The Supreme Court appears ready to reconsider a request to review hundreds of Luzerne County juvenile court cases in the wake of charges that two former judges accepted kickbacks from the owners of a private juvenile detention center.
The court, on Jan. 8, denied a petition by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center to look at more than 250 cases in which juvenile offenders were allegedly adjudicated and sent to detention centers without lawyers.
Later, the justices issued a one-line order vacating their previous denial of that petition, pending further action by the court.
Bob Schwartz, JLC's executive director: "We see this as a very positive sign that the court is going to take a fresh look at our application for relief."
Full Article and Source:
Juvenile Cases May Get New Look Following Kickback Charges Against Former Judges
See also:
Alleged Public Corruption
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Request to Review Cases
Probate Website Shut Down
Regular visitors to the Middlesex Probate & Family Court’s website were shocked to see the following announcement: Middlesex County Probate and Family Court website is no longer available due to lack of funds. If you wish to donate to continue this site or you wish to purchase this site, you can email us by clicking on the following link.
The Middlesex site is registered to Diane Bender, who used to work at the Plymouth Probate & Family Court. While there, she set up a site for the registry and ended up designing similar sites for courts in several other counties.
Each register pays for the site out of his own budget. When Middlesex Register of Probate John R. Buonomo resigned in the midst of an alleged theft scandal, he had already paid Bender through December. But she’s been unable to reach Buonomo’s recently sworn-in successor, Tara DeCristofaro, so she took the site down.
Bender says that if anyone – be it DeCristofaro, a bar association or individual attorneys – wants the site restored, she can have it back online within five minutes, as long as her $125 a month bill is paid.
Full Article and Source:
Middlesex Probate & Family Court website goes offline
See also:
Register of Probate Indictment
The Middlesex site is registered to Diane Bender, who used to work at the Plymouth Probate & Family Court. While there, she set up a site for the registry and ended up designing similar sites for courts in several other counties.
Each register pays for the site out of his own budget. When Middlesex Register of Probate John R. Buonomo resigned in the midst of an alleged theft scandal, he had already paid Bender through December. But she’s been unable to reach Buonomo’s recently sworn-in successor, Tara DeCristofaro, so she took the site down.
Bender says that if anyone – be it DeCristofaro, a bar association or individual attorneys – wants the site restored, she can have it back online within five minutes, as long as her $125 a month bill is paid.
Full Article and Source:
Middlesex Probate & Family Court website goes offline
See also:
Register of Probate Indictment
Bankrupt California Buys Ads
Facing a $42 billion deficit and a state debt that grows by $28,000 every minute, California has managed to find enough room in its budget to sponsor an elaborate statewide campaign to promote homosexual adoption.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has partnered with the California Department of Social Services and the Los Angeles County to promote a "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Family" campaign that invites homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals to adopt children.
According to a Campaign for Children and Families report, the state has sponsored two billboards promoting "gay" adoption in West Hollywood and Alameda County.
Proponents claim sexual orientation shouldn't be an issue because thousands of kids need loving homes. Robyn Harrod, spokeswoman for Southern California Adoption Agency: "They provide loving, stable and permanent homes for kids who need them."
Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, a California pro-family organization released a statement saying the state has no business sponsoring the campaign when it has decided to issue taxpayers IOUs in place of their annual returns. "At a time when the state doesn't have enough money to provide hard-working people with their tax refunds, it's a shame that state and county funds are being wasted on this propaganda."
Full Article and Source:
Bankrupt California buys ads for 'gay' adoption - Facing $42 billion deficit, state pushes homosexual guardianship
See also:
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has partnered with the California Department of Social Services and the Los Angeles County to promote a "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Family" campaign that invites homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals to adopt children.
According to a Campaign for Children and Families report, the state has sponsored two billboards promoting "gay" adoption in West Hollywood and Alameda County.
