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On May 15, 2018, federal judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston issued a landmark ruling allowing a wrongful death lawsuit to proceed against the $500,000 public official bond of state probate judge Christine Butts in Harris County. The claim against Judge Butts’ bond was brought to the Southern District federal court of Texas by Sherry Johnston who alleges Judge Butts turned a blind eye to the preventable decline of her aging mother Willie Jo Mills while she was a ward of the State of Texas under guardianship.

“It is unconscionable that this abuse can occur under the watch of the U.S. Attorney General in 2018,” said Taso Pardalis, an attorney and partner with Pardalis & Nohavicka Lawyers in New York. “Approximately 5 to 10% of adult guardianships in this country are reported to have a fraudulent aspect — yet the percentage is most certainly much higher.”

In North Carolina, Ginny Johnson claims she had been named her father Hugh Beverley Johnson’s power of attorney and health care proxy but after a sibling filed for guardianship in Wake County’s Special Proceedings Estate Division Probate Court, a professional guardian was appointed instead.

Johnson says she cared for the 95 year old Hugh in the colonial home she was raised in for 35 years until one day, three months after her dad had been guardianized, she came home to find herself locked out of their Raleigh house with no trace of her Dad.

“My father was in great shape until he was warehoused by the court appointed guardian in a care center that starved him, restricted him from seeing me and didn’t shower him regularly,” Johnson said.

A year later, the elderly military veteran, who had owned a dry cleaning business, passed away at 96 years old, according to Johnson who has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit with the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

The Commission declined to comment.

“We are the state’s designated tribunal/court for tort claims against the State of North Carolina and, as such, we simply cannot comment on any potential, pending or adjudicated claim before us,” said J. Brian Ratledge, general counsel with the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

Johnson is among a growing number of adult children who regret involving their local court to stop the negative dynamics of their dysfunctional families.

“Family dysfunction and sibling rivalry are the primary reasons the matriarch or patriarch of a family is typically guardianized and ultimately starved, drugged or isolated to death unless they are restored to capacity,” said Dr. Sam Sugar, founder of Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship(AAAPG) in Hollywood, Florida.

Errol Rappaport has taken to standing in front of the residence daily where his 100 year old mother Frances resides with a sign that says, “I want to see my Mommy” in order to draw attention to the emotional pain he is experiencing at being alienated from his parent who is under a court appointed guardianship.

“I am my mother’s son, her flesh and blood,” Rappaport said. “I don’t understand why I cannot visit unannounced. My mother wants to be around family members when she passes away not caregivers.”
Rappaport says he was taking care of his elderly mother and father just fine but after his father died, relatives allegedly asked to sell the family’s $6 million apartment located at 200 Central Park South apartment and 59th Street.
When Rappaport opposed the sale, he says he was hauled into housing court where a judge appointed a guardian over his mother who was then moved to an apartment in Queens. Originally, the devoted son could visit the elderly Frances 5 hours a day but now he is allegedly only allowed to visit 2 hours and he has to schedule that time 48 hours in advance.

“What are they hiding?” Rappaport said.

The court appointed guardian in Rappaport’s case is Sabrina Morrissey, an attorney who declined to comment.

“Even though a guardianship should be used to honor the best interest of the ward, it’s become clear that the system has become a business,” said Pardalis.

A “ward” is a legal term used to describe a senior citizen who has been guardianized due to cognitive decline, such as memory loss. But younger adults are also at risk for becoming a ward of the state due to autism, mental illness or car accidents that lead to disabilities.

The AAAPG’s Dr. Sugar says he gets new calls daily from adult children who are either left penniless, restricted from visiting their parents or both.

“It’s the worst punishment to inflict on an adult child whose parent is at the end of their life because they may never see their mother or father again,” Dr. Sugar said. “Court insiders collude on these restricted visitation orders to crush any challenge to the Judge or guardian’s ultimate authority.”

Active pending adult guardianship cases in the U.S. range from fewer than 1 million to more than 3 million, according to the National Center for State Courts, but with baby boomers entering their golden years and experiencing Alzheimer’s or dementia, that number is on the rise.

