Monday, April 28, 2014

Epic FAIL: McGeorge Law School Professor John E.B. Myers Attributes Lack of Family Court Justice to Judicial Council Forms

Sacramento Judge James Mize Apologist Attempts Diversion from Divorce Corp Documentary Scandal

Special Guest Editorial: Opinion by Cathy Cohen

State Bar of California Board of Trustees – President Patrick M. Kelly – Vice President Luis J. Rodrigez – Treasurer Gretchen M. Nelson – State Bar of California Office of the Chief Trial Counsel - attorney Jayne Kim Chief Trial Counsel – attorney Joseph R. Carlucci Deputy Chief Trial Counsel – Patsy J. Cobb Deputy Chief Trial Counsel – FLEXCOM – Family Law Section State of California – State Bar Family Law Section – attorney Mark Ressa San Ramon Chair – attorney Andrew M. Cain San Jose Vice Chair – attorney Michael J. Kretzmer CFLS Beverly Hills Secretary – attorney Yasmine S. Mehment CFLS San Francisco Legislation Chair – attorney Naghmeh Bashar CFLS – attorney Vanessa Kirker-Wright CFLS – attorney Robert “Paul” Bonnar Pleasant Hill – attorney John A. Lazor CFLS Los Angeles – attorney Laurel B. Brauer Irvine – attorney John E. Manoogian CFLS Walnut Creek – attorney Raymond R. Goldstein Culver City – attorney Ana M. Storey Los Angeles – attorney Ronald Scott Granberg CFLS Salinas – attorney Edward J. Thomas CFLS Bakersfield – attorney Diane M. Goodman Encino – attorney Deborah Hannah Wald San Francisco – attorney Minouche D. Kandel CFLS San Francisco -
McGeorge School of Law Professor John Myers blames
family court injustice on too many Judicial Council forms.
In a laughably inaccurate editorial published by the Sacramento Bee, McGeorge School of Law family law professor John E.B. Myers redefined the meaning of the out-of-touch, ivory tower academic. Among other clueless assertions, Myers made the epic LOL, demonstrably false claim that:

“Sacramento’s family court, under the wise leadership of Judge James Mize, serves the community well.”

Family court watchdogs have collected and catalogued overwhelming evidence that Judge Mize provides anything but “wise leadership,” and that the court – which operates essentially as an organized, criminal enterprise – serves only a select, exclusive group of judge pro tem lawyers. The community at large, and especially those financially disadvantaged family court users without an attorney, are subjected to second-class status under an illegal two-track system of justice

Myers went on to attribute what in fact is incompetence and corruption by family court judges and employees to “incomprehensible” Judicial Council family court forms:


“Today, there are more than 200 family-law forms, making the law incomprehensible to anyone but an expert…The amazing thing is that so many lawyerless litigants somehow navigate the labyrinth of financial and other forms to accomplish their goals in family court. Countless others simply give up. Many try their best but do not receive justice. Not because the people at family court don’t care, but because our form-driven family law system is unworkable,” Myers wrote.

Dear McGeorge School of Law Professor Myers: Real world, lawyerless family court users will be happy to explain to you that the “people” at family court not only don’t care, the “people” at family court knowingly and routinely collude with a secretive, insular group of for-profit, private sector judge pro tem divorce lawyers to deprive lawyerless litigants of their children, income and assets, and civil and constitutional rights.
Click here to view a list of the divorce lawyers who also act as judge pro tems and run the family court settlement conference program in exchange for favorable treatment by judges and court employees. The number of family law forms is not why lawyerless litigants do not receive justice, and the claim that there are “200 family-law forms” is a misleading red herring. But, nice try, perfesser.

Few, if any, uncontested divorce cases require more than 6-8 forms in total to complete a divorce, and a typical family court law and motion hearing requires just 1-3 forms. As the recently released documentary film Divorce Corp makes clear, lawyerless litigants do not receive justice because of rampant, garden variety corruption and collusion between attorneys and judges. Not one of the litigants from throughout the United States and Sacramento County interviewed in the movie complained that family court forms were why they didn't receive justice. 

Hon. Stacy Boulware Eurie – Hon. David De Alba – Hon. Steve Lapham – Hon. James P. Arguelles – Hon. Bunmi O. Awoniyi – Hon. Steven M. Gevercer – Hon. Robert C. Hight – Hon. Laurie M. Earl - Hon. Thadd A. Blizzard – Hon. James M. Mize – Hon. Tami R. Bogert – Hon. Matthew J. Gary – Hon. Paul L. Seave – Hon. Jerilyn L. Borack – Hon. Eugene L. Balonon – Hon. Kevin J. McCormick – Hon. Kevin R. Culhane – Hon. Kevin J. McCormick – Hon. Sharon A. Lueras – Hon. Raymond M. Cadei – Hon. Michael G. Virga – Hon. Maryanne G. Gilliard – Hon. Trena H. Burger-Plavan – Hon. Marjorie Koller – Hon. Steve White
Why are so many corrupt judges and attorneys McGeorge School of Law alumni? 

And, in an ironic coincidence, the most corrupt, unethical attorneys from the local cases chronicled in Divorce Corp, and in the local judge pro tem cartel are graduates of McGeorge School of Lawwhere Myers has taught family law and other courses since 1984. In addition, at least two McGeorge alumni have left the cartel because they have been disbarred by the State Bar of California: divorce lawyer Scott Kendall (for multiple acts of misconduct), and divorce lawyer Gary Appelblatt (for sexual battery against clients).

