The Elliot Schlissel New York Law Blog

Susan Powell has been missing since 2009. She had two children, ages 4 and 6. The children had been staying with her husband, Josh Powell during her absence. Recently the Washington State Children’s Administration removed the children from Mr. Powell’s home. It seems that Josh Powell was also living with his father Steve. Steve has been charged with possession of child pornography and voyeurism. This has caused the children to be removed from Josh’s custody and placed in the custody of his wife’s parents. This action was taken by the Washington State Children’s Administration, even though Steve advised them “I have nothing to do with any kind of illegal pornography.” Josh claimed that he’s a loving father and good to his children. He alleged his children were not at risk and they had not been exposed to any type of inappropriate material such as pornography.

Steven Powell Charged With Crimes

Steven Powell has been jailed on 14 charges of voyeurism and pornography possession. His bail has been set at $200,000.00.

Child Custody and Pornography

If you have custody of your children it is important to make sure that the other individuals residing in your household are not engaged in activities that may create a dangerous or inappropriate environment for your children. Children need to be protected and individuals involved with child pornography are considered to be very poor role models and guardians.

Father’s Rights Lawyers

Father’s rights are protected by the lawyers at our law office. For 30 years we have been assisting fathers in matrimonial and family law matters and family court proceedings. We represent fathers involved in divorce proceedings, orders of protection, child custody, child visitation matters, changes in child custody, child support matters, spousal maintenance, child abuse and child neglect proceedings. In addition, we help our clients to reduce child support payments, we defend the in paternity actions and deal with parental alienation situations. We also negotiate prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements for our clients. In amicable situations we negotiate separation agreements and participate in arbitration and medication of marital issues. Call us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802. Our phones are monitored 24/7.

Philip E. Parker, a former inmate in a Baltimore jail, was being transported by correction officers in a jail bus when he was murdered by a fellow immate. His family brought a lawsuit claiming that the four correction officers and the State had acted negligently in the supervision of the prisoners on the bus, and as a result of their failure to supervise, that another inmate, Kevin Johns, killed Mr. Parker during the bus trip.

18.5 Million Dollar Jury Award

A jury in the Baltimore City Court awarded Parker’s family 18.5 million dollars based on this incident that took place in 2005. The State argued the situation on the bus was not foreseeable and therefore they were not negligent. The State claimed that the incident happened very quickly, and that the bus was dark, further preventing the correction officers from intervening.

The State’s Appeal

The attorneys for the State have indicated they plan to appeal the verdict. The 18.5 million dollar verdict involved 7.5 million to Parker’s mother, 1 million payable to his father and 10 million dollars to be paid to his estate. The attorney for the Parker family, Samuel M. Shapiro, stated “immates in prison are human beings. These human beings, while incarcerated, need to be treated as human beings and if necessary, protected by the prison personnel from being murdered by other prisoners.”

New York Personal Injury Lawyers

For more than 30 years the Law Office of Elliot Schlissel has represented New Yorkers with regard to all types of personal injury cases. We have extensive experience in handling both car and truck accidents. Our office can provide legal representation in cases involving slip and fall accidents, premises liability, wrongful death matters, construction accidents, as well as nursing home neglect situations. We also have handled dog bite cases. Call us for a free consultation. Our phones are monitored 24/7, and we can be reached at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

Governor Cuomo has set up a medicaid re-design team. On the team, there are a number of hospital administrators. These administrators have used this opportunity to press for capping malpractice payment for hospitals. Governor Cuomo has decided to go along with the hospital administrators’ request concerning capping malpractice payments in medical malpractice cases.

Malpractice Awards

Hospitals and physicians have complained about decisions in medical malpractice cases. They claim the awards have been too high. They also claim that they must now practice defensive medicine and perform unnecessary tests to protect themselves.

There has been a proposed cap for “non-economic damages.” This cap would be $250,000 for pain and suffering for each medical provider guilty of malpractice. In 2011, $250,000 is a grossly insufficient amount to pay to individuals who will have a diminished quality of life because of hospital or physician negligence.  Some of these individuals will be left blind, paraplegics, and completely unable to care for themselves.

Reducing In-hospital Errors

The best way to deal with medical malpractice is not to penalize the injured parties by limiting their recovery. The more perfect solution is to reduce the number of errors and bad decisions made by medical providers.

