A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Source:
Free Danny Tate

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Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

Family Upset With Care of Elderly Aunt

The family of a 94-year-old woman kept vigil this week at her bedside in an Orland Park nursing home, protesting strong pain medication being administered to her that they believe is slowly killing their beloved aunt.

They've picketed outside the Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Community to bring attention to the end-of-life care they say Lydia Tyler's court-appointed guardian has initiated without their input.

"It's just wrong," said Tyler's niece, Mary Sue Richards. "We're watching it play out and we're totally helpless."

But others say the story of Tyler is centered on a family spat over her estate that may, or may not, be worth a lot of money.

For the past year, Tyler has been watched over by a court-appointed guardian, Pamela Chwala, a registered nurse who is not a family member. Tyler has been at Brighton Gardens since January 2007 and previously lived at a nursing home in Burr Ridge.

Full Article and Source:
Family Members Upset With Care of Elderly Aunt

Former Lawyer Indicted for Fraud

Mingo County lawyer has been indicted in federal court on charges of defrauding West Virginia Public Defender Services.

William Duty, Jr., a self-employed attorney in Williamson, faces charges of submitting payment vouchers for services he did not perform.

Duty was appointed, at various times, to represent indigent clients in criminal procedures in Mingo County Circuit Court. The procedure for payment for these legal services was that Duty would obtain a payment voucher, signed by the Circuit Judge, verifying the amounts owed and the services rendered for the various clients. These vouchers were submitted to the West Virginia Public Defender Services for payment.

[F]rom June 2005 until December 2007, Duty allegedly altered signed payment vouchers with false names and other false information.

Full Article and Source:
Former Lawyer Indicted for Fraud

Lawyer Disbarred Over Trust Fund Theft

A Bartlett lawyer suspended in March after he was charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a children's trust fund now has been disbarred.

James M. Hoots was arrested in February.

He was charged with felony theft of property for allegedly stealing some $76,000 and gambling it away at the Tunica casinos.

The Tennessee Supreme Court announced Tuesday that Hoots has consented to disbarment because he cannot successfully defend himself on a complaint of misappropriation of funds.

Hoots, 56, admitted to the administrator of the children's estate that he had taken the money and that he had a gambling problem, according to an affidavit.

"I took the children's money and took it to Tunica to try to make more money," administrator Lana Scott said Hoots had told her in November.

Full Article and Source:
Memphis Lawyer Disbarred Over Children's Trust Fund Theft

Guardianized for Hoarding?

A Cook County Circuit Court judge gave Chicago officials the green light to begin cleanup of a South Shore two-flat where a reclusive elderly couple were rescued this week from under mounds of debris.

Thelma and Jesse Gaston may have been trapped for as long as two weeks — the last time they were seen, authorities said.

Judith Frydland, acting deputy counsel for the city, estimated the cleanup of the yard, home and garage in the 1500 block of East 69th Street could take about 10 days. Judge James McGing authorized the Cook County Public Guardian's Office to investigate whether the county should take guardianship of the Gastons, who are in their 70s.

Source:
City Gets OK to Clean Up Hoarding Couple's Home

Elderly to Outnumber Children Within Ten Years

The US Census Bureau, the fine folks that write you a letter every ten years asking how many toilets you have, have now released a study stating that within the next decade, people over the age of 65 will outnumber children under 5 for the first time in history. Unlike the toilet thing, this is pretty serious, with quite a few ramifications.

It forecasts that over the next 30 years the number of over-65s is expected to almost double, from 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion – a leap from 7% of the world's population to 14%. Already, the number of people in the world 65 and over is increasing at an average of 870,000 each month.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly to Outnumber Children Within Ten Years

No Money, No Cry

A few nuggets we found interesting from today’s Nashville Scene follow-up article posted below.

“Danny’s investments and nest egg are all but spent.”

“Yet David Tate says he had nothing but the best intentions in seeking conservatorship over his brother.”

“In David Tate’s eyes, the winner was the system trying to help his recalcitrant brother, as much as he fought it every step of the way. And in his brother’s estimation, Danny didn’t get much for the money he spent fighting it.”

David Tate doesn’t think Danny’s freedom from an oppressive conservatorship was “worth the money”. We beg to differ. Danny did what he HAD to do under the circumstances. It cost money to pursue his freedom through the court system David Tate so dearly loves. Danny was, and is, entitled to spend his OWN money to defend himself, or any other way he wants. What wasn’t right, was David Tate being allowed to handle his brother’s hard earned cash.

We’re STILL curious to see how he’s going to explain all those checks he wrote when he submits his accounting to the court. And FDT won’t rest until Danny’s got every dime back..and then some!!!

Boycott Signet Inc.

Source:
Free Danny Tate!!!

See Also:
What Has Danny Tate Really Won?

CA Probate Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

An attorney in Pasadena, Calif., has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 from his clients' estates, according to prosecutors.

Oscar Cruz Parra, 67, a probate attorney who was arrested in March at his home in San Dimas, Calif., agreed in a plea deal to serve five years in state prison and pay $441,000 in restitution to five former clients. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 15.

On Friday, Parra pleaded guilty to four counts of embezzlement, according to the Los Angeles County, Calif., district attorney's office. He stole the money beginning in 2000, filing false court papers to cover up his actions.

Full Article and Source:
Probate Attorney Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

Doctors Enlisted to Look Out for Elderly Fraud

Older people are one of the hottest targets for scams, and lack of financial knowledge makes them all the more vulnerable.

The issue is so important that the North American Securities Administrators Association will soon start a campaign aimed at reducing financial fraud against the elderly.

"A very large number of [elderly] fraud victims are suffering from diminished mental capacity," said Denise Voigt Crawford, association president and Texas state securities commissioner. "It makes them more vulnerable to pitches by fraudsters."

The association's campaign will include the creation of a pocket guide to help doctors determine whether their patient is a victim of investment fraud.

Among the signs are whether a patient is having trouble paying bills because he or she is confused by them or is giving away money he or she can't afford.

Full Article and Source:
Doctors Enlisted to Look Out for Elderly Fraud

What Has Danny Tate Really Won?

The mood was completely different from last December, when an attorney for the Nashville composer, songwriter, former pop-rocker and recovering crack addict had pleaded for him to be restored control of his life. But the strange assortment of spectators wasn't the only thing that had changed. Over the months since, the case had become a cause célébre detailed in a Scene cover story ("Court-Ordered Hell," Jan. 21, 2010). Now there was a TV camera, its lens and the eyes of its viewing audience trained on Judge Kennedy. There was even an observing member of the disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary, who requested anonymity and would not speak on the record.

Tate himself, with nine months of hard-won sobriety under his belt, sat composedly in a smart dark-gray suit, his face clean-shaven, his hair neatly parted. After nearly two and a half hours of testimony — and two and a half years of incredibly expensive legal warfare — Judge Kennedy spoke.

"He's the captain of his ship," the judge said, as the room held its breath. "He's the master of his own destiny. The conservatorship served its purpose, and no longer serves a purpose."

Danny told the Scene once that he would only be set loose from the conservatorship after his assets were drained. Intentionally or not, it turned out to be technically almost true.

The absence of process served to Danny at the outset was troubling. So was the ease with which he was made a ward — a state in which a man legally becomes a cipher, a nonentity with no say over his assets. Legal scholars have long warned of the hazards of such deprivation.

So if the ward believes this is wrong, does he fight it (as is his right) with everything he has — which will only double the rate at which he loses his assets?

There is one group, however, that emerges from this story as a clearcut winner: the attorneys. Paul Housch, David's attorney for the conservatorship, has billed roughly $100,000 since October 2007. Danny's attorney, Michael Hoskins, has also run up an expensive tab since he was hired in the fall of 2008 — nearly as much as Housch. At the moment, to pay them, Danny faces the prospect of selling his already flood-gutted Bellevue home.

Full Article and Source:
Danny Tate's Conservatorship Comes to an Eruptive End in a Nashville Courtroom — But What Has He Really Won?

