Lawyer Story (Joke) of the Year!

This took place in Charlotte, North Carolina.  A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.  In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires."  The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued - and WON!  (Stay with me.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous.  The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!  With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award contest.

ONLY IN AMERICA .....

Lawyer Joke!

An investment counselor decided to go out on her own. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in, and pretty soon she realized that she needed an in-house counsel. She began to interview young lawyers. 

“As I’m sure you can understand,” she started off with one of the first applicants, “in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question.” She leaned forward. “Mr. Peterson, are you an honest lawyer?” 

“Honest?” replied the job prospect. “Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I’m so honest that my father lent me $15,000 for my education, and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case.”

“Impressive. And what sort of case was that?” 

The lawyer squirmed in his seat and admitted, “He sued me for the money.”

Response from FL State Representative Mike Hill to NASGA Member, Doug Franks

NASGA member Doug Franks received a letter from Florida State Representative Mike Hill (District 2. We thank Representative Hill for his interest in guardianship and conservatorship abuse and look forward to his legislative help working  toward reform. 

Dear Mr. Franks:

Our office has reviewed the letter we received on March 18, 2014 via email, as well as the other information you have provided regarding your mother, Ernestine. as happened in your mother's situation is unacceptable for anyone who is placed in these types of scenarios.

We have learned some bills have been filed that may pertain to your type of situation.  We have asked for more information from the committee staff regarding the issue to learn more the bill has the capability of correcting and to see if it is something that relates to your issue specifically.  We'll stay in tuned to correct these problems throughout the State as they appear throughout the legislative session. Thank you for providing us with detailed information about a situation that must not go unnoticed.

Please let us know if our office can ever be of further assistance for this or another State matter.  850-595-0467.

I am respectfully,

/s/Mike Hill
State Representative Mike Hill
District 2




Learn More About Florida State Representative Mike Hill










See Also: 
NASGA: Ernestine Franks, Florida Victim

Elder abuse on the rise

 

Snow, freezing rain and harsh winds buffeted the house on River Road in Tinicum. When the power went out, some people flicked on generators to keep the essentials going — heat, hot water. Others drove to the homes of family or friends who had power.

Angelina Darago had nowhere to go. The 91-year-old, who has Alzheimer’s, couldn’t even get out of bed to get another blanket. She was soaked in her own urine. There was no one to help her. When police arrived, the temperature inside her house was in the 40s.

Darago had been left alone for four days while the woman who was supposed to care for her, Danawa Buchanan, was more than 400 miles away in Maine, according to authorities. They said the caregiver had neglected the woman for more than a year and spent more than $300,000 of Darago’s money (including buying a house) during that time.

Buchanan, who’s now 65, reached a settlement with prosecutors last year in which she avoided charges and forfeited the house she had bought with Darago’s money to Darago. Buchanan has since moved out of state.

“For (Darago), now she is in a nursing home, she’s getting Social Security disability and medical assistance,” said Marc Furber, chief of the Bucks County District Attorney’s Arson and Economic Crimes division. “We wanted to get as much money back as quickly as possible to give her the best standard of living possible.”

The elderly can make easy targets for scams, financial abuse and physical abuse and neglect, according to Furber and assistant district attorney Michelle Laucella, who prosecutes elder abuse.

Full Article & Source:
Elder abuse on the rise

Conservator will suffer for his abuse of disabled

As a second-generation native of Clay County and Celina, I am upset, dismayed and disturbed about the March 27 story  “Ex-conservator’s control over couple fed ‘evil desires.’ ”

A person who is put in the position of conservator is granted a special trust by the granting of jurisdiction to someone else. It is understood that this person will act in the best interest to protect the person, or people, he oversees.

In this case, this is far from what hap­pened. To coerce and manipulate a couple with candy or groceries for favors such as sex is so horrendous it would not make good fiction. Restitution and a suspended sentence does not seem just.
 
Full Article & Source:
Conservator will suffer for his abuse of disabled

See Also:
Nashville Federal Judge Ordered $700K Paid by Former Conservator to Victims

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Guardianship: Brain Injured are Targets Too

Marti's guest is Tracey Anne Miller:  My brother Mike has been in approximately 13 institutions over the years as Chevron Workman's Compensation insists that Mike be with professionals. None of these institutions (including a community based center) has been professional.

I pulled Mike out of UCP/CLASS of Pittsburgh after 11 years for dehydration, mal-nutrition, social deprivation, neuro-toxicity of the drugs, falls (one resulting in a dropped foot), loss of teeth (never took him to a dentist), many charges that I had intentions of filing criminal charges per the Pennsylvania Department of Protection and Advocacy, who got involved in 2006 to help me get Mike out of this facility.

The Co-Guardian and Attorney, Laurel Hartshorn refused to help me in any way. I fired her as Attorney back in 2006. To my knowledge she has only seen my brother maybe 5 times since 1993 and the last time being 2005 at a meeting about abuse at UCP/CLASS.