CONCLUSION

A medical malpractice cap should not be part of the budget being submitted by Governor Cuomo. The better solution would be for medical providers to be more careful regarding the decisions they make concerning patients. Our law office represents individuals who have been in car & truck accidents. We aggressively litigate slip and fall and wrongful death cases. We deal with issues concerning no-fault insurance. We also litigate dog bite cases. Feel free to call us for a free consultation.

Bank of America is the largest bank in the United States.  They have recently taken action to stop moving forward with foreclosures throughout the United States.  Allegations have arisen with regard to how the bank is handling the foreclosure process.  Bank of America is among many large financial institutions which also include Chase Manhattan and GMAC that are reexamining how they handle foreclosures.

Document Problems

Bank of America, GMAC and JP Morgan Chase have uncovered problems with the documents they have utilized in processing foreclosure proceedings. Attorneys representing homeowners who homes have been foreclosed upon are developing new and innovative defense techniquess to deal with the document crisis created by the financial institutions.

Attorney Generals in California, Connecticut and Florida are investigating the materials submitted by various financial institutions in foreclosure proceedings. The Associated Press recently reported that a Bank of America official acknowledged that she signed up to 8,000 foreclosure documents per month without reading them. Consumer advocates claim that there are numerous problems with the foreclosure process.

Should you find your home in foreclosure, please call our offices 1-800-344-6431 or contact us by email.  Our law firm has represented individuals in debtor/creditor matters for more than 30 years.  We are experts in handling foreclosure defense, foreclosure conferences, mortgage modifications, Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Numerous financial institutions are finding that the documents they anticipated using in foreclosure proceedings are flawed! GMAC and JP Morgan Chase are among two large financial institutions that have acknowledged that mistakes were made with regards to the processing of mortgages.  Both companies have suspended all foreclosure proceedings.Attorneys in many states are demanding legal action to investigate foreclosure proceedings brought by financial institutions. The treasury department is looking into these new disclosures.

Motions In A Foreclosure Proceeding

Contact us regarding foreclosure defense, mortgage modifications, filing mortgage modifications, foreclosure conferences, Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Slow Home Sales

Feel free to call the law office of Elliot Schlissel at 1-800-344-6431 or contact us by email to discuss your personal situation concerning foreclosure defense, mortgage modifications, foreclosure conferences, bankruptcy and reestablishing credit.

Under current law, if a heterosexual male has a one night stand with a woman and she becomes pregnant, the man is legally obligated to pay child support.  Furthermore, in situations where a male is paying child support to a woman even when he is not the father, he cannot discontinue payments under the doctrine of “equitable estoppel“.  This doctrine states that a man with no biological or adoptive connections to a child cannot stop paying child support if he has established a history of providing for the child.

In the case of H.M. v. E.T., the mother had conceived a child through artificial insemination.  She had relied on her lesbian partner’s assurances that she would receive child support for the baby.  When her partner backed out on her commitment to provide financial support, the mother brought the matter to court.

The Second Department of the Appellate Division (an appeals court) held that the assurances of support by a non-adoptive, non-biological adult who engages in a same sex relationship is also subject to the doctrine of equitable estoppel.  Therefore, the lesbian woman would have to continue paying child support even though her relationship with her lover had ended.

New York does not grant the non-biological woman in a lesbian relationship visitation unless she formally adopts the child.  Query:  will the  courts look differently on a lesbian partner’s request for child visitation where the partner is obligated to pay child support?

Should you have issues concerning child support, custody or visitation, feel free to contact the family lawyers at the law office of Elliot Schlissel, by email or at 1-800-344-6431.

America has a healthcare crisis. President Obama is now battling with Congress to deal with long term issues involving healthcare.

An area of healthcare that is very often overlooked deals with what happens to Americans when they can’t care for themselves.

The best way to maintain a senior is to keep them in their home under circumstances that they are comfortable with. Seniors live longer when they can stay in their home. If they need help beyond what relatives and friends can provide, home healthcare aides can assist them. As individuals age, sometimes their needs exceed those what can be provided for them in their home.

The needs of seniors are often met by assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Assisted living facilities are generally speaking private pay living arrangements. Seniors who do not have problematic medical needs and have the financial ability to sometimes choose to live in these facilities. The cost of assisted living facilities can be anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 per month in the metropolitan New York area.

Seniors who have greater medical needs often go to rehabilitation facilities or nursing homes. Nursing homes can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 per month depending on the level of service the senior needs. How does a middle class person go to a nursing home without all of his assets utilized to pay for his or her care?