In Smoron Probate Case, Greed At Its Ugly Worst

When it comes to the dead or the elderly, greed knows no legal or ethical boundaries.

I sat in New Britain Probate Court on Thursday morning as a lawyer sought to justify a slick shell game that would pilfer an inheritance from a Southington farmhand and hand it to the Catholic Church. In the process, a choice parcel of Southington farmland would be turned over to a local developer.

The problem is that Josephine Smoron — who died in June of 2009 — made it clear that under no circumstances did she want her farm to be sold to benefit the church.

"Any church or churches which may have been named in prior wills are also
intentionally and not inadvertently omitted," Smoron wrote in a 1996 will that
left her property to a Middletown man, Sebastian Scirpo, and her farm caretaker, Sam Manzo.

Scirpo died in 2002 and a later will in 2004 handed the entire farm to Manzo, who remains on the property.

All of this would seemingly make it at least somewhat obvious that the farm goes to Manzo — or perhaps to Manzo and members of the Scirpo family.

But this is probate court, where misdeeds pass unchallenged, like ships in the night.

Last May — when Smoron was dying in a nursing home — John Nugent, a local lawyer appointed by probate to watch over her estate, quietly approached Southington Probate Judge Bryan F. Meccariello with a motion to create two trusts containing all of the Polish farmer's property. Upon Smoron's death, the property would go to Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in New Britain, Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in New Britain and Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Southington.

At a court hearing attended only by Meccariello on May 12, 2009, the judge approved creation of the trusts, despite the fact that the action effectively disinherited Manzo. Lawyers for Manzo, Scirpo and Smoron relatives were given no opportunity to raise questions. They weren't even told of the hearing, which took place with Meccariello recording the proceedings and citing case law into the tape recorder.

All of this might have gone unnoticed, except that Manzo got a lawyer and started raising questions, and I started writing about the travesty. Before long, Meccariello recused himself and ordered a new hearing on the matter.

A probate oversight board investigation is underway.

Barry Pontolillo, Manzo's lawyer, told me after the hearing Thursday that the solution to this mess is obvious.

"All we have to do is get the church to realize that greed is one of the seven deadly sins."

I suspect the church knows a great deal about this topic. It's Probate Court that doesn't get it.

Full Article and Source:
In Smoron Probate Case, Greed At Its Ugly Worst

Conahan Ran the Show, Feds Say

From the moment he took a Christmas Eve drive with Robert Powell in 2001 to check out the site for a new juvenile detention center, Michael Conahan made it clear: He was the man in charge.

Over the next seven years he proved true to his word, evidence collected by federal authorities shows. He took the lead role in soliciting more than $700,000 in kickbacks from Powell, prosecutors say, and in developing a scheme to conceal the source of that money, as well as more than $2 million paid by real estate developer Robert Mericle.

It’s long been speculated that Conahan was a key figure in orchestrating the scheme that resulted in charges against himself, former judge Mark Ciavarella, Powell and Mericle. A court document filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors reveals new details about the depth of his involvement.

The document, a reply to dozens of pre-trial motions filed by attorneys for Conahan and Ciavarella, portrays Conahan as a puppet master and Ciavarella as a willing assistant who pulled some of the strings, but who left most of the details to Conahan.

Full Article and Source:
Conahan Ran the Show, Feds Say

Texas Nursing Home Operator Indicted

Beverly Rasberry Stone, the operator of Stonecrest Senior Care in Sweetwater, Texas, was indicted on May 11, 2010 on two counts of injury to an elderly person after a resident under her care developed severe bedsores.

The abuse allegations arose after Stone's facility "failed to seek appropriate attention, and (the bedsores) became untreatable". The resident eventually died of unrelated causes and the death is not at issue in the injury charges lodged against the nursing home operator.

Full Article and Source:
Texas Nursing Home Operator Indicted After Senior Suffers Injury

Guardianship in Arizona: Elder Care or Elder Abuse?

Many people move to Arizona for the weather and recreation because it's considered a haven for retirees who want to live out their golden years. But something else is happening here - something haunting.

For Clair's mom, Gloria Horrigan, it was a nightmare. Clair said her mother was taken to a nursing home against her will and not allowed visitors, not even family.

It was a struggle for Robert Brown to bring his wife, Rosemary, home. She was also taken and within a matter of weeks, the family wasn't allowed to see her either.

What happened in both cases started in a Maricopa County Courtroom - right in front of a judge.

The court approved a guardian in both cases. And both times, the guardian was Sun Valley Group of Tempe. Their website states they offer "support for client's physical, social, emotional and mental health." As part of their service, Sun Valley Group also took care of Gloria's personal finances.

But Clair said her mom did not get proper medical treatment and her bills weren't paid. Gloria's house went into foreclosure. “I’m physically sick from seeing what they've done to my mother. My family, my children, everyone has been affected by this,” said Clair.

Rosemary had a similar story. She was depressed and refused medical care. But Robert said under the company's care, she never did, so now family friend and doctor, Marge Butler, is Rosemary's guardian. “The bills were now coming at a ferried pace,” said Marge. In total, Marge said the family spent over a $100,000. That was for just four months of Sun Valley Group's care. It ended when the nursing home thought Rosemary was dying. They finally allowed the family to see her.

As for Gloria, Clair said the company seemed much more interested in her mom's money than her health. Gloria's final bill was just under $500,000 and included charges for an employee to open her mail at $75 an hour. “They are supposed to be her guardian and are supposed to be like her parents and look out for her best interests,” said Clair.

After repeatedly being turned down for an on camera interview, The ABC15 Investigators went to Sun Valley Group's office. They asked us to leave. We then caught up with the owner of Sun Valley, Peter Frenette, at a county courthouse. He was leaving a probate hearing involving fees from a different case. Even after several questions, Frenette would not comment.

The ABC15 Investigators have found more issues plaguing Sun Valley Group. Frenette's wife, Heather, is co-owner, but she is being investigated by the Arizona nursing board. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Organized Crime Unit is also investigating Sun Valley Group. By state law, both investigations are secret.

We also discovered three multi-million dollar lawsuits filed this year against the company for fraud and racketeering. Grant Goodman is the attorney for three former Sun Valley Group clients. “It's more of a criminal enterprise,” said Goodman, “They need to be prosecuted.” He claimed to find a pattern with these cases. “They effectively medicate them to such an extent that they really are non-functional,” said Goodman, “And they do that while they're liquidating their assets.”

The three lawsuits also blame probate court. “The mob isn't this efficient, nor does the mob have the luxury of having a court rubberstamp these proceedings,” said Goodman.

Goodman is not the only one who thinks that way. Last month, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an Administrative Order to investigate probate court. One of the issues is regulating fees.

Full Article, Video and Source:
Guardianship in Arizona: Elder Care of Elder Abuse?

Probate Judge's E-Mail Raises Eyebrows

Draft of Ruling Was Sent To Only One Side:

Hours before releasing a combative order that approved the draining of an 88-year-old widow's life savings, a Maricopa County probate judge sent a draft copy of her ruling to the attorneys who stood to benefit - a violation of the judges' ethics code.

One of those attorneys responded to the March e-mail and even suggested several changes that were incorporated into Pro-Tem Judge Lindsay Ellis' 21-page ruling.

"I could not be happier," attorney Brenda Church replied, upon getting the proposed order.

I guess not. Church's bill for $333,000 was among bills totaling nearly $800,000 about to be approved by Ellis.

Three other attorneys - Lauren Garner and Jerome Elwell who were working for the Sun Valley Group, and Brian Theut, the old lady's guardian ad litem - also received Ellis' draft ruling. None of them reported Ellis to the Commission on Judicial Conduct or notified the attorneys representing Marie Long and her sisters of the improper "ex-parte" communication. Such contacts are a violation of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct.

Presiding Probate Judge Karen O'Connor, who twice last year rejected requests to disqualify Ellis from the case due to bias, has ordered a hearing into the matter, which came to light late last week.