By 2020, some 14 million seniors are expected to be afflicted, according to the Alzheimer’s Association data, and they will be at risk for guardianization by the courts.

“The court and the court appointed guardian cannot strip the person of all their assets unless they first declare the individual incapacitated at which point the guardian owns them the way a master owns a slave,” said Dr. Sugar who authored the best selling book Guardianships & The Elderly:The Perfect Crime.

That’s because once an individual is placed under guardianship, he or she becomes a ward of the state, forfeiting their assets while losing all of their rights.

Critics claim guardians appointed by judges, whether they are greedy family members or court insiders, rob the estate by overcharging for tasks and duties that family members perform out of love.

“Private guardians are legally allowed to charge a ‘reasonable’ fee but the State has not defined the term,” Pardalis said. “Some private guardians charge rates as high as $600 an hour for tasks as menial and mundane as writing emails. Fees are billed to the ward’s estate and without sufficient supervision by the State of the guardian’s operations, there is a high potential for financial abuse.”

Orders of restricted visitation can also be very expensive.

For example, Mary Bush in West Chester, Pennsylvania is required to pay $50 to visit her 87 year old mother Genevieve Bush who resides at Park Lane nursing home.

An APS worker and a Sheriff must also be present, according to Bush’s visitation order.

“The court has unjustly labeled me a criminal and violated my due process rights,” Bush said. “My mom had a million dollar estate that has been liquidated by court appointed guardians.”

The Honorable Judge Katherine Platt of the Chester County Court of Common Pleas declined to comment specifically on the Bush guardianship but stated that neither the county nor the state profit from senior citizens who are wards of the state of Pennsylvania under guardianship.

“If anything, they are a drain on judicial resources,” Judge Platt said. “Judges are law trained. We are not social workers and most of us don’t have advanced degrees in the mental health arena. Family dynamics, in some cases, go beyond what our constitutional commission requires of us.”

Judge Platt says she has witnessed court appointed guardians and judges alike being pulled into the dynamics when a parent of a dysfunctional family is guardianized.

“If a court appointed guardian has to deal with dysfunctional relatives of an incapacitated person, they are entitled to be compensated for the time it takes to intercede,” said Judge Platt, an Orphans’ Court judge.

As for orders of visitation that limit an adult child’s visitation with a relative at the end of their life, Judge Platt said, “There’s nothing written in our statute that defines severity.”

But Philadelphia Attorney Alan Denenberg defined severity in a federal lawsuit he filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against two Westtown East Goshen Police Officers whom he alleges conspired to violate Ms. Bush’s 4th Amendment Rights under the U.S. Constitution by using excessive force in the parking lot of Park Lane nursing home where Ms. Bush’s mother resides under guardianship.

Bush v. East Goshen Township et al, against Sergeant James Renegar and Ted Lewis of West Chester, outlines four counts including assault and battery under state law.

“Sgt. Renegar lunged at the Plaintiff Mary Bush, grabbing her cell phone and throwing it to the ground,” stated Counselor Denenberg in an August 29, 2018 Amended Complaint. “Sgt. Renegar then body slammed the Plaintiff onto the pavement causing her head to strike the hard surface. Although she was not resisting arrest, Sgt. Reneger got on top of the plaintiff, twisted her left arm way up her back and threatened to shoot or taser the Palintiff.”

The adult guardianship system in the U.S. is in plain need of greater oversight. But in the meantime, in order to avoid a full-on custody court battle that leads to restricted visits with relatives at the end of their lives, Judge Platt recommends professional mediation.

“Sometimes real contentions exist between family members and there’s quite a discernment that needs to take place to evaluate deep seated historical grievances,” she said. “Mediators have more time for the nuances.”

Meanwhile, the adult children who feel defrauded and are restricted from visiting their elderly relative are increasingly joining immigrant parents who are protesting being separated from their children under detention.

“We feel their pain,” Bush said. “It’s the same situation except it’s our elderly parents who are being detained and we are Americans being separated from them.”

