with job seekers and not enough jobs to go around, moron.
anon2, you have a chip on your shoulder. Mr. Jones was referring to his insurance broker’s advice.
Moreover, there ARE enough jobs to go around, but you’ll never be considered for one with your current attitude.
To Heller and Back, I certainly would not want to work with an arrogant person like you. Some of us are selective for a reason.