Gainesville attorney is permanently disbarred for Florida Supreme Court.
The Florida Bar announced that the Florida Supreme Court disciplined 13 attorneys.
Contact
Leslie H. Smith said that five were suspended, four were disbarred,
three were reprimanded, and one had their license revoked.
Gainesville attorney, Robert Bauer, has been permanently disbarred, following a court hearing from Sept. 9th, said Smith.
Smith
said, in one case, Bauer billed a client despite performing no legal
services for them. When he was confronted about the situation, Bauer
"misrepresented the status of the case to the client and failed to
disclose that her claim was barred".
This case was just one of many where Bauer failed to conduct his job in a legal manner.
Smith
said disbarred lawyers are not allowed to re-apply for admission for
five years. They are required to go through an extensive process,
including a background check and retaking the Bar exam.
Robert Bauer's full order issue from the Florida Supreme Court:
Robert
W. Bauer, 3721 N.W. 40th Terr. Suite B, Gainesville, disbarred
permanently effective immediately following a Sept. 9 court order.
(Admitted to practice: 2005) In Supreme Court Case No: SC19-1824, Bauer
obtained a proprietary interest in his client’s litigation while
offering financial assistance to the client to pursue unfounded
litigation. Bauer failed to advise his client to seek independent
counsel and advice prior to obtaining a priority interest in the
litigation. In a separate matter, Bauer billed a client despite
performing no legal services. In another matter, Bauer failed to
diligently represent a personal injury client which led to the client’s
claim being barred by the statute of limitations. When confronted, Bauer
misrepresented the status of the case to the client and failed to
disclose that her claim was barred. Bauer also misrepresented the status
of his client’s claim to the grievance committee. Once SC19-1824 was
set for trial, Bauer abandoned his clients and failed to properly advise
the courts in which he had ongoing litigation. (Case No: SC21-668)
President Biden promised to be the most pro-union president in history. And he’s proving loyal to that commitment, but at the expense of the seriously ill and disabled.
Biden’s
Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) proposed a new rule that
would allow unions to skim dues from home health care workers. Under the
proposed rule,
DHS would permit diversion of Medicaid payments to third parties,
including unions. While this may seem innocuous, it is anything but. In
fact, this rule would reauthorize what is known as a “dues skim,” a
scheme that has benefitted unions at the expense of vulnerable Medicaid
recipients and their caregivers.
In 2011, the Mackinac Center was
the first organization to discover the redirection of Medicaid payments
to labor organizations. In Michigan, the Service Employees International
Union’s (SEIU) local affiliate recognized it could obtain “dues” from
home health care providers and worked with the state to force-unionize
them. First, the SEIU lobbied
the state to create an agency known as the Michigan Quality Community
Care Council that would serve as the putative employer of home health
care providers in Michigan. The SEIU then bargained with that “employer”
to unionize these workers. This all happened even though fewer than 20 percent
of the affected home health care providers voted for the union. Many
were not even aware that a unionization election had occurred.
As
a result, a portion of Medicaid payments meant for covering the costs
of home health care providers — often the family members of seriously
ill or disabled individuals — was redirected to the SEIU.
By 2012, the SEIU had successfully skimmed over $34 million in Michigan
alone. After reforms were passed banning dues skim (and later
reaffirmed in a ballot proposal),
home health care providers overwhelmingly demonstrated they did not
wish to be unionized. In less than a year, SEIU Healthcare Michigan’s
membership fell 80 percent.
In other words, when given the choice about whether to become a member
of a union, only 20 percent of providers decided it was worthwhile.
The
consequences of dues skim become even worse on a national scale. From
2000 to 2017, unions successfully diverted approximately $1.4 billion in Medicaid payments.
There
is little justification for these payments. Although DHS claims that
allowing these diversionary payments would benefit caregivers through
better training and education, it has presented no evidence to support
this claim. What evidence does exist suggests that such arguments are meritless.
The
position is also logically inconsistent. If unions had training
opportunities that would benefit home health care providers, nothing
stops them from offering those trainings for a fee. Providers could then
decide whether to spend the funds they receive from Medicaid to enhance
their skills by attending these training sessions. This arrangement
would be consistent both with the law and market incentives. Instead,
DHS has opted for an arrangement that favors coercion and potential fraud.
