New York Business Litigation Attorney Blog

New York City recently agreed to pay out $70 million in a settlement after people accused the city of mishandling a Medicaid program there, Reuters is reporting.

Medicaid is a government-backed system managed by states to assist low-income families and people with disabilities with medical and healthcare issues. It is the largest healthcare program in the country as millions of people rely on it to provide needed medications and help for their ailments.

Legal issues stemming from health care in New York can crop up when agencies that govern medical procedures and drug testing for instance, and in this case, Medicaid, fail to do their work properly. Health care is extremely important, as the average person relies on nurses, doctors and specialists to help them make solid decisions that keep them well.

According to the Reuters article, a lawsuit was brought under the False Claims Act in which federal prosecutors alleged that the government had paid out tens of millions of dollars as a result of the city mishandling its personal-care services program. The False Claims Act allows for the recovery of penalties and damages when false claims are paid by the federal government.

From 2000 to 2010, the Human Resources Administration provided 24-hour personal-care services to some Medicaid recipients without proper authorization granted from medical personnel or via independent medical reviews.

The city alleges that the lawsuit, brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office, was based on nothing more than "technical record-keeping deficiencies."

But the U.S. Attorney said that the city attorney's statement contradicts the "stipulation he personally signed and submitted to the court." The city's claim that the lawsuit was based on an issue over "paperwork" was rejected earlier in the case.

Issues of health care in New York can cover a wide variety of issues. An experienced lawyer can assist patients who believe they were wronged or who had benefits denied based on discrimination or other reasons.

But hospitals, health systems, physicians, mental health experts and others can also benefit from sound legal advice. Medical malpractice lawsuits and other allegations of wrongdoing tend to crop up regularly and they must be properly handled by experienced counsel.

These cases are complex and require the legal skills of an attorney, along with medical experts, who have many years' experience. Many times these issues can be resolved without litigation. But in other cases, a lawsuit can bring needed resolution to a lingering issue.

These are often consumer rights' issues as well as healthcare issues combined into one. Therefore, many people can be affected by the outcome of these decisions. With health care always being a hot topic, there are always reasons to get sound legal advice dealing with a person's health and long-term care.

Continue reading "Medicaid Mishandling in New York City Results in $70 Million Settlement For Consumers" »

An article out of Rochester reports that salaries for teachers vary widely throughout New York state. For instance, salaries in the Rochester area rank at the bottom of the state, while teachers in Westchester and Putnam counties outside New York City rank highest. The disparity between superintendents range from $166,000 to $506,000.

In a separate article, Bloomberg is reporting that a record number of teachers are retiring, which could save money for state taxpayers as older teachers with years of raises move out and new teachers getting their first job move in.

Teachers have been battling for decades to earn better salaries. They are consistently underpaid and under-appreciated despite the commitment they have to educating our children. It is easily one of the most important jobs in the country, but it's not profitable and teachers are paid far less.

Education law in New York can often be a contentious area of practice, as it can apply to student discipline issues, the fairness of class sizes in different schools and teachers' rights.

The teacher salary story reports that the average salary for teachers in the Teachers' Retirement System was $57,971 last school year. Salaries vary, officials said, based on cost-of-living estimates, experience and seniority. Also, some teacher's unions have negotiated lower salaries in order to cut down on healthcare costs.

While there are great disparities among counties -- the average annual salaries in Westchester and Putnam counties are around $95,000 per year, while they trend downward to $50,000 in upstate New York -- officials said that cost-of-living averages along with competitive salaries in competitive markets are reasons for the difference in salaries.

The report states that 17 percent of school employees -- about 40,000 statewide -- earn $100,000 or more. About 50 percent earn $60,000 or more. Administrator salaries have come under attack as state officials look for ways to cut the budget. The story states that the retirement system for teachers lost 11,700 through layoffs and attrition.

Bloomberg's story reports there were 8,400 retirements in 2010-2011, up from 5,500 the year before. Teachers and other public employees have separate pension plans.

Officials estimate that the Baby Boomer generation of teachers is now retiring, which is leaving large gaps in the education system. Employees who are in their 60s are retiring after working for the better part of three decades.

But budget cuts shouldn't be a constant excuse for underpaying teachers. And there shouldn't be great disparities when statewide regulations guide all teachers seeking to educate our students and help them be successful as adults. Strong teachers unions are an important step for teachers seeking to get equal rights, but even unions have faced issues in recent years.

Sometimes, legal action is the only way to ensure a person's rights are upheld. Students and teachers are entitled to equality, whether in salaries or learning opportunities. They shouldn't be ignored simply because of budget cuts.

