95-Year-Old Fights Back
Attorney Fees Challenged
Class Action Filed
Former Ward Files Suit
Mother and Daughter File Suit
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Former Administrator Rita Hunter
95-Year-Old Fights Back
Attorney Fees Challenged
Class Action Filed
Former Ward Files Suit
Mother and Daughter File Suit
Victims of Guardians
THE PROBLEM WITH GUARDIANSHIP -(This site was launched due to an unlawful guardianship experience in NY State, but is fairly typical of corrupt guardianships/conservatorships across the country.)
Some people have described it as a "bounty hunting" operation, with headhunters running computer searches for financial and personal data on potential victims who wind up in a hospital and transfer to a nursing home (whether by reason of illness or even just a fall on the sidewalk).
The nursing home lawyer or someone else then petitions for a guardianship. The assigned judge then distributes his patronage to his pals, in the form of fiduciary appointments as guardian, court evaluator, counsel to the AIP, etc.
Would it shock you to learn that there is no requirement in New York for mandatory counsel to represent a person believed to be incapacitated? It won't when you read on. Many adjudication "hearings" are held which are totally sham, replate with constitutional due process violations, and conducted in complete contravention of statutory protections promulgated by the states, and practice rules issued by the courts.
Who's supposed to watch the guardians?
The judges.
Who's been watching the judges?
NO ONE!
www.VictimsOfGuardians.net
Lawsuit to Get Abuse Report
A legal advocacy group is expected to announce that it filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Human Services on behalf of a family denied information about an episode they say traumatized their 41-year-old severely disabled son living in a state institution.
Rosamund and Daniel Caliendo of Hampton said they arrived at the Hunterdon Developmental Center in Clinton for a holiday party on Dec. 1, 2007 to find their son, Damian, in his electronic wheelchair facing a wall with the chair's front wheels suspended in the air and the tray table jabbed into his stomach.
Their son, who cannot speak and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and other medical conditions that required neck surgery a year earlier, "was scared to death he was going to fall." No one at the party came forward to explain what happened to Damien, who has lived at the institution for 30 years. The family believes an employee placed him in an unlawful restraint to punish him. They filed a complaint and demanded an investigation.
But when the Caliendos asked for the investigative report, the department gave them only a summary saying "staff did not act according to policy," and "additional training will be conducted." The summary did not include information about who was responsible or whether anyone had been punished.
Disability Rights New Jersey tried to obtain a copy of the report on the family's behalf but was told state law does not permit the department from sharing investigative reports without a court order.
Full Article and Source:
Disability Rights group sues N.J. to get report about disabled man's alleged abuse
Rosamund and Daniel Caliendo of Hampton said they arrived at the Hunterdon Developmental Center in Clinton for a holiday party on Dec. 1, 2007 to find their son, Damian, in his electronic wheelchair facing a wall with the chair's front wheels suspended in the air and the tray table jabbed into his stomach.
Their son, who cannot speak and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and other medical conditions that required neck surgery a year earlier, "was scared to death he was going to fall." No one at the party came forward to explain what happened to Damien, who has lived at the institution for 30 years. The family believes an employee placed him in an unlawful restraint to punish him. They filed a complaint and demanded an investigation.
But when the Caliendos asked for the investigative report, the department gave them only a summary saying "staff did not act according to policy," and "additional training will be conducted." The summary did not include information about who was responsible or whether anyone had been punished.
Disability Rights New Jersey tried to obtain a copy of the report on the family's behalf but was told state law does not permit the department from sharing investigative reports without a court order.
Full Article and Source:
Disability Rights group sues N.J. to get report about disabled man's alleged abuse
Friday, July 24, 2009
Allred Nominates NGA Director
El Paso lawyer and guardianship specialist Terry Hammond has been nominated in a court petition to be the financial guardian for the octuplets delivered in January by Nadya Suleman, known to many as the Octomom.The nomination came in a petiton for guardianship of a minor filed last month in an Orange County, Calif., superior court by Hollywood lawyer Gloria Allred and John Deily of Irvine, Ca., on behalf of former child actor Paul Peterson, who heads A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection of child actors and celebrities.
The first hearing on the petition is set for Monday.
Hammond, who specializes in elder law with with his wife, Stephanie Townsend Allalla, is a recognized authority on guardianships and has been executive director of the National Guardianship Association since 2006.
Full Article and Source:
El Paso lawyer Terry Hammond nominated as financial guardian for Octomom's 8
See also:
Legal Abuse of Octomom?
Gloria Allred Files Petition for Octo-Guardian
Family Court Crisis
Working with Kathleen Russell Consulting and Ludlow Media, Center For Judicial Excellence (CJE) produced a 42-minute documentary addressing the serious systemic breakdown of our family courts.The film, Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk, features interviews with individuals whose lives have been affected by the dysfunctional family law system and expert analyses of what has gone wrong. Issues addressed in the documentary include:
* Parental Alienation Syndrome is the reigning paradigm in family law
* Mediators, Therapists & Evaluators are usurping judicial authority
* The Family Law Machine is operating as Big Business
Full Article and Source:
Family Court Crisis: Our Children at Risk
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Patient-Protection Bill Introduced
Three Shore area legislators who intervened on behalf of the family of a 29-year-old woman who weighed 43 pounds when she died at a community care residence last November have introduced legislation to protect other people in the state human services system.
