A Texas Parole Commissioner was just indicted for tampering with a government record because she allegedly made false entries in five parole reports. Click here to read a news story about this indictment. If it can happen in Hunstville when prison inmates are the victims, it should happen in Harris County when all tax payers and the integrity of our justice system are the victims. ... Read More >
Archives for December 2014
CPS Appointment Reform is Starting!
My efforts to reform the crooked system of CPS appointments in Harris County is paying off. Two family law courts and one juvenile court have adopted new policies that require random selection of ad litems and forbid billing for other attorneys except in unusual circumstances. Click here to see the policies of the 315th Juvenile Court (Judge Schneider) and click here for the policies of the 312th Family District Court (Judge Farr). Judge Hellums adopted basically the same policies as Judge Farr. Now, attorneys are required to sign this verification of their hours when they ask for fees in CPS cases in the courts of Judge Farr and Judge Hellums: Cause No. :____ Attorney Name: ________ In submitting this voucher I swear that I have billed only for time incurred by me personally, unless I have received prior court authorization to have an associate or support staff perform the task for which the billing is submitted. In addition, I swear that this ... Read More >
Franklin Resorts to the “Everyone Is Doing It” Defense
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 New Rule on Business Record Affidavits
Click here to download the form I have prepared in response to the amendment of Tex. R. Evid. 902(10) on business record affidavits. In my last edition, I attached a link to a draft version of the rule, rather than the official version of this new rule, which became effective on September 1, 2014. I thank Russ Burwell for pointing out that error and I direct you this time to the correct, official, final order adopting this new rule approved August 19, 2014. Please note, this new rule applies to cases filed on or after September 1, 2014, which means the prior rule requiring affidavits and records to be filed with the clerk, still applies to pending cases. Parties can and should agree in writing not to file the actual records in the pending cases. Just to be sure, here is the full text of the final rule we now have to comply with: RULE 902. SELF-AUTHENTICATION The following items of evidence are self-authenticating; they require no extrinsic evidence of authenticity ... 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 >