Full Article and Source:
Probate Judge's E-Mail Raises Eyebrows

See Also:
Probate Judge Violates Ethics Code

Fmr. Nursing Home Office Manager Pleads Guilty

A former Rock Hill nursing home office manager is finally answering to charges that she improperly used more than $60,000 belonging to the home's residents.

Melissa Rice Kelly, 39, of Chester was charged in January 2009 with elder exploitation and forgery. Kelly was a business manager for two years for Magnolia Manor at 127 Murrah Drivve.

Kelly pleaded guilty in a York County courtroom to 12 counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult and one count of breach of trust with fraud intent. Kelly faced a maximum of 70 years in prison on all 13 felony charges.

The judge ordered Kelly to repay Magnolia Manor and placed her on probation for five years and 30 days of public service employment.

Full Article and Source:
Rock Hill Nursing Home Manager Guilty of Exploiting Elderly

IT IS NOW MY TURN!

David Tate, Attorney Paul Housch, Judge David Randy Kennedy, and others, have committed specific criminal acts when they seized control of Danny Tate’s life and financial estate. I know. I have been a police officer, private investigator, and investigative consultant for more than 48 years. By using multiple fraudulent Durable Powers of Attorney documents, a fraudulent petition for conservatorship, denying Danny his right to notice and any legal assistance, using fraudulent medical opinions, and appointing a guardian ad litem who went right along with the program, they formed an incestuous relationship and used the court system to line their own pockets with Danny’s money. Even worse, now that Danny is absolutely penniless they have ended the Conservatorship but they have not stopped, they also want his house. This entire charade was about money. Danny’s money.

In early 2010 Danny Tate retained my consulting services to assist him in making decisions about his case. I reviewed evidence, documents, court transcripts and records, and spoke with witnesses concerning his case. At the same time, I learned about other cases where various attorneys (including Attorney Housch) had committed similar criminal acts against other unsuspecting people. They have clearly established a continuing pattern of criminal conduct and again used the court system to steal everything from people made helpless by their criminal acts. Judge David Randy Kennedy is the judge on each and every one of those cases.

During my review, I became so offended by what I had learned and discovered, and realizing that I had a duty and obligation, I created a twenty page sworn affidavit and added over 200 pages of supporting documents. On April 2nd, 2010 I personally met with an FBI agent and hand delivered my affidavit to the Nashville office of the FBI along with my written request for a criminal investigation by the public integrity unit. I specifically named names including Judge David Randy Kennedy, the sitting judge of the Probate Division of Davidson County, Tennessee. NASGA, the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, joined me and became co-petitioner in this action. I am now in the process of adding a supplemental affidavit with additional information and evidence. I will keep you posted.

If anyone has any additional information about Danny’s or any other case please contact me at irarobins@sbcglobal.net or 414-305-8832.

Submitted by: Ira B. Robins

Guardianship Dissolved With No Apologies From Judge

A probate judge dissolved the guardianship that controlled a songwriter's finances while he was addicted to crack. But the judge made no apologies for setting up the guardianship to begin with.

The guardianship has managed his financial and legal affairs for the last three years. The musician's brother became Danny's conservator when Danny was admittedly addicted to crack cocaine. Danny Tate said he is now clean and sober.

Circuit Judge Randy Kennedy ruled that songwriter Danny Tate no longer needs a conservator. The judge gave Danny's brother David, the conservator, 60 days to account for how the money expended has been spent.

During the conservatorship, Danny Tate's bank accounts dwindled to nothing. He's not only paying his own legal fees, he's paying the lawyers his brother hired.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Musician Doesn't Need Conservator, Judge Says

Songwriter Wins Fight To Regain Control Of Life

A Nashville songwriter won a 2 1/2 year legal battle Monday to regain control of his life and make all medical, legal and financial decisions for himself, in a case that drew wide attention to problems that can arise when a disabled person is put in the care of a guardian.

The same judge who removed Danny Tate's legal rights in 2007 restored them to the 54-year-old musician who has written a top 10 hit and composed tunes for several popular TV shows.

At a hearing that was packed with Tate's supporters, Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Randy Kennedy ruled that Tate is capable of managing his own affairs.

Kennedy had declared Tate mentally disabled in October 2007 at an "emergency" hearing where Tate was not present nor represented by a lawyer. The songwriter was again declared disabled three weeks later and put into a locked psychiatric ward after he was denied a request for a lawyer.

Advocates for people declared unfit to manage their own affairs and placed in the care of guardians say the songwriter's case is an example of abuses found nationwide. Some of them came to Nashville to monitor the court hearing.

The crowd of about 50, many of them wearing T-shirts that read "Free Danny Tate," applauded when Kennedy issued his ruling from the bench.

"Of course I'm happy. But it's a hollow victory because I'm (financially) wiped out," said Tate, who was one of the writers of "Affair of the Heart," a hit for Rick Springfield in the 1980s. He also has written music played during segments on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Entertainment Tonight."

Tate had been stripped of his rights after his older brother, David Tate, petitioned the court, saying his younger sibling was in the grip of a life-threatening drug addiction and spending between $500-$800 a day on crack cocaine.

David Tate, 60, has maintained that he did what was necessary to save his brother's life.

Danny Tate admits he was addicted to crack cocaine when court proceedings began against him in October 2007, but he maintains that he was a functioning addict who was robbed of his constitutional rights and drained of his life savings.

Kennedy appointed David Tate as the songwriter's conservator, which is Tennessee's name for a guardian. The legal arrangement was supposed to help the songwriter get clean and sober and protect his finances.

The judge restored Danny Tate's rights after three physicians filed a report saying the songwriter was capable of making his own legal, financial and medical decisions. Tate was also able to show that he had tested negative for drugs for nine months.

"I'm delighted," the older brother said after the hearing. "You think this was fun? I lost a brother to drugs."

The two brothers did not talk to each other in court or afterward.

The songwriter testified that his estate had been "plundered" by the legal arrangement. He hasn't accused his brother of stealing his money, only being responsible for a legal battle that cost him his life savings.

Tate had more than $600,000 in a money market account when court proceedings against him began in 2007 and was getting paid $125,000 a year in royalties.

Almost all that money is gone.

Unlike other court battles, where each side pays its own legal fees, a disabled person with money foots the entire bill for the court battle over a conservatorship. Every time a motion was filed against him, the songwriter paid for it.

"I figured he'd be let out when he didn't have another dollar to his name," said Michael Hoskins, a lawyer who now represents the songwriter. He said he would fight attempts to sell the songwriter's house to pay for legal fees.

Full Article and Source:
Songwriter Wins Fight To Regain Control Of Life

Rethinking Guardianship

Families say loved ones are being ripped away by a closed, unfair system.

Putting legal power over a person into a stranger’s hands is supposedly considered a last resort by the court system.

But several local families say that what began as a volunteer program to help the old and vulnerable has evolved into a close-knit alliance of probate judges, attorneys, care providers, and quasi-governmental nonprofit employees. These factions, while doing good in many cases, sometimes rip families apart without giving relatives so much as the courtesy of being present at the hearings where such decisions are made.

“The system is rigged, and the family has nowhere to turn,” said Kathie Seidel, one of a handful of local residents who accuse the probate court and GSI of removing loved ones from their homes unnecessarily.

The residents describe being replaced as guardians in court hearings without being given a chance to defend themselves — and then being required to put up $10,000 bonds in order to be allowed to appeal the decision. Overturning a court’s decision on guardianship can become a maze of dead ends. Families don’t know where to turn, other than to legislators who might change the laws — and that’s been a slow-moving ship.

The families believe the system involves too-cozy relationships between judges, attorneys, caseworkers, and others and is rife with intimidation and retaliatory behavior designed to shut out families that might get in the way.