The
practical consequences of permitting dues skimming cannot be
understated. The providers from whom payments would be diverted are
often the family members of those with serious illnesses or
disabilities. Without this care, the ill and disabled would be forced
into an institution, likely at greater taxpayer expense. These family
members sacrifice their time and energy and are lightly compensated
primarily through Medicaid payments.
Despite this, some unions have used dues skim to divert payments
while providing little, if any, tangible benefits to providers or
Medicaid recipients. But in this situation, unions have little to offer
either party, since home health care providers are not employed by an
outside agency, but rather, their patients. They work from either their
own homes or the homes of their ill and disabled relatives. They manage
their own working conditions and hours, based on the needs of their
patient. Unions play no representational role in these areas — the
traditional purpose of collective bargaining.
DHS should not
reinstate dues skim through administrative fiat. Doing so would reduce
the funds available to help the sick and disabled, increase the shortage of home health care workers
and direct Medicaid payments away from their intended purpose. Funds
paid to caregivers should be used to support their efforts to care for
the sick and disabled, not for favored political causes.
Is former "Star Trek" star Nichelle Nichols experiencing conservator abuse?
The actress, best known for playing Lieutenant Uhura on the TV series
and in films, has been under conservatorship since 2018 and her son
Kyle has been her conservator. People close to the actress are concerned
and claim she has been stripped of the things she has worked for,
including her friend and producer Angelique who has come to The Doctors.
Angelique says the actress asked her to make a video of her
expressing what she wanted in her final years and claims the actress was
angry at her son for putting her in a rest home. Angelique also claims
she noticed that items in Nichelle's home were disappearing, including
the entire contents of her closet.
"She did not like the way that [Kyle] would treat her," Angelique
says of the actress, noting a video surfaced of Nichelle and her son,
that Angelique describes as an "abuse video" where her son
allegedly "manhandles" and "curses her out," Angelique says after she
made public comments about the video, Kyle blocked her from seeing the
"Star Trek" actress. Additionally, the actress' home was sold in 2020
and Angelique says Kyle has moved her to New Mexico, without giving her
the opportunity to appear in court and express what she wants and where
she would like to live.
"I have not seen my friend Nichelle Nichols in several years. I love her and I just want her to be safe," Angelique tells The Doctors, claimingNichelle's wishes have not been honored regarding her living situation.
Attorney Ann-Margeret Carrozza says in Nichelle's case -- where there was a report of a dementia diagnosis --
selling her home and moving her to a new state is very concerning. She
says it is incumbent for the court to ensure that as little as possible
changes when someone with dementia is under a conservatorship, including
their living arrangement and social interactions. She questions
how it is in Nichelle's best interest to be cut off from people in her
social network like Angelique.
"The question for the court is, 'Does [Nichelle] need a
conservator?" Ann-Margeret says, explaining that question is usually
answered by the court deciding if someone is capable of making good
decisions.
Psychiatrist Dr. Domenick Sportelli shares what occurs in a
traditional capacity evaluation and says it includes taking these steps
and answering the following questions:
Full mental status evaluation should be performed
Does someone understand their current medical problems and treatment?
Is there an underlying mood disorder?
"I just want Nichelle to get her rights and have the ability...
to enjoy the rest of her life at least close to the manner in which she
wanted," Angelique tells The Doctors.
Nichelle's former manager told The Doctors in a statement,
"The story about Nichelle being removed from her home against her will
is true. From the day I met Nichelle, the first thing out of her
mouth was, she never wanted to be moved out of her home under any
circumstances. She wanted to pass away there and she made me promise
that could be her dying wish."
The actress' son Kyle did not respond to our request for comment.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online on September 30, the business affairs of Thomas, the estranged husband of Erika Jayne,
were in “dire straits” when the trustee took over the estate. But now,
as the trustee explained in his update on the case, he’s reached deals
with Girardi’s secured creditors and has gathered $4.2 million in cash.
While the trustee is certainly off to a good start, he has struggled
at times to work through the system at Thomas’ defunct firm and has had
to pay former employees to help him. Following a previous request of the
court, the trustee was granted the ability to spend between $166,000
and $276,000. Months later, he needs more.
“The trustee continues to diligently work to identify assets of the
debtor, and this process is ongoing. Without continuing access to funds,
the Trustee is unable to fund a proper investigation of the Debtor’s
affairs and to preserve and maximize the value of the Estate,” the
trustee’s court documents explained.
