Just our luck! The class-action lawsuit against JVC for their crappy camcorders and rip-off repair policies was held in Passaic County, which I just found out has been the target of a corruption probe by the FBI.

Not to imply that the Passaic County Courts are corrupt, but given that the corruption tainted no less than 11 public officials in Passaic and other NJ counties, and included 2 mayors, 2 state legislators, the current councilman and a former councilman, among others, it makes you wonder.

For more details, click on this CNN story: Mayors, legislators arrested in New Jersey corruption probe

A Few Good News

It seems JVC will repair for free some camcorder models that suffer from LENS CAP problems. The repairs are free until OCTOBER 1, 2007 only so hurry up and see if your model is listed at http://www.jvcservice.com/service/custnoticecamcorder.asp?ReqType=CCD

Many thanks to anti-JVC soldier Phil, who reported these few good news. It should have been JVC informing its own ripped-off customers who should have publicized this free repair information. It would have been nice if our class-action lawyers had let us known at all. Don't get me going...

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN PASSAIC COUNTY, NEW JERSEY!

Since the lawyers that were supposed to represent us consumers of JVC camcorders in a class-action lawsuit instead took the money and ran (see post below) I have been trying to find out how things ended up this way, with the legal process leaving everyone in the class as screwed as we were before contacting the lawyers.

It feels like when some scam artists (JVC) rip you off, then someone else offers to help you (the lawyers) and they rip you off as well. Adding insult to injury. You get the picture.

This is what I have so far:

The original complaint against JVC was filed in Camden County, Superior Court of New Jersey, on October 21, 2004. It was assigned docket number L 6972 04. This document is available as a PDF file here.

On January 7, 2005, the case was moved to Possaic County's Superior Court. This county has not heard of the Internet, so there is nothing online about this case, which by the way, was assigned docket number L 224 05. Someone needs to go to the courthouse and physically copy whatever documents are relevant! Apparently there are some 6 inches of documents, which would cost hundreds of dollars to copy, so the main thing we all want is to see the FINAL SETTLEMENT, which should disclose just how our own class-action lawyers screwed us. I can throw in a few bucks towards copies of the relevant documents, and anyone who wants to help out can email me. My intention is to post the documents on the Internet as soon as I get my hands on them.

The Records Office at the courthouse is at 77 Hamilton St., Patterson, NJ 07505. They can be reached at 973-247-8176 (someone named Rosie, who never answers the phone or returns messages) or 973-247-8176 (someone named Biron, who seems willing to help more.)

Email me at juancarrera @ bellsouth.net and let me know if you can help. More than 30 thousand people have visited this website, so we can do a lot of good by locating the documents at the courthouse and posting them online. Shortly after we have the documents, I'm contacting everyone I can get to listen to me to look into this: Newspapers, Investigative TV shows like 60 Minutes, the FBI, who coincidentally has been looking into class-action fraud. And anyone else I can think of.

HELP!

LAWYERS TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!

(Everything here is my own personal opinion, hopefully protected under free speech.)

For over a month I have tried getting the details of the settlement between JVC and the class of JVC camcorder owners that the lawyers were supposed to represent in court. There are no mentions of the settlement on the websites of the lawyers involved. Nor on any sites dedicated to class-action lawsuits. Nothing on Google. The lawyers do not return phonecalls or emails so I can only conclude that they have taken the money and run.

That might seem harsh, but it seems at some point the lawyers stopped representing the class and instead made a deal with JVC in some back room, or under a table somewhere. I do not know if cigars and topless women were involved.

The secrecy of the settlement shows how the lawyers agreed to keep silent about the settlement to protect JVC's reputation and keep their settlement costs to a minimum. The thousands of people that sent me their contact information and complaints about their JVC camcorders were never notified of the settlement. I myself received no notice, and I started this whole effort over two years ago!

It has been my experience with other class-action lawsuits that people that fall in the class are given the option of being represented by the lawsuit or opting out, to reserve their right to individually sue at a later time if they choose to do so. To my knowledge nobody in the class received such notice.