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

https://www.pacermonitor.com/articles/2017/11/02/alleged-elder-negligence-in-florida-leads-to-multimillion-dollar-jury-award/

For those of you who are trying to decide whether you can sue in Federal Court for the abuses your loved one suffered, read on:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/federal-report-examines-civil-death-of-the-rights-of-people-with-disabilities-and-the-elderly-under-guardianships-calls-on-department-of-justice-to-ensure-full-and-fair-due-process-rights-300618287.html

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge in two of Illinois’ highest profile cases has been removed from hearing all his criminal cases after it was revealed he exchanged emails with an employee at the U.S. attorney’s office in which he commented on and joked about one of his trials in progress at the time.

Some legal experts said Tuesday the matter could lead to a review of hundreds of cases to see if Judge Colin Bruce had sent out similarly inappropriate emails during trials before, a review process that could create trial delays and logjams at the U.S. District for Court for central Illinois.

“It is an understatement to say that this is outrageous,” said Phil Turner, a defense attorney in Chicago and a former federal prosecutor in northern Illinois with no cases before Bruce. “It’s extremely unusual and way beyond the pale.”

The Urbana-based Bruce had been presiding over ex-U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s corruption case and the case of Brendt Christensen, accused in the 2017 kidnapping and slaying of Yingying Zhang, a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois. Neither case has yet gone to trial.

Schock, a Peoria Republican, resigned in 2015 and was indicted on allegations of misusing funds in 2016. The 37-year-old has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Christensen, saying he tortured Zhang, 26, before killing her.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Shadid said in a one-sentence statement Tuesday that he had “temporarily reassigned” all of Bruce’s cases in which federal prosecutors are a party. He didn’t say why.

Bruce’s emails to a paralegal at Springfield’s U.S. attorney’s office came to light last week in a motion for a new trial by Sarah Nixon, convicted in December 2016 of international parental kidnapping. She was sentenced last year to just over two years in prison. The U.S. attorney’s office disclosed the emails to the defense in May, saying it had only recently become aware of them, according to Nixon’s motion.

In one Dec. 17, 2016, email Bruce sent before Nixon’s trial had ended, he said sarcastically that a prosecutor had done “a WONDERFUL job of repeating the bull—- the defendant said as if the defendant’s story was all fact.”

“This trial went from slam-dunk for the prosecution to about 60-40 for the defendant,” he wrote. A Dec. 18 email added: “I really cringed when the inexperienced DOJ attorney started (cross-examining) the defendant.”

Turner said Bruce’s comments, if conveyed to the trial prosecutors, could have helped them adjust how they questioned witnesses.

Bruce’s office declined any comment Tuesday, as did prosecutors.

But in a filing last week following Nixon’s motion for a new trial, Bruce recused himself and defended his emails to someone he described as a longtime friend. He said the point of the emails was to explain why he hadn’t attended a retirement party for an outgoing U.S. attorney.

“At the time it was sent, and now, I consider the email exchange to be innocuous and merely a private email conversation with someone entirely uninvolved in this case,” he wrote.

Turner said he expected many defense attorneys whose clients were convicted in cases heard by Bruce to ask for an investigation, which he said would include examining the judge’s email archives.

The temporary reassignment of Bruce’s cases, he said, could easily end up becoming permanent, saying an argument could be made that the judge should be booted from the bench entirely.

The Illinois Rules of Court are confusing, not all in one convenient place and disorganized.

Women like organization, so I am appalled.

Here are the 5 places to check before you file anything in an Illinois court.

