Law Journal now has something to say about this Legal Aid fiasco…
Suit Says Nassau Legal Aid Client Can Afford to Pay Attorney’s Fees
“An attorney representing the wife in a support matter in Family Court has sued the Nassau Legal Aid Society for providing free legal services to his client’s ex-husband, who the attorney claims receives a $90,000 annual pension.
Lawyer Jason Tenenbaum brought the suit on his own behalf as a taxpayer and resident of Nassau County to challenge what he said was the inappropriate decision by the court to assign to Samuel Branch, a former educator, legal services attorneys at county expense in a long-standing support matter against Mr. Branch’s wife, Madona Cole-Lacy.”
10 Responses
I smell a rat.
A couple of thoughts,
1) what was his income when the underlying application was litigated– i.e. prior to the appeal? If he has a 90k pension, it’s reasonable to assume he made more when he was actually working.
2) the information in their opp is very fuzzy and unsupported,
3) i would gather the App Division court rule cited, pertaining to “assigned” counsel, is intended to concern indigent criminal defendants who have gone through the requisite procedures to obtain free assigned counsel.
4) that was very nice of Mr. Goldberg to intercede on the appeal without request. I assume that Mr. Goldberg receives fees for that work, paid for by Legal Aid.
That would provide Goldberg an incentive to find Legal Aid coverage here, especially if he worked for client regarding underlying application.
Legal Aid to pay his fees regarding a prior client with a $90k income.
5) Mr. Goldberg seems desperate to pass the buck, even though he was the one who moved, absent request, to vacate the order on appeal, thus ensuring that Legal Aid would be doing free legal work for a 90k income earner.
6) does judge really have unlimited discretion regarding Legal Aid client selection, as inferred by Goldberg here? There is something fishy about his whole account. Aspects of judicial misconduct? Did key elements of the process in client selection get somehow lost in a morass of bureaucratic hokum, to the point Legal Aid has become a nepotism mill?
Boy. Let me tell you. Someone needs to take on the TVB. I was there today. Can’t be more abusive. Some sort of Judge or moron sitting at the bench. Yelling like mad at everyone. Old ladies. Mothers holding their children. What has become of this city under Bloomberg.
There’s a complete shut down of the expressway for an investigation.
I leave at 7:00. Get there at 9:30 and miss my hearing by minutes.
I have to wait for the 10:30 Judge or whatever this cretan is. And he yells at me. This will be your second adjournment.
I told him that the City adjourned once for 8 months. And that the last adjournment was born out of the fact that on the date of the last hearing I was in ICU.
He says that I’m lying.
I pull out the hospital records.
He says so what. You were in the hospital. Next time you better be here. I don’t care if you’re giving birth.
I took it because the judge was such a hideous looking henchman for Bloomberg that I don’t think anything that I said would have hurt him. He was too old to punch and fat to punch.
Meanwhile the cops there — the highway mavens; the morons that couldn’t catch a collar in a shirt factory; these heroes of writing tickets — are all under investigation for ticket fixing. They give out multiple tickets and then accept gratuities for forgetting their paperwork on hearing day.
God I saw them lined up there. Police Officers? They were the most out of shape mental hospital escapees I have ever seen.
Good knows what this judge — this Jabba the Hut look alike — does.
The whole thing is unconstitutional.
I need a legal mind out there who could handle this kind of case with me.
Ray,
I told you that the TVB is unconstitutional. You thought I was crazy. Why am I entitled to a right to a trial in a court of law and to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in every other tribunal in this state, but have to settle for a no-plea bargain, clear and convincing, no right to discovery tribunal? I can get 10 speeds in Nassau and probably reduce them to a 1201(a) and keep my license. I go to TVB – I end up being found guilty as charged; having my license yanked; and being forced into the AIP pool.
