Probate Loss Might Change Colorado Law

Matthew Keenan lost an emotional legal battle with the bank he decided to dismiss as the court-appointed conservator of his estate. But he might change Colorado law.

Last week, the state appeals court upheld a ruling that Colorado State Bank and Trust reasonably contested the efforts of Keenan, a man who recovered from a catastrophic brain injury, to terminate the bank as his conservator.

But the judges left open the question of whether the bank can collect $217,466 from Keenan for the costs of fighting his bid for independence.

In the wake of his case, pending legislation would not allow Colorado guardians and conservators to "oppose or interfere" with petitions to oust them.

Keenan, a 46-year-old man who awoke from a coma 10 years ago and regained the use of his body and brain, contended Colorado State Bank and Trust had an inherent conflict of interest when it used his money in a fight to retain control of his assets.

But the appeals court judges held that under Colorado law, "opposition to the protected person does not necessarily breach the conservator's fiduciary duty."

They rejected a Boulder court decision to award the bank all of its legal expenses and costs from Keenan's trust funds, however, and ordered the court to review what compensation would be fair.

Spencer Crona, an attorney for the bank, called the court decision well-reasoned and extensively analyzed.

Chester "Skip" Morgan, Keenan's attorney, was shocked at first. "I was kind of sleepless and upset for two days after I read the opinion," he said. "I couldn't believe it."

But he praised the appeals court for vacating the award of legal fees, as well as legislation forbidding guardians and conservators to oppose petitions to terminate their services.

Keenan agreed.

"We may have lost this battle," he said, "but we have won the war by assuring that this kind of treatment never will happen again."

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One Man's Probate Court Loss Might Change Colorado Law

Police Probe Death of State Psychiatric Patient in Florida

Melinda Jakobowski lived most of her 24 years in state psychiatric centers in Connecticut, where she fluctuated from being able to spend some weekends with family members to being so suicidal that she needed two attendants watching her constantly on rotating shifts around the clock.

Late last year, she was transferred from Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown to the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation in Wauchula, Fla. She joined a small group of Connecticut adult psychiatric patients — 27 out of 60,000 inpatients and outpatients — placed in out-of-state facilities. Officials said that these are patients who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others and are not responding to treatment here. Connecticut pays for their care in the outside treatment centers.

In less then six months, Jakobowski was dead.

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Police Probe Death of State Psychiatric Patient in Florida

Malcom X's Daughter Charged With Stealing, Identity Theft

The daughter of slain African-American activist Malcolm X has been charged with defrauding the 70-year-old widow of one of her father's bodyguards, prosecutors said.

Malikah Shabazz -- who has been wanted in New York since 2009 -- was arrested Friday in Mars Hills, North Carolina, for allegedly stealing more than $55,000 from New York resident Khaula Bakr between August 2006 and November 2007, according to a district attorney statement in New York.

She faces charges of third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree forgery, first-degree identity theft and first-degree falsifying business records, among other charges.

"The defendant is accused of stealing not only a substantial amount of money from a once-close family friend but her personal identity, as well," Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a written statement. "The alleged theft represents a shameful betrayal of the friendship that existed between the two families."

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Malcom X Daughter Charged With Stealing, Identity Theft

Mickey Rooney, the Champion!

Trapped, scared, used, and frustrated. That's how Mickey Rooney felt after being taken advantage of by a meddlesome family member, the 90-year-old film and television star told Congress on Wednesday.

Rooney was testifying before a special Senate committee that is considering legislation to curb abuses of senior citizens.

"Above all," Rooney said of being a victim of elder abuse, "when a man feels helpless, it's terrible."

And the problem is a lot more common than many people realize.

Full Article and Source:
Mickey Rooney: Elder Abuse Made Me Feel Trapped and Scared

Former Lawyer Sentenced to Prison

Before he sentenced Joe T. Buerkle to prison, Missouri appeals court Judge Gary D. Witt called the former local lawyer's actions reprehensible.

Buerkle, a former Cape Girardeau and Jackson lawyer who stole $325,000 from a client's trust fund, was sentenced to serve seven years in prison, but not before pleading to be assigned probation and allowed the opportunity find employment and begin paying restitution.

The state, represented by Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Sokoloff, and Stephen Wilson, Buerkle's attorney, both acknowledged that Buerkle has paid $54,000 in restitution and has a $30,000 cash bond that could also be used.

"With God's help I can do this, but I have to have a record I can walk into a potential employer with," Buerkle told the judge at the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. "I'm ashamed to be here. As a prosecuting attorney, a city attorney and a practicing attorney, I held the crime I'm charged with as one of the worst."

Full Article and Source:
Former Area Lawyer Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Theft

See Also:
Third Judge Recusal in Lawyer Theft Case

Las Vegas Lawyer Arrested on Theft, Embezzlement Charges

A two-year investigation has led to theft and embezzlement charges against suspended Las Vegas lawyer Jeanne Winkler, who was arrested Tuesday evening by Washoe County sheriff's deputies.

"Jeanne Winkler swore to an oath as an attorney and was entrusted by her clients to uphold that oath," Las Vegas police officer J. Downing wrote in support of an arrest warrant. "Winkler was entrusted by her clients to protect their money which by her own testimony she used for her own personal use."

According to the document, the victims who filed complaints against Winkler with Las Vegas police suffered a total loss of about $143,000.

