Mom Wins Child Back From Babysitter

On January 20, veteran family law attorneys Jeffery M. Leving and Arthur Kallow of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. (http://dadsrights.com) won an important victory for a mother who had lost guardianship of her toddler son to the child’s babysitter. Leving successfully obtained the dismissal of the entire guardianship proceeding brought by the babysitter against the mother. Cook County Probate Court Judge Gregory O’Brien issued an order granting Leving’s motion brought on behalf of Monica Naide, the child’s mother, alleging that the court lacked jurisdiction to award guardianship (custody) to the babysitter when the mother was fully capable of caring for her child.

Judge O’Brien’s ruling brings a decisive end to an unusual case. In October, the babysitter, Karen Smith, filed a petition for guardianship and custody of Naide’s son, Rodney Dennis, Jr., claiming that the mother had disappeared, the father was unknown, and that the babysitter was the child’s maternal aunt. The mother disputed each of these claims. On November 24, 2009, attorney Jeffery M. Leving successfully petitioned the court to vacate the order of guardianship and custody to the babysitter, which paved the way for today’s resolution of the case.

“This is an important order,” said attorney Arthur Kallow. “It reaffirms the superior rights of parents to raise their own children in America.”

Full Press Release and Source:
Mom Wins Child Back From Babysitter

Social Services Approved Pimp as Guardian

The Prince George’s County Department of Social Services approved a pimp to be the guardian of a 12-year-old girl three months after he started selling her for sex on the streets of Washington, court documents show.

Shelby Lewis has pleaded guilty to taking four girls from his Temple Hills home to D.C., where he made them to sell their bodies and then turn the cash over to him. Lewis has been jailed pending his March sentencing in D.C.’s federal court. The 42-year-old faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

Lewis admitted to starting his pimp business in March 2006. The first girl he sold for sex was a 12-year-old referred to only as “S.H.”

In June 2006, Lewis “was officially permitted to serve as the guardian of S.H. by the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services and her custodian, her paternal aunt, Gloria Sockwell,” federal prosecutors wrote in court documents.

Full Article and Source:
Prince George’s Social Services Approved Pimp as Foster Father

Press Release: Congressman Urges Investigation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 21, 2010
CONTACT: HOLLY L. PEFFER,
hlpeffer@hotmail.com
P.O. Box 206 A, Derrick City, PA 16727
(814) 368-9165

CONGRESSMAN URGES INVESTIGATION INTO PA WOMAN’S DILEMMA

BRADFORD, Pa. – U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (Rep.-7th District) is urging the Pennsylvania Department of Aging to investigate how a longtime Bradford resident has been held for nearly three years in an assisted-living facility in Florida against her wishes and those of her loved ones.

Rita Denmark, 79, who suffers from age-apparent dementia, is under a court-appointed Florida guardianship. However, she is a resident of Pennsylvania, and neither she nor her family wants her in Florida.

In a letter dated Jan. 12, 2010, Sestak urged Acting Department of Aging Secretary John M. Hall to “please also investigate this matter, since the question of residency appears to be an issue.” Sestak further asked that he be informed of developments in the matter.

After exhausting her personal financial resources for legal fees and travel over the past three years, Denmark’s daughter, Holly L. Peffer of Derrick City outside Bradford, contacted the Congressman for help this month.

Peffer, herself certified by the National Guardianship Association Inc., said “There are currently pending motions and notices before both the Pennsylvania and Florida courts” arguing that the Florida court had no jurisdiction to appoint a guardian for a Pennsylvania resident.

A member of the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse, Peffer said of the situation: “I would not wish this nightmare on my worst enemy… I would have never thought this could happen to an individual in this country.”

“It has been quite a learning experience, and when the Congressman’s letter arrived in my mailbox on Saturday my heart was filled with joy to know that my mother really does matter.”

Peffer said she has come to realize that her family’s situation is only one, of thousands of cases in the United States where guardianship of an elderly person appears to benefit only a professional guardian. It appears, these professional guardians are accountable to no one. Currently legally prohibited from contact with her mother, Peffer says she and other friends and family are sincerely concerned for Denmark’s health and well-being under this guardian’s care for a variety of reasons, including conditions found during on-site visits to the facility where Denmark is being held and whether that type of facility is appropriate for Denmark at all.

