gitana1
Verified Attorney
- Joined
- May 31, 2005
- Messages
- 29,385
- Reaction score
- 229,990
Ok, so FD now has the report and he gives it to Atty Pattis who then uses its contents to get a reporter who is threatening to write a kill article about his client to back down. Where to start. Guess I will start with Pattis asking himself the simple question of "Should I have access to this report" and then perhaps "Should I discuss this report and its contents with a reporter"? Pattis has taken a sealed document from Family Court and used it to defend his client in a criminal case and then disclosed the contents to a reporter. Sure Pattis stopped talking about the report when he was contacted by GF atty but by then the damage had been done IMO.
The other issue that is puzzling is that the report didn't seem to be complete and it was unclear why the person (presumed to be a DR.) would be unable to present the report findings to the court or couldn't be recognized by the court (odd wording that I didn't fully understand). So I wonder why was what looks to be a draft report kicking around between the person that prepared the report or was working on it, the GAL and FD atty? Did JD atty have equal access to what looks to be unfinished work product? I can't say that I fully understand what state the draft was in but why was it seeming to be passed around in unfinished form? To me this makes it even more irresponsbile of Pattis for disclosing it to the public. Confused.
Pattis is an opportunist and his antics, approved by his client, show total disregard for the poor kids in this case.
How the report was released (where are we getting that it's a partial report?) is beyond me and if it wasn't supposed to be released and the GAL did so, but only to dad's attorney, that's a problem.
I had a case recently where minor's counsel (what we use in family court like GAL's), and opposing counsel are good friends.
Minor's counsel lied about what the child's therapist stated. She advocated a reversal of custody to the immature and bully of a father.
Thank God the judge refused to follow her recommendation. Even though minor's counsel is very well respected.
It was baffling to me.
I've also been blocked trying to get the transcript of the hearing so we can send it to the therapist who can then file a complaint for lying about what she said.
Somehow my request is never answered.
I would make a bigger deal of it if the client wanted me to.
Happily this kind of thing is rare IMO. But there might be an issue in this case.
Strangely, though, it is the GAL who asked for them hearing about the report and who has been cautious about recommending anything other than supervised visitation at present. So
If he's colluded with dad it doesn't seem like it.
None of this has to do with the judge, however.