Volume 87, Number 93 Troy, Michigan Friday, May 9, 2014, ONE DOLLAR

■ Low RatesFederal reserve chief foresees continued low borrowing rates.

Page Two

■ Drug Sentenceninety-year-old man gets 3-year prison sentence for role as drug courier.

Page Three

■ Mental Health MattersCommissioner stresses importance of mental health in gun violence issue.

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SHORTTAKES

Oakland County Legal Newsserving the oakland County Legal Community since 1927

www.legalnews.com/oakland

Law Library to hostWestlawNext™ trainingclasses for attorneysThe Adams-Pratt Oakland County Law

Library will host five WestlawNext™ trainingclasses for attorneys in 2014. The first classwill be held on Wednesday, June 4, from 1 to2 p.m. and will focus on Criminal Research.Attorneys who wish to know about the pre-mier research materials available to them intheir given practice areas or those who wish tolearn how to conduct their WestlawNext™research more efficiently are encouraged toattend the sessions.Taught by an instructor from Thomson

Reuters West, the curriculum of each sessionwill focus upon the research materials in aspecific legal practice area and will also offerattorneys strateg ies to maximize relevantsearch results in the database.All classes are free and are open to any

attorney. Attendees can register in advance bytelephoning the library at 248-858-0012.The Adams-Pratt Oakland County Library

is located at 1200 North Telegraph Road inBuilding 14 East which is the five-story glassbuilding attached to the main courthousebuilding. The Law Library is on the secondfloor.For additional information, contact Laura

Mancini, director of Library Services at 248-858-0012 or visit the Law Library’s website athttp://www.oakgov.com/libraries.Upcoming WestlawNext™ training ses-

sions and topics offered by the Adams-PrattOakland County Law Library are:September 3—Estate Planning/Probate

Research.October 8—Advanced WestlawNext™

Searching.November 5—Statutory Research.December 5—Business Law Research.All training sessions are scheduled on a

Wednesday from 1 to 2 p.m.

Swing to Cure DiabetesGolf Outing to featureU-M football celebsThe sixth annual Swing to Cure Diabetes

Golf Outing to benefit the Michigan Com-prehensive Diabetes Center and JDRF willtake place on Monday, May 19, at the Uni-versity of Michigan Golf Course.The outing includes 18 holes of golf, a

boxed lunch on the course, dinner followinggolf, a live and silent auction to benefit Type1 Diabetes research, and photo opportunitieswith University of Michigan football celebri-ties. Current and former Wolverines areexpected to participate in the event.Swing to Cure Diabetes was founded by

former University of Michigan football play-er and Varnum attorney Rich Hewlett and hislate wife, Chris. The couple has raisedmoney and awareness for juvenile diabetesafter their son, Jeffrey, was diagnosed withType 1 diabetes 15 years ago. Hewlett is a trial attorney who lives and

works in Southeast Michigan. He has experi-ence in construction law, business litigationand disputes, contracts and sports law.Varnum is the lead sponsor of this year’s

Swing to Cure Diabetes event.Spots are limited to 140 golfers. For addi-

tional information about how to play, spon-sor or register, visit www.swingtocuredia-betes.com.

Attorney guidesclients throughcomplex businessand real estatetransactionsBY SHEILA PURSGLOVELegal News

The real estate market and the evolution ofbusinesses are a wonderful backdrop forrebirth and rejuvenation, says John Gonway,co-chair of the Real Estate Practice Group atMaddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller in Southfield,and a specialist in the acquisition, financing,construction, development and leasing ofcommercial real estate,with particular exper-tise in multi-familyhousing. “Working with

clients in this area pro-vides an excitingavenue to help clientsachieve these goals inand around metroDetroit and else-where,” he says. “Thetransactions are typi-cally multi-faceted with a number of movingparts and interesting parties – acquisition,finance, investors, land use, title and survey.”Some of those moving parts may occasion-

ally break down. Gonway once had a realestate closing postponed on the night beforeclosing because of a boiler explosion at theproperty, and has also seen closings post-poned due to hurricanes. “Life is full of ‘to do’ lists and checklists –

the wonderful organizational bedrock of anywell-planned endeavor,” he says. “In a multi-family real estate transaction the checklist canbe quite lengthy, detailing and planning out anumber of items for execution with buyer andseller, the lender, the occupants and the gov-ernmental authorities. The wire transfer of theclosing funds is usually the last of these shoesto drop. When boiler explosions, hurricanesand other Acts of God interrupt this well-choreographed execution, it sends all of theparties back to the drawing board to make thenecessary adjustments.”Not all cases entail such drama, but real

estate law is an enjoyable and challengingfield for Gonway. He has been an attorney atMaddin Hauser for nearly nine years, and inJanuary was appointed to the executive com-mittee, along with colleagues Marty Frenkeland Ron Sollish. A member of the Real Prop-erty, Business Law and Taxation Sections ofthe State Bar of Michigan, he also is a mem-ber of the Oakland County Bar Association. He received his juris doctor, cum laude,

from Wayne State University Law School. “I was drawn to law by the academic rigor

and the place lawyers hold in society, aslearned professionals contributing immenselyto society. It also fed my natural instinct toget the correct or best possible answer to aproblem,” he says. “I enjoyed Wayne Law forits excellent professors, and a great learningexperience in a vibrant city.”An avid mountain biker, Gonway spent six

years as director of advocacy for the nonprofitMichigan Mountain Biking Association. “I helped organize their advocacy efforts,

mostly lobbying and dealing with the StateDNR, and local municipalities that managemountain bike trails,” he says. “I resigned a

Students take part in Youth in Government Day

More InsIde

Assumed names................11

Bankruptcies ........................7

Calendar ..............................3

Circuit Court docket.............4

Circuit Court Filings..............9

Classified Ads ......................2

daily Crossword...................3

Family division docket.........6

Legal notices .....................12

Probate Court docket ..........8

Oakland County Circuit Court Chief Judge Nanci J. Grant (left) sharedinsight on social media and legal ramifications of misuse with students.

