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 >
Enos Schools County Auditor and Harangues County Judge Emmett
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Lawyers are stealing tax payer dollars and the system in place at Harris County allows it. Here are the problems: 1. A paper based system from the 1950's is still in use. Lawyers fill out the pay vouchers by hand, the judges sign the vouchers and then they go to the County Auditor, who pays the amounts approved by the judges, no questions asked. 2. A judge, who may approve dozens of pay vouchers a week, cannot see what an attorney is billing in other cases in that same court or in other courts. 3. No one until me ever took a mass of vouchers from one single attorney and extracted the fees charged on all cases for a particular day to see what the attorney is billing the county for on that day. This is how Alicia Franklin got busted billing 23.5 hours in one day. If I can "audit" vouchers, why can't the County Auditor? 4. The real problem is that no one has any incentive to closely monitor the CPS pay ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – County Four: Billing for Non-Lawyer Tasks Such as “Post Office Runs”
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Alicia Franklin billed the county for one hour of work on May 6, 2014 in Cause No. 2014-02035J for "prepare letter to client, prepare to mail and post office run." In Cause No. 2008-02442J, Franklin billed a quarter of an hour twice for "post office run" on April 10 and May 19, 2014. Attorneys simply do not bill their clients for running to the post office and Harris County tax payers should not be charged for such work either. On May 1, 2014, Franklin billed the county in Cause No. 2013-41503 a quarter of an hour to e-file a document. She did the same thing on May 7, 2014 in Cause No. 2013-39931 when she charged a quarter of an hour for "e-filed affidavit." Again, this is something clerical staff do in most law offices and I have never heard of lawyers billing clients for that sort of work. Franklin also billed the county frequently for merely printing documents, something attorneys or their clerical staff ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count One: Submitting CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. This is a long article and my proof consists of many pages of pay vouchers that Alicia Franklin submitted the month before she became a judge. Click here to read my complete, 19 page article: "Alicia Franklin Submitted CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True." This article includes my legal explanation of why knowingly submitting a false CPS pay voucher to the county for payment is a crime. Here is the executive summary of my article: Attorneys, like Alicia Franklin, appointed by judges to represent abused children or their parents in CPS cases, must sign the pay vouchers they submit to the county. In the family courts, the vouchers say that they are submitted "under penalty of perjury." I looked at four consecutive work days in May 2014 and pulled her charges for those days from dozens of pay vouchers submitted by Franklin. I then added up the hours she billed for each day. Here is what I found Franklin ... Read More >
I Make It Really Easy For Polland to Give Me His Side of the Story
Reprinted from the August 26, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Gary Polland is a very busy man. He barely has time for his political work, all of his court appearances, home visits I am so sure he personally performs, meetings with investment bankers, etc. So, I sent Polland a fax that should make it easier for him to reply to my questions quickly and accurately, so that his side of the story can be shared with you: Mr. Polland, I know you are a very busy man and perhaps you lack the time to respond to my questions about the work you have done as an appointed attorney ad litem in CPS cases. I am therefore providing you the following answers to my questions so that you can take just a few seconds to check the appropriate responses and fax your answers back to me. I truly do want to be fair to you and deal with facts instead of rumor or supposition. I know there are almost always two sides to every story and I really want to get your side of this story and share it with my many ... Read More >
Judge Alicia Franklin: Please Provide an Explanation!
Reprinted from August 26, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. I take a fair airing of facts about Judge Alicia Franklin and her work as an appointed CPS attorney very seriously. I played a significant role in the chain of events that resulted in Franklin becoming a judge and I genuinely like her. I have helped Franklin in ways no other lawyer could and I contributed financially to her campaign when she was running against Denise Pratt. I also know and really like the Democrat running against Franklin, Sherri Cothrun. Cothrun provided me most of the information described below, but I have done my own home work as well. I write below about facts I have verified, not partisan attacks from the opposing candidate. I now have a box of copies of every fee invoice Ms. Franklin ever submitted to the county and I have someone doing my own independent, non-political analysis of those vouchers. I really hope to announce soon that I have found a sterling example of how ad litem attorneys should do ... Read More >
The Crime of Tampering With a Government Record
Texas Penal Code Sec. 37.10 states in part: 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD. (a) A person commits an offense if he: (1) knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, a governmental record; (2) makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that it be taken as a genuine governmental record;.... Sec. 37.01(2) defines a "government record" to mean: (A) anything belonging to, received by, or kept by government for information, including a court record; This is the law former Judge Denise Pratt is alleged to have violated when she apparently back-dated court orders. One example of how attorneys can run afoul of this law arose in San Antonio recently: Former defense attorney Hilda Valadez, who pleaded guilty to charges of forging judges' signatures and double billing the county for indigent defense work, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison. .... Valadez, 52, was once regarded as the ... Read More >
The Polland Problem, Part 2
Reprinted from the August 21, 2014 Mongoose. Most Republican judges and party leaders, to their credit, realize that the brewing scandal involving court appointments and their former party chair, Gary Polland, has the potential to effect the November elections. They also realize that the current system just is not right. They point out to me that Democratic politicians, such as legislators who are also attorneys, are getting lucrative appointments from Democratic civil judges. The solution is very simple: a commitment by judges to appoint attorneys based on merit only and transparency of information. All judges of both parties should simply stop using court appointments as political patronage and ALL appointments and fees should be reported and made available to the public. Currently, the system hides appointment fees and makes it very difficult to determine accurately how much various attorneys are being paid. The County Auditor website is a great example of sharing ... Read More >