distrubing news

[gollymolly]

soc..... hope all is well with you.

got some disturbing news today...

all in FL... admidst dual-modification of custody in joint equal custody situation.

hearing today for summary judgment of oc/ex's case (no legal foundation) and the hearing was also for amendment to my modification, because my original attorney died and new attorney wanted to streamline the pleadings.

basically.... amendment was granted. oc objected to summary judgment being entered at this time and requested that it occur after mediation and following the receipt of court ordered custody evaluation report (performed by an attorney). judge agreed.

the disturbing part....
the judge told my attorney that we were not going to win our case. we have compelling medical neglect issues regarding asthma, ex's smoking around child, dcfs investigation, etc....

and the judge, without seeing/hearing our evidence or expert testimony, which is great, that we are not going to win our case.

my attorney says that he is no longer able to help me. that i need to seek an attorney outside of our district to request the judge be removed from our case.

and we only have 10 days to do something about it...

we have only had this attorney 2 months.... and he has been 10x better than our previous attorney.

1. why can't he file the change of judge? is it a risk to his career?

2. could we be defeated already?

3. how do i find a cut-throat attorney, specializing in family law only that won't put us on the back-burner, like our first attorney, and allow key information/items fall thru the cracks?....( i don't know if there is a nickname for those types of attorneys that only look at your case the night before a hearing and do nothing in between...)

4. do you have any pointers?.... i'm really stunned here.

thanks for your help and your time, you are a godsend

[socrateaser]

>1. why can't he file the change of judge? is it a risk to his
>career?

Something weird is up. You need to write your attorney and ask for an immediate explanation, and that barring something credible, that you will file a complaint with the State Bar, because you don't understand why he is withdrawing in the face of a judge who has expressed substantial prejudice from the bench.


>2. could we be defeated already?

Seems like it, unless you get this judge removed.

>
>3. how do i find a cut-throat attorney, specializing in family
>law only that won't put us on the back-burner, like our first
>attorney, and allow key information/items fall thru the
>cracks?....( i don't know if there is a nickname for those
>types of attorneys that only look at your case the night
>before a hearing and do nothing in between...)

Don't know.

>
>4. do you have any pointers?.... i'm really stunned here.

You need a transcript of the hearing. Then, you need to ask the judge to disqualify himself for clear prejudice, and if he refuses, you need to file a peremptory writ of mandamus to have the appellate court remove the judge from the case and appoint someone else.

You also might want to take the transcript to the biggest newspaper around. But, before you do this, you need an explanation of what's going on from your attorney.

I've known attorneys who have "issues" with a certain judge, and usually, they will immediately withdraw from a case if that judge is drawn at the start of a case. So, I don't know why this lawyer has hung in until now. But, if you can get him to admit that he knew that he couldn't competently represent you because of the judge's bias against the lawyer, then you could have him suspended or disbarred.

But, this won't get you squat in your case. For that, you need to disqualify the judge.

[gollymolly]

actually my attorney is a former magistrate and very friendly with all parties involved. meaning he has very close relationship with the judge and our evaluator.  in fact, because oc attempted to take advantage of the death of my original attorney, the eval. stuck her neck out and referred me to this attorney... which at the time i thought was strange as well.

this whole case has been one weird thing after another.

when we hired him we thought this would be beneficial for our case, as he would get the straight juice from the eval. or judge.

i felt like what he was saying was that if he tried to remove the judge from our case, he would be putting himself into early retirement.

1. could that be true?

2. where do i go to get the transcript?

3. i just found out on the fl bar site that my attorney is a member of the Judicial Admin. & Evaluation Committee. could that have something to do with it?...... though i am not exactly sure what that is.

[socrateaser]

>1. could that be true?

He's saying the judge is his friend and that he can't tell his friend that he's an idiot by trying to remove him. You should ask for your money back, because frankly, this is horseshit.

>
>2. where do i go to get the transcript?

Call the court reporters office and ask them to prepare one ($$$).

>3. i just found out on the fl bar site that my attorney is a
>member of the Judicial Admin. & Evaluation Committee. could
>that have something to do with it?...... though i am not
>exactly sure what that is.

Yes, see above. I'm sorry, but I've seen this little game before. Lawyers are people in the end, and they have to maintain their relationships to survive. But, you shouldn't have to pay for this human relations problem.

[gollymolly]

I just spoke with the judge's judicial assistant and she cannot even remember if a court reporter was present at the hearing, but that i need to go thru my attorney to obtain the transcript.

1. am i SOL if a court reporter wasn't present at the hearing? meaning do i need the transcript to have him removed from the case?

[socrateaser]

>I just spoke with the judge's judicial assistant and she
>cannot even remember if a court reporter was present at the
>hearing, but that i need to go thru my attorney to obtain the
>transcript.
>
>1. am i SOL if a court reporter wasn't present at the hearing?
>meaning do i need the transcript to have him removed from the
>case?

wasn't present at the hearing? sounds like more horseshit. you're pretty much sol, because the judge would know that there's no record of the hearing to use to nail him and if your attorney won't back you up, and it's obvious he won't, then unless you can track down some disinterested witness in the audience, you'd have no way to challenge the judge for bias.

[gollymolly]

i have called 15+ attorneys today.... same story.

basically, no one wants to take my case. this is so very frustrating.

any ideas?

[socrateaser]

>i have called 15+ attorneys today.... same story.
>
>basically, no one wants to take my case. this is so very
>frustrating.
>
>any ideas?

All I can suggest is that you tell the attorney if he isn't willing to give you the representation that you deserve, that you will put his entire bill in dispute and file a complaint with the state bar. That will mean that your attorney will push back and probably try to walk away from the case, and the judge will almost certainly let him walk. Then you'll have to hire someone else, only there is no one else. Which sets you up to lose.

Very disturbing situation. Call the newspaper and discuss it with a reporter. But, not until your attorney tries to withdraw from the case.

[gollymolly]

actually my attorney is a former magistrate and very friendly with all parties involved. meaning he has very close relationship with the judge and our evaluator.  in fact, because oc attempted to take advantage of the death of my original attorney, the eval. stuck her neck out and referred me to this attorney... which at the time i thought was strange as well.

this whole case has been one weird thing after another.

when we hired him we thought this would be beneficial for our case, as he would get the straight juice from the eval. or judge.

i felt like what he was saying was that if he tried to remove the judge from our case, he would be putting himself into early retirement.

1. could that be true?

2. where do i go to get the transcript?

3. i just found out on the fl bar site that my attorney is a member of the Judicial Admin. & Evaluation Committee. could that have something to do with it?...... though i am not exactly sure what that is.

[socrateaser]

>1. could that be true?

He's saying the judge is his friend and that he can't tell his friend that he's an idiot by trying to remove him. You should ask for your money back, because frankly, this is horseshit.

>
>2. where do i go to get the transcript?

Call the court reporters office and ask them to prepare one ($$$).

>3. i just found out on the fl bar site that my attorney is a
>member of the Judicial Admin. & Evaluation Committee. could
>that have something to do with it?...... though i am not
>exactly sure what that is.

Yes, see above. I'm sorry, but I've seen this little game before. Lawyers are people in the end, and they have to maintain their relationships to survive. But, you shouldn't have to pay for this human relations problem.