In the months since Thomas was forced into bankruptcy, most cases he
was handling were either dropped by the client or transferred to another
firm. And, when it comes to the cases transferred, a number are still
pending and expected to bring the estate more cash in the near future.
One particular lawsuit, filed against SoCalGas over a gal leak,
recently reached a $1.8 billion settlement, which is expected to bring
in tens of millions as Thomas represented 23% of the plaintiffs.
The settlement will “eventually result in a significant recovery for the Estate,” the trustee shared.
Attorney Ronald Richards
also shared this positive update on the case, confirming that the
trustee has secured over $40 million for Tom’s victims and creditors,
outside of the $25 million they are currently trying to recover from Erika Jayne.
The Trustee has been able to disburse funds to the Debtor's clients. As of April 2021, the Trustee had already disbursed or caused to be disbursed more than $26 million to clients. This means that clients (victims) got this $. This has nothing to do with the case against EG.🙏 https://t.co/s3qDK1zmSo
In other Thomas Girardi news, the former attorney‘s brother, Robert Girardi, who is acting as his permanent conservator,
recently filed documents with the court in which he confirmed Thomas
has been living in a “skilled nursing facility” for two months and
receiving 24-hour care.
“[Thomas] cannot stay in his home due to his finances, and care needs,” the documents explained, via PEOPLE. “Tom is the subject of an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding and a marriage dissolution proceeding. As a result, his home was put up for sale. Furthermore, Tom’s care needs are such that he needs to be at a skilled nursing facility.”
Vulnerable adults in Michigan now have more protections in place to keep them from being taken advantage of by scammers.
Here's
an example, someone calls or contacts you telling you they are a close
friend of a family member. They say they need money right away to get
that person out of trouble but give you no other details other than how
to send the money.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said this
is one of the most common ways scammers try to get those with cognitive
or physical impairments as well as the elderly to give away large sums
of money.
She says the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act which
took effect this week will make it harder for those scams to take
place.
“And that's what we're trying to protect people from, we've
seen it over and over again, where, you know, seniors are the number
one target for scammers or con artists, for people who want to take
advantage," Nessel added.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the act
into law late last year. It requires banks and credit unions to
identify unusual money transfers and initiate investigations to ensure
their validity.
Nessel said the measure requires financial institutions to be better trained to recognize scams and to have a way to stop them.
“What
if you all of a sudden have a person who's a senior who only does their
banking in person, and then all of a sudden one day, boom, there's a
$50,000 transfer, it's online. So that's going to be flagged, and
they'll be able to freeze that," she said.
The Act follows work done by the state’s Elder Abuse Task Force first organized by the Attorney General’s office in 2019.
The author of a new reform bill argues that American families deserve
better accountability, better resources, and better information.
by Sen. Bob Casey
Axelle / FilmMagic via Getty Images
When a judge suspended Britney Spears’ father
as her conservator on Wednesday, fans and advocates cheered. Ms.
Spears’ fight may not be over, but after 13 years, she is on the path to
restoring her basic rights. But an unknown number of other people with
disabilities, older adults, and their families are still struggling to
undo restrictive or even abusive guardianships and conservatorships.
Ms. Spears’ case, along with years of tireless work by advocates and journalists, including a recent investigative series by BuzzFeed News,
has shined a spotlight on our nation’s fractured guardianship system.
With little accountability and poor oversight, it can leave people with
disabilities and older adults exposed to exploitation, fraud, and abuse
without any real recourse or way out.
It’s
a reality that Nancy Pantoni and her son, Dominic, of Pittsburgh know
all too well. As an infant, Dominic was diagnosed with a rare genetic
disability called 22q11.2 deletion syndrome that has caused behavioral
and emotional health problems. As he grew older, it became more
difficult for him to live alone without support, and Nancy struggled to
afford the services he needed to remain independent.
Nancy Pantoni
Dominic and Nancy Pantoni in 2019
As Nancy and Dominic worked to find a solution to fit his needs, a
social worker suggested that a guardianship agency could help secure
housing. Nancy and Dominic agreed to what they thought would be a
limited or temporary arrangement, in which she would have a say in his
care. In 2009, a judge appointed a guardian for Dominic, granting an
agency full control over his life. Twelve years later, Nancy and Dominic
are still fighting to reverse that decision. Originally Nancy’s visits
were limited to once a month. It took a court order for her to earn the
right to see her son every week. Their interactions are now more
frequent, but they are still supervised.
