"Every Last Drop," by George Baxter is Now Available

Every Last Drop is the true story of trial lawyer, George Baxter, fighting for his clients who were infected with AIDS from contaminated blood products. After barely making it through Rutgers Law School, he bounced from court to court taking per diem work from any lawyer who would give it to him. Then he met Bill Snyder who desperately needed a lawyer because he'd been infected with AIDS from a transfusion he received during heart surgery. Racing against time and poorly financed, George began a six-year legal battle against the billion-dollar-a-year blood industry that infected his client--as well as over 29,000 people--with AIDS. 

The trial exposed how the United States blood industry disseminated false information, hijacked the government oversight committee charged with regulating the blood industry, and conspired to delay AIDS testing to save money, resulting in the most devastating public health disaster in U.S. history. The jury verdict was affirmed on appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court, fueled a congressional investigation, and George Baxter was nominated for the National Trial Lawyer of the Year Public Achievement Award for protecting health care consumers.

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com There is also a book website where the viewer can see actual court documents, a gripping book trailer - featuring Drs. Donald P. Franics and Marcus Conant. www.Everylastdropbook.com

This book is a must read.

Check out this NY Times editorial. It's about how the NY Historical Society whitewashed the response people had to AIDS in the early 80's, and how people let AIDS happen because it affected a community that was not popular at the time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/how-to-whitewash-a-plague.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 It was a time when children infected with HIV were not allowed to attend school, or as in  Arcadia, Florida, their home burned down. This is the backdrop of my book, "Every Last Drop: Blood and Money," the true story about the trial that exposed how the government ignored the U.S. blood industry conspiracy that delayed  AIDS testing resulting in thousands of people getting AIDS contaminated blood. In France, Japan and Canada blood bankers responsible for distributing AIDS contaminated blood were prosecuted, but the the U.S. they were lawyered up won the cases. But on this one particular day, in a small Hackensack, New Jersey, courtroom, money and power did not win - the jury found them guilty. The case was affirmed on appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court and fueled a congressional investigation.

George T. Baxter, Esq. Trial Lawyer at the Baxter Law Firm

www.gbaxterlaw.com

Partnership Disputes and  Buyouts

     Businessmen and investors who take an ownership interest in a partnership must understand their rights and obligations with regard to the funding of the partnership, management and dissolution of the partnership.  Often a partnership functions without problems until one partner seeks to retire or withdraw from the business. Commonly, a family member, in a family owned business, or partner in a Limited Liability Corporation, LLC, will come to time when they want to retire or sell their interest. This begins the buyout process. Partners, businessmen or investors who had worked in collaboration have a conflict of interest, because the withdrawing partner seeks the maximum value for his interest. Partnership disputes are most often subject to the partnership Operating Agreement. It will set forth the rights of the retiring or withdrawing partner to sell his interest. The operating agreement of the partnership will often provide that the partnership has a first right of refusal to purchase the withdrawing partner's interest. In the event they cannot agree on the value of the buyout, then the value of the buyout will be submitted to binding arbitration.  

      In Petriccione v. B.F.P.R. Properties, a Bergen County case, handled by George T. Baxter, Esq., his client,  Anthony Petriccione was a partner in several partnerships that owned two Ford Dealerships franchises and the property where they were located. After thirty years, Mr. Petriccione decided to retire from the automobile business. The Operating Agreement controlled a withdrawing partner’s rights and required Mr. Petriccione to give the partnership a first right of refusal to buy his partnership interest. The Operating Agreement also provided that in the event the partnership and Mr. Petriccione could not agree on the value of his partnership buyout, then they would proceed with binding arbitration. After a three-day arbitration, Mr. Petriccione won an arbitration award. The operating agreement provided that his ex-partners and partnership could take three years to pay Mr. Petriccione for the buyout. A mortgage and promissory note were executed between Mr. Peticcione and B.F.P.R. Properties in exchange for his partnership interest. The partnership later defaulted on the note causing the total buyout sum to become due.  This created another problem because Atlantic Stewardship Bank had a priority of lien over Mr. Petriccione’s lien in the collateral property. And, even though Mr. Petriccione retired as a partner, he was still a guarantor on the partnership’s Atlantic Stewardship Bank mortgage. However the tables were soon reversed when Atlantic Stewardship Bank subsequently refinanced the partnership loan and, in doing so, lost it’s priority over Mr. Peticcone’s recorded lien. How Atlantic Stewardship Bank lost its priority of lien to Mr. Peticcione will be the topic of another article.

     Mr. Petriccione successfully petitioned the court to attached his ex-partners’ the interest in B.F.P.R., which owned the collateral property. Now, Mr. Petriccione was secured for his buyout by owning his ex-partners interest in the partnership and taking a priority in lien over Atlantic Stewardship Bank.  Pursuant to a New Jersey Appellate Court case a partner’s interest in a partnership is personal property that may be attached by a debtor. Mr. Petriccione came to hold a priority lien on the B.F.P.R. collateral property over Atlantic Stewardship Bank and this ex-partners’ interest in the partnership that owned the property. The collateral property was sold and the liens paid in full.

      Handling the buyout of a partnership interest can be very complicated and requires aggressive representation. Often there are large sums of money at stake that demand personal attention to the case.

     For more information or for a consultation with regard to a partnership buyout contact George T. Baxter, Esq., 201-266-6871 or visit our webssite: www.gbaxterlaw.com