What is odd is that Steven Berk, the lawyer that paid me to collect the contact information of one thousand people who were publicly complaining on the Internet about JVC, repeatedly refused my offers to send him the list of people. After several attempts to give him the list I figured he did not need it yet. The only thing Mr. Berk did with the information the thousands of you sent me was to use a few sample complaints to convince the judge that a large number of consumers were affected, and therefore a class action lawsuit was a reasonable thing for the courts to hear. After that point, everything he did became secret and I got cut out of the loop, as was everyone else.

What little I know is that JVC was supposed to put information on their website telling people how to get their cameras fixed or exchanged for free (or whatever the secret settlement mandated.) Apparently, as part of the settlement, JVC only needed to post the information for a limited amount of time on their website. Of course, if nobody was told this information was there, nobody could read it in time and now the information has been taken down. So everyone who has been involved in this lawsuit is back to square one: Pay JVC for "repairs."

I should have known something was wrong earlier on. I noticed anytime Mr. Berk opened his mouth, lies would come out, but I thought the lawyers were still supposed to represent everyone in the class even if their personality left a lot to be desired. Wrong! You can be a liar and a thief and legally get away with it!

As many of you know, I stopped answering all emails because the high number of messages in my Inbox. If you have any real or serious information regarding this settlement, I welcome you to email me at juancarrera@bellsouth.net and I will try to answer.

WORD TO THE WISE

Make sure your lawyer is less of a crook
than the defendant you are suing!

BROKEN TRUST

Below are some of the emails I exchanged with Mr. Steven Berk, the lawyer that helped get the class-action lawsuit against JVC started. I leave it to the individual reader to conclude if "your lawyer" handled things appropriately or not. I believe all these emails did not have any kind of "confidential" condition attached to them, so I feel free to republish them here.

==================================================

From: "Juan Carrera"
To: "Steven Berk"
Subject: >>> LATEST JVC NEWS and INVOICE <<<>==================================================

From: "Steven Berk"
To: "Juan Carrera"
Subject: RE: Case not dismissed
Date: Monday, May 09, 2005 9:42 PM

Juan:

Again I'm sorry for the delay in paying you. But please bear in mind -- we cannot pay you for monitoring the site -- or for any other work related to this matter . we just don't have the funds. of course whatever you'd like to do voluntarily is fine.

All the best

Steve Berk

________________________________

From: Juan Carrera [mailto:juancarrera@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Mon 5/9/2005 12:41 AM
To: Steven Berk
Subject: Re: Case not dismissed

Wow! That's great! I have to admit that after reading JVC's reply in court I
thought the lawsuit was dead. You mean to tell me all those objections were
thrown out? Excellent. I'd like to post that on the website.

Juan Carrera
11021 North Snapper Creek Drive, Miami, FL 33173-2020
Best way to reach me: email to juancarrera@bellsouth.net
Or at 305-815-2081 (cell)
Or at 305-279-8270 (home)
NO MARKETING CALLS, MAIL or EMAIL PLEASE!
"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Berk"
To: "Juan Carrera"
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 5:29 PM
Subject: RE: Accounts Payable


I should have your check next week.

Good news -- we won the motion. The case was not dismissed. We have a
long way to victory, but this means we can begin to receive JVC
documents of the defect -- and get to the bottom of this.

Thanks for your patience.

Steve Berk

-----Original Message-----
From: Juan Carrera [mailto:juancarrera@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 6:56 PM
To: Steven Berk
Subject: Re: Accounts Payable

Hi again.

My social is xxx-xx-xxxx.

Attached is the Excel file with all the invoices. If you would print
them out then we'll avoid a fax getting lost or more delays if I sent
them by US Mail again. There are 7 invoices, one per Excel sheet, or
page. The first one was paid, the one for $539 from June of 2004.
The balance is $2,114.