The National Center for State Courts estimates that approximately 1.3
million people in the US live under a guardianship or conservatorship
ruling. It’s impossible to know the exact number because these rulings
are controlled at the state or county levels, with no required national
reporting system in place.
Many guardians are dedicated and caring
individuals who help people with disabilities and older adults manage
their lives. Yet, it has become increasingly clear that the system
allows unscrupulous guardians to defraud, abuse, and exert unnecessary
control over vulnerable people. People who are being abused in
guardianships often have their financial resources drained to the
benefit of the guardian, have medical decisions made on their behalf,
and in some cases, are cut off from their loved ones. This widespread
abuse cannot be blamed on a few bad apples. Our nation’s patchwork
system of guardianships — without any consistent accountability — has
allowed exploitation and abuse to thrive.
Ms. Spears may be on the
path to regaining control over her life, but in order to ensure others
in exploitative or overly controlling guardianships can see the same
result, our entire system must be reformed.
The first step is to
collect information on guardianships. We need states to expand or
improve guardianship databases to make it easier to track fraud and
abuse, and to share information with one another and the federal
government. We will not fully understand the scope of this challenge
until we start collecting solid facts on a national basis. Second, we
need less restrictive alternatives that ensure guardianship is used only
as a last resort. One alternative is called supported decision-making.
This process ensures people who need assistance making life decisions
are provided with support from a network of people they choose and
trust. Finally, we need enhanced resources that will allow states to do
better background checks on people seeking to become guardians and to
track them over the years that follow.
That is why I introduced the Guardianship Accountability Act
with Maine Sen. Susan Collins on Sept. 28. This legislation takes
important first steps toward enacting the change we need. This
bipartisan bill aims to promote oversight and accountability while
encouraging states to share information about alternatives to
guardianship. The Guardianship Accountability Act will create a National
Resource Center on Guardianship to publish model state and local
legislation and best practices, promote the use of less restrictive
alternatives, collect state statistics on guardianship, facilitate
information sharing, and compile and publish training materials. The
bill will expand the availability of federal demonstration grants to
help develop state guardianship databases, improve training for court
officials to spot abuse, and expand the use of background checks for
guardians.
While Britney Spears’ case has focused the public’s
attention on the need for guardianship reform, most families in similar
situations don’t have a national spotlight on their hardships. Nancy
Pantoni is now on her fifth attorney, fighting to regain control of her
and her son’s lives. Nancy and Dominic deserve a chance to regain that
control. But more than that, they and so many families like them deserve
to navigate a transparent system that presents good options, benefits
from strong oversight, and includes clear protections for individuals
and their families.
Britney Spears’ fight to end the conservatorship that controlled vast
aspects of her life is putting the spotlight on ongoing efforts in the
states to reform laws that advocates say too often harm the very people
they were meant to protect.
by DAISY NGUYEN
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Britney
Spears' fight to end the conservatorship that controlled vast aspects of
her life is putting the spotlight on ongoing efforts throughout the
U.S. to reform state laws that advocates say too often harm the very
people they were meant to protect.
Already
this year, New Jersey cracked down on the circle of people who could
petition for someone to be placed under a guardian. New Mexico created
an independent review process to oversee how conservatorships are being
handled, including the ability to check bank records. And Oregon is
ensuring that anyone placed under a guardian gets free legal help.
On
Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a
set of changes prompted by the attention generated by Spears' legal
battle to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship run by her father.
The
law includes greater oversight of professional fiduciaries, such as
those who controlled Spears' life and financial decisions. It will
increase scrutiny of financial, physical or mental abuse, which could
result in $10,000 fines.
The
new law also will allow people placed under a conservatorship to choose
their own attorneys, which Spears was finally allowed to do in July.
California
lawmakers had passed a series of reforms to the state’s conservatorship
system in 2006, but they were never implemented by the courts because
of budget cuts during the recession in 2008 — the same year Spears was
placed in the conservatorship after suffering a mental health crisis.
Her
ordeal caught the attention of Congress, which held a Senate Judiciary
committee hearing this week examining ways to reshape conservatorships.
The system "is failing people
from every walk of life, whether they are a global superstar whose
struggles unfortunately play out in public or a family unsure of how to
take care of an elderly parent," said state Assemblyman Evan Low, a
Democrat who introduced the bill after watching the recent documentary
"Controlling Britney Spears.”
Low
added: "This bill saw unanimous, bipartisan support throughout the
process because it's painfully clear that we can and should do better.”
Changes
to conservatorship laws in other states also have sought to protect
assets and provide less severe alternatives to conservatorships, which
also are referred to as guardianships.
In
New Jersey, lawmakers introduced legislation that would eliminate a
“catch-all” category that lets virtually anyone who claims to have
concern for the financial or personal well-being of another adult
petition the court to strip their decision-making power.
Studies
have found that people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities, or those with mental illnesses, dementia and Alzheimer's
disease are at high risk of being placed under a guardianship.
“Let’s
say some wealthy woman is worth millions and millions, and their nephew
is going around saying she’s not all there and she needs to be taken
care of. Well, under current law you can do that,” said New Jersey
Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, a Democrat who was a primary sponsor of the
bill. “I want it to be hard for somebody to be a conservator and take
money from somebody without adequate protections for that person.”
High-profile
cases of guardians exploiting vulnerable people in their care led
Nevada and New Mexico to overhaul their laws governing conservatorships.
New Mexico reformed its system,
starting in 2018, amid rising public complaints and a federal
investigation that found 1,000 clients lost more than $10 million in a
multi-year embezzlement scheme perpetrated by the Albuquerque-based
company Ayudando Guardians. In July, a married couple that helped
operate the company were sentenced to a combined 62 years in prison on fraud, theft and money laundering convictions. A judge said their conduct left former clients destitute and homeless.
Initial
legislation provided greater access to secretive guardianship records
and court proceedings. It also prohibited guardians from placing limits
on visitation with the elderly and infirm after families complained they
weren't allowed to visit or communicate with their loved ones. The
state has added bonding requirements and training for conservators, new
rights for the incapacitated and a grievance process to challenge court
decisions.
New
Mexico state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino said he's glad Spears' legal
battle thrust the conservatorship process into the spotlight. The
Democrat cosponsored successful legislation that pays for judicial staff
to review conservator and guardianship accounts.
“It
really goes to the heart of the matter,” Ortiz y Pino said. “You’re
taking away basic civil rights from a person, and it’s not that apparent
to the casual observer if a person is capable of managing their own
affairs any longer. That’s why you have someone evaluate the person’s
mental acuity. You have someone check whether there are less restrictive
options. You try to build in some protections.”
In
March, New Mexico lawmakers gave the state auditor’s office new
authority to review conservator and guardianship annual reports, conduct
audits and subpoena bank records.
“That’s
not necessarily public transparency, but transparency in the sense of
third eyes are looking at what the conservator is doing, besides the
judge,” said Democratic state Rep. Marian Matthews, a co-sponsor of the
legislation.
After a guardian was charged in 2017 with siphoning more than half a million dollars from hundreds of people
she had been appointed by courts to protect, Nevada lawmakers enshrined
a right to legal counsel for adults under guardianship, created a
system to allow people to pre-nominate guardians in case they became
incapacitated and formed a compliance office to crack down on abuse.
Karen Kelly, who heads the Clark
County Public Guardian's office, said the number of private
guardianships have plummeted since the reforms went into effect and more
people challenged proposed arrangements.
In
June, Oregon's Democratic governor signed a bill that provides legal
counsel — paid by the state — for people potentially being placed into
guardianship.
“Protected
persons currently don’t have a right to representation, which obviously
sets up people without means for potential abuse,” said Sen. Michael
Dembrow, a Democrat who was one of the measure's sponsors.
Delaware,
Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin area among a growing number of states
seeking to provide a less restrictive alternative to full guardianship, a
step that is intended to allow people to direct their own lives.
The
laws, backed by advocates for people with disabilities, require the
courts to consider “supported decision-making” agreements. They allow a
person with a disability to choose someone who can help with critical
tasks such as reviewing a lease, but cannot make a decision for them.
“We're
not calling for abolishing conservatorships, but changing the paradigm
in which we see people with disabilities and see their ability to make
choices in their own lives,” said Judy Mark, president of Disability
Voices United, a Southern California advocacy group.
Dennis
Borel, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities,
said that approach applies “the lightest possible touch” to the process
of formal oversight.
Borel said it’s extremely hard
for someone to be removed from a guardianship. In one memorable case, he
recalled a man with an intellectual disability who had the support of
his caretakers in a state institution to move into a community housing
facility.
But
the move was initially denied because the man remained under
guardianship of his grandmother — even though she had died years before.
“It’s still harder to get your rights restored than to never go under unnecessary guardianship,” he said.
A 90-year-old woman with dementia who was evacuated
from her home during the Caldor Fire ended up at a Folsom senior living
facility where workers allegedly abused her — and it was caught on
video, according to a complaint filed with state regulatorsBy Obtained by The Sacramento Bee
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article254566812.html#storylink=cpy
A caregiver at a Folsom senior living facility accused of abusing an
elderly Caldor Fire evacuee made her first appearance in Sacramento
Superior Court since her arrest last week.
Prosecutors have charged Sharan Umlesh Kaur, 49, with one felony count of elder abuse
stemming from an incident that occurred on or about Sept. 2, according
to a criminal complaint filed Sept. 21 by the Sacramento County District
Attorney’s Office.
Kaur appeared in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon for her arraignment
hearing. She was accompanied by her defense attorney, Joe Hougnon.
Superior Court Commissioner Ken Brody scheduled Kaur to return to court
Oct. 20 for a pretrial hearing.
The defendant did not enter a
plea Tuesday. Hougnon explained after the hearing the procedural matter
of entering a plea will be conducted at a later date once the defense
has had more time to review the evidence in the case.
Deputy District Attorney Tara Crabill asked the court for a stay-away
order. Brody granted the prosecutor’s request and ordered Kaur to stay
away from the listed victim in this case and the Brookdale Senior Living
facility.
Defense attorney speaks outside courthouse
Kaur
only spoke during her arraignment to tell Brody that she understood the
charge that has been filed against her. She declined to comment after
the brief court hearing, but her attorney spoke on her behalf. He said
his client has no prior criminal record, is supported by her family and
has ties with the community.
“We need a chance to review the
evidence,” Hougnon told The Sacramento Bee outside the courthouse.
“She’s never been in this kind of trouble before, she’s a very nice
lady. I don’t know what happened yet, let’s see what the evidence
actually is first.”
In a complaint filed Sept. 10, the Sacramento-based Foundation Aiding the Elderly
accused the senior living facility of “elder abuse, failure to protect
resident from physical harm, fall and left unattended, lack of dignity
and insufficient staffing.”
The Bee is not identifying the 90-year-old woman because she is a victim of alleged abuse.
In
the complaint to the community care licensing arm of the California
Department of Consumer Affairs, FATE President Carole Herman wrote that
the alleged abuse was caught on video through a camera the woman’s
granddaughter had concealed in her room.
Herman said the woman’s
family installed the camera because of concerns about the type of care
she was receiving at the facility. Herman wrote that the family “saw
evidence on the video that (the woman) had been brutally attacked by two
facility employees.”
The complaint to state officials contends
that the facility employees “slapped her, pulled her hair, tormented her
and laughed at her.”
“Earlier that morning around 7 a.m., it is
also on the video that (the woman) fell and laid on the floor in her
room for almost an hour before someone came and picked her up,” Herman
wrote. “Someone was seen placing a covering over her as she was on the
floor naked.”
Attorney denies client’s involvement in neglect
Kaur’s
defense attorney said there’s no information that indicates his client
had any involvement with the allegations of neglect made by the elderly
advocacy group. He said the allegation of neglect “seems a little more
egregious” to him.
“I don’t think my client had anything at all
to do with that,” Hougnon said. “She didn’t have anything to do with
(the elderly woman) being neglected.”
Kaur was arrested Friday
and released Saturday from the Sacramento County Jail. No criminal
charges have been filed involving the second worker.
Officials at Brookdale’s corporate headquarters in Brentwood, Tenn., responded
to the allegations in an email to The Bee. In the written statement,
the officials said they have thorough employment standards, including
background checks and ongoing training in compliance with state
regulations.
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article254566812.html#storylink=cpy
“Inappropriate conduct or behavior is not tolerated and is dealt with
appropriately,” officials wrote in the Brookdale statement. “The
individuals involved are no longer with the company, and we are
cooperating with the authorities.”
Peter Max is in a legal guardianship in which every aspect of his life
is controlled by court-appointed strangers, says his daughter Libra Max.
-
John Lamparski/WireImage
It’s not just Britney Spears who is trapped in a guardianship, isolated from friends and family, with all personal, financial, and legal decisions controlled by others.
In New York, legendary pop artist Peter Max
also is being held against his will in a legal guardianship, in which
every aspect of his life is controlled by court-appointed strangers,
says his daughter Libra Max, 54.
She complains that she is not allowed to visit her 83-year-old father
at the Upper West Side apartment that was her childhood home. She is
permitted to see him only on a public bench in Riverside Park, and only
for an hour at a time after requesting the appointment 48 hours in
advance.
The visits are limited to three per week and can be canceled without
explanation, as happened this week after she spoke to The Post.
“He is being treated like a prisoner,” she says. “Every single time I
see him, which has to be approved and scheduled, he says, ‘Sweetie,
please come up to the apartment.’ How many times can someone ask for
companionship? He must feel tremendously abandoned.
“I see his disbelief when I tell him that I cannot accept his
invitation to come up. . . . Instead, he is left with a cast of strange
nurses [who] change constantly and he does not know their names.
“My father [is a] Holocaust survivor. His deepest fear was having friends and family taken away from him.”
Peter
Max’s longtime friend Edward Tricomi and daughter Libra Max say the
artist is being taken advantage of by his legal guardian. Stephen Yang
Max, a counterculture icon of the 1960s and 1970s, whose works hang
in the Museum of Modern Art, has an estimated fortune of at least $65
million. An intimate of the Rolling Stones, the German immigrant became
rich plastering his psychedelic designs on postage stamps, cereal boxes,
album covers, even a Continental Airlines Boeing 777. Nancy Reagan
asked him to paint portraits of the Statute of Liberty at the White
House, after which he helped raise money to restore the monument.
Now he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and was placed under
guardianship in December 2016, after the court ruled that he needed
protection from alleged physical, mental, and emotional abuse by his then-second wife, Mary.
Mary Max committed suicide at age 52, in June 2019, just before
attorney Barbara Lissner took over the guardianship, when the previous
court-appointed guardian resigned.
Libra applied to the court two months later to end the guardianship —
but failed. Even though the reason for protecting Max had ended with
Mary’s death, the burden of proof on those who want to end the guardianship is onerous.
“A guardianship is forever,” says lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a friend of
Max’s since the 1990s, who was denied permission this week to visit
him. “They never stop.”
A judge removed Jamie Spears from Britney Spears’ conservatorship on Sept. 29, 2021.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Since Lissner’s appointment, says Libra, her father’s freedom has
been savagely curtailed. His beloved cats were removed, and his friends
are required to sign nondisclosure agreements before they can even talk
to him on the phone.
More than $1 million per year has been drained from Max’s bank accounts to pay for his care, which Libra claims is excessive.
Max’s previous two guardians, who served from January 2018 to June
2019, charged $53,127 in fees over 18 months, while Lissner billed
$598,654 over 13 months through July 2020, according to itemized
accounting prepared for the court by Libra’s attorney, Linda Redlinsky.
At the time Lissner became Max’s guardian, he was receiving care from
home health care aides for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at a cost
of $528,039 in 2019.
Lissner hired additional registered nurses from Alliance Nursing Homecare for an extra $397,731.
Libra alleges that her father is the victim of the growing scourge of
guardianship abuse and has enlisted the help of a dozen of his old
friends and relatives, including hairdresser Edward Tricomi, Woodstock
producer Michael Lang and Max’s former long-term lover, model Rosie
Vela, to petition the court to set him free.
“This system of appointing guardians has become an ATM machine
for some lawyers and guardians,” says Dershowitz. “I’m sure many are
well intentioned but ‘family first, courts last’ has to be the rule.
“I just feel terrible for him. He’s my age and it could happen to me
as easily as it happened to him. The only thing people like Peter need
is loving contact with their children. . . . It is so inhumane [to] put
him in the hands of strangers who bill by the hour. Really, what harm
could there be in having old friends and relatives sit with him and
schmooze with him?”
Lissner, Max’s “personal needs” guardian, declined to comment.
She and her husband, Michael, are partners in the Columbus Circle law
firm Lissner & Lissner, founded by Michael’s late father Jerry to
serve Holocaust refugees who had fled Europe.
The couple was criticized by the Supreme Court in Bronx County in
2014 over a case in which they sought to be appointed financial
guardians of an unnamed 94-year-old woman at the Hebrew Home for the
Aged in Riverdale.
“It would be an understatement to declare that this court is outraged
by the behavior exhibited by the interested parties,” read the
decision, “parties who were supposed to protect the person, but who have
all unabashedly demonstrated through their actions . . . that they are
only interested in getting paid.”
Peter Max’s wife Mary Max committed suicide at age 52 in June 2019.John Lamparski/WireImage
However, Lissner does have the support of Libra’s brother Adam Max.
Adam, who is in a separate legal dispute with his sister, disputes
Libra’s allegations about her father’s treatment and has opposed her
attempts to end the guardianship.
“Peter is doing extremely well and receives visits from family and
friends regularly including Adam multiple times every week,” said one of
Adam’s attorneys Matthew Seidner.
“Libra has feigned difficulties with the guardianship for a long time.”
But Adam also is restricted in his visits with his father, which must
be scheduled in advance through the guardian, and Seidner could not
explain why Libra was not allowed into her father’s apartment.
Max’s friend of 40 years, celebrity hairdresser Tricomi, confirms
that he was cut off from seeing his old pal the day Mary Max died. More
than 40 phone calls went unanswered, and he says the doorman at Max’s
building told him the new guardian would not allow friends up to the
apartment.
Libra Max complains that she is not allowed to visit her 83-year-old father Peter Max.Mike Pont/Getty Images
Recently, Tricomi has been allowed to talk to Max on FaceTime, but says whenever they talk, his friend begs: “please visit me.”
A gregarious, hospitable man, Max always hated to be alone, Tricomi said.
“He would even call me up to come and watch him paint. He would say,
‘I have a cappucino and a brownie for you,’ and I would play music and
stay till two or three in the morning.”
Max’s West 64th Street studio was always full of people. “You’d go
there and find Keith Richards or Ronnie Wood hanging out, or President
Clinton. There was always some celebrity at his studio.”
But after Mary died, Max was forced to become a recluse. “There’s no
reason on earth he should have a guardian. This is a legal kidnapping.”
Max’s former live-in partner, Vela, said they remained “best friends
[and] for the last 30 years, we have talked on the phone daily.
“Nearly a year ago, Ms. Lissner blocked me from all contact with my
closest friend. I was not allowed to see or speak with Peter for 11
months. This year has been very difficult for all of us who love him,
but surely it has been devastating to Peter.”
Vela said when she finally was able to FaceTime Max this year, he begged her to visit him.
The removal of Max’s cats was especially “cruel,” she said in an
affidavit. “Peter’s animals have always been such a big part of his
life. He loves them.”
Max’s cousin Susyn Gliedman, who grew up with the artist in Brooklyn,
also complains that Lissner has “blocked us all from his life. He
doesn’t deserve to be punished like this . . . Libra has always been the
apple of Peter’s eye . . . She looks like his mother Sala. To deprive
him of having Libra care for him at his age is abuse, pure and simple.
“He needed a guardian to protect him from Mary when Mary was alive, but he no longer needs that protection.”
The US system of court-appointed guardians originally was intended to
protect the vulnerable elderly and incapacitated, but in some cases, it
has become a money-making scheme for a network of unscrupulous lawyers,
judges and care providers, who sell the assets of their charges and
control their lives without their consent.
The Britney Spears case
grabbed the headlines when the 39-year-old pop princess rang 911 to
report herself as a victim of guardianship abuse, and went to court to
remove her father as guardian. But cases of abuse have been bubbling
through the courts for years. In 2019, former Nevada guardian April
Parks was accused of stealing from hundreds of vulnerable people in her
care and sentenced to 16-40 years in prison.
There are 1.5 million people in America in guardianships. If someone
as wealthy and famous as Peter Max, with lots of high-profile friends,
can be trapped, so can anyone.