Attorneys donate money to the election campaigns of probate judges who assign those same attorneys to guardianship cases. Attorneys also donate money to GSI, which in turn shepherds clients to nursing homes and other facilities that want to keep their beds filled. The nonprofit’s funding is based on its number of clients. Its board of directors is mostly composed of attorneys and has included nursing home representatives in the past.

Efforts to expose the system’s flaws and build support for reforms fell on deaf ears in the past, but that might be changing. Four North Texas families traveled to Austin last week to testify at a Texas Senate interim hearing along with other families from around the state. They told their stories to a committee led by Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound, describing secret hearings and retaliation from court-appointed guardians using family members as pawns in power struggles. They lamented an overall lack of regulation.

Senators appeared surprised and concerned about what’s happening in some guardianship cases.

Pushing for reforms nationwide is the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA), an Indiana-based nonprofit group working to get a federal response to guardianship problems caused by self-policing courts and programs. “Each state is different, and each county has their own procedure, so the only answer is federal,” said Sylvia Rudek, a NASGA board member. “There is no due process. They have ex-parte hearings. There are no civil rights — that’s what makes it federal.”

Full article and source:
Rethinking Guardianship

The "Protection Racket" - You Can Steal More With a Pen Than With a Gun!

PICTURE THIS! A knock on the door - the police are there to remove you, and you don't know why; you're not a criminal!

And by the time you find out why, you are no longer in control of your life, liberty or property.

Not until your assets are seized and secured by an unlawful court order which you knew nothing about, do you get the constitutionally required notice telling you to come to court for a hearing.

It wasn't until NASGA member Danny Tate got to court and asked for an adjournment so he could hire a lawyer, that he found out he could not, because he had no money!

Where was the money? In his estranged brother's control - his brother, the "temporary" conservator!

Danny's future was and still is under the control of a judge and his court-appointed guardian/conservator and other appointed "fiduciaries" and experts.

He's fighting back now to escape this awful two-and-a-half-year nightmare.

Guardianship is an ancient law. In Olde England, the King had to provide for the welfare of his subjects. The historical purpose of guardianship - or "lunatic proceedings" - as they were then known, was to protect that person and his/her property. If they became well, their property was returned.

That idea was adopted in America, and also known as "lunatic proceedings" in the early years - with one difference - you rarely get your money back! The "protection" statutes are promulgated under the police power of the state, from its duty to protect its citizens - "parens patriae" (parent of the country)!

Those adjudged to be incapacitated become wards of the State under what are now known as guardianships or conservatorships. A fiduciary - supposedly a person of trust - is appointed by the court to take charge of the person's life, liberty and property. To PROTECT and CONSERVE is the ostensible purpose of the law.

But are these vulnerable people being protected and their property and assets conserved according to law? Not according to NASGA! Unfortunately, guardianship/conservatorship has grown into something very different, more like a feeding frenzy for professionals and for a growing number of nonprofit corporations.

“Guardianizing” an innocent person based on unfounded allegations, false information and exaggeration in the petition, for nefarious purposes, without due process, is becoming increasingly easier due to the lack of monitoring of the state courts. “Incapacitated” now replaces “incompetent” in a growing number of state statutes, thereby exposing even persons with minor or temporary physical disabilities to a complete and potentially permanent loss of life, liberty and property, most often to the day they die. It's like a whirlpool - once you get sucked in, it's hard to get out - even in one of those nasty new "emergency" guardianships! The emergency is supposed to be dealt with on a short-term basis. But not in this case before Nashville Probate judge Randy Kennedy!

Danny Tate, a Nashville musician, was sucked into the sick "protection" machine by an unlawful process: TN law says he should have notice in advance of a "hearing." So what did Judge Kennedy of the Seventh Circuit Court in Nashville, TN, do? On 10/23/07, instead of holding a "hearing," relying on only the unsubstantiated and fraudulent petition of Danny's brother as "evidence" of an "emergency," he issued an order finding Danny to be in need of a "temporary" conservatorship. But even a sworn petition, with nothing more, does not constitute "evidence." Besides, you don't take evidence from only one side in a case. That's sneaky! They have a fancy name for it in the law: "ex parte"! That means "one side without the other," but it really sounds more like "Let's Party!" The other legal words to describe Kennedy's actions are "colorable" and "under color of law."

Without the constitutionally required personal service, Kennedy had no lawful authority to even issue such an order, but Kennedy is unconcerned, because he's obviously been getting away with that kind of thing for a long time, as the only judge in the probate court!

Well, after he appointed Danny Tate's brother to be his "temporary" conservator, and allowed him to grab all Danny's assets, not only could Danny not then hire a lawyer of his choice; he couldn't work, either, because most of his music equipment was confiscated by his brother, along with his assets!

Nice, huh?

In order to finish the job, after the money grab was a done deal, Kennedy had one of his appointees arrange for personal service on Danny, with the assistance of the police, for a hearing at a later date. On 11/14/07, Danny appeared in court and asked for an adjournment of the "hearing" to get a lawyer. Kennedy wouldn't allow it; he forced Danny to proceed without counsel, and without notice or warning Judge Kennedy ordered Danny removed in handcuffs from the courtroom.

How would you like to be hauled into court, there to learn that your money has already been grabbed by your adversary - these proceedings are not supposed to be adversarial, by the way, but they surely are - and you're not able to hire an honest lawyer to protect you? "Honest"? Sure! If the judge appoints a lawyer for you, fuggedaboutit! That lawyer is a team player, and you haven't got a prayer! Danny had a few of those - all paid for from his own assets under his brother's control - before he found an honest lawyer on his own. Michael Hoskins worked seven months without pay because Kennedy initially denied his application for payment - until ten Facebook "Friends" wearing "Free Danny Tate" tee-shirts to court convinced Kennedy otherwise.

Mind you, Danny's money paid his brother's lawyer all along, including a generous up-front $25,000 "retainer." The court-appointed guardian or conservator, if there's enough money/property in the ward's estate, will gladly share it with his friends, hiring lawyers and accountants to help with plundering the estate in the name of "fee billings" until the Ward is indigent, leaving his/her lifetime care, on Medicaid, to the American taxpaupers! That's Medicaid fraud; isn't it?

Danny's "temporary" conservatorship has been "temporary" ever since 2007, but now an appellate court has straightened Kennedy out on that issue, and a final hearing on permanency will be held this morning: Seventh Circuit Probate Court, 1 Public Square in Nashville, TN.

So much for constitutional due process, civil rights, human rights, life, liberty and happiness! How do you get free from this insanity? It's like a rotting cancer, growing out of control, all across the country today.

What happened to NASGA member Danny Tate can happen to anyone! But with the help of Facebook and other "Friends," we hope he will soon be free of his nightmare!

Danny's brother cancelled his health insurance, the insurance on his studio and music equipment, without notice to Danny. Everything was lost in the recent flooding. Most recently, he stopped Danny's support payments to his children. PROTECT and CONSERVE, indeed!

We must question why a judge would knowingly violate the law and individual rights and protections. He/she must be incompetent or corrupt; there is no other explanation.

Something is very wrong when government allows things like this to happen to its citizens, in gross violation of all basic rights and protections.

The protection program as presently operated across the states has now become "THE PROTECTION RACKET"! That's why NASGA has asked Congress to intervene, even before we learned about Danny's story: www.AnOpenLetterToCongress.info.

Please play my favorite YouTube video. Several puppets play the role of judge, guardian, conservator and lawyer in a court hearing where a forced guardianship is occurring.



Video Source:
YouTube

Source:
Written by a NASGA Member

Danny Tate Awareness Concert/Flood Relief Concert Tonight!

Sunday, May 23, 2010
Danny Tate Awareness Concert/Flood Relief Concert Tonight!

Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 11:30pm
Location: 12th and Porter, Nashville, TN
Street: 114 12th Ave. North

The show will feature performances by:
Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens; Peter Holsapple of The dB's; Hootie and the Blowfish and formerly of REM; Danny Tate; Kevin Montgomery and the Roadtrippers-featuring Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin from The Mavericks and Mike McAdam from Steve Earle and the Dukes; Gorilla Baby-featuring John Coleman from Walk the West, and the Cactus Brothers; Jean Anne Chapman; Etta Britt; Jonell Mosser; Tom Kimmel; Chuck Mead of BR549; Garry Talley; Christine Leakey; Templeton Thompson; Mark Luna; Dan Baird formerly of the Georgia Satellites, and many more.

Danny lost his house in the Nashville flood, but would like the proceeds from the concert to go to someone else that has been affected by the flood.

Note: Monday, May 24th&25th - 9am - "Free Danny Tate" supporters will accompany Danny Tate and his lawyer to provide scrutiny on the court. Seventh Circuit Probate Court, 1 Public Square, Nashville.

Source:
Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

See Also:
Danny Tate Awareness Concert Pays it Forward

Free Danny Tate!!!

Rights Lost to Conservator, Songwriter Fights Back

A court stripped away songwriter Danny Tate's control of his life-—removing his right to make his own legal, financial and medical decisions-—at a last-minute hearing he didn't know about and didn't attend.

With the drop of a gavel, the Nashville musician who'd written a top 10 hit and was making around $125,000 a year writing music for TV shows was declared mentally disabled and in need of someone to manage his affairs.

The decision was made at an "emergency hearing" with no medical testimony and no lawyer to represent Tate's interests.

When Tate finally got his day in court three weeks later to challenge allegations that he was in the grip of a life-threatening drug addiction, the judge refused his request for a lawyer and he had to represent himself.

Advocates for people declared legally unfit to manage their own affairs say the songwriter's case is a troubling example of abuses found in the courts nationwide.

Among the problems they see: people stripped of their rights on questionable evidence, deprived of a lawyer, subjected to emergency hearings when there is no true emergency and losing their life savings.

Such complaints prompted the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging to order an investigation into the concerns. That investigation is currently being conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

In Tennessee, a person who manages the affairs of a disabled adult is called a conservator. Other states call these people guardians.

Tate, 54, says what was done to him at the emergency hearing Oct. 23, 2007, crippled his ability to mount a defense in a yearslong legal battle to restore his rights.

Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Randy Kennedy named the songwriter's older brother, David Tate, 60, as his conservator. That gave the older brother access to the younger brother's savings—more than half a million dollars-—to pay for the lawyers to keep the conservatorship in place. In effect, Danny Tate has been forced to pay for the legal fight to oppose his own legal claim.

Danny Tate was one of the writers of "Affair of the Heart," a top 10 hit for Rick Springfield in the '80s. He made most of his money writing music that appears during segments on popular TV shows, including "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and "Entertainment Tonight."

The son of an Arkansas minister, Danny Tate had wrestled for much of his life with alcohol and cocaine. He had made repeated but failed attempts to get a grip on his addiction when court proceedings began against him in October 2007.

That was when David Tate filed a court petition claiming his brother was spending between $500 and $800 dollars a day on crack.

David Tate asked the judge to appoint him as Danny's conservator, to help him get treatment and preserve the songwriter's assets. The brother filed a statement from one of the songwriter's financial accounts showing large withdrawals of funds.

An attorney who now represents Danny Tate said the petition that led to the emergency hearing was based entirely on unsubstantiated allegations by the brother.

"It's scary," Michael Hoskins said. "All you've got to do is make the allegation" to force someone into a conservatorship.

Being a drug addict or alcoholic alone is not grounds enough to be declared mentally incompetent, legal experts say. The question is whether the addiction was so disabling that he could no longer manage his own affairs.

His case, Danny Tate says, should serve as a stark warning about how easy it is to have someone declared disabled and should be chilling to anyone in Nashville's music industry with an addiction and some money.

"If this could happen to me, they'd have to bust 75 percent of Music Row and go down before Randy Kennedy for a mass conservatorship hearing," the songwriter said.

He is gearing up for a May 24 hearing to determine whether he is competent to take charge of his life again.

This time he'll have a lawyer.

The upcoming hearing was ordered by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in December after the songwriter argued he was entitled to a chance to get out of the legal arrangement or appeal it.

David Tate won't say whether he will ask the judge to keep him in charge of his brother's affairs. He maintains that he stepped in to save his brother's life.

More than $200,000 has been spent on legal fees so far, court records show. The upcoming hearing is expected to eat up thousands more.

Court records show that Tate had more than $600,000 in a money market account and was receiving about $125,000 a year in music royalty payments when the court proceedings began.

He will likely be in debt after the hearing, Hoskins said.

Unlike other court battles where each side pays its own legal fees, in a conservatorship proceeding a disabled person who has money pays for both sides. Every time Danny Tate's brother files a motion it comes out of Danny Tate's life savings.

"That's the worst part of it. They're paying these people to harm them," said Elaine Renoire, president of the Indiana-based National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse. The organization is supporting the songwriter in his legal battle.

David Tate, who runs a corporate logo and merchandising company in Memphis, is not accused of trying to enrich himself at his brother's expense.

However, the outright theft of assets or questionable billing practices by lawyers and guardians has long been a concern of advocates and is part of the GAO study.

Renoire says she has no idea how prevalent guardian abuse is because the records simply don't exist. Many courts don't keep records on how many of these cases they have.

A December 2007 report by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging found numerous problems with conservatorship cases nationwide despite reforms specifically pointed to emergency hearings. "Emergency appointments, by their nature, immediately deny prospective wards their due process," the report said.

Hoskins said he believes Danny Tate's case never would have gotten this far if Tate could have gotten a good lawyer from the start.

Unlike the right to counsel in criminal cases, the right to a lawyer in civil cases like conservatorship proceedings is not constitutionally guaranteed.

But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be, said Chris Slobogin a Vanderbilt niversity Law School professor who is an expert in mental-health law.

"I think there's a good argument to be made that when a person's property and possibly his liberty is going to be deprived by the government, there should be a right to counsel even if the proceeding is not criminal in nature," Slobogin said.

Full Article and Source:
Rights Lost to Conservator, Songwriter Fights Back

See Also:
Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

Free Danny Tate!!!

Sara Harvey Continues Battle With County to Get Her Husband Home

In a complex case that has drawn the attention of the family of Terri Schiavo, a Vietnam veteran's wife claims a Catholic hospital has tried to end her husband's life by starving him to death, placing him under a "do-not-resuscitate" order and refusing to allow him to return home.

Gary Harvey, 60, a Vietnam veteran, fell down a flight of stairs on Jan. 21, 2006 and suffered a traumatic brain injury that put him in a vegetative state. Gary, an only child who is estranged from his two adult children, did not have a living will.

His wife, Sara, had him placed in a nursing home so he would receive care while she returned to her full-time job.

When county authorities took guardianship, Sara was separated from any decision making process for her husband's health and medical welfare. Gary's father is deceased, and his elderly mother has not attempted to obtain guardianship. Sara has been trying to get the judge's guardianship decision overturned.

In a recent interview with WLEA's Kevin Doran, Sara said, "I simply want to bring my husband home so I can care for him for the remainder of his life."

The family of Terri Schiavo has announced its support for Sara. Mary Schindler and Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, visited Gary at St. Joseph's Hospital in December and said they would offer Sara any support they could, the Elmira Star-Gazette reported.

"We're looking out for the best interest of Sara. She wants to bring her husband home," Bobby Schindler said. "She wants guardianship of her husband, and it doesn't make sense to us or her why she's being denied that right, and why they've taken away her visitation rights and won't allow her to visit her husband."

He added, "It's horrible how they're treating this woman when she simply wants to care for her husband."

Full Article and Source:
Woman Battles County for Husband's Life - Another Terri Schiavo? Hospital Refuses to Release Vietnam Veteran

Danny Tate Awareness Concert Pays it Forward

Danny lost pretty much everything in the flood. He just found out as well that his insurance that he maintained for 12 years that covered his studio, and musical instruments…….including 25 guitars…..was cancelled while he has been in this “conservatorship;” He is upset, and I’m upset for him.