Good luck with the hearing. I read JVC's objections. Numerous! We all
have our fingers crossed.

Juan Carrera

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Berk"
To: "Juan Carrera"
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 1:46 PM
Subject: RE: Accounts Payable


Juan:

Can you forward to me your SS# or your Federal Business ID# -- and I
will have my office issue the check. The invoice would be helpful too. I
know you sent it to me -- several times. I have been waiting for
contributions from my co-counsel -- but have received nothing yet. This is a good
reminder.

I'm sorry for the delay.

By the way, we have a hearing on Wednesday. As I may have told you JVC
has moved to dismiss the case on a bunch of technical/legal reasons. We
hope to prevail -- and then begin getting documents and information on the
product.

SB

________________________________

From: Juan Carrera [mailto:juancarrera@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Sun 4/24/2005 1:43 AM
To: Steven Berk
Cc: Juan Carrera (BellSouth)
Subject: Fw: Accounts Payable


Steve,

Like I sucker I keep waiting, but it is clear you don't intend on paying
me anything at all. Don't act surprised if I publish something unfavorable in the web or
send a collection agency after you.

Juan Carrera

----- Original Message -----
From: Steven Berk
To: juancarrera@bellsouth.net
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 4:32 PM
Subject: Accounts Payable


Juan:

First of all, I apologize for not being in touch sooner. I have been
traveling every week since the beginning of the year.

Second, we appreciate all your hard work -- as I'm sure other JVC
camcorder owners do as well.

Third, as I recall, when I was at my previous firm, we paid you for your time in connection with compiling a database of JVC camcorder owners with complaints.

But fourth, we never authorized you to bill us for ongoing monitoring of

complaints. That was something you chose to do on your own. Juan, we
cannot afford to do that, nor is it particularly valuable to our case at

this point. (There is no dispute that thousands of consumers believe
they have been harmed. But now we have to link that harm to a defect that
JVC knew about and failed to remedy. That will take documents and discovery
from the company and likely expert engineering analysis. And as you
well know, we are not paid until we successfully complete the case. That can
be years from now if at all. In the mean time, we must invest hundreds of
thousands of dollars of our time and tens of thousands of dollars in expenses.

That said, fifth, as I've said earlier. I apologize if there has been a
misunderstanding with respect to what work has been authorized --
nevertheless, we will pay you for the outstanding invoices -- as a final
payment. I expect that payment can be made within 30 days.

Thank you again for your hard work -- your patience -- and concern for
JVC consumers.


Regards

Steve Berk


(by the way, JVC has moved to dismiss the case and we are fighting hard
to simply keep the case alive. See attached).

<>

Steven N. Berk, Esq.
Cuneo Waldman & Gilbert, LLP
317 Massachusetts Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone (202) 789-3960
Fax (202) 789-1813
www.cuneolaw.com

Email StevenB@cuneolaw.com

==================================================


From: "Juan Carrera"
To: "Steven Berk"
Subject: INVOICE for JUNE, 2004
Date: Thursday, July 01, 2004 2:41 AM

Steven,

I finally got around to doing your invoice. Let me tell you what I did, and if you do not think it is to your liking, I can redo it.

Basically, instead of keeping track of every minute I sit down to answer or write an email related to JVC, I will charge you a flat rate per email. I am not charging your for all emails I write related to JVC, only those things that you would be interested in paying for. For example, I wrote 187 messages saying "Thanks" to people who sent me information, joined the lawsuit, agreed to send their camera, discussed repairs, etc. Pretty much I answer with thanks to anyone who writes. I am not charging you for those emails.

There are also emails that bounced, people asking to be removed from the list, 500 emails with my "monthly update" to everyone in the database, to keep people interested, check that emails are still valid, and build a sense of community, and things like that which I am not charging you for.

Finally, there are some 74 emails (last itemized line) from my yahoo account which are not easy to categorize, so I did charge you for all of those. I would have to read them all to determine what category they belong to, and it would take me as long to do that as it took to write the 74 emails in the first place! But that won't happen again as I am updating the type of email service I get from yahoo, so I can easily download all messages to my computer and then can categorize them quickly.