A criminal complaint, dated Feb. 18, charges Winkler with seven counts of theft. It also charges her with two counts of embezzlement involving a victim who is 60 or older.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer Arrested on Theft Embezzlement Charges

Monica Yepez Passed

Monica Yepez, a well-known dentist and former UTEP cheerleader who successfully fought the courts for control of her estate after she was named a ward of the state in 2006, died Sunday -- the day before her 46th birthday.

Yepez's father, Alonzo Yepez Sr., said that the exact cause of death was unknown but that it was related to the ongoing health problems she developed after being partly paralyzed for the past five years.

Alonzo Yepez said Monica died at her East Side home, where she had been for the past two weeks after spending most of last year in the hospital because she had trouble breathing and had undergone a tracheotomy.

"She was tired, she was anxious, she was sick," her father said. "This was not her life -- that's not how she wanted to live. She was a go-go girl. She always wanted to be doing something."

In 2006, Yepez went to the hospital because she was dehydrated. According to court records, fluids that were supposed to help her instead caused her brain to swell, resulting in paraplegia. She lost mobility and her ability to speak. The injury left her in a wheelchair and caused her to gain more than 100 pounds.
"Everyone was expecting me to die," Monica Yepez said during an interview with the El Paso Times in 2009. "I could hear everything they would say about me, but I couldn't respond."

Because her assets were valued at $1.1 million, she and her estate were put into a state guardianship so that no one would take advantage of her, she was later told.

In 2009, she regained the use of her hands and her ability to speak.

That is when she began petitioning the court, asking for the right to control her finances. She also requested a full accounting of her estate, including the sale of her $600,000 home on the West Side.

After undergoing several physical and mental evaluations, the state dissolved her guardianship in October 2009. From then on, her $11,000-a-month disability check went straight to her.

"She was so happy that day," her father said. "She got control of her life back. That is all she wanted."

Full Article and Source:
Monica Yepez: Dentise, Ex-Cheerleader, Dies at 45

See Also:
Sweet Freedom

Editorial: Success Story in the Face of Judge's Failure

The first joke that came to mind was: “She’s one of Ciavarella’s success stories.”

When I got an update on Lisa (Scarborough) Spencer from her grandmother, it was almost all good news. She had earned her college degree, found a husband, landed a job, and at the age of 23 was mapping her future with thoughtful optimism.

It was good news because, back in 2004, Lisa’s run-in with then-Judge Mark Ciavarella became a centerpiece in a series of articles about juvenile justice in Luzerne County. Taken from home in shackles with no parent in sight, Lisa had spent five days in detention before Ciavarella gave her an indefinite sentence at a youth camp after only a cursory hearing.

Lisa had been fool enough, at age 16, to write an anonymous prank note about bringing a gun to school and taking aim at boys. In the post-Columbine era, she might as well have lit a keg of dynamite under the principal’s office. He and the justice system came down hard, and Ciavarella decided she was guilty of making terroristic threats. Never mind she had a spotless discipline record, a 3.8 GPA, and had fessed up to writing the note immediately, saying it was a joke, apologizing profusely and welcoming appropriate punishment.

Off she went.

The fascinating thing for me is that neither Lisa nor Ciavarella has changed, yet she was freed from her indefinite sentence early and began building a positive life with an upbeat attitude, while Ciavarella – the man who kept insisting he was straightening kids out so they wouldn’t turn to a life of crime – ends up the convicted felon facing up to 15 years in prison.

Proving once again that our county courthouse was built with an irony infrastructure.

Full Editorial and Source:
Success Story in the Face of Judge's Failure

NASGA Member's Open Letter to Senator Bob Corker, Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging

February 25, 2011

Senator Corker,

I hope and pray the hearing you are a part of on March 2, 2011 with Mickey Rooney regarding the exploitation, abuse and neglect of our seniors will help shine light that brings about much needed reform to the national epidemic of elderly abuse. Because so much of the abuse happens on a state level in the probate court system, I am unsure how to reform the system on a national level. I can speak from personal experience that the laws on the books here in Tennessee and in Georgia, if honored are adequate to address the issues you will hear about.

The problem I experienced is an abuse of discretion by the probate court and its judges without concern for oversight and accountability for their decisions. Under the pretense of discretion, probate judges are given wide latitude in their oversight of an elderly persons well-being and finances. This can and does result in documented instances of lack of due process, violations of rules of the court, and cronyism. In my case my family was denied communication and visitation with my father from 2007 until he died last month. My father never met his now 2 year old grandson or saw my then 3 year old daughter and 1 year old son again. Fear and intimidation was used to keep him away from us while an older sibling and a local attorney took all of his financial worth. My attempts to visit with him and to ask the courts in Georgia where he lived were met with what can only be described as an abuse of discretion, violation of court rules, lack of due process and more. I was actually arrested in my home in Brentwood and charged with contempt of court in Georgia because I failed to appear at a hearing in Georgia I was not notified about. At that same hearing fess were awarded against me for "harassing the conservator" of my father's estate. I am dealing with that here in Tennessee as I write this letter.

I would appreciate it if you would consider reviewing the GAO 10-1046 report on Guardianships before the March 2nd hearing.

Thank you for your time and for representing our State and our nation in this important matter. The quality of life of our seniors who dedicated their lives to our country and their families is in dire need of reform and oversight. The laws in place seem to be adequate, but without genuine oversight and accountability for those holding decision-making power affecting the lives of those no longer able to take care of themselves, it is becoming open season for predatory guardians and conservators, all too frequently and often with the blessing of the probate system.

Highest regards,

Mark S. Israel
Brentwood, TN 37027

Full Letter and Source:
NASGA - Soapbox