Daily Record News Briefs: June 24, 2009

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Jun 24, 2009

Paybooks charged

The Rochester-based payroll company Paybooks Inc. and its president, Jeffrey Sykes of Lime Kiln Road, Wayland, have been charged with defrauding hundreds of area businesses out of millions of dollars.

The state filed suit against Paybooks on Tuesday before state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth R. Fisher in Monroe County.

The state Attorney General's Office won a temporary restraining order freezing Sykes's personal assets and appointing a temporary receiver to operate the company and determine customer tax liability.

In total, Paybooks owes more than $2 million in late taxes, plus interest and penalties, according to a statement from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"Paybooks built its business on lies at the expense of hundreds of Rochester area businesses," Cuomo said.

Paybooks Inc., located at 595 Blossom Road, provides payroll services to about 1,100 small businesses in the greater Rochester area. In May, several business owners complained to Cuomo's office about Paybooks's failure to file federal and state withholdings and unemployment taxes, with some unpaid taxes dating back to the third quarter of 2008.

Paybooks illegally paid operating and personal expenses out of the money collected from customers, then paid taxing entities out of "new money" withdrawn from the accounts of other customers, Cuomo charged. When the "new money" did not cover the taxes, Sykes intentionally failed to make payments on behalf of hundreds of customers or paid the authorities late, resulting in the assessment of interest and penalties, the attorney general also said.

The lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Paybooks from the payroll business in New York, obtain full restitution for eligible consumers and a civil penalty of $5,000 for each instance of a deceptive act. Business owners who believe they may have been defrauded by Sykes or Paybooks should call (585) 546-7430. A Web site also is dedicated to the Paybooks case, and is online at www.oag.state.ny.us/ features/ paybooks/about.html.

Western NY judges resign

Two Western New York judges have resigned from office and agreed not to seek or accept judicial office in the future, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct announced Tuesday.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph G. Makowski, of Erie County, was investigated for off-the-bench actions to help former prosecutor Anne E. Adams following her Sept. 2, 2008 DWI arrest. Adams also was once the head of the trial technique program at the University at Buffalo School of Law.

The Buffalo News reported that Makowski, 55, avoided criminal charges by recanting an affidavit he submitted with the Town of Hamburg Court and agreeing to testify against Adams.

His resignation was effective March 5.

Makowski was represented by attorney Richard T. Sullivan of the Buffalo office of Harris Beach PLLC.

Junius Town Court Justice Stephen H. Brown, in Seneca County, was being investigated for allegedly handling a small claims action involving a neighbor and long-time friend despite lacking subject matter jurisdiction over the defendant. He allegedly issued separate judgments to each party in the action, awarded each party different monetary damages and provided unlawful equitable relief in favor of his neighbor.

Brown's resignation was effective May 31. He was represented by attorney John Porter of Lyons.

Brown previously was admonished in 2007.

Bus company accepts

crash liability

The bus company Coach Canada has accepted 90 percent of the liability in a 2005 bus crash involving the Windsor Wildcats girls' hockey team in Geneseo. Edwards v. Erie Coach Lines Co., 1452/2005.

In the next phase of the bifurcated trial, a new jury will determine compensatory damages, attorneys for the plaintiffs announced Monday.

Coach Canada's stipulation regarding liability came after two days of trial before Justice Thomas Van Strydonck in Livingston County, according to a statement from the law firm of Seeger Weiss LLP. The tractor-trailer defendants, including J&J Hauling Inc., agreed to shoulder the remaining 10 percent.

The accident occurred on Jan. 29, 2005, on I-390 near Groveland Road in Geneseo. The bus was carrying players and family members of the Windsor, Ontario Wildcats hockey team, which that morning had played a game against a team from the Rochester Youth Hockey League.

Just after 4:30 p.m., the bus slammed into an illegally parked tractor-trailer which was stopped on the shoulder of the highway, splitting the bus in half as a result of the collision. Four people were killed and many were injured.

The 24-year-old bus driver, Ryan Comfort, survived the crash. Attorneys for the plaintiffs claim Comfort was negligently trained and supervised by Coach Canada.

Chris Seeger, of Seeger Weiss represents 11 of the victims and their families.

First round of stimulus projects begins

The first transportation infrastructure projects funded by the federal stimulus plan in the Rochester area began this week.

The projects, totaling $4.5 million, are funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.