Proponents claim sexual orientation shouldn't be an issue because thousands of kids need loving homes. Robyn Harrod, spokeswoman for Southern California Adoption Agency: "They provide loving, stable and permanent homes for kids who need them."
Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, a California pro-family organization released a statement saying the state has no business sponsoring the campaign when it has decided to issue taxpayers IOUs in place of their annual returns. "At a time when the state doesn't have enough money to provide hard-working people with their tax refunds, it's a shame that state and county funds are being wasted on this propaganda."
Full Article and Source:
Bankrupt California buys ads for 'gay' adoption - Facing $42 billion deficit, state pushes homosexual guardianship
See also:
The Visionary
"And one day, all of this will belong to the lawyers you boys hire to haggle over my estate"
Source:
Tax Guru
Rondos Pleads Not Guilty
A lawyer has pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing more than $4 million he was supposed to manage for incapacitated children and elderly people.
Steven Rondos entered the plea after being returned for arraignment on grand larceny and other charges in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. Justice Daniel FitzGerald set bail at $2 million and told Rondos to return to court Feb. 19.
Prosecutor Judith Weinstock says the 43-year-old lawyer spent most of the money on a $1.4 million home in Ridgewood, N.J., where he lives with wife and law partner Camille Raia (RAY'-uh) and their three children.
Rondos faces 25 years in prison if convicted.
Source:
NY lawyer says not guilty to bilking kids, elderly
See also:
Steven Rondos entered the plea after being returned for arraignment on grand larceny and other charges in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. Justice Daniel FitzGerald set bail at $2 million and told Rondos to return to court Feb. 19.
Prosecutor Judith Weinstock says the 43-year-old lawyer spent most of the money on a $1.4 million home in Ridgewood, N.J., where he lives with wife and law partner Camille Raia (RAY'-uh) and their three children.
Rondos faces 25 years in prison if convicted.
Source:
NY lawyer says not guilty to bilking kids, elderly
See also:
Friday, February 6, 2009
Conservator Kept Social Security Benefits
Police arrested a man who has been charged with keeping Social Security benefits he’d agreed to use to pay for the cost of his grandmother’s nursing home care.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Christopher Brazinskas was appointed the conservator for his grandmother by the Manchester Probate Court in January 2006. It states that he was responsible for managing her finances, including handling her monthly Social Security checks.
Under an agreement with the Department of Social Services, which pays most of his grandmother’s care, Brazinskas was required to remit a portion of the Social Security money to the nursing home.
Brazinskas didn’t make the required payments from Feb. 1, 2006, to March 1, 2007, totaling $7,535, according to the warrant.
Full Article and Source:
Police: Man Kept Grandma's Social Security
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Christopher Brazinskas was appointed the conservator for his grandmother by the Manchester Probate Court in January 2006. It states that he was responsible for managing her finances, including handling her monthly Social Security checks.
Under an agreement with the Department of Social Services, which pays most of his grandmother’s care, Brazinskas was required to remit a portion of the Social Security money to the nursing home.
Brazinskas didn’t make the required payments from Feb. 1, 2006, to March 1, 2007, totaling $7,535, according to the warrant.
Full Article and Source:
Police: Man Kept Grandma's Social Security
Billable Hour System
A New York Times front page included an article about legal fees: "Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms." This article raised the question whether clients were being treated fairly when the measure of a legal fee is the attorney's time expended. An obvious concern is whether an attorney compensated solely on the basis of time expended has any incentive to work efficiently or, to resolve a matter when doing so cuts off revenue.
The Times reporter analyzed the pluses and minuses of the billable hour process. However, he totally missed one of the primary reasons law firms cling to the billable hour system - the leverage between the $/hour they pay an associate (anyone who does not have an ownership interest in the firm) and the $/hour the client is billed for the associates time.