So there it is. Let me know what you think. As I said, I want to continue to do this type of work with you, so I want to make sure you are happy and satisfied with my services.

Juan Carrera
11021 N Snapper Creek, Miami, FL 33173-2020
Best way to reach me: email to juancarrera@bellsouth.net
Or at 305-815-2081 (cell)
Or at 305-279-8270 (home)
NO MARKETING CALLS, MAIL or EMAIL PLEASE!

==================================================

From: "Juan Carrera"
To: "Steven Berk"
Subject: Instructions for JVC mailing list
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 12:14 AM

Steven,

I want to verify with you if there is anything you want me to work on related to the JVC complaints.
I'm about to send out my "monthly update" to all 500 people in the mailing list and can use that opportunity to ask them whatever you feel you want or need to help with the case against JVC.
Otherwise I will continue to maintain the list as I keep getting replies from people and the list keeps growing.

Juan Carrera
11021 N Snapper Creek, Miami, FL 33173-2020
Best way to reach me: email to juancarrera@bellsouth.net
Or at 305-815-2081 (cell)
Or at 305-279-8270 (home)
NO MARKETING CALLS, MAIL or EMAIL PLEASE!
"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

==================================================

From: "Juan Carrera"
To: "Steven Berk"
Subject: >>> JVC Lawsuit Questions
Date: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 8:52 PM

Hi Steve,

A few quick questions that people in the mailing list are asking:

1. Why is lawsuit limited to digital line only?

2. Why does lawsuit cover only years 2000, 2001 and 2002?

3. What if the US Government has several of the models in the action?

4. If someone bought the unit in the USA but then moved overseas, can someone in the USA represent them?

And a question of my own: Do I keep signing people up ?

Thanks, and I hope everything is well.


Juan Carrera
11021 North Snapper Creek Drive, Miami, FL 33173-2020
Best way to reach me: email to juancarrera@bellsouth.net
Or at 305-815-2081 (cell)
Or at 305-279-8270 (home)
NO MARKETING CALLS, MAIL or EMAIL PLEASE!
"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

==================================================

Good news!

According to one of the lawyers involved in the class action lawsuit, JVC has settled the case. He mentioned that JVC would be doing some refunds and repairs to those who bought camcorders of the type, and during the time period, covered in the lawsuit. The exact details are still unknown to me. He said JVC would be announcing in their website more about how to file for remuneration, but so far I have not seen anything at the website (jvc.com)

Keep visiting this website every few weeks. As soon as I find out the exact details of the settlement I will post them here.

Good news! You can now go to the website of the law firm of Sheller, Ludwig & Badey (http://www.sheller.com/Practice.asp?PracticeID=155) and register yourself as a JVC camcorder owner who wants to join the class-action lawsuit. Visit the website for more information. As for those of you who sent me (Juan Carrera) your information, I am in the process of trying to transfer my database of names to them so you do not have to register twice.

The availability of the lawyers' website now makes this website obsolete. It served its purpose, which was to serve as a lightningrod for all the JVC complaints floating around in the net. Thanks to everyone who sent in their information and allowed the lawyers to argue in court that a class action was a legitimate use of the courts because a big group of consumers felt ripped off.

A quick update on the JVC lawsuit:

The lawsuit is alive and well. The lawyers are reviewing JVC's internal records and documentation, a process made difficult by JVC's slow reluctance to make them available. So all I can tell you at this point is to continue to be patient.

Some of you have noticed that the quotes of unhappy JVC customers that show up in this website are fairly old. The effort to collect these quotes was to help determine if a class-action lawsuit was warranted. After more than 1000 complaints were collected, and the lawsuit was taken to court, the need to collect more complaints became obsolete.

Thanks to everyone who helped; I hope sometime soon we can all celebrate after the court listens to our collective complaint and sides with us.