Always check before you file:

1.  Supreme Court of Illinois Rules:  SCOI has a set of rules they like.
2.  Illinois Code of Civil Procedure:  the State Legislature passes Rule for Court that they like.  While these don’t seem to overlap, why aren’t these two state organizations organizing the rules?
3.  Cook County Rules of Court:  Timothy Evans and his Judges’ committee passes our local Rules of Court which means Cook County and the Suburban Court System get rules. Well SCOI and the legislature get to pass rules, so they need to have a whack at it.
4. Cook County Rules:  Even more confusing, each of the districts in Cook County gets to have their own rules of court. For example:  in Cook County you can bring in laptops and cell phones. In outlying courts you can’t.  Go figure. They say it’s for “safety purposes” but I think that’s nonsense. No studies have been done.  It was all anecdotes when they implemented these rules.  Further, they made no evaluation of lesser restrictive rules to accomplish any alleged safety concerns.  I vote political BS or nonsense.
5.  My fav, the judge’s website.  Here is where you will find when to bring courtesy copies, where to bring them, how many days you have to serve courtesy copies and all sorts of minutia BS. But if you don’t know it, your judge might fall into grudgeland against you.  Joke:  what’s the diff between a liberal and a conservative judge?  Answer: a liberal judge only holds a grudge against you for violating his/her rules for 30 days; a conservative judge will take 5 to 10 lawsuits to forgive a grudge.

Any way, that’s my humor and info for the day.

Why can’t they just KISS? esp for the pro se’er’s out there. Keep it Simple, Stupid.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/all-west-virginia-s-supreme-court-justices-impeached-over-spending-n900461

All of West Virginia’s Supreme Court justices impeached over spending

Lawmakers approved an article they had abused their authority and failed to control office expenses, including $1 million in renovations to offices.

by Associated Press / Aug.14.2018 / 9:02 AM ET / Updated Aug.14.2018 / 3:23 PM ET

Excessive spending leads to impeachment for West Virginia Supreme Court justices

AUG.14.201801:11

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers completed the extraordinary move of impeaching all four state Supreme Court justices Monday night for spending issues, including a suspended justice facing a 23-count federal indictment.

The state House of Delegates voted to impeach Justice Allen Loughry on eight articles, setting the stage for a trial in the state Senate.

Beth Walker became the final justice to be impeached when an article was approved stating all four justices abused their authority. It said they failed to control office expenses, including more than $1 million in renovations to their individual offices, and not maintaining policies over matters such as working lunches and the use of state vehicles and office computers at home.

Walker had dodged impeachment earlier Monday night when lawmakers decided to overlook her $131,000 in spending on office renovations. A short time later, another article was withdrawn against Chief Justice Margaret Workman, who spent $111,000 in renovations.

Justice Robin Davis was impeached for $500,000 in office renovations. And lawmakers approved articles against Loughry for spending $363,000 in renovations to his office; having a $42,000 antique desk and computers, all owned by the state, at his home; lying to the House Finance Committee about taking home the desk and a $32,000 suede leather couch; and for his personal use of state vehicles.

Loughry, Workman and Davis also were impeached for their roles in allowing senior status judges to be paid higher than allowed wages. Lawmakers say the overpayments violated state law and stopped when they were challenged by the Internal Revenue Service.

Another impeachment article was withdrawn dealing with an accusation Loughry used state money to frame personal items at his office.

Minority Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that approved the articles last week had tried to speed up the impeachment process in the hopes of beating an Aug. 14 deadline for arranging a special election in November if any justice is removed from office or leaves office. Instead, the committee took its time, even conducting a tour of the state Supreme Court offices earlier this month.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice will be allowed to appoint new justices to replace any who are impeached — with no requirement that they be from the same party as the incumbent.

Democrats have accused Republicans of attempting to wrest the court away from voters, who elected the current justices in nonpartisan elections.

Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer of Monongalia County said Democrats agreed all along there was enough to recommend Loughry’s impeachment. But she said going after the other justices “was a power grab, was a takeover of the court and using the impeachment process to take over another branch of government.”

“We’re taking away from the people,” she said

Some legislators said they didn’t support impeaching any justice for wasteful spending, only for articles pertaining to lying, cheating or stealing.

But John Shott, a Mercer County Republican who chaired the House Judiciary Committee hearings that drew up the impeachment articles, asked whether there is public confidence in the court, and if not, “we need to take action to try to rebuild that trust.”