Flanked by relatives of the late Tara O'Leary, State Sen. Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande and Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon announced the introduction of legislation which, if passed, would provide greater oversight and protection for patients. It includes establishing a 24-hour hotline to report suspected abuse and would create a registry of caseworkers and caregivers found guilty of neglecting or abusing patients and prohibit them from working in that field again.
Full Article and Source:
Patient-protection bill introduced after malnourished woman's death
See also:
Family Wants Answers
Death Prompts Investigation
Flanked by relatives of the late Tara O'Leary, State Sen. Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande and Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon announced the introduction of legislation which, if passed, would provide greater oversight and protection for patients. It includes establishing a 24-hour hotline to report suspected abuse and would create a registry of caseworkers and caregivers found guilty of neglecting or abusing patients and prohibit them from working in that field again.
Full Article and Source:
Patient-protection bill introduced after malnourished woman's death
See also:
Family Wants Answers
Death Prompts Investigation
The Children of Martin Luther King Jr.
King's four children have a long history of exploiting their father's good deeds for cash. Low lights include...* Attempting to auction off their father's private papers (which they had previously withheld from the public unless the public wished to pay a fee). These papers, including an early draft of the "I Have a Dream" speech were spared from auction when a group of philanthropists banded together and paid off the King children to the tune of $32 million.
* Demanding millions in "licensing fees" for campaign paraphernalia (mostly homemade) linking their father to then-candidate Barack Obama.
* Hurling lawsuits at one another over their parents' estate after Coretta Scott King died in 2006.
The latest disgrace hit newsstands when it was revealed that the King children are charging the National Memorial Project Foundation for the privilege to create a memorial to their father.
Full Article and Source:
Martin Luther King's Children Continue to Cash In on Their Father's Legacy
More information:
Family Trouble Over Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic
Martin Luther King Jr.: Children Have Differing Dreams for Father's Estate
Martin Luther King's Children Sue Brother Dexter
MLK Family Feud
Cashing in on Martin Luther King Jr.
Attorney Liable in Tort
As a general rule, attorneys aren’t liable to third parties in tort.
However, a July 14 opinion by the Wisconsin Supreme Court created an exception, permitting an attorney to be sued for intentionally aiding a client in drafting a will to evade his obligations under a divorce agreement.
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote for the court: “We agree that in most cases, an attorney is immune from liability to third parties based on the attorney’s failure to perform a duty owed to a client. However, failure to perform an obligation to a client is entirely distinct from conduct that assists the client committing an unlawful act to the detriment of a third party.”
Robert Tensfeldt and his first wife, Ruth, had three children. When they divorced in 1974, the divorce judgment provided that Robert would maintain a will granting at least two-thirds of his net estate to the adult children.
Robert remarried, and in 1981 (and in several later revisions), drafted a new will contrary to the divorce judgment. Attorney Roy C. LaBudde drafted the new wills.
After LaBudde scaled back his practice, Tensfeldt was represented by attorney F. William Haberman. It was undisputed that Haberman did not know about the divorce provision until after Tensfeldt died in 2000, and did not draft any will for Tensfeldt, but was negligent in providing advice in an unrelated aspect of the law.
The estate was probated in Florida, and was settled after extensive litigation. The children then sued LaBudde and Haberman in Wisconsin, alleging negligence against both, and intentional tort against LaBudde.
The Supreme Court held that both attorneys were entitled to summary judgment on the negligence claims, but that the intentional tort claim could proceed against LaBudde.
Full Article and Source:
Attorney is liable to third parties for tort
However, a July 14 opinion by the Wisconsin Supreme Court created an exception, permitting an attorney to be sued for intentionally aiding a client in drafting a will to evade his obligations under a divorce agreement.
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote for the court: “We agree that in most cases, an attorney is immune from liability to third parties based on the attorney’s failure to perform a duty owed to a client. However, failure to perform an obligation to a client is entirely distinct from conduct that assists the client committing an unlawful act to the detriment of a third party.”
Robert Tensfeldt and his first wife, Ruth, had three children. When they divorced in 1974, the divorce judgment provided that Robert would maintain a will granting at least two-thirds of his net estate to the adult children.
Robert remarried, and in 1981 (and in several later revisions), drafted a new will contrary to the divorce judgment. Attorney Roy C. LaBudde drafted the new wills.
After LaBudde scaled back his practice, Tensfeldt was represented by attorney F. William Haberman. It was undisputed that Haberman did not know about the divorce provision until after Tensfeldt died in 2000, and did not draft any will for Tensfeldt, but was negligent in providing advice in an unrelated aspect of the law.
The estate was probated in Florida, and was settled after extensive litigation. The children then sued LaBudde and Haberman in Wisconsin, alleging negligence against both, and intentional tort against LaBudde.
The Supreme Court held that both attorneys were entitled to summary judgment on the negligence claims, but that the intentional tort claim could proceed against LaBudde.
Full Article and Source:
Attorney is liable to third parties for tort
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