Wrongful Death Suit filed Nov. 13, 2013 in California, #3

[justice be served]

I would like to see Jan Caldwell, Sheriff Gore's mouthpiece/lapdog, also deposed.IMO she will shed plenty of light on the quote investigation into Rebecca's death. I won't hold my breath though as we are talking about a deep and historical political machine in San Diego and going back to their FBI roots as well.

The Zahau family have truly been in a David and Goliath scenario. Such an injustice indeed.

 

[K_Z]

Snipped and BBM.

Another pertinent piece of info from the recent minute order in Max's WDS. Dina's previous attorney filed a motion to withdraw on 4/8/2015 (approved by the court on 5/13/2015). Her new counsel, Franklyn Jeans, first appeared on 7/17/2015. 2 months, almost 3 with no counsel. So when Dina filed the motion for an extension on 6/17 (see my post below) she did not have representation. She was representing herself. It appears she did not retain her new attorney until the judge granted Jonah's request to award attorney fees. In my opinion, this strongly suggests Dina is having complications with keeping and/or retaining legal counsel.


http://www.courtminutes.maricopa.gov/docs/Civil/072015/m6938464.pdf

Thanks for bringing that here, *Lash*.

I agree, she is finding it extremely difficult retaining/finding new attorneys. IMO, it's because she's not listening to them, following their directives and fighting with them...who wants to work for a client who refuses to be co-operative? Nevermind, probably not keeping up with the fees they charge. I believe it took her almost 3 months to find a new attorney to work for her, because her name has been bantered around in the lawyers circles.

At this point, it has become quite evident (to me, at least) her sole intent is to dog and harass JS, make his life as miserable as she can, with her suit, using any mechanism she can think of, for as long as she's able. I think Whitten realizes this also. Her suit has nothing to do with the child, imo. Once again, she is exploiting Max, imo.

Also, I think her intent is to do the same with the Zahaus WDS, delay, delay, delay, refuse to follow the judge's orders, calendar and rulings. It is pretty obvious she has no alibi for that evening into the morning hours, but she really could care less about that, imo. Her goal is try to make others miserable. Even in death, Rebecca will continue to be stalked and harassed via her surviving family by dina.

The thing is, just as lawyers banter clients names around in the circles, judges are not immune to doing the same.

Dina Shacknai is building herself quite the reputation. And not for philanthropy.

I agree that DS is probably having some difficulties with her legal bills. I ran some quick numbers, and it's my opinion she has probably had in excess of one million dollars in legal fees billed for the 3 cases, in the past 2 years. I'll share how I got to that number.

We know she got at least $2.9 million in cash, $1M in stock options, and added a potential for $6.2M in assets under the trusts she and Jonah wrangled over for 3 years—but of course, not all of that is liquid assets that can be used to pay bills. (That doesn’t include the debt free house, etc. She is also probably no longer receiving any child support.) We also have to remember Dina has no apparent income stream, so for most people in her situation, protection of these divorce assets should be an essential strategy for the long term. (But then again, her income strategy, IMO, appears to be to try to get yet more money out of Jonah, hence her filing of her WDS against him.)

This is the Court of Appeals (Jonah’s appeal) document online, filed 6/6/2015, that lends some insight into some of the terms of Jonah and Dina’s divorce, and some of what Dina was awarded. They were deeply embroiled in appeals of the financial agreements and attorney fees until at least late in 2012—after both Max and Rebecca had died. It’s illuminating—some interesting financial data begins at paragraph 30 on page 9.

http://law.justia.com/cases/arizona...ion-one-unpublished/2015/1-ca-cv-13-0555.html

“Husband pointed out that pursuant to the consent decree, Wife received her home debt-free and a cash payment of $2,900,000, she had already received stock valued at more than $1,000,000, and she could potentially receive another $6,200,000 in assets through the trusts. Although Wife is certainly not without resources, Husband clearly has substantially more financial resources available. Husband argues both parties are multi-millionaires, but he does not dispute that a relative disparity exists.”