There is a program that under certain circumstances pay for long term rehabilitation and/or nursing home stays. This program is called Medicaid. The rules and circumstances involving Medicaid are complex and detailed. The most important rule for the public to understand is that there is a 5 year look back concerning the transfer of assets.

If you have assets and you wish to protect them for future generations, it is important that you see an attorney that handles estate work. Planning can be done to insure that if you do end up in a nursing home, all of your assets including your home, stocks, bonds, pensions, 401(k) and savings won’t be utilized to pay for long term nursing care. You cannot wait until you are very elderly and sick to use this type of estate planning. It must be done a minimum of 5 years prior to the need for nursing home or rehabilitation care.

Should you have questions, contact the Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel. We can provide you with further information concerning Medicaid and estate planning. Contact us at 1-800-344-6431 or email us at schlissel.law@att.net.

Picture courtesy of levinperconti.

More than 48,000 people die each year from illnesses and diseases picked up during hospital stays. Approximately 20% of the patients in hospitals who develop sepsis, a blood infection, following surgery die. Patients who develop sepsis stay approximately 1 ½ weeks longer in hospitals than their original planned hospital stay. It is estimated that 1.7 million infections related to health care procedures are diagnosed each year.

Most hospital stays are for fairly routine procedures. Should the patient develop pneumonia or sepsis as a bi-product of this hospital stay, these infections can be deadly.

Hospitals should make a greater effort to improve hygiene, cleanliness and take other effective measures to prevent unnecessary hospital caused infections.

Should you have a problem related to a hospital stay, feel free to contact the Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel to discuss this matter at 1-800-344-6431 or email us at schlissel.law@att.net.

-Elliot Schlissel, Esq.

Do you have assets? Do you own a house? Have you been married more than once? Do you have children from more than one relationship? Are you concerned about what happens after your death to your spouse and/or your children? Are you single? All of the above individuals need a Will.

Estate contests often develop between children from the first marriage and the second wife. Issues arise when a man or a woman has children from more than one relationship. Sometimes loved ones have financial difficulty and the possibility of receiving assets in an estate brings out the worst in them.

There is a simple way to avoid unnecessary expensive litigation that can last from months or years. Write a Will! A Will states who your loved ones are, what your assets are and who will receive your assets at the time of your death. No one looks forward to dying. The thought of writing a Will is often an issue that individuals seek to put off. However, a Will should be written when you are competent and healthy not right before your death.

Attorneys that handle Wills & Estates prepare Wills. They are generally speaking inexpensive documents to have prepared. They simplify your end of life issues and allow your assets to pass in an orderly manner. Wills cut down on financial disagreements developing among your heirs and loved ones.

If you die without a Will your assets pass to your loved ones through administration proceedings. These proceedings can be time consuming and tedious. More than one person can request to be the Administrator of your estate. This can lead to arguments, bad feelings and increased attorney’s fees.

If you have assets or loved ones, you need a Will! Have it written by an attorney before you are too sick and old to deal with it.

Should you have questions regarding drafting a Will, feel free to call the Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel to discuss these issues at 1-800-344-6431 or email us at schlissel.law@att.net.

James Cameron’s blockbuster movie, Avatar, has recently become the most financially successful movie of all time. It’s new-age 3D cinematography makes the movie both moving and compelling.

The planet Pandora is simply beautiful. It has floating mountains and beautiful natural vegetation. The Na’vi are the 10 foot blue-skinned inhabitants of Pandora. They live off the land in a beautiful, natural existence. They kill only those animals necessary to supply themselves with food. A global corporation that is intent on mining valuable minerals from Pandora is prepared to destroy the Na’vi’s precious ecosystem to meet their greedy needs. The mining company has developed Avatars, which are part human, part Na’vi bodies. The employees of the mining company can interact with the natives through these beings.

An Avatar working as a spy for the mining company falls in love with a Na’Vi realizing the terrible plan of the mining company which he has been a central figure of will destroy the beautiful existence of the Na’vi’s. He turns against his own people. The movie has an anti-imperialism theme. The mining company resembles American corporations operating in third-world nations. The soldiers working for the mining company have many similarities to the United States Armed Forces. The actions of the mining company can be considered genocidal.

The movie ends on an uplifting note. Although a science fiction flick, it does give you something to think about.

-Elliot Schlissel

Picture courtesy of Cool Blish.