Several lawmakers noted the Supreme Court has a separate budget and is currently allowed to spend as it sees fit. But Shott said the court should spend that money wisely “and for the benefit of its citizens.”

A proposed constitutional amendment this fall would bring the state courts’ budget partly under legislative control.

Loughry, who wrote a 2006 book chronicling West Virginia political corruption, was indicted in June on 23 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, lying to federal law enforcement, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Justice and legislative leaders have asked him to resign. Loughry has not responded and did not testify at the committee hearings.

One impeachment article accused Loughry of lying to the House Finance Committee in January about his involvement in his office renovations, including a custom-designed wooden-inlay map showing all 55 West Virginia counties embedded in the floor.

Loughry was suspended earlier this year. Justice Menis Ketchum retired and agreed to plead guilty to a federal wire fraud count involving the personal use of state-owned vehicles and fuel cards.

A special election already is set in November to fill the remainder of Ketchum’s term.

Circuit judge Paul T. Farrell has been sworn in to act as the court’s chief justice for the Senate trial, whose timeline is uncertain. The court’s fall term starts in early September. In the event that one or more justices is on trial in the Senate, the court said last week it would hear all cases on the docket as scheduled.

The last time the Legislature was involved in similar proceedings was 1989, when state Treasurer A. James Manchin was impeached by the House of Delegates after the state lost $279 million invested in the bond market. Manchin resigned before the state Senate took up the impeachment measure. He was never charged and the state recovered $55 million from lawsuits against nine New York brokerage firms involved in the losses.

 Bradley Amendment (Federal Law:  Public Act 99-509 (42 U.S.C. § 666 – yes, I appreciate the irony of the number 666 as the sign of the Beast/Devil), and its effect on Child Support.

Quickly, here is what the Devil’s Law (okay, I’m pushing the irony envelope here), I mean Bradley Amendment does:

-Automatically triggers a lien each time child support is due.  That means, if you miss 3 payments, you have three separate liens against you.  Each occurring on the date that the child support is due.  The obligee does not have to do ANYTHING to initiate the lien.  It’s an automatic judgement against the obligor, as if you got sued 3 times and lost 3 times.

-Since it is non-expiring, it never ends.  It does not matter if you are 95 on Social Security eating dog food; it survives.  There is no Statute of Limitation.  I guess that the government puts this on par with murder.

-But unlike murder, it survives death.  That is, if you die, you cannot be charged with murder.  But for child support purposes, if you die (or the obligee dies, or the child dies) the lien still exists.  It ends up in probate court for them to find anything of value to satisfy the lien.  It does not matter if you are 95 and your child is now 75.  Or if your child died before you and you inherited from your child’s estate, and then you died; the obligee gets the money.

-It cannot be discharged in Bankruptcy.  Here is where the corruption of family court makes it worse.  Judges often tell attorneys (or attorneys do on their own) to list attorney fees as “in the nature of child support” (whether true or not) so that attorney fees are treated as non-dischargeable.

-It cannot be discharged, even if it was based on lies/fraud/mistake (mother named wrong dad).

-It does not matter if the Child died.  If the State does not enter in the computer that the child died, child support continues without discharge.

AND NONE OF THIS CAN BE CORRECTED RETROACTIVELY.  That is, once the date the support is due, it is written in stone.  In other words, it cannot be corrected, despite lies, fraud, mistake, stupidity, unconstitutionality, you name it.

AND THE BIGGIE IN STUPIDITY:  There is no judicial discretion.  Zero.  Ziltch.  No matter how warped, stupid, or unconstitutional the results.  Here are some of my favorites of stupid (and unconstitutional) results.  There are cases where the obligor was:

-In a coma (and failed to go into court to reduce their child support, not that a judge would even reduce it.).  I heard of a case where a judge ordered a obligor in Australia who was in a long-term coma be placed in custody for contempt until he started paying.

-A captive of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.  I guess Dictator Saddam Hussein would not give the guy time to file for a modification to child support.