Now, however, Peffer hopes that the attention from Sestak and the Department of Aging will see her mother home by spring.

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PLEASE NOTE: Peffer has detailed records of the case history, and may be contacted for further information or interviews at the phone or addresses above.

Cryin’ Judge Seidlin Turns Author

Hear about the new book coming out from former Judge (and RRA client) Larry Seidlin? It is — surprise — about the Anna Nicole Smith case, and its provocative title can be seen on the cover above.

“In his first book, The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith, retired judge Larry Seidlin unveils the truth behind one of the most watched trials in television history. Based on eyewitness accounts, trial transcripts, and confidential files, his three-year, in-depth investigation reveals what really happened on February 8, 2007, the day Anna Nicole Smith passed away.”

A three-year, in-depth investigation, eh? Yes, our own Lightning Larry has always been known for his probing intellect and depthy research, at least when he wasn’t speeding through dockets, playing tennis on the taxpayers’ dime, or fleecing elderly neighbor Barbara Kasler out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Full Article and Source:
Cryin’ Judge Seidlin Turns Author

See Also:
Seidlin Lawsuit Expanded

Nursing Home Worker Charged With Financial Exploitation

Meredith A. Sharp, 37, a former employee of the Hitz Memorial Home in Alhambra, was charged Tuesday with financial exploitation of an elderly person in a case that officials said cost a resident more than $16,000. Sharp had been jailed in lieu of $75,000 bond.

She resigned from the nursing home in December. Staff contacted authorities on Dec. 17, after the resident received a credit card bill with unexplained purchases that included furniture and a TV.

Full Article and Source:
Nursing Home Worker is Charged

Rita Hunter’s Attorney Fees Appealed

Arguments before the Missouri Court of Appeals on Tuesday focused on fees charged by attorneys for Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator, and whether the attorneys breached a responsibility to county wards.

R. Lynn Myers, representing Emma France and several other wards of the former administrator, contended that fees charged by Gayle Crane and then John Podleski were improper because there was no formal contract between the former administrator and the attorneys. Myers also contended that because wards’ money paid their fees, the attorneys had a duty to “represent” the wards that they did not fulfill.

Attorneys for Crane and Podleski argued that no written contract was required. And, they said attorneys would be guilty of a conflict of interest if they were expected to represent county wards along with the administrator.

Whether attorneys fees are reasonable, he said, is overseen by the probate judge.

Myers argued that the fact that attorney fees come from wards’ estates gives the attorney “some responsibility” to act for the benefit of that disabled person.

Reinbold said the payment of fees does not create an “attorney-client relationship.”

Full Article and Source:
Appeals Court Hears Arguments on Ex-Administrator’s Attorneys Fees

See Also:
Ruling: Court Acted Properly

Limited Power, Resources Hampered PA Judicial Conduct Board

The state Judicial Conduct Board’s decision to table an investigation into a misconduct complaint against two former Luzerne County judges came amid concerns about its staffing limitations and the notion that an outside law enforcement probe could lead to penalties stiffer than mere professional sanctions, an attorney for the board said in a court filing.

Still, the attorney, Paul H. Titus, failed to account for a nearly two-year vacuum of inaction from the time the board received its first anonymous complaint against the judges, Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and when it turned the document over to federal prosecutors.

Judicial Conduct Board member Edwin L. Klett told a state panel last month that the board received the complaint accusing Conahan and Ciavarella of nepotism, cronyism and case-fixing in September 2006, but failed to take action until federal prosecutors requested a copy in June or July 2008.

The Interbranch Commission has subpoenaed Judicial Conduct Board officials to testify at a hearing Feb. 2 in Harrisburg. The Commission’s attorney, Arthur H. Stroyd Jr., said he had not received the filing, but noted Titus’ contention that the complaints are confidential, “would be consistent with the position they’ve taken.”