Continue reading "New York Teacher Salaries, Retirement Benefits Always a Fight That Requires Legal Advice" »

The New York Times is reporting that city schools handed out more suspensions in 2011 than 2010, but that may be attributed to less-serious problems increasing while big problems declined.

This is certainly good news, as students should be able to enjoy a safe and sound learning environment. But student discipline in New York can sometimes lead to legal problems when a school district oversteps its bounds.

According to The Times article, there were 73,441 suspensions in 2011, up from 71,721 a year earlier. In that time frame, schools gave fewer "superintendent suspensions," which can kick students out of school for between six days and a few months, depending on the allegations.

The article states there were far more "principal suspensions," which are less serious than superintendent suspensions. Principal suspensions can range from one to five days. Examples of common principal suspensions are for cursing at a teacher or cheating. Superintendent suspensions are likely for fighting and other serious offenses.

The article reports that there isn't reliable data to compare suspensions across the city, especially because the education department has opened small 500- to 600-student schools and are less likely than large schools to dole out large numbers of suspensions. The data released didn't include citywide totals, the average length of suspensions, the age of students and the most common infractions.

The article reports that students were suspended for smoking, arriving late for class, horseplay or being rude. One teacher said many schools will give a kid a slap on the wrist, but principals were more aggressive, suspending kids. At one East Harlem school, there were 294 suspensions and only 266 students. At a larger school of 3,925 students, there were 2,097 suspensions.

Black and Hispanic students receive most school suspensions. More than half of all suspensions were given to black students in 2011, though they account for only about 1/3 of all students. Hispanic students received 37 percent of suspensions and they make up 40 percent of students. About 1/3 of all suspensions were given to special education students.

These numbers fit perfectly with a blog that Great Neck education lawyers wrote recently. It looked at anti-bullying efforts that schools have made and reported that research has shown that disadvantaged students suffer the most from these rules and laws. The UCLA Civil Rights Project reported that minority and disabled students end up getting unjustly punished because of anti-bullying policies. The New York City schools numbers seem to support that conclusion.

All students have a right to an education and without it, they can be put at a greater disadvantage than their peers. As adults, we know how competitive the job market is and college admission is equally difficult. Students must have the opportunity to strive while schools maintain the balance of discipline.

For a student to miss school time for a day or more for "being rude," is ridiculous. Students have rights just like all Americans and they have a right to be treated fairly. If "being rude" doesn't constitute a suspension in one school, but does in another, that is a problem and that means there is room for improvement.

Continue reading "NYC Reports Student Suspensions Up, Serious Crimes Down" »

Being arrested as a teenager has many long-term implications.

For one, the defendant has the obstacle of facing the criminal justice or juvenile justice systems with the possibility for penalties that include house arrest, community service, probation or even jail or prison time. Following that, an arrest or a conviction on a teenager's record can disqualify him or her from getting into college, earning scholarships, getting a job in this highly competitive market or enlisting in the armed forces.

Yet despite these problematic issues, juvenile crime in Long Island remains steady. Teens are arrested every day and face serious allegations.

One such case out of Iowa, State v. Pearson, shows why juveniles, if arrested, should take no action without consulting with an experienced lawyer, and that includes discussing the case with anyone.

In Pearson, a 17-year-old was charged with severely beating an elderly man. After he was arrested, he did the smart thing by invoking his right to silence and not giving a statement to police. But, the next day, he decided to talk with his social worker about the allegations.

Without his lawyer, the teen confessed to the crime. At trial, the social worker was allowed to testify about everything he said. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld his appeal, where his lawyers argued that his admission to the social worker shouldn't have been admitted at trial. But the state's high court disagreed and allowed the statement in.

And, as the WCF Courier reports, Pearson, who wielded an iron frying pan and broke it over the victim's head, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The state's high court ruled that his admission wasn't coerced and that he freely admitted to the facts of the crime and therefore the social worker's testimony was allowed at trial.

When a young person is arrested, like a person of any age, he or she is probably in a panic. They know they are in trouble and know there's a possibility they could go to jail in the short term and prison in the long term.

So, what most people do is attempt to get out of the charges with their words. This rarely works. Police officers get training every year about how to detect people are lying. They have listened to thousands of suspects spin thousands of stories about how they are innocent. Most people can't fool them.

And there's a reason United States citizens have a right to remain silent. What they say will be used against them in court, so rather than hurt your future criminal case, it is best not to say anