UPDATE-THREATS AND ATTEMPTED INTIMIDATION BY KEEFE BARTELS, A New Jersey Legal Firm On August, 2015 I was contacted by this firm. Keefe Bartels continues its efforts to silence and intimidate me. They now threaten to sue me for my social security, which is of course illegal. They also threatened to have me arrested and incarcerated for my honest reviews. This is a very sleazy firm with bad, nasty, greedy owners and lawyers. Anybody considering retaining using KEEFE BARTELS, should first read the following. They charged me $19, 000 to vacate a $7, 500 judgment, and to initiate a promised counterclaim. Their counterclaim was invalid because he “forgot” to include bailment, and they refused to use my witness who was deposed for eight hours. They refused to communicate with me after I paid them their exorbitant fees. To overcharge someone is the same as stealing. Sullivan, Keefe and Bartels are dishonest, arrogant, and unethical. They provided only expensive ineffective counsel. I was offered an apology by Keefe for the way I was treated, only after I began posting my reviews of his firm. Keefe said he would refund my wasted fees paid to him. That was a year ago. Once again he misled me and lied to me. This firm cares only about money, not about their clients. The proof is how they treated me, and the losses I have suffered. A brief overview is as follows: I was a victim of consumer fraud. The company/person refused to return my property to me, and they sued me for $7, 500. I hired Keefe/Bartels to vacate the judgment, and to counterclaim for the value of my property. I had a witness who was deposed for 9 hours. They repeatedly said my witness was important to winning my case. The firm switched lawyers on me 3 times, and in the transition lost important evidence, both from my witness, and also important prices realized related to the valuations of my property. They also refused to return my personal property, nor pay me for the value of the memorabilia I trusted them with The day of trial I was refused a jury trial as promised. The day of trial I was told they would not use my witness "because you know your witness and the judge will look unfavorable on it." What an asinine statement! I could not win my case without any witness. The judge said I should have had a witness. The Judge said the Court could not award damages since my counterclaim did not include bailment. Their counterclaim was worthless. I lost $126, 000 in property and I was charged $19, 000 to get a $7, 500 judgment vacated. In addition I incurred thousands of dollars in other legal expenses. Keefe Bartels never cared about winning my case, and intentionally lost my case because they lost my important evidence needed at trial. That is why they did not use my witness. As follows is a letter from Keefe indicating the settlement he promised: From: John Keefe ([protected]@keefebartels.com) Sent: Thu 10/16/14 4:33 PM To: Tony Raymond' ([protected]@hotmail.com) Mr. Raymond; I think it would indeed be appropriate and I thank you for your email. I would respectfully ask that you pull down the commentary as to my father who has worked very hard to maintain an impeccable reputation in the law. I am happy to discuss this further with you as well as commentary regarding Patrick bartels. Last, we discussed your posting re lori dvorak and the language contained therein that refers to our firm which goes beyond your criticism of ms. Dvorak. Please consider this amendment to your posting of her as we have discussed in the past. In the near future I will be prepared to make a financial settlement but need to allocate funding to do so and enable us both to clear the decks from both of our vantage points. I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten and am happy to negotiate this now and work on a stepped approach to achieve our mutual goal. Best, john