Here are some actual cases (with the State’s response):

-Bobby Sherrill, a Lockheed employee in Kuwait from North Carolina, was captured by Iraqis and spent nearly five months as an Iraqi hostage. Sherrill was arrested the night after his release for not paying $1,425 in child support while he was a hostage.

–Clarence Brandley, a Texas high school janitor, was wrongly convicted in 1980 of murder.  After spending many years in prison and on death row, he was released in 1990 and he then sued the state of Texas for wrongful imprisonment in 1993. The state then responded with a bill for nearly $50,000 in child support that had not been paid while in prison.

–Taron James, a U.S. Navy veteran from California, was forced to continue to pay child support until 2006, even after the child was demonstrated by DNA test in 2001 to be not his; James paid $12,000 in such payments.  There are lots of cases similar to this one.

-Larry Souter was wrongly convicted of murder in 1992 and spent 13 years in prison before being exonerated and released in 2005. Upon release, he was ordered by the court to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for failing to pay $38,000 in combined back child support, interest, and penalties (damn, interest and penalties too).  Notice a State pattern – we wrongly convicted you, you could not pay (because we wrongly locked you up), so now we’re going to punish you more.

Link this with the perverse incentives of Title IV-D, and a obligor has no chance.

And that my kids, is today’s lesson on the Bradley Amendment and Due Process in America.  Sleep well.

MG–advocate for fair child support payments

https://pbs.org/newshour/health/most-nursing-homes-are-not-adequately-staffed-new-federal-data-says

Most nursing homes are not adequately staffed, new federal data says

Health Jul 13, 2018 11:19 AM EDT

Youtube often sends related videos on many topics based upon what you have watched in the past.  Since I watch and review a ton of legal videos, this popped up in my feed from youtube.

The sad part is that I cannot tell you in all of this sad story what is false.

Leave a comment below if you disagree with John Oliver on any of these topics.

I have heard from a ton of criminal defendants, and I assure you the poor are the main targets of govt abuses: guardianship, child custody, the criminal “justice” system and many other courts where the mighty dollar reigns supreme.

Joanne

Managing your attorney: the litigation process.

Okay so you got sued. Maybe it was a slip and fall your property, maybe a dog bite or an auto accident. Whatever happened, even if it’s a crazy lawsuit, you got sued. People can get sued for the right reasons, the wrong reasons or even crazy reasons.

At periodic intervals, look at the online docket, or better yet, go down to court and check on the computer file. Print out anything you don’t understand or didn’t receive from your attorney and take it to your attorney. Get a second opinion if you still have questions. You might not be able to sue for malpractice if you knew your atty was screwing up and you did nothing about it. Do regular file checks, don’t trust your attorney.

1) did you get served, did you get served properly? Go to the court and look for first court date and make sure you or a family member over 14 residing in your house was properly served. If not, check about objecting to jurisdiction. If they served the cleaning lady, a nurse, someone not residing with you, first step is your attorney objecting to jurisdiction.

2) jurisdiction by posting. If the sheriff has attempted 2 or 3 times, the plaintiff can get an order for posting. By posting, there can be no money judgment, but there can be an order for eviction or against property.

3) if you were served, make sure your attorney filed an appearance promptly.

4) at the time the answer is due, your attorney should file a “motion to dismiss”. Failure to do so, is often malpractice. Check it out. Ask him/er why this was or was not done. Once the motion to dismiss is denied, the court will require your attorney to file a written answer to your complaint. Make sure they do it on time and you review it before it is filed. At that time, the court will set a “case management schedule” or “trial schedule”. Make sure your attorney gets every task done on time. Judges hate it when you miss deadlines. Miss enough deadlines and you might get sanctioned. Plaintiffs can have their suits tossed out (DWP’d or Dismissed without Prejudice) for missing multiple deadlines.

5) Next step is sending out written discovery to all crucial witnesses. As soon as the motion to dismiss is decided (may take 2 to 6 months or more), and you did not get a dismissal, it’s time to start discovery. Your attorney should serve written discovery consisting of interrogatories, requests for documents and requests to admit. Failure to serve any or all of these before discovery ends, may be malpractice. Give your attorney a list of crucial witnesses and documents and demand s/he serve discovery. Once written discovery is over, the attorney should depose all crucial witnesses.

6) If you think the plaintiff does not have a case after discovery is over, instruct your attorney to file a Judgment on Pleadings (this is where you take all the pleadings filed in the case and attach it to a motion explaining why you feel plaintiff still does not have a case). If that is denied, you can file a Summary Judgment Motion. If the Plaintiff has a weak case, it may be malpractice to fail to file one or both of these. Again after the MSJ or JOP is filed, it may take the court 2 to 6 months to render a decisions.

7) After fact witness discovery closes, the attorneys will tell the court if they will have expert witnesses. If you will be having experts, this part of the case will proceed very quickly right to trial, so get ready and have your witnesses in mind for the close of fact discovery. You will then declare your witnesses and provide discovery and a written expert report to the court. If their witness for whatever reason, seems weak and not helpful (e.g. a Realtor testifying to building construction, an engineer testifying to patent infringement, which is a legal opinion), your attorney should move to strike their BS witnesses. Make sure they file a motion right away.

Next, the experts will be deposed for trial. Make sure your attorney deposes their experts before trial and you check out their expert reports.

8) Trial. Look closely at the trial schedule. Your attorney generally has a ton of work to do for trial, making an exhibit list, a witness list, having exhibit binders (this can be done electronically, if the judge allows), preparing a trial brief where your attorney explains the facts of the case and any relevant case law.

Your attorney should give you a copy of the trial binder so you know what will happen at trial.

You will also get to make “opening statements” and your attorney should get these to you in advance.

At the close of the plaintiff’s case, your attorney can ask for a “directed verdict” meaning plaintiff didn’t show enough evidence to even get his/her case to the jury and no reasonable juror could find for plaintiff.

At the close of defendant’s case, the jury will come back with a verdict. Your attorney can then make a Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, meaning no reasonable jury could have come to that conclusion.
Client rights:

You have the right to review and sign off on all pleadings prior to filing.

You have the right to request your attorney correct pleadings that are done wrong.

You have the right to fire your attorney at any time by just calling and/or emailing or texting your attorney instructions to file a Notice to Withdraw. In Illinois most judges will give you 21 days to get a new attorney.

Your attorney should not make any agreements with the otherside without informing you first. Many clients put this in their retainer agreement that any settlements of their case or substantive issues in their case must be in writing and signed by you.

Criminal trials: You have the right to a speedy trial (160 days in general if not in jail or prison, 120 days if incarcerated), you have the right to the attorney of your choice or no attorney. You have the right to fire your attorney. You have the right to see your entire file, whether it is in the clerk’s office, the state’s attorney’s office or with your attorney. However, an attorney can withhold your file if you bill has not been paid. Insist that your attorney scan in all documents and share them with you on gdrive so you have them all. Put it in the retainer agreement.

Attorneys are supposed to give clients of all documents they receive or send out on the client’s case within a few days. Insist on that. Put it in your retainer agreement. Insist all documents are kept on gdrive and shared with you.

https://netflix.com/watch/80221850?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C36833b26610466c253cd59355de4767e3390f448%3Ab86a226bea465f31fdf92058ad7057246c4e01db%2C%2C

Great documentary on Netflix explains how one public official in Dixon, Illinois stole $53 million over 20 years.  The scary part it, she might have gotten away with it.

The accounts were audited by a top 10 accounting firm who settled for $35 million.

The bank involved, 5th/3rd got away with settling for only $4 million.

Of course, the attorney continued to bilk the Village of Dixon for $10 million in legal fees to recoup $40 million.

One day, while the embezzler was gone from her desk, someone asked a simple question about an accounting discrepancy.

That’s when the “secret account” of horse owner Rita was discovered when she transferred millions every year to her own custody and control for purchases like clothes, jewelry, horses (of course), spa trips, vacations, etc.

The scary part is that many smaller towns and villages across the US could fall into the same trap because there is no unified system in the US for municipal accounting that will catch missing taxpayer money.