Btw, the COA years ago said there was no constitutional violation here. My thoughts are to get this into Federal Court and let the Second Circuit rule on this one. The problem is you have to go through the State process due to the Federal anti-injunction act notions of “comity”. I agree – these ALJ;s should be let go and have instituted a system similar to Nassau. While we all know a lot could be said for the way Nassau handles many things, they hit the nail dead on the head with the Nassau County TVPA.
Is the TVB where the stop light camera tickets are being “litigated”?
In the last year, those have now gone up over pretty much all middle class Nassau County. You DO NOT see them along the North Shore, curiously. Cross 25A heading north, and you will not see one. Drive around old country road and Hempstead Turnpike, they are at almost every light.
The ticket scams constitute massive taxation scams, passing the cost of governance to those that are considered politically powerless. The benefits of governance funneled to hand-selected individuals, and the burden passed to the folks who have no voice. Nassau County is like Wall Street combined with the Bush/Obama administrations. There are not true Americans.
Sun,
the TVB is where tickets in Suffolk County, New York City, Rochester and Buffalo are “litigated”. It is a kangaroo court and defeats any fair notion of due process.
As to the red light cameras, there is a more nefarious reason why they are not placed along the North Shore in Nassau County. According to the way the process works in Nassau County, all revenues from the red light cameras go to county, similar to a traffic ticket. This is because the violations are adjudicated at the TVPVA, which is an “arm” of the Nassau County, District Court. The exception to this is in the event a ticket is written in an incorporated village. In these instances, the revenue would go to the village, hence “village courts”. Thus, the county would not do anything that would enrich anincorporated villages. So, besides the North Shore, you will not see red light cameras in Farmingdale village, Long Beach, Massapequa Park, Lynbrook, Rockville Center, etc.
This only proves thetheory that these red light cameras are money making devices. I am sure there are many dangerous intersections in the North Shore. Having lived in Long Beach, I can aver that there are MANY dangerous intersections. Yet, “traffic safety” must yield to the dollar.
Sun perhaps you were dead on with every point you hit in your analysis of the now famous J.T. ex rel J.T. case. You know the psycho legal aid case. Nepotism. Everyone involved is laying in a Queen Sized bed together in a cheap motel somewhere in Hempstead. They got the magic fingers on. Cheap porn playing. “Honeying and making love over the nasty sty.” Hamlet
Looks like I am going to have to bring this fight against TVB on my own. No guts. No glory.
Interesting facts.
Proves that this is, indeed, calculated to be a regressive tax.
Amazing how far we have fallen as a Country, in virtual lockstep with the fact that the wealthy have bullied their tax burden on the backs of the middle class.
Notably, Buffet just released updated numbers, he only pays about 11% of his income in taxes, in stark contrast with his employees who pay about 40%. Personally, when combing Fed, state and local taxes with sales taxes and related (i.e. traffic tickets for example), I pay about 50% of my income in taxes.
Of course, it just wrecks the economy when the lifeblood is sucked out the middle class, whether by Wall Street frauds or tax scams benefiting those frauds, as illustrated by the never ending recession.
Corruption illustrated by simple math.
Amazing stat is that even people who are upset at the extreme inequality don’t know just how bad it has become– insanely bad.
See CBS New stats from today:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20120052-503544.html
I am old enough to remember the Raygun tax cuts. The beginning of the end of this nation.
Fortune Magazine — in 1990 — did a study that demonstrated that middle class tax payouts went way up under Raygun.
The income lost from the income tax was made up through regressive taxes; user fees; etc.
This Country has become about one thing — robbing from the middleclass
But the people Sun. They are so stupid. The damn people will defend the multi millionaires and billionaires — “we rather die then have them pay more money.”
Because deep down these people still believe in the American dream. Even though they spend their spare time watching American Idol they think they too will become rich.
Let me tell you American People. You are too stupid and lack the connections to be rich. You will have to decide between eating cheap dog food or taking your meds when you get older. You are too stupid to deserve democracy.
The one good thing is that birth rates are down. Perhaps the stupid Americans will stop breeding and we might have some smart people to end this.
JT – your complaint took guts. Congrats.