A lawyer cannot bill her client for the time spent preparing a motion to withdraw from the client's case. Lee v. Daniels & Daniels, 264 S.W.3d 273, 278 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2008, pet. denied). In that case, the attorney's engagement letter said the client would,"pay for all time spent, costs and expenses incident to withdrawal as attorney of record to include, but not limited to, airfare, mileage, motel, and lodging." The Court of Appeals held: Daniels [the attorney] sought reimbursement for all time spent in his efforts to terminate his attorney-client relationship with Cummings [the client] including time spent adversarial to his own client. None of that time was spent engaged in " legal services" performed or rendered on behalf of Cummings, his client. Instead, Daniels spent that time engaged in services performed for his own benefit. No lawyer could form a reasonable belief that time spent adversarial to the client and in pursuit of the lawyer's own interests is the ... Read More >
The “No Shame, No Consequences” Power Trip
Reprinted from the October 23, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Attorney Doug York is taking cases in the court where his fiance, Judge Alicia Franklin, presides. If you want a case out of the 311th, York is the attorney to hire. Both York and Franklin should have enough sense and ethics to realize that York should simply not accept cases that are already pending in the 311th, especially those cases where Franklin has already heard something or where there is already a hearing set. Franklin should not automatically recuse herself in cases where York allows himself to be hired knowing the case is in his wife-to-be's court. In Cause No. 2004-02532, Sheikh v Sheikh, a final divorce decree was entered in the 311th in March 2005. The ex-wife's attorney, Scott Boyd requested a writ of execution on July 18, 2014 to try to collect on the 2005 divorce judgment. In September 2014, a Fort Bend Constable seized a house belonging to the ex-husband worth about $152,000. The ex-husband hired a ... Read More >
A Business Owner May Testify as to the Company’s Value as a Fact Witness
Reprinted from the October 23, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. A business owner, including a shareholder of a closely held corporation, can testify as to the company's value and does not have to be designated as an expert witness. Red Sea Gaming, Inc. v. Block Investments (Nevada) Co., 338 S.W.3d 562 (Tex. App. - El Paso 2010, pet. denied) is an opinion by Justice Anne McClure, which mostly quotes cases from the Houston 14th Court of Appeals and states in part: A property owner is qualified to testify to the market value of his property. Redman Homes, Inc. v. Ivy, 920 S.W.2d 664, 669 (Tex.1996). The testimony must indicate that the owner's assessment is based on the market and not on the intrinsic value of the property to him. Jabri v. Alsayyed, 145 S.W.3d 660, 667 (Tex. App. - Houston [14th Dist.] 2004, no pet.). Most recently, the 14th Court of Appeals concluded that the property owner rule applies to corporate entities owning property and that a representative of the corporate ... Read More >
When Is It Too Late To Enforce Temporary Orders?
Reprinted from the October 23, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Typically, a temporary order expires with the entry of a final judgment. Coleman v. Texas State Dep't of Welfare, 562 S.W.2d 554, 556 (Tex. Civ. App.--Tyler 1978, writ ref'd n.r.e.). However, the general rule is that the rendition of a divorce decree does not itself nullify any temporary order. Pettus v. Pettus, 237 S.W.3d 405, 416 (Tex. App. - Fort Worth 2007, pet. denied), Ex parte Shaver, 597 S.W.2d 498, 500 (Tex. Civ. App. - Dallas 1980, orig. proceeding); Villarreal v. Villarreal, No. 14-04-00071-CV (Tex. App. - Houston [14th Dist.] Nov. 23, 2005, no pet.)(mem. op.). Temporary orders can be enforced after entry of the final decree of divorce unless the decree itself discharges the parties from obligations under the temporary orders. Ex parte Shaver, 597 S.W.2d 498, 500 (Tex. App. - Dallas 1980, no writ). The Texas Family Law Practice Manual provides these two different options for a divorce decree regarding ... Read More >
Family Judges Resist Reform
Reprinted from the October 23, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. The Board of Family Judges met and decided not to follow the example of Judges Farr and Hellums regarding CPS ad litem appointments and fees. The most the judges could agree to do was require ad litems to clearly state on their fee applications if any of the work was done by someone else. Click here to see the administrative order that will apply to all CPS cases in the nine family courts in Harris County. So, the politically connected favorites will still get a lot of appointments in some courts and they will be allowed to bill the county for work done by associates and social workers despite the fact it does not appear to be legal for them to do so. Reform and change will not always happen as fast as it should, but the fight goes on! ... Read More >
Polland Reads the Mongoose!
Reprinted from the October 23, 2014 Mongoose. Gary Polland at least reads The Mongoose. Polland once almost always billed 5.0 hours for every single home visit that someone in his office did. Now, after I reported that odd fact, Polland has started billing in less round, less easy to question amounts. In Cause No. 2014-41117, Polland submitted an invoice to Judge Lombardino claiming that Polland spent 4.2 hours on August 29, 2014 for a home visit with the mother and to prepare a report. The attorney for the mother e-mailed me to say: Pollard did visit with my client on August 29, 2014 (Friday) from about 4:45 to about 5:15 p.m. [30 minutes total] .... I have a tape recording of the home visit.... The drive according to MapQuest (59 to 45 south. Freeway miles) from Polland's office to my client's home is 8.12 miles -- about 11 minutes. Pollard billed 4.2 hours for 8/29/2014 --that is impossible. ..... Gary's report [on the home visit] was about two pages long and he had ... Read More >
Tampering with a Government Record
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 >
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 >
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