I have seen Michael Berger in court, and he is awesome. He saved me $235,000.00! We had an evidentiary hearing before United States Bankruptcy Court Judge Geraldine Mund on the value of one of my investment properties on Friday, March 16, 2012. The creditor, JPMorgan Chase Bank wanted to value my property at $910,000 but we were trying to get that down to $675,000.
Mr. Berger and I worked together as a team, along with his Associate Attorney Michael Avanesian. We prepared our witnesses thoroughly, including an appraiser, a real estate broker, a structural engineer and a contractor. Mr. Berger got great testimony from each one of our witnesses, and he did a great job cross- examining the lender’s appraiser. Mr. Berger succeeded in keeping out evidence that the lender tried to introduce at the last minute. Judge Mund called what Chase’s lawyer tied to do “trial by ambush” and refused to admit the so called new evidence. I never even had to testify. From top to bottom, Mr. Berger made sure there were no gaps left.
The appraisers were both good, but Mr. Berger was so convincing at discrediting the creditor’s appraiser that Judge Mund began to directly question the appraiser. At the end of the trial, Judge Mund said that both attorneys were “excellent lawyers.” However, she then agreed with Mr. Berger on every single point and ruled 100% in my favor.
Mr. Berger convinced Judge Mund that our appraiser was more experienced and more credible. Mr. Berger convinced Judge Mund that the bank appraiser’s method of subtracting $100,000.00 from the value of a property that needed $200,000.00 in repairs did not make any sense. In her ruling, Judge Mund repeated Mr. Berger’s arguments. If you need someone to fight for you and win against big creditors like JP Morgan Chase Bank, then you need Michael Jay Berger and his law firm to represent you. He did a great job for me.
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