The Sacramento County judge pro tem group accurately is called a cartel by family court reform advocates. The cartel is led by the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee, known among cartel attorneys by the acronym FLEC. Click here to read a laundry list of documented examples of collusion and corruption between cartel attorneys and family court judges and employees.

In addition, corrupt and controversial family court Judge Matthew J. Gary is a McGeorge SOL graduate. Gary has been involved in a string of misconduct allegations dating back to when he became a full-time judge in 2007, and reportedly is currently under investigation by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for oversight and discipline of California judges.

Apparently coordinated with Judge James Mize and Sacramento Family Court administrators and employees, Professor Myers’ editorial is nothing more than strategically timed damage control and blame shifting. The nationwide release of the documentary film Divorce Corp has put the local court system under intense, national scrutiny. Featuring four cases from Sacramento County – more than from any other court jurisdiction covered in the film – the documentary portrays the Sacramento court as the most corrupt in the nation. The Sacramento Family Law Court cases of litigants Andrew Karres, Mike Newdow, Robert Saunders and Ulf Carlsson all get screen time in the movie.

The details of the Carlsson case, involving criminally convicted and twice CJP disciplined Judge Peter McBrien and judge pro tem attorney – and McGeorge graduate - Charlotte Keeley, are the most disturbing, and Ulf Carlsson himself rightfully receives a starring role. The Divorce Corp video excerpt below provides the unsettling details of the Carlsson case. For more on the film, visit the Divorce Corp website or the Divorce Corp YouTube Channel




Cathy Cohen is a family court reform advocate, and NASCAR fan. 

2 comments:

  1. From 15 years' experience with my daughter's custody battle, and repeated similarities with my niece - I'm clear that the problem is epidemic. They say absolute power corrupts absolutely - and that is just what has happened since the checks and balances - within the real judicial system are stripped away in family courts. And with no court reporters and no jury trials - ANYTHING goes. The myriad of stupid forms is NOT the problem. The family courts are now a place where truth doesn't matter, hard evidence is ignored, and the worst outcome for the child - the one which creates the most drama - is good for business, since people will be back in court over and over again to try (mostly in vain) to be able to be there for their kids. And the concept of 'kids for cash' is not just a ransom note from a kidnapper anymore. The "guideline support" setup by the courts create fierce battles over who gets the most time with the kids. The big win is to make sure your ex gets shut out of the kids lives, giving the winner the maximum income and the losing parent having to pay 20% or more of their income - and not get to see their kids. And the BIG LOSERS in this battle are the KIDS! Custody is decided by mediators without even relevant training in many cases, and parents lose their rights for no good reason at all. IT IS NOT THE FORMS! THE FAMILY COURT SYSTEM ITSELF HAS BECOME THE PROBLEM - AND IT MUST BE REFORMED. There is no other way to stop the suffering it brings on a daily basis to tens of thousands of people each year in California alone. And it will continue as long as complacent people look the other way!!

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  2. The family court system is a cesspool of fraud, corruption, collusion, entitlement, and more. The Constitution is as irreverent in family court as Hitler made it in Germany by getting the German Legislature to pass laws overriding the German Constitution, or just plain ignoring the rights of the people stated in the Constitution.

    Just as is often done in the U.S. Judges wantonly and routinely ignore the laws as written by the CA Legislature. They ignore facts and evidence, they ignore the rules of evidence, they ignore the Constitutional Rights of parents to be parents, they ignore settled case law, they ignore Supreme Court precedent case law. They ignore just about everything decent, moral and ethical. They clearly ignore the "best interest of the child," a term borne out of Hitler's Liebensborn program. An obscenity in itself!

    Given the fact that every family court in every county in the U.S. is subsidized by the U.S. Government via the Title IV-D & E Social Security Program with dollar for dollar matches; funded by VAWA to separate fathers from their children, homes, funds, et. al.. via fraudulent restraining orders (more than one million restraining orders out of approx. three million restraining orders are filed in child custody cases, most often for women to "gain an advantage" over their ex. It is referred to as "the nuclear assault weapon," or the "first weapon of assault."

    Parents (both parents) are also set up to get caught up in a nefarious pay to play scheme, along with bribery and collusion by judges, attorneys, psychologists, minor's counsels, and more. You can not win in a system that kidnaps and traffics in kids for money, and rewards those "criminals" that do those deeds. This is a public outrage and a moral disgrace!

    Family court is an obscenity, a racket, a cartel that should be shut down immediately and the "criminals" of the court arrested, tried and convicted for their crimes, including treason. People need to wake up and open up their eyes to what exists in "their neighborhood." If we were talking about a dwelling that housed pedophiles, or that housed crack dealers, there would be public outrage about that. Why isn't there public outrage about the dwelling called the family court, which commits egregious criminal acts no less so than pedophiles and crack dealers?

    Everyone need to see the recent documentary "Divorce Corp." to see what really goes on inside the family court system. You can watch some clips on You Tube, and/or buy the dvd. I've seen the film and it is an eye opener! It connects the dots of what is going on everyday in the anti-family court system. An obscenity that abuses children, parents and families. We need to stop that now!

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