Anyway, getting back to legal bills for DS—she is deeply embroiled in 3 completely entwined cases that we are following here—the Federal WDS, the State WDS, and her State WDS as plaintiff against Jonah. So, if we do a little estimating, we can guesstimate what Dina’s total legal bills have been for the roughly 634 odd days that all 3 cases have been active. If we estimate on the very, very “lean” side, I’d estimate Dina has been billed for 10 hours a week of “office work” for about 45 weeks of each year (over 3 total cases). That would be 450 hours a year, times 2 years, for a total of 900 hours. If she pays only $250/ hour for the “office work” preparation of motions, research, filing documents, preparation of subpoenas, phone calls, emails, etc—that would be roughly $500,000 for all three cases for 2 years of work, using my very lean estimates. I think she has been billed MUCH, much more than an average of 10 hours a week for all three cases, and I think at least one of her attorney firms charges far in excess of $250/ hr, even for office work. But there’s even more we haven’t added into that calculation. (And we also should add in all the retainers she was charged to retain all of her various attorneys.)

Now, mind you, the fees her high priced attorneys charge are likely FAR in excess of $250/ hr for things like in-person court hearings, long 8 hour deposition days, ex-parte conferences, etc—including travel fees. I’m guessing those fees BEGIN at $500/hr, and only go up, with flat rates for things like those all day depositions and hearings.

If we only look at depositions, there have been 24 depositions that we know of thus far—and even if Dina chose not to attend all of them, her attorney/s were certainly there in person. So let’s say they cut her a generous deal for a flat rate of only $4,000/ day for depositions, times 24 depositions, = $96,000. Roughly $100K, just for the depositions IN ONE CASE alone (and I think I again estimated on the very lean side of what is charged.) And we haven’t even scratched the surface of the many hearings, telephonic conferences, etc.

So the long winded conclusion to my calculations is that I think she has been billed far in excess of one million dollars already in these 3 cases. There is a remote possibility she can get some money out of the WDS suit against Jonah where she is plaintiff, but that seems to be the case she is having the most difficulty retaining counsel for. And IMO, that case is on the very thin edge of being dismissed all together.

I agree with Lash—a three month gap in her WDS suit with no attorney representation is VERY telling. And was very damaging to her case, as we can see from the Judge’s recent ruling in that case. The judge delivered quite a legal lashing to Dina—yikes.

I think Dina’s legal bills are just pouring in, and she is bleeding money trying to keep up. She files many, many more motions and responses than any of the other parties, which equals more billable hours. I think she’s hemorrhaging money, with no tourniquet in sight.

JMO-- others may vary!

 

[justice be served]

Good analysis K_Z, and depending on the terms of the divorce settlement, some of those funds may be taxable which we all know dilutes the end sum substantially.

I did see in March of this year where she petitioned the board to obtain her professional licensing again so looks like she is maybe thinking ahead to her future career prospects. I guess she will need to show that she qualifies on levels in addition to her experience and education, i.e., licensing stipulations such as may be compromised by her last four years of actions and lawsuits, etc.

 

[screecher]

A :trainwreck:

 

[screecher]

Another poster here has numerous times posted the plaintiffs in Rebecca's WDS are blackmailers and extortionists.

Come again? Wow, seems to me that particular poster was indeed using the correct terms, but assigned those terms to the wrong person. Ayyiyi.

Reading the info K_Z posted, it is more than apparent, the ms. ex-shacknai #2, Dina Romano Shacknai, could easily be described as the blackmailer and extortionist.

wow, just wow.

 

[AZlawyer]

Thanks screecher for this weblink!

What I find fascinating is that the Judge makes mention of two things:
1) "She objected to a request for a signed release of medical records ..." (page 2 of Docket Code 005 Form V000A); and
2) "Two requests for nonprivileged text messages regarding two relevant and specifically named persons since July 11, 2011..." (page 2-3 of same docket).

I am wondering what medical records Jonah had requested from Dina? Dina's own personal medical records? Max's medical records??? For what purpose was Jonah seeking these medical records? Does Jonah, like most of us, believe that Dina has some type of personality disorder or alcoholic binge syndrome that helps explain her bizarre, grandiose, violent rage behaviors?

