WITH SOSSI'S PENDING RESIGNATION AS SAN BENITO CITY ATTORNEY REPORTED, WE PRESENT A "BLAST FROM THE PAST"

From the editor:  With the recent report on Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun blog that Mark Sossi has turned in his resignation as San Benito city attorney, we've reached back eleven years into the Brownsville Observer archives for this blast from the past:

Problems Compounding for City Attorney Mark Sossi with $100,000 IRS Tax Lien

City Attorney Mark Sossi

In a city that rewards incompetence, malfeasance and negligence, Mark Sossi should have a job for life.   The much maligned, overpaid, but underworked City Attorney, needs two additional lawyers to keep up with the press of the city's legal work, yet still farms out employee arbitration to another law firm , headed by Ricardo Navarro.

Sossi's city job does not prevent him from also receiving a $5,000 per month retainer from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation AND engaging in private law practice. 

SOSSI'S INFAMOUS PIE CHART

Brownsville citizens who watch the broadcast of City Commission meetings on Time-Warner channel 17-12 got a sampling of the level of Sossi's legal expertise when fellow lawyer, Mayor Tony Martinez allowed Sossi to give his now infamous pie chart presentation against free speech.  Here is an excerpt from the Mean Mister Brownsville article published August 12, 2011:

"Melissa Hernandez-Zamora seemed dumbstruck when City Attorney Sossi stood up to give opposition testimony concerning the broadcast of public comment item she had placed on the agenda. It was obvious that Commissioner Zamora had not been advised of the behind-the-scenes manipulation by Mayor Martinez and his eager cohort Sossi. Sossi, afterall, had the most to lose from public comment broadcast since it was comments about his questionable ethics that triggered the ban in the first place. As Zamora got her bearings, Martinez waved Sossi the "go ahead". Sossi made no attempt in his feeble, highschoolish power point to express a legal opinion. There was no mention of free speech, the first amendment, the constitution or even the phony liability issues he has pretended previously. Those might have been worthy legal issues. Instead he expressed only viewpoints, unscientific at best, but most likely simply wrong. With a straight face he used a pie chart to illustrate the greater "diversity" of commenters since the ban, not even having the honesty to acknowledge that many of those new participants were speaking out against the anti-democratic ban. He also railed against grandstanding as he grandstanded."

FAILURES IN PRIVATE PRACTICE

Several citizens have sought the City Attorney to assist them with personal legal matters and paid dearly for their choice of representation including Rogelio and Ingrid Gonzalez, as detailed in Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun article published 6/21/2012:

"A Stell teacher and her husband say that city contract attorney Mark E. Sossi deliberately failed to prosecute their case which resulted in their losing their $39,800 property to a title company with which he was in cahoots and which then paid $10 for it at a foreclosure sale, selling it later for $20,000.

The couple – Rogelio and Ingrid Gonzalez – originally sued Sossi for legal malpractice and now charge that he and Southern Texas Title Company of joining forces to defraud the couple and that Sossi kept them in the dark for years until they found out that their case had been dismissed for want of prosecution."

Oliveira Middle School teacher Jesus Abete, Jr., who initially hired Sossi to recover medical costs and receive payment for injuries in an auto accident, ended up suing for malpractice when Sossi mishandled his case.  Here is a partial quote from the suit as published in El Rrun Rrun:  

"In the ensuing months, (Sossi) repeatedly lied to (Abete), and misrepresented the true facts of the underlying lawsuit to (him). The truth is that (Sossi) never filed suit on behalf of Abete, and by law, suit had to be filed before the statute of limitations expired. The statute of limitations is two years from the date of the accident (January 2, 2009) Jan. 8, 2011. If the suit was not filed by then, (Abete's) rights would have been forever extinguished," the lawsuit states.
"(Sossi) failed to file (Abete's) suit," it continues. "Now that the statute of limitations has expired, (Abete) is forever barred from recovering damages for the serious personal injuries he suffered in the (crash)."

REPORTED $100,000 IRS LIEN FOR SOSSI

The embattled lawyer,  described by some as incredibly incompetent in his private practice, now faces another obstacle according to reports.  We are told that Mr. Sossi has been hit with a $100,000 tax lien by the Internal Revenue Service for nonpayment of taxes.  Perhaps Sossi can summon up a pie chart to prove to IRS auditors that the lien is a mistake.  Or to use Sossi-like circular reasoning, he can demonstrate that when one individual does not pay his taxes, others actually pay MORE taxes.

Perhaps it is time the City Commission took a look at the job performance and record of their hiree.