Reprinted from the October 7, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. I filed a criminal complaint against Judge Alicia Franklin and she is not saying "I didn't do it." Instead, she defends herself by saying,"Everybody does it." A Houston Chronicle article of September 21 started this way:A prominent line of defense has emerged for a newly appointed family court judge accused this month of false billing when she was working as a court-appointed lawyer representing abused children: Everybody does it. District Court Judge Alicia Franklin, the subject of a criminal complaint alleging she broke the law by billing for more than 24 hours of work in a single day as a court-appointed lawyer in Child Protective Services cases, has explained the high hours by saying she was billing for work done by associates and support staff. Click here to read the entire article, which also includes these quotes: "It [the statute on payment of CPS ad litem fees] sure does imply that it has to be ... Read More >
How Gary Polland Earns Million$ on CPS Appointments
Gary Polland was able to earn over $1.9 million in court appointments since 2010 using this simple strategy: get appointed a LOT and bill a LOT of hours every day. Polland's political clout in Republican primaries prompted Judges Devlin, Phillips, Schneider, Pratt, Millard and Lombardino to appoint Polland hundreds of times. Over 90% of Polland's apointments came from those judges. Once Polland got the appointments, he often billed more hours than a mere mortal could possibly work in a day. The following chart summarizes Polland's work on October 1, 2013. The hours Polland billed for CPS home visits are shown in one column and all other "out of court" hours he billed for that day are in the next column. Appointed attorneys are paid flat rates for court appearances and, on this day, Polland only had one court appearance. On this one day, Gary Polland billed for 30 hours of lawyer work and for one juvenile court appearance. Click here to see the actual invoices ... Read More >
Who Gets to Use the Courthouse for Paid Mediations?
Reprinted from the October 7, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. It would not seem proper for a for-profit flea market to operate in the rotunda of the court of appeals building or a used car lot to be run at the top level of the county parking garage. How then could it possibly be right for an attorney to be allowed to use a courtroom for private, paid mediations? How much influence and stroke would a lawyer have to be able to openly schedule mediations in a courtroom? Cause No. 2001-48545 was a child custody modification suit. The parties mediated temporary orders with Mary Ellen Hicks. Judge Lisa Millard appointed Gary Polland to be mediator without a request from either party or the amicus once the case was set for a jury trial. Polland eventually wrote the parties to schedule the mediation in a courtroom of the Juvenile Courthouse. Polland charged $650 per party for the half day mediation. One party and attorney were put in the in the main ... Read More >
Polland CPS Vouchers Reveal Amazing Billing
Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. I finally received the pay vouchers for just three months of billing by Gary Polland I am paying to have these vouchers analyzed (as I did with Alicia Franklin), but here is one startling finding I quickly made by looking through these vouchers: Gary Polland billed Harris County for four home visits totaling 19 hours on one single day and the gullible or complicit judges approved his vouchers and the county apparently paid him. In CPS cases, the law requires the attorney ad litem appointed to represent the child to personally visit the child at home before each court appearance. Polland, who almost always bills exactly 5.0 hours for "travel to and conduct home visit; draft report with pictures" billed the following for one day, August 10, 2013: Case No. 2013-04442J, 313th Juvenile District Court - 5.0 hours for a home visit (invoice submitted 8/15/13)(note the duplicate, "corrected" invoice also submitted). Case ... Read More >
The Defense Alicia Franklin Should Be Making
Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. The public relations flack Judge Franklin has hired (with either campaign funds or money she made on CPS cases), is not doing a very good job for her. It does not really help Franklin to tell her to lay low and say nothing while the PR firm tells the press that my 100% provable facts are just a "political smear." Here is what Franklin's spokesperson would be saying if I were Franklin's media and political advisor: First of all, it is a shame you are not looking into the hard work Judge Franklin is doing every day in her courtroom to provide justice to families and children. She took on a court that was devastated by her predecessor's incompetence and she has already done a mountain of work to close out cases and correct errors Judge Pratt made. I suggest you sit for a few hours in Judge Franklin's courtroom and decide for yourself what her dedication to justice and the law is. The issues Greg Enos has raised about ... Read More >
A Partial Defense of Judge Lynn Bradshaw-Hull
Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. I may criticize judges in this newsletter, but it is for unfair policies or unethical or criminal acts. I almost never write to complain about how a judge has ruled in a specific case (with only rare exceptions, Charley!). It is almost impossible for anyone to second guess a judge unless you have listened to every minute of testimony and argument and seen all of the evidence (or read the transcript and handled the appeal). I also appreciate the attitude of most experienced family court judges, that not every request for a protective order based on alleged domestic violence or threats of violence, should be granted. I believe that victims of domestic violence should be protected and nothing makes me angrier than a bully or an abuser. However, I know that people make false allegations or exaggerate true events or try to gain tactical advantages in divorce or custody cases by asking for protective orders. A domestic ... Read More >
Is False Billing on CPS Cases a Crime?
Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. There is no doubt that in some instances, a lawyer who falsely bills the county for court appointed work can be convicted and sent to prison. Last week, I was in an outlying county discussing this CPS billing scandal with some very good criminal attorneys. They were all amazed by the huge fees that are awarded to CPS attorneys in Harris County and they all agreed that what Alicia Franklin had done when she was billing as a CPS attorney was clearly totally wrong. Their debate was on the odds that Franklin could be convicted of a crime. They noted that the CPS pay vouchers do not specifically say that the attorney submitting the voucher was stating "under penalty of perjury" that only she did the work billed ... Read More >
“The Nail in the Coffin” for Attorneys Falsely Billing Harris County on CPS Cases
Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. This is perhaps the most important development in the CPS billing scandal reported in this newsletter because the false billers were claiming that there was nothing wrong with the appointed attorney billing for work done by another lawyer. A wise probate judge in Austin who reads The Mongoose e-mailed me about an appellate case that holds exactly what I have been saying: a lawyer appointed by a judge as an ad litem cannot and should not bill for work done by other attorneys (except in unusual circumstances and then only after informing the court). Let's see these "CPS appointment law firms" and mega-billers explain this: When a guardian ad litem is appointed, the trial court intends that appointed attorney to personally protect the minor's interests and to act as an officer of the court. Accordingly, it is generally not anticipated or reasonable for a guardian ad litem to delegate his ad litem responsibilities to ... Read More >
The Alicia Franklin Billing Miracle – 32.25 Hours Billed Plus 5 Court Appearances All In One Day!
This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. A future postulator writing a positio about Alicia Franklin will surely include as one of the two required miracles the amazing events of March 20, 2013, when Alicia Franklin billed Harris County, as well as the parents in a private amicus case, for the following all on one blessed day: 28.5 out-of-court hours in CPS cases 3.75 hours on a private amicus case 1 CPS trial appearance 4 non-trial CPS court appearances The hours billed for this one day total 32.25 hours plus Franklin claims to have been in court on CPS cases for one trial appearance and four other non-trial appearances on that same day. There may well be other private cases that Franklin also billed for on that day. In CPS cases, ad litems bill per hour for "out of court work," but they are paid a flat rate per court appearance for trial or non-trial hearings. Ad litems are paid a higher flat rate for trials than they are for non-trial court ... Read More >
Criminal Complaint Filed Against Judge Alicia Franklin
This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Click here to read the criminal complaint I have filed with the Harris County District Attorney against Judge Alicia Franklin. The more I see of how Franklin billed the county in CPS cases and parents in her amicus cases, the less pity I feel for her. I know that at some point my perfect batting record in taking down elected judges for criminal behavior will fall below 100%, but this does not feel like the time when I will strike out. I do not know that Franklin has committed a crime, but I have found 100% provable facts that need to be looked into by someone other than Republican District Attorney Devon Anderson, who bungled the Judge Pratt investigation and then made a "sweet heart" deal with Pratt that allowed her to avoid criminal prosecution. Click here to read a motion filed by a District Attorney who wisely recused herself and asked for appointment of a prosecutor pro tem under Texas Code of Criminal ... Read More >