That being said, Danny wants to give the proceeds from the Awareness Concert to another victim of the Nashville flood. That is the kind of guy he is. So, we found one via his attorney Michael G. Hoskins.

Last week Danny forwarded this letter written by a friend of Mr. Hoskins. In the letter Betty and Steve Walker ask for help for their friend Stephanie Farmer. Stephanie lost everything in the flood. She takes care of her 67 year old mother that is on oxygen 24/7, her daughter who has cerebral palsy, works full-time, and goes to night school to become a paralegal.

She lost her car as well. She needs our help, and Danny wants to give it. I spoke to Mrs, Walker for about half an hour today, and last night talked to Mr. Hoskins for a half an hour in order to make sure it was fully vetted. I feel good about it.

I also heard that she made the news in Nashville, so i googled her. I found this on Tennessean.com.
Another story I just found.

I believe in serendipity. This woman came to our attention for a reason. We found that person in need of the money we raise at the Awareness Concert. Get your tickets now!

Source:
Danny Tate Pays it Forward to Another Nashville Flood Victim

See Also:
The Stephanie Farmer Story

Former Miss Wheelchair Rescued From Flooding

Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

Free Danny Tate!!!

Danny Tate Radio Interview Part Two Tonight!

Nicole Sandler from The Nicole Sandler show did an amazing interview with Danny this past monday. She became so passionate about his cause that she has asked Danny back on her show on May 20th for a follow-up interview!

You can hear the first interview here: Danny Tate on the Nicole Sandler Show

Her show can be found at http://www.RadioOrNot.com/

Nicole rose to fame at KLOS in LA, later moving to KSCA, and ultimately had a great run at now defunct Air America.

She now has her own show. Listen and get inspired.

Thursday, May 20, 2010 @ 5:30-6:00 p.m.

Source:
Free Danny Tate!!!

See Also:
Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

Victimized Twice: Abuse of Nursing Home Residents

If you saw someone punch a disabled person with a closed fist on a street corner, most people would call the police. But when it happens behind the closed door of a nursing home, the response tends to be less clear-cut.

At least that’s what staff attorneys from Disability Rights California found in a report that explores 12 cases of abuse against elderly or disabled people in California nursing homes. The nonprofit advocacy group's report is called "Victimized Twice: Abuse of nursing home residents, No criminal accountability for perpatrators."

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse Often Treated as Personal Issue Instead of a Crime

Victimized Twice: Abuse of Nursing Home Residents, No Criminal Accountability for Perpetrators

Fmr. Bank Manager Pleads No Contest

An ex-San Jose bank manager is expected to go to jail following an elaborate scam in which he stole at least $18,000 from elderly customers by issuing them ATM cards they never asked for.

Maurizio Contarino, 47, who worked as a branch manager at Bank of America in Willow Glen, pleaded no contest in April to elder fraud and grand theft, according to Santa Clara County prosecutors. He posted bail and is out of custody.

Contarino, who is scheduled for sentencing May 27, faces a maximum of four years and eight months in prison. Neither he nor his lawyer was available for immediate comment.

"I'm seeing an alarming trend of bank employees committing theft against elderly customers," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Cherie Bourlard. "You can't really trust the bank tellers like you once did. That's what is so sad about this. I'm really just trying to protect our elders."

Full Article and Source:
San Jose: Former Willow Glen Bank Manager Pleads No Contest to Fraud, Grand Theft

Probate Judge Violates Ethics Code

Hours before releasing a combative order that approved the draining of an 88-year-old widow's life savings, a Maricopa County probate judge sent a draft copy of her ruling to the attorneys who stood to benefit – a violation of the judges' ethics code.

One of those attorneys responded to the March e-mail and even suggested several changes that were incorporated into Pro-Tem Judge Lindsay Ellis' 21-page ruling.

“I could not be happier,” attorney Brenda Church replied, upon getting the proposed order.

I guess not. Church's bill for $333,000 was among nearly $800,000 worth about to be approved by Ellis.

Three other attorneys – Lauren Garner and Jerome Elwell who were working for the Sun Valley Group, and Brian Theut, the old lady's guardian ad litem – also received Ellis' draft ruling. None of them reported Ellis to the Commission on Judicial Conduct or notified the attorneys representing Marie Long and her sisters of the improper “ex-parte” communication. Such contacts are a violation of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct.

Presiding Probate Judge Karen O'Connor, who last year twice rejected requests to disqualify Ellis from the case due to bias, has ordered a hearing into the matter, which came to light late last week.

Ellis and the lawyers in on the tête-à-tête couldn't be reached for comment Monday. The attorneys excluded from Ellis' sneak peek -- the ones advocating for the old lady -- were stunned that Ellis would be so blatant in her favoritism.

“The whole justice system is based on making sure there is no appearance of impropriety and it's a fair tribunal and a fair system,” said attorney Pat Gitre, who represents Marie's sisters. “Marie Long never had a fair tribunal and Marie Long never had a chance.”

What Marie Long did have, once upon a time before she entered probate court, was $1.3 million in assets. After a stroke in 2005, she fell under the protective eye of probate, a place where a cozy group of fiduciaries and attorneys are appointed to help vulnerable people but also manage to help themselves to a sizable pile of cash unless a judge stops it.

In Marie's case, no judge stopped it. Over the next four years, Sun Valley, which served as Marie's guardian, and the various probate attorneys collected $900,000 in guardian, care and legal fees until last year, when Marie was tapped out.

Full Article and Source:
Probate Judge Violates Ethics Code

See Also:
Guardian Balked at Aiding Marie Long

Lawyer Busted

Agents from the attorney general's office arrested a Montgomery County attorney for stealing nearly $555,000 from an elderly woman and, after her death, from her estate. He allegedly used the money to refinance his North Carolina beach house and to pay his credit card debt, authorities said.

Attorney General Tom Corbett identified the defendant as Frank H. Morgan, Jr., 63, of 1704 Clocktower Drive, West Chester, a partner in the Norristown law firm of McTighe, Weiss, O’Rourke, Troncelliti and Morgan.

Evidence and testimony regarding Morgan’s alleged illegal activity was presented to a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the criminal charges being filed .

The grand jury found that in February 2006, Rita Trish, a 90-year women living in a Gladwyne assisted living facility, gave Morgan power of attorney, which authorized him to act on her behalf in legal and business matters. Trish gave Morgan her power of attorney three weeks after her husband died.

Full Article and Source:
West Chester Lawyer Busted For Bilking Elderly Client Out of $550,000

Advocating for Persons With Disabilities

Cathy Ludlum says she has a great life, but since childhood she's been aware not everyone thinks so.

She remembers being 5, sitting in her wheelchair as people in the supermarket looked at her and shook their heads. She wondered how she could tell them she was not to be pitied.

Years later, in the hospital, Ludlum overheard the staff talking about her, assuming she led a tragic life in an institution, even though the medical chart said otherwise — she lived on her own and ran a consulting business despite a neuromuscular disease that took away her ability to move.

"People like me are at enormous risk when we're in the hospital or otherwise disempowered," Ludlum said.

Ludlum, 47, of Manchester, believes misconceptions about people with severe disabilities can lead medical workers to give them less aggressive lifesaving options. Doctors might think they would not want to live if they were in the patient's condition and assume the patient feels the same, she said. Or medical workers might see a disability as a fatal condition, even if it is not.

That makes her wary of an effort in Connecticut to let terminally ill patients end their lives through medication prescribed by doctors.

Two Fairfield County doctors, backed by a national group, have asked a Superior Court judge to declare that state law does not prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of medication to mentally competent, terminally ill patients who request it. They say doing so is not assisted suicide because the patient is already dying, making the question not if he or she will die, but when.

Ludlum and other advocates for people with disabilities are seeking to intervene in the case.