When clients are billed by the hour, it is fairly easy for a big law firm to lever off an associates time. Let's assume an associate is paid $150,000/year which with benefits say is $200,000/year. Let's assume that associate is expected to bill 2,500 hours at $300/hour ($750,000 in revenue). The math is pretty clear: pay associate $80/hour and bill associate time at $300/hour. While the law firm has overhead expenses (figure 50% of revenue), the law firm makes (in example) about $70 per hour on billable associate time.
Full Article and Source:
Legal Fees: Missing the Point
The Times reporter analyzed the pluses and minuses of the billable hour process. However, he totally missed one of the primary reasons law firms cling to the billable hour system - the leverage between the $/hour they pay an associate (anyone who does not have an ownership interest in the firm) and the $/hour the client is billed for the associates time.
When clients are billed by the hour, it is fairly easy for a big law firm to lever off an associates time. Let's assume an associate is paid $150,000/year which with benefits say is $200,000/year. Let's assume that associate is expected to bill 2,500 hours at $300/hour ($750,000 in revenue). The math is pretty clear: pay associate $80/hour and bill associate time at $300/hour. While the law firm has overhead expenses (figure 50% of revenue), the law firm makes (in example) about $70 per hour on billable associate time.
Full Article and Source:
Legal Fees: Missing the Point
Guardian Program Cut
For months, social welfare advocates have sounded alarms over impending state budget cuts that will scale back some services in New York City, particularly programs focused on prevention. In November, Albany cut $8.6 million in funding for substance abuse programs for ex-convicts. The Homelessness Prevention Program, which costs $5 million annually and helps people fend off eviction, has been dropped from the state budget.
Over all, the Paterson administration said it would cut $68 million in non-mandated preventive services by 2011 — a rounding error for a state facing a $15 billion deficit, but real to the staff and clients of programs like the Guardianship Project.
Told that the courts could no longer support it, the Guardianship Project’s directors asked for $1.8 million for the coming year from a different pot of state money. But when Gov. David A. Paterson presented his budget proposal in December, complete with $9 billion in spending cuts, it was left out.
Barring a last-minute reprieve, it will shut down in April, leaving more than 100 people who are served by the program to be transferred to other services, and ending what some advocates viewed as a promising model for revamping the state’s troubled guardianship program.
Full Article and Source:
Budget Cuts Imperil Guardian Program for Elderly and Disabled
Over all, the Paterson administration said it would cut $68 million in non-mandated preventive services by 2011 — a rounding error for a state facing a $15 billion deficit, but real to the staff and clients of programs like the Guardianship Project.
Told that the courts could no longer support it, the Guardianship Project’s directors asked for $1.8 million for the coming year from a different pot of state money. But when Gov. David A. Paterson presented his budget proposal in December, complete with $9 billion in spending cuts, it was left out.
Barring a last-minute reprieve, it will shut down in April, leaving more than 100 people who are served by the program to be transferred to other services, and ending what some advocates viewed as a promising model for revamping the state’s troubled guardianship program.
Full Article and Source:
Budget Cuts Imperil Guardian Program for Elderly and Disabled
Court Administrator Pleads Guilty
Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., the highest-paid nonjudicial employee in the county court system, has agreed to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000 seized in illegal gambling cases over 10 years.
Mr. Sharkey is the third high-ranking court official snared in a wide-ranging, ongoing federal probe of the county court system. Former President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and his predecessor, Michael T. Cona-han, are expected to plead guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks in connection with a detention center that housed county juveniles. They’ve agreed to serve 87 months in prison.
Mr. Sharkey, 57, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of embezzlement.
Full Article and Source:
Luzerne worker to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000
More information:
Mr. Sharkey is the third high-ranking court official snared in a wide-ranging, ongoing federal probe of the county court system. Former President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and his predecessor, Michael T. Cona-han, are expected to plead guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks in connection with a detention center that housed county juveniles. They’ve agreed to serve 87 months in prison.
Mr. Sharkey, 57, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of embezzlement.
Full Article and Source:
Luzerne worker to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000
More information:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)