Photo courtesy of Board of Commissioners

GONWAY

Super Index launched to streamline records searchesOakland County became the largest county

in the nation to launch a Super Index to helpsimplify property records searches for resi-dents, professionals and law enforcementlooking to crack down on real estate fraud.“The Super Index uses innovative technol-

ogy to create a search engine that is easy tonavigate and easily accessible for the averageperson,” said Oakland County Clerk/Registerof Deeds Lisa Brown. “The old system wasnot user-friendly. It was developed for profes-sionals and required information that is notfamiliar to the average person. The SuperIndex makes it easy for any homeowner tosearch for the documents they need in a frac-tion of the time it used to take.”The Super Index, powered by Google and

Xerox, is a massive database that containsnearly 12 million documents filed with Oakland

County dating back to 1964. It uses Optical

Character Recognition (OCR) to make docu-ments filed with the Register of Deeds Officesearchable by any piece of information con-tained in it. A homeowner can use his or hername, address, a notary’s name – any infor-mation contained in the document to searchfor it. Brown’s office worked with experts atGoogle and Xerox to make the Super Index areality for Oakland County. Oakland Countyis just the second county in the United Statesto launch a Super Index.Brown said: “The Super Index makes it as

easy as ‘Googling’ your address to find thedocuments you need. Nearly everyone knowshow to ‘Google’ these days. We’re very happyto have worked with Google and Xerox to cre-ate this Super Index for Oakland County.”Brown wanted to create a Super Index for

Oakland County to help crack down on realestate fraud. In some cases, fraudsters wereabusing the system and literally stealing

homes. The perpetrator would find a homewith delinquent taxes, pay a portion of theback taxes, place a lien on the property and, inmost cases, file a fraudulent deed on the prop-erty. At that point a vacant home could beturned into a rental property or sold out fromunder the rightful owner, putting money intothe pocket of a criminal. In other cases wherethe homes were still occupied by the rightfulowners, the fraudster would solicit large sumsof cash from the owners in exchange forreleasing the lien.“It can be hard to catch this kind of crimi-

nal at the counter in the Register of DeedsOffice, but we can find them with the SuperIndex,” Brown said. “If we find a commonthread – like a fraudulent notary’s signature –every document containing that particularname can be searched for in seconds using theSuper Index. The rightful homeowners can bealerted that there is dubious activity happen-

ing with their property,and steps can be takento find the perpetratorsand bring them to jus-tice.”In the next phase of

the project, homeown-ers will be able to setup an alert that will letthem know immediate-ly via email if anyactivity is happeningwith their property.“Increasing transparency and empowering

Oakland residents with the tools they need toprotect their assets is important to me,” Brownsaid. “In this day and age, it is all too easy toget taken by unscrupulous criminals whodon’t think twice about ruining people’s lives.The Super Index is one more tool propertyowners can use to protect themselves.”

BROWN

On Thursday, April 24, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners wel-comed high school students for the Annual Youth in Government Day pro-

gram in recognition of National County Government Month. This year’stheme was “Ready and Resilient Counties: Prepare. Respond. Thrive.”

Board Vice Chair Jeff Matis (pictured, right) greeted the 10th-12th grade stu-dents from Ferndale, Milford, Novi, Pontiac, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak,Southfield, Walled Lake, and White Lake. Students met members of the

Oakland County Board of Commissioners, the Deputy CountyExecutive/Chief Information Officer, the county clerk, the County Water

Resources commissioner, the county treasurer, and the Circuit Court chiefjudge. They also met representatives from the county’s Homeland SecurityDivision and the Oakland County Sheriff Division along with seeing special

presentations and viewing the response equipment/vehicles such as theHumvee, the Mobile Command Unit, the Sheriff’s BearCat equipment, and

the K-9 Unit. Oakland County’s Youth in Government Day program was fea-tured in the National Association of Counties “County News” nationally and

recognized as one of three model programs across the country in Febru-ary 2014. Last year, in July 2013, members of the Oakland County Board ofCommissioners received an award from the National Association of Coun-

ties recognizing the Youth in Government Program’s efforts for CelebratingNational County Government Month during the association’s national con-

ference in Fort Worth, Texas.Photo by John Meiu

Students watch K-9 unit presentationand listen to sheriff deputies.Photo courtesy of Board of Commissioners

Oakland County Sheriff’s Sergeant Joseph Lambournposed with high school students from Rochester Hills and

Southfield on the BearCat equipment used by OaklandCounty’s Homeland Security and Sheriff’s Department.

Photo courtesy of Board of Commissioners (See GONWAY, Page 2)

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