The concept — giving people in pain control over their dying processes — may sound sympathetic, Ludlum said. But she and other advocates fear the reality will be more complex, and could leave people who have severe disabilities vulnerable. They worry about the law being misapplied — for example, if a person with a disability asks for help dying but is not terminally ill — and about the ideas such a policy would foster about the worthiness of a life lived with diminished capacity.

Full Article, Online Poll, and Source:
Doctors' 'Right-To-Die' Efforts For Terminally Ill Patients Worry Advocates For People With Disabilities

'Tara's Law' Will Protect Disabled From Abuse

Alocal family’s quest for justice after the death of their young relative has resulted in landmark legislation signed into law that will protect developmentally disabled people who are in the care of the state.

“This is a great first step,” said Sen. JenniferBeck (R-12th District), a primary sponsor of the bill, in an interview on May 7. “It’s hard to believe that there was no formal system in place to prevent abusers from continuing to be part of the provider system until now.”

On April 30, Gov. Chris Christie signed the bill that creates an internal registry within the Department of Human Services (DHS) of caregivers who have been found to have abused people with developmental disabilities under their care.

“Abuse at the hands of a caregiver is a reprehensible action,” Christie said in a statement. “The legislation that I am signing today is an important tool to help safeguard those with developmental disabilities from harmful caregivers taking advantage of their position. Equally important, this new law will prevent these custodians from gaining re-employment or continuing participation in human services-funded programs.”

Senate Bill S-825, known locally as Tara’s Law, requires the DHS to maintain a confidential registry of paid caregivers and volunteers who have been determined to have abused, neglected or exploited any service recipient of the DHS Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). This includes those employed as caregivers in facilities licensed, contracted or regulated by the DHS.

Full Article and Source:
Tara's Law Will Protect Disabled From Abuse

See Also:
Two Indicted for Neglect of Tara O'Leary

Bishop Clark: No Attempt to Shorten Patient's Life

Several advocacy organizations, such as the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA), ultimately became involved in the [Gary Harvey] case.

According to a report (my emphasis),

In a January, 2010 letter to Bishop Matthew Clark in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, NASGA president, Elaine Renoire, cited: "The guardian attempted to terminate his life and would have been successful had Mrs. Harvey not taken it to the media. St. Joseph's Hospital's Ethics Committee chose to participate in what would have been Gary Harvey's execution rather than prevent it. NASGA is asking you to find out why."

Bishop Matthew Clark responded nearly one month later saying, "I am convinced that St. Joseph Hospital complies with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, that the Hospital is complying with the Order of the Court, and that there has been no attempt to shorten Mr. Harvey's life."

It would seem that our bishop does not equate the recommendation to remove a feeding tube with an attempt to shorten a patient's life.

Full Article and Source:
Bishop Clark: No Attempt to Shorten Patient's Life

Sara Harvey Continues Fight to Bring Her Husband Home

Horseheads, New York, resident, Sara Harvey is in year four of her fight to bring husband, Gary Harvey , home despite direct opposition from his appointed guardian, Chemung County. Harvey has been detained at the Elmira based St. Joseph Hospital as a patient since May, 2009, even though his care can be administered safely at home by his wife. In a recent interview with WLEA's Kevin Doran, Mrs. Harvey described the events and circumstance which have left her powerless to help her husband and provided her only six hours each week of guarded visitation. "I simply want to bring my husband home so I can care for him for the remainder of his life," said Harvey.

Advocacy organizations, the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation (TSSF), the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA) and Veterans Today have become publicly involved in order to bring Gary Harvey home under his wife's care.

Full Press Release and Source:
New York Woman Continues Fight to Bring Veteran Husband Home From Local Catholic Hospital

See Also:
Sara Harvey and Stewart Resmar Radio Interview

Help Bring Gary Home!

Jury Awards $29.1 Mil in Nursing Home Death

Jurors have determined a Northern California-based nursing home chain should pay nearly $30 million in damages over the death of a 79-year-old former Stockton woman.

The award comes after the Sacramento County Superior Court jury on Wednesday found Colonial Healthcare of Auburn and its parent company, Rocklin-based Horizon West Healthcare Inc., guilty of elder abuse in the 2005 death of Frances Tanner.

After hearing testimony about the company's finances, jurors on Thursday determined the companies should pay $28 million in punitive damages to Tanner's estate and her daughter, Elizabeth Pao.

The punitive damages are in addition to the $1.1 million in compensatory damages the jury awarded.

Pao said Tanner was suffering from mild dementia, when she moved into the home in March 2005. After suffering a broken hip in a fall seven months later, Tanner died from an infected bedsore, Pao said.

During the trial, jurors heard testimony of chronic understaffing and poor medical documentation at the facility.

Full Article and Source:
Jury Awards $29.1 Million in Nursing Home Death

Danny Tate Awareness Days Announced

We’re dumbstruck at how much work Kevin Montgomery and Friends For Danny Tate’s Defense have put into this three day extravaganza. It’s nothing short of amazing.

Check it out!!!


Schedule of Events

Source:
Free Danny Tate!!!

See Also:
Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

TX Families Testify at State Senate

North Texas families testified at a State Senate committee hearing in Austin hoping to change the Texas guardianship system.

Sharon Richardson's mother, Earnestine Starks, is living at a nursing home. The Mesquite woman lost guardianship last year after having several disputes with the facility's staff over her mother's care.

A Tarrant County judge revoked the guardianship in an ex-parte hearing. The legal maneuver lets a judge issue an order or verdict without all parties being present.

Richardson wants to change that law.

Richardson and other families struggling with guardianship removal also want to improve procedures. They say the system works against families, forcing them to hire their own attorneys if they want to challenge a judge's decision.

Some have spent thousands trying to appeal their cases. The Richardson family told us they don't have the money to hire a lawyer.

Health and Human Services Committee member Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) told News 8 the testimony in Wednesday's hearing warrants additional inquiry, and he promised that the committee will look into it further.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Legislative Panel Heard Guardianship Pleas

Man Found Guilty in Bedsore Death of his Mother

A man was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree manslaughter in the death last year of his 88-year-old mother, which prosecutors called one of the most horrific cases of elder abuse they have ever seen.

Jurors in King County Superior Court had been deliberating for about a day before returning the verdict against Christopher Wise, 42. At the same time, the jury found Wise not guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.

He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.

When King County sheriff's deputies found Rudy Wise's body in her bed June 16 she had withered away to 70 pounds and was covered in bedsores.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office attributed her death to complications from eight large bedsores.

Wise testified last week that he loved his mother, who insisted she wanted to die at home.

Full Article and Source:
Black Diamond Man Found Guilty in Bedsore Death of His Mother

TX Judge Lauded as Advocate for Elderly, Disabled

The Adult Protective Services presented honors to County Judge Mike Brown at a meeting of the Tom Green County Commissioners Court to recognize his leadership in programs that protect the elderly and the disabled.

“While serving clients, we often witness extraordinary care — professionals who go way beyond the job description — and demonstrate an impressive dedication and caring for the elderly and people with disabilities,” said Tommy Reed, a regional director for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. “Today, we want to recognize an outstanding person — one that we know has gone above and beyond to show that he cares. APS honors Judge Mike Brown.”

Brown helped create Guardianship Alliance, which helps supply the elderly and disabled with volunteer guardians when no one else is available. Brown also served as president of the State Guardianship Advisory Board for two terms, and is also a member of the Texas Guardianship Association and the National Guardianship Association, Reed said.

“I’m honored, humbled, and I’ll keep doing it,” Brown said.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Lauded as Advocate for Elderly, Disabled

Counterproductivity Pays

Word on the street is that the Boycott Signet Inc. campaign is what spurrred David Tate’s recent appearance on the Friends For Danny Tate’s Defense Facebook page.

Once there he proceeded to further disparage Danny.

Telling how quickly David moved to protect HIS interests.

More telling that he used Danny to do so.

FDT suggests people remember Who and What they’re dealing with when it comes to David Tate…and what he’s done to Danny.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to: Boycott Signet Inc.






Source:
Free Danny Tate!!!