Nonprivileged text messages -- are these text messages Jonah sent Dina on day of Max's accident? What constitutes "Privileged" text messages anyway -- AZlawyer??? Are text messages only privileged if they are made between legally bound entities like lawyer to client, or doctor to patient, or clergyman to confessor? Are text messages between two laypeople not privileged?

Yes, nonprivileged messages would mean they were not sent to/from her lawyer, CPA, doctor, psychiatrist, priest, or spouse.

 

[bourne]

Yes, nonprivileged messages would mean they were not sent to/from her lawyer, CPA, doctor, psychiatrist, priest, or spouse.

Thanks! What about ex-spouses? Are those texts also non-privileged?

TIA

 

[bourne]

Another poster here has numerous times posted the plaintiffs in Rebecca's WDS are blackmailers and extortionists.

Come again? Wow, seems to me that particular poster was indeed using the correct terms, but assigned those terms to the wrong person. Ayyiyi.

Reading the info K_Z posted, it is more than apparent, the ms. ex-shacknai #2, Dina Romano Shacknai, could easily be described as the blackmailer and extortionist.

wow, just wow.

Yep, often it is the person pointing fingers that should be looking at where majority of her/his own fingers are pointing: her/himself. A real hypocrite.

 

[bourne]

Ask JS

When did you meet ms. ex-shackanai #2?

Where did you meet ms. ex-shackanai #2?

How long after first meeting her, did you and ms. ex-shacknai #2 engage in sex?

Did ms. ex-shacknai #2 know you were married?

Did ms. ex-shacknai #2 care you were married and had a child with another one on the way?

Did you know ms. ex-shacknai #2 was in a long-standing relationship with another man?

Why did ms. ex-shacknai #2 introduce herself to your children as "CARA"?

Was she ashamed of her name "DINA" or....

Was it because your first wife, Kimberly, forbade the children be around/with DINA Romano?

Why was she forbidden to with/around the children?

Is it because of alcohol use, drug use and is a common home-wrecker? and/or...

Is it because she is unstable, has poor impulse control and exhibits risky behavior?

How long did she use the name "CARA"?

Do you think ms. ex-shacknai #2 lies as easily as she breathes?

I'd like to add to Screecher's list.

For Jonah:

When you were married to Dina, there were reports of domestic violence. Do you believe Dina is capable of physical violence against another human being?

How did Dina physically harm you in the past?

Are you aware that Dina stalked Rebecca -- chasing down Rebecca's unmarried surname, and investigated Rebecca's background and then hunted Rebecca down to torment Rebecca?

Do you believe Dina is capable of harming Rebecca?

Do you believe Dina is capable of concocting devious, elaborate schemes in order to get her way?

Do you believe Dina premeditated murder of Rebecca?

Do you believe Dina in fact murdered Rebecca?

 

[screecher]

Most important questions for Jonah Shacknai

We know Max was subject to listening/seeing violence between you and your ex-wife #2, Dina Romano.

Did you ever consider Dina Romano would/could harm your little Max?

Did you ever suspect her of hurting your little Max?

It is apparent Dina Romano Shacknai stalked, continues to stalk Rebecca's very young sister.

Were you aware of Dina Romano's obsession with Rebecca's younger sibling?

Have you and do you continue to fear for XZ's well-being?

 

[AZlawyer]

Thanks! What about ex-spouses? Are those texts also non-privileged?

TIA

The rules differ by state, but most likely it would depend on whether they were married at the time the texts were sent.

 

[LoveAlways7]

Please provide a link for this.

It is laughable to think that, even if did "chest compression"... how? With her hands tied behind her, she was basically on her side with her knees bent. He said he loosened the rope, but he sure didn't bother to take it off or remove her hands from the knot. If he wanted to do it and do it correctly, he would make sure she would be flat. Anyone would should know that. A tug captain that has certification in first aid should absolutely know how to do that. Complete lack of effort. He knew it was useless, that she had been dead for a while. IMO of course.