Apparently, many auditors are asleep at the calculator or computer and the banks, it turns out, just don’t care about taxpayer money.

Recently I subpoenaed both the State of Illinois and the Cook County Treauurers for exactly how much court deposit money they take in each month, and how much they pay out, plus how much interest is made on those funds and where are they held.

All I got back is a bunch of meaningless gibberish.

Anyone else have the same problem.  Is there a Dixon problem in Cook County?

I guess i Have to send in some FOIAs.

joanne

How long will this investigation take?  Now she says she is running for Mayor.  That’s insane and she basically challenges the FBI to “do something” about this at ever turn.

In the meantime, it cost fifty to 25 cents a page to get court records and you can only do it at the courthouse IF the printers are working and the employees “allow you” to get your file.

Pacer has been in operation since 2000 and costs 8 cents a page and it’s available to the public on the internet, as it should be.

Ten Tips to Improve Your Case on Appeal

If you get a chance, please sign this poor woman’s petition for justice:

https://change.org/p/presidant-donald-trump-lets-change-how-cps-dcfs-operates-now?signed=true

and look at her wish list to clean up DCFS/CPS:

SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE CHANGED IN THIS SYSTEM ON HOW THEY OPERATE AND EVALUATE THESE CASES! LET THIS GO NATIONAL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
IDEAS:
a.) There needs to be more state workers to take over extra cases so that the children and families cases don’t go longer than they need to and to make sure notes, documents, etc. are all correct and appropriate.

b.) Laws need to be uniform throughout the nation. When interstate cases happen this makes it a harder and the cases take much longer since it is more complex.

c.) Children shouldn’t be taken away until there is a true evidence in a case to make that case true unless there is evidence that is apparent right away for the safety of the children, but the parents still should have a fair trial.

d.) Parents should be told their rights. Many times this doesn’t happen and most people don’t know until its too late and parents are stripped of their rights.

e.) There should be more than one person (judge) involved in these cases. Why should one person determine what happens to these families and children? There should be people that are maybe experienced in foster care etc. taking over these cases to help determine what needs to be done.

f.) Grandparents and blood relatives (aunts, uncles, etc.)should have rights to their families children. Some families are small and they need to take that into consideration. KEEP THESE CHILDREN WITH THEIR FAMILIES IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!

g.) If one parent is being investigated for abuse, neglect, etc. the children should go to the parent that is not involved in doing so until the courts deem that the case is untrue. Some parents are falsely accused but in some cases this is true! Why should the children continue to live with a possible abusive/neglectful parent?

h.) Cases that were falsely accused should be closed or cases where a parent/parents/family are falsely accused to be taken off record because in some cases it interferes with a parent or both parents getting a job. There is a statue of limitations that makes it hard for people to fight to get their cases off their file. How is a parent supposed to provide for their children in these cases?

i.) Schools , daycares, etc. should be more educated on how to deal with foster children and know more when to report possible abuse.

j.) Free parenting laws nationwide to allow parents to raise their children the way they see fit to an extent. Children will grow up to be more independent.

k.) Foster parents should be thoroughly checked and have a psychological evaluation. There are too many foster parents that abuse foster children both physically, sexually, and emotionally.

l.) Agencies should have computerized notes to make it possibly easier for the caseworkers and so they hopefully make more accurate notes and notes, documents won’t get lost as easily.

m.) Parents/relatives should be retried if the cases against them were false or information was misconstrued.

****We need to change this system in order for these children and families to have unnecessary emotional trauma and PTSD that takes years or therapy to overcome!****
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME IN LISTENING TO MY THOUGHTS IN CHANGING THIS SYSTEM AND SIGNING MY PETITION!

OUR FAMILY APPRECIATES IT AND HELP CHANGE THIS SYSTEM SO CHILDREN CAN COME HOME AND THRIVE IN THE RIGHT FAMILY!

YOU CAN BE THE CHANGE!!!! MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! PLEASE SIGN!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Ashley Szekeres

How to Sue Child Protective Services

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