See Also:
Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate's Defense

Guardian Sues Judge Over Her Aunt's Care

When former Playboy Playmate and model Stephanie Adams won guardianship of her 83-year-old aunt in late 2008, she thought the hard part was over.

Adams, who turns 40 this year and commanded the Playboy centerfold in November 1992, had no idea that moving her aunt from The Atrium nursing home in Jersey City to a facility in New York, closer to her home, would take more than a year.

But that's exactly what happened.

The case has taken so long that Adams has filed a complaint against Superior Court Judge Thomas Olivieri with the state Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.

Fed up, Adams filed a complaint with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, which does not comment on complaints unless it issues a formal complaint against the judge.

Full Article and Source:
Model Sues Judge in Case Involving the Care of Her Jersy City Aunt

Woman, 85, Ousted From Her Home

Barring a miracle, an 85-year-old woman will be evicted Monday from the villa she has lived in at On Top of the World for the past 20 years.


Eleonore Berg's failure to pay homeowner's association fees led to foreclosure of the property, which has been sold. She is under court order to evacuate and is receiving assistance with relocation.

When Berg moved into the villa in 1989, the monthly homeowner's association fee was $115. Since then, the cost has gone up to $397 a month.

Andrea Wolfkill, with the Fifth Circuit Guardian Corp., told the Star-Banner that Berg had paid the HOA fees up to two years ago.

With fees and other court costs included, Berg wound up owing about $8,000.

Gerald R. Colen of Largo, an attorney who represents On Top of The World, told the Star-Banner in a telephone interview Friday that the OTOW Owners Association tried to work with Berg, but was unsuccessful. He said the association's job is not to put people out, but to try to persuade them to pay. If they don't pay the fees, he said, everyone suffers because others would have to pay more and maintenance could deteriorate.

Full Article and Source:
Woman, 85, Ousted From Her Home

Kohl Gets AARP Leadership Award

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl recently garnered AARP’s Legislative Leadership Award for what the organization called his work to improve the lives of Americans 50 years and older and their families, the group recently announced.

Kohl supported the Elder Justice Act, a bipartisan bill that establishes a comprehensive foundation for a coordinated network of services, research, information and trained professionals to address elder abuse, neglect and exploitation, according to a news release. He also sponsored legislation relating to criminal background checks for long-term care providers and transparency of nursing homes.

Source:
Kohl Gets AARP Leadership Award

Congressman Joe Sestak's Letter Supporting NASGA Member Holly Peffer

May 9, 2010

Mr. William E. Moschella
Assistant Attorney General for Office of Legislative Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Room 1145
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Moschella,

Enclosed please find a consent form from Ms. Holly Peffer. I enclose the
several documents that substantiate Ms. Peffer's present concerns. I
also enclose my letter to, and the response that I have received, from
the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on
Aging. I reiterate here that my legislation on this critical matter of
elder abuse is directly on point to remedy the plight of questionable
guardianships, where an act of apparent compassion may mask greed.

Ms. Peffer's claim of miscarriage of justice resulted from the seemingly
irregular use of guardianship procedures to separate Ms. Peffer's mother
from her family. In this case, the procedures within the state of
Florida are at issue. For that reason, I am copying the Attorney General
of Florida with this present letter and its enclosures and asking that
the authority respond to my inquiry as well.

I ask that this matter be carefully reviewed within your department and
that I receive a response as to what measures might be taken to address
this issue in general and Ms. Peffer's concern specifically. I may be
reached at my district office, located at 600 North Jackson St., Media,
PA 19063. If you have any questions or concerns relating to this issue,
please call my District Representative, Anne Vaughan, at 610-892-8623.
Thank you kindly for your attention to this concern. I look forward to
hearing from you.

Sincerely,


Joe Sestak
Member of Congress

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Former Judge Ann Lokuta Still Fighting for Justice

Describing former judge Michael Conahan as a “malevolent sociopath who raped the judicial system,” attorneys for former judge Ann Lokuta have once again called upon the state Supreme Court to overturn a disciplinary court’s decision that removed her from office.

In a 78-page legal brief filed Monday, Lokuta contends the state Court of Judicial Discipline committed numerous errors during her misconduct trial, including putting far too much faith in the testimony of Conahan and others she claims he unduly influenced.

Those errors were compounded by prosecutorial misconduct she alleges was committed by attorneys for the Judicial Conduct Board, whom she contends intentionally ignored a misconduct complaint filed against Conahan in order to protect the integrity of his testimony against her.

The brief, filed by attorneys George Michak and Ronald Santora, is the latest legal challenge Lokuta has filed in her contentious, two-year battle to reverse the Court of Judicial Discipline’s December 2008 ruling that ousted her from office.

Full Article and Source:
Former Judge Ann Lokuta Appeals Removal From Office to State Supreme Court

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Progress in the Edward Abbott Ravenscroft Case

The latest guy assigned to protect Edward Abbott Ravenscroft walked into court Monday and counted the number of attorneys present.

"We've gotten it down from $3,000 to $1,500 (an hour)," attorney Mark Kennedy told me. "That's progress."

That is progress, given that Ravenscroft is footing the bill for every one of them. Just as it is progress that Ravenscroft has finally learned how much of his money his various probate protectors pocketed last year: $224,000.

The Scottsdale millionaire, a part of the Abbott pharmaceutical family, has been under the protection of Maricopa County's Probate Court since January 2009, after a series of drug arrests raised questions about his mental health and his vulnerability given the size of his bank account.

Ravenscroft no doubt needed help last year, having been in and out of jail and hospitals and drug treatment programs. But he's been clean since August and he wants to regain control of his money - or at least have a say in who handles his money, if someone else must handle it.

That, however, is apparently not going to happen without a fight.

For months, Ravenscroft has been trying to get free of his probate protectors. His court-appointed guardian bowed out in March, saying he was no longer needed. But the Sun Valley Group, which controls Ravenscroft's finances, has continued on, based on a finding by Dr. Jack Potts, a court-appointed psychiatrist, that he remains "incapacitated" when it comes to money.

Potts is also prepared to testify that Ravenscroft would be better off with someone other than Sun Valley handling his money. He just hasn't been given a chance to say so.

In recent months, there have been a number of hearings about who should oversee Ravenscroft's money, including hearings to determine if there should be hearings and even a hearing to set a date for a hearing - all attended by a legion of lawyers, all paid with Ravenscroft's money.

Now, finally, there is a glimmer of light.

A new judge, one from outside the probate court, has scheduled a series of hearings, including one Thursday on whether Ravenscroft can hire an attorney to sue his probate protectors - something he's already done. Then on May 26, Judge Hugh Hegyi will hold a hearing into whether Sun Valley should be replaced.

Full Article and Source:
Millionaire's Money at the Mercy of Court

Sara Harvey and Stewart Resmar Radio Interview

The Gary Harvey Story

David Tate: Personal in a 'Loving' Way

Once again we at FDT ask: “Who is David Tate (OR ANYONE ELSE) to decide what Danny needs to do???”

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Ex-Lawyer Jessica Miller Gets Jail for Theft

Last month, Pasco-Pinellas County Judge Michael Andrews told former lawyer Jessica Miller that it might behoove her to bring money to her sentencing to get ahead on resitution payments.

Miller, who had pleaded guilty to stealing from ehr fromer clients owes them about $70,000.

Miller, 32, obliged the judge, showing up at sentencing with $250 she made at a garage sale. The token offer did not persuade Anderews to grant Miller's pleas for a probation-only sentence.

Instead, the judge sentenced her to 54 months in prison, followed by 10 years of probation.

"It's fair to say I always thought you were a pretty good lawyer," Andrews said. "I'm sad to see you in this position, but you broke the public's trust. Your actions were reckless. You acted with impunity and without regard for your clients, and they are entitled to justice."

Full Article and Source:
Former Laywer Gets Jail for Theft

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'Free Danny Tate' Calls Out David Tate

So sue us...

Source:
Free Danny Tate

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