I used to think this was a note of mockery by AS. Being aware that some believe Rebecca was lying about giving Max CPR, it occurs to me maybe they both just had the same person feeding them what to say.

 

[MzOpinion8d]

Another question for Adam: Is texting a routine manner of communication for you or your family to communicate the death of a family member? For instance, when your mother died?

Of course, Rebecca was not yet married to Jonah - but, come on, really? A text?? Almost as bizarre as a medical examiner in a major metropolitan area who cannot get to the scene of a very suspicious death for 13 hours.

I've wondered if his text was like this: "hey, some chick hung herself from ur balcony, had 2 call cops, ttyl"

 

[screecher]

:lol:

 

[K_Z]

Good analysis K_Z, and depending on the terms of the divorce settlement, some of those funds may be taxable which we all know dilutes the end sum substantially.

I did see in March of this year where she petitioned the board to obtain her professional licensing again so looks like she is maybe thinking ahead to her future career prospects. I guess she will need to show that she qualifies on levels in addition to her experience and education, i.e., licensing stipulations such as may be compromised by her last four years of actions and lawsuits, etc.

BBM. Yes, March was the third time Dina has made application to the AZ Board of Psychologists Examiners. It appears the Board made a second request In March for additional information. (Typically that kind of request is directed to the individuals validating an applicant's supervised experience. The "second request" indicates that the first request was either no answer, or insufficient information.)

Her name has not re-appeared in the agenda for 3 consecutive meetings, so one can surmise that there is some difficulty in validating the information on her application to sit for licensure. She may run out the clock again on this most recent application without completing licensure-- we'll see.

But then again, she had difficulty before due to trying to dual- count pre-graduation supervised hours and required post-grad supervised hours during the same experience. It's been a number of years now since those experiences, and people leave jobs, move, etc. It may be that she is having trouble tracking down the people she worked with as an intern to agree to validate her experiences. Or she may have new supervised experiences we aren't aware of, and there are questions from the Board about those. Or the Board may have other questions/ difficulties with her application. Who knows.

She was eventually (after a lengthy period of Board queries) approved once before, in 2012, IIRC, to take Boards, but apparently never followed through.

She could try to get an employee position similar to her last employed position-- she had a part time job supervising social and recreational outings for teen girls with Asperger's Syndrome in that position. That type of work doesn't require a license.

I do know it would be extremely difficult for someone in her position to get a job as a newly licensed psychologist (assuming she satisfied all requirements, and successfully sat for the licensure exam, and achieved licensure) until all these lawsuits are resolved. To say nothing of how difficult it could be to get an initial policy approval for professional liability insurance. I doubt any insurer would touch her until all this is firmly resolved-- JMO.

And then there are the difficulties that her current reputation might bring to an employer and their clients-- these murder allegations and lawsuits will have to be resolved before she is really able to pursue any kind of career in psychology, IMO.

I just can't imagine how any professional mental health/ psychology group would be willing to take her on at this point. It's not exactly the same thing as hiring someone in sales or marketing-- psychologists and psych techs work with vulnerable individuals. Imagine if you were the parent of a female teen with autism, and found out the person supervising your teen on social outings was embroiled wrongful death lawsuits accusing them of murder? And the history of documented episodes of multiple police calls and domestic violence? Wow. That would not be good at all for a mental health clinic. JMO.

 

[MzOpinion8d]

Imagine if you were the parent of a female teen with autism, and found out the person supervising your teen on social outings was embroiled wrongful death lawsuits accusing them of murder? And the history of documented episodes of multiple police calls and domestic violence? Wow. That would not be good at all for a mental health clinic. JMO.

Not to mention the harassment of a teenage girl in the Zahau family...a vulnerable teen herself, who witnessed a traumatic event.

 

[LuckyLucy2]

Jonah, Ann Rule revealed in her book that the 2010 Korean movie, "The Housemaid" was taken into evidence in Rebeccas suicide. Who purchased this DVD?

Is this a movie that Rebecca had seen multiple times?

