{"id":15855,"date":"2014-10-07T07:29:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T14:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=15855"},"modified":"2018-11-05T08:51:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T15:51:28","slug":"eric-stephen-valley-esq-disciplined-by-wa-state-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/eric-stephen-valley-esq-disciplined-by-wa-state-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric S. Valley, esq. disciplined by State Bars wants to be Judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NOTE:<\/strong>\u00a0Be advised–Eric has been afforded ample opportunity here, in the ‘reply’ exchanges, unlike most blogs, for rebuttal, but has, unsurprisingly,\u00a0 primarily used it for blanket denials and gaslighting<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0UPDATED<\/strong> @ article’s end<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Great trombone player and respects music…but the law? Nor so much.<\/p><\/div>\n

Shelton, WA —<\/strong>\u00a0This reporter was present when a bench warrant was issued for Eric Valley, a local attorney, for failure to appear (as noted below) in Mason County District Court as required. Today (8-12-2018) Mr. Valley is one of the surviving two candidates (Valley and Steele) for Mason County District Court judge…there being only one such position for this important county office.<\/p>\n

Eric Stephen Valley, defendant – Mason District Court – case #: 4Z0704742 – filed 7-7-14<\/p>\n

Click>HERE<\/a><to view\u00a0<\/em>NY State Bar Disciplinary action against Eric S. Valley, et ux. (1988)<\/p>\n

Click>HERE<\/em><\/a><for list of disciplinary actions & critical client reviews of Eric S. Valley, esq on AVVO.<\/p>\n

Mr. Valley, who has a checkered past and long acted as a local attorney, both on the criminal docket as well as the civil. Unfortunately, due to his respected family’s long residence in Mason county, Valley undeservedly garners the benefit of strong name recognition from local voters…a local boy familiarity he expertly exploited in his primary campaign. Yet he not only has been embroiled in some serious litigation as either a defendant or a plaintiff (including an action seeking a protection order against Mr. Valley in the abstract below), but now has been sanctioned by the Washington State Bar (and previously the New York State bar) for professional misconduct. In 1988, Mr. Eric Valley resigned from the NY State bar for misconduct…conduct Mr. Valley attempts to trivialize, but was punished (in both NY & WA) by a public reprimand (or worse) from the respective State bars.<\/p>\n

What doesn’t appear in these records is Mr. Valley’s history of substance\/alcohol abuse and using his familiarity with local law enforcement to successfully urge at least one Mason county sheriff’s detective (Dean Byrd, now retired since 2013) to harass, bully, threaten, and intimidate this reporter (circa 2005) for having the temerity to serve Mr. Valley with a notice of default at his office on behalf of Marylou Bishop, the note holder for his deed of trust from the sale of her home to Eric Valley, an instrument whose terms he soon breached, putting Mary’s (a retired nurse) collateral and retirement at risk. Mason county was scheduled to foreclose on said home for want of property taxes Valley owed and hadn’t paid. Mary had to pay them out of her own pocket to avoid losing her most valuable asset.<\/p>\n

Mr. Valley promptly filed for bankruptcy relief singling out Mary Lou Bishop as his creditor although the IRS also had an interest in Valley’s financial affairs for unpaid taxes. Singling out a creditor is considered abuse\/misuse of the bankruptcy code. In his sworn declarations submitted to the bankruptcy court, Eric claimed his monthly gross income was ~$2,500.\u00a0 He failed to declare his business or office expenses, an office he maintains on Railroad Ave. in Shelton to this day and appears to never have missed a payment on the lease (to Transamerica Title), unlike his obligation to Marylou Bishop, who could not find an area attorney to sue Eric for breach of contract BECAUSE (they indicated) HE WAS A LAWYER!<\/p>\n

The most damning part of this incident arises from the fact Eric Valley attempted to suborn perjury from Marylou Bishop. She was desperate to have Eric resume payments to her for the house he was purchasing from her (and continues to live in to this day). He suggested to her that if she would write a letter attesting to the false assertion that he had never been late on a payment to her, he would use it to refinance the loan (which Mary was personally carrying) with a bank and pay her off for the remaining principle.\u00a0 Had she done so, Eric would have succeeded in making Mary a co-conspirator to bank fraud! Mary was counseled to do NO such thing, and Eric’s bankruptcy petition followed shortly thereafter. Eric had also let the casualty and fire insurance for the home lapse, leaving Mary utterly exposed and unable to secure insurance to protect her interests. According to the owner, at the time, of Angle Insurance Agency, the industry considered Mary’s predicament a “moral hazard”.\u00a0 A corrupt attorney’s moral failure had left Mary virtually without an effective remedy.<\/p>\n

While on the phone with the Angle Insurance Agency’s owner (a woman who was very familiar with Eric’s parents) attempting to find an insurance policy to protect Mary, who should call but the devil himself. In accepting the call, Eric was patched into a 3-way call, but the insurance agency owner chose to remain silent. Eric sounded heavily inebriated and aggressively became belligerent and verbally abusive before the call was terminated. Rather than being sympathetic to the recipient of the abuse, she accused him of ‘planning’ it! How she squared this with serendipity wasn’t immediately apparent.<\/p>\n

Soon thereafter (perhaps a week) Detective Dean Byrd (Eric’s drinking buddy at the time) called and proceeded to announce he was an inspector with the Mason County Sheriff (true) but initially refused to identify himself when asked to repeat who he was. He attempted to threaten and intimidate on Eric’s behalf, repeatedly asking just who had prepared the document (notice of default) Eric had been served with. (“Mr. Byrd, you know what?–I don’t have to answer that question…and I’m not going to!” was the response Byrd got before bidding him goodbye. Subsequent research revealed that no sheriff’s official or prosecuting attorney had authorized Byrd’s actions. It was entirely a ‘favor’ of intimidation for Eric, Byrd’s drinking buddy–a shakedown.<\/p>\n

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The obvious QUESTION arises:<\/p>\n

IS THIS CORRUPT ATTORNEY, ERIC VALLEY, THE KIND OF JUDGE MASON COUNTY RESIDENTS WANT SITTING ON THE BENCH?<\/strong><\/p>\n

George Steele may not be adequately competent, but at least he hasn’t been sanctioned by the bar multiple times, had a petition for a protection order filed against him, subjected himself to the disabilities of drug and alcohol abuse, had a bench warrant issued against him for failure to appear, suborned perjury, and conspired with county law enforcement to abuse their authority in order to harass, bully, threaten, and intimidate. Neither has George Steele submitted suspicious bankruptcy declarations in an effort to vex and delay his lawful debt to a retired nurse dependent on the income from the sale of her home.<\/p>\n