Full Article and Source:
Limited Power, Resources Hampered Judicial Misconduct Investigation

See Also:
Denied

Judge Defers Sentence

A former Carmel woman was sent to prison for a 90-day evaluation to determine if she should be sentenced to a longer term for bilking her elderly mother out of $300,000 worth cash and property and abandoning her.

Lisa MacAdams, 53, was remanded into custody by Judge Terrance Duncan. Prison officials and psychiatrists will recommend whether she should be sentenced to prison or probation and jail time.

MacAdams and her daughter, Christi Schoenbachler, the victim’s 30-year-old granddaughter, were convicted in a nonjury trial before Judge Terrance Duncan in November. Schoenbachler will be sentenced Jan. 29. The women could be sentenced to more than four years in prison.

In 2002, the 72-year-old victim moved with MacAdams to Carmel to be near Schoenbachler, who was part-owner of a Pacific Grove Pilates studio. The victim had money from the sale of her mobile home, an annuity worth $90,000, furniture, art and jewelry worth up to $200,000. Two years later, it was gone and she was abandoned at a local nursing home.

Source:
Judge Defers Sentence in Elder Case

See Also:
Found Guilty of Bilking More Than $300K

Wisconsin Debating Effects of Judicial Donations

Forcing judges off cases because of campaign donations would impair the public’s ability to participate in judicial elections, says a proposed order by the state Supreme Court that could be finalized Thursday.

“Disqualifying a judge from participating in a proceeding solely because the judge’s campaign committee received a lawful contribution would create the impression that receipt of a contribution automatically impairs the judge’s integrity. It would have the effect of discouraging ‘the broadest possible participation in financing campaigns by all citizens of the state’ through voluntary contributions . . . because it would deprive citizens who lawfully contribute to judicial campaigns, whether individually or through an organization, of access to the judges they help elect,” says the proposed order, which quotes from state statutes.

On a 4-3 vote, the court in October voted to adopt a rule that said campaign contributions and endorsements alone do not require judges to step aside in cases. They also approved a rule that said ads run by groups independent of a judge’s campaign in and of themselves were not enough to require the judge to step aside.

The October vote showed how the justices felt about the new rules in concept, but to put them into effect they need to issue a written order. That order, which includes a detailed rationale for the rules, will be debated Thursday and could be approved then.

Full Article and Source:
Proposed Order on Judicial Donations Remain Up for Debate

Editorial: Setting a Judicial Example

When the Louisiana Supreme Court kicked Orleans Parish District Court Judge C. Hunter King from the bench in 2003, there was hardly any dispute that he was unfit for the robe. Among other violations, Judge King had threatened to fire court staffers if they didn’t sell tickets for a campaign fund-raiser. As the Supreme Court said in booting him out, “honesty is a minimum qualification expected from every judge.”

Now the court has decided to permanently disbar Mr. King, and it’s good to see that a majority of justices want to set a higher standard for people who hold a law license. To that end, the justices also should aggressively discipline other metro New Orleans judges who have broken the law and the Code of Judicial Conduct, as well as the numerous attorneys who enabled their corruption.

Louisiana has been plagued by numerous cases of judicial corruption in recent years, and tough sanctions are needed to help deter further corruption and to restore the judiciary’s image.

The court should be as aggressive in disciplining former Plaquemines Parish Judge William Roe, who was convicted last year of pocketing $6,000 in improper judicial reimbursements, and former St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap, who last year pleaded guilty to taking bribes. The justices suspended both judges when they were charged, and neither should be allowed to practice law again. The Supreme Court also should disbar U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous, who faces likely impeachment in Congress for taking cash from lawyers with cases in his court and lying under oath numerous times, among other offenses.

Corrupt judges, and the attorneys that enable them in violation of their code of conduct, have severely tarnished the judiciary’s reputation in our state. Federal prosecutors have done their part in going after them. But systematic and relentless disciplinary action from the Supreme Court would go a long way in restoring Louisianians’ confidence in our judicial system.

Full Editorial and Source:
Setting a Judical Example: An Editorial

See Also:
Former Judge Disbarred