Did Rebecca ever say she identified with the main character who was to take care of the rich man's children and house in the movie? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment on the scene where the main character hangs herself from the balcony? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment on the fact that the main character puts her hair under the noose when she hangs herself? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment that the main character should have been nude when she hung herself? If so, what did she say?

Do you think Rebecca copied her suicide from this movie?

Do you know if Rebecca ever saw the originial 1960 version of the of the movie?

If so, did Rebecca ever comment on the scene where the main character causes the rich man's son to fall down a flight of stairs to his death? If so, what did she say?

Do you think Rebecca copied Max's accident from this movie?

 

[AZlawyer]

Jonah, Ann Rule revealed in her book that the 2010 Korean movie, "The Housemaid" was taken into evidence in Rebeccas suicide. Who purchased this DVD?

Is this a movie that Rebecca had seen multiple times?

Did Rebecca ever say she identified with the main character who was to take care of the rich man's children and house in the movie? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment on the scene where the main character hangs herself from the balcony? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment on the fact that the main character puts her hair under the noose when she hangs herself? If so, what did she say?

Did Rebecca ever comment that the main character should have been nude when she hung herself? If so, what did she say?

Do you think Rebecca copied her suicide from this movie?

Do you know if Rebecca ever saw the originial 1960 version of the of the movie?

If so, did Rebecca ever comment on the scene where the main character causes the rich man's son to fall down a flight of stairs to his death? If so, what did she say?

Do you think Rebecca copied Max's accident from this movie?

I haven't seen the movie, but I did read the Wikipedia entry (which as we all know is infallible) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Housemaid_(2010_film)), and it seems that the housemaid herself is the victim of the "accident" on the stairs. She also hangs herself from the chandelier (near the stairs) rather than from the balcony and lights herself on fire.

In the original movie (again, according to Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Housemaid_(1960_film)), the housemaid does cause the man's son to fall down the stairs (and poisons his daughter), then commits suicide (with the man) by taking rat poison.

 

[kimi_SFC]

Not to mention the harassment of a teenage girl in the Zahau family...a vulnerable teen herself, who witnessed a traumatic event.

This to the Nth degree!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[K_Z]

Not to mention the harassment of a teenage girl in the Zahau family...a vulnerable teen herself, who witnessed a traumatic event.

Exactly. And if the rumors of the Child Order of Protection/ restraining order for XZ, against Dina, are true, that's a pretty tough deal to overcome for someone seeking licensure as a psychologist who wants to work with adolescents.

My thoughts are that she is having trouble substantiating the 3000 supervised clinical practice hours (that's equivalent to more than a year full time at 40 hours/ week), as well as the 3 professional references for practice and professional activities from 3 licensed professionals who have personal knowledge of her professional work over the past 36 months. (The application for licensure is available on the AZ Board of Psychologist Examiners website-- applications are also public records, except for a few privacy areas,
BTW.)

My strong feeling is that she hasn't done anything at all professionally since about late 2010-early 2011, when she left Melmed, and that she's trying again to use the supervised clinical experiences from 2008-2010. If she hasn't done anything professionally (as in supervised post doc hours) since 2010, she's using internships from 5 years ago to try to sit for licensure now. That kind of looks pretty bad to licensing boards. She may have been urged formally or informally, to get some kind of more recent supervised experiences, so she has recent references and recent supervised experiences. That's my take on things.

Dina is free to use her education to try to get a variety of jobs. She doesn't have to be licensed at all. However, she cannot represent herself as a psychologist, or call herself a psychologist, or an associate psychologist, etc, or provide care to patients that psychologists (or licensed counselors) provide, until or unless she's licensed.

AZ, like many states, has had problems with unlicensed people representing themselves as licensed health professionals, and have beefed up their laws in this area. People misrepresenting themselves as Registered Nurses have been charged (and convicted) with things such as forgery, fraud, and a number of other crimes-- lower level felonies, IIRC. So one has to be very careful not to overstate or misrepresent their credentials.

Anyway, Dina has tried a third time to work on getting licensed. It doesn't seem to be going very well for her at all. And the 3 lawsuits march on, whether she achieves licensure, or not.

Moving on to other topics.....