I moved Mike to Tree of Life in Richmond, VA with Dr. Nathan Zasler, not knowing that he and Al Condeluci (CEO of UCP/CLASS) were very good friends. I filed three times with the Human Rights 2007, 2011, 2013 in Richmond, VA, and with their Medical Boards 2013.

I have been given restrictions in visits, and now cannot contact my brother unless I contact that Guardian, Laurel Hartshorn who took me off guardianship in 2009 (she got involved 20 days after Chevron offered me a settlement) for supposed misuse of funds. Dr. Zasler has threatened me with a lawsuit. I was rendered homeless and bankrupt throughout my advocacy.

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Guardian Bill Will Help Nebraska's Less Fortunate

The Nebraska Legislature is on the verge of rectifying a situation that has jeopardized some of the state's most vulnerable residents for too long.

LB920 has reached final reading and would create the Office of Public Guardian. This office would give legal guardianship for elderly and disabled residents who lack other options.

Nebraska is the only state without a guardianship office. Many would hope that such a government office wouldn't be needed. That families or friends would serve as guardians for people unable to make decisions for themselves.

Unfortunately, that's not how it is in society today. Families are often spread throughout the country. In some cases, there may not be any close family. Friends often aren't willing to take on the responsibility.

"Nebraskans take care of their own," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln. "But as the last state, what we're going to find is a growing need (for volunteers) and a diminished capacity."

What the state has found, unfortunately, is that the current system left the courts no choice but to appoint guardians from private services who had no connection to the person and were doing it for profit.

For example, Judith Widener of Scottsbluff was named guardian for 688 people in 60 counties. Providing the needed attention to these 688 cases was impossible. In fact, Widener appears to have been taking advantage of the system and has been charged with embezzling $600,000 from her clients.

LB920 would help rectify this with oversight of the state's guardian system. In the new office would be a director, deputy public guardian and up to 12 associate guardians. Of course, these 14 people couldn't handle all of the cases in the state. But they would provide education, training and support to current and future guardians. They also would serve as guardians when no one else could be found.

Full Article & Source:

Guardian bill will help state's less fortunate

Judicial Candidate Faces Possible Discipline For Professional Misconduct

Threat to use IRS

 A San Diego lawyer running for Superior Court judge faces disciplinary action after a judge found that he threatened to report someone to the Internal Revenue Service to get settlement talks going in a civil case.

 The State Bar Court of California has found that Douglas J. Crawford threatened to report the opposing side in a civil dispute to the IRS to trigger an audit.

In September 2010, attorney Douglas J. Crawford sent an email to lawyers for Kearny Mesa Towing and Crusader Insurance. Crawford had filed lawsuits on behalf of a client against the companies and several individuals.

Crawford told the lawyers it was apparent one of their clients had under-reported income to the IRS for several years. He gave the attorneys a deadline to start "mature, reasonable settlement negotiations" or Crawford’s client would report the matter to the IRS.

“The legal system is undermined by making threats,” wrote Judge Richard Honn of the State Bar Court of California. He found Crawford culpable of one count of misconduct.

“Incivility and scorched-earth tactics jam the judicial system, are costly to parties in both time and treasure and tarnish the image of all lawyers, not just those who engage in them,” Honn wrote.

Full Article & Source:
Judicial Candidate Faces Possible Discipline For Professional Misconduct

Bill O’Reilly calls for impeachment of judge who cut molestation sentence to a year in prison

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday called for impeachment of a Nevada judge who cited a clerical error and reduced a child molester’s sentence to one year in prison.

The judge, Brent Adams of Washoe County, is one of the most respected legal authorities in Nevada, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. He is a member of the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline and a faculty member of the National Judicial College. Adams is not seeking re-election this year.

Adams had sentenced Isaac Onsurez, 69, to 10-years-to-life in prison on March 12. A week later, citing a “clerical error,” Adams changed the sentence to a year in jail and five years of probation. He did not provide prosecutors with a more detailed explanation, the Gazette-Journal says.

Onsurez pleaded guilty to lewdness with a minor in December after prosecutors accused him of committing more than 100 sex acts with a child during a two-year-period in the late 1990s, the story says. The girl was 6 years old when the abuse started, according to the Gazette-Journal. The plea deal had indicated a sentence of 10 years to life.

At the time Onsurez committed the crime a probation sentence was allowed under Nevada law. Current law calls for a minimum 10-year sentence.

O’Reilly called for impeachment, although the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has the power to remove judges. “This guy acts like he is the Roman emperor out there, this judge,” O’Reilly said on his television show on Tuesday. “This guy should be impeached immediately.”

The judicial commission can remove a judge for willful misconduct, failing to perform the duties of office or intemperance, the newspaper says. In this case, Adams’ sentence was permitted by law, the story says.

Paul Deyhle, executive director of Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, spoke with the Gazette-Journal about the commission’s authority. "If a judge makes a decision and follows the law, whether right or wrong, our commission does not have jurisdiction to address those issues," he said.

Full Article & Source:
Bill O’Reilly calls for impeachment of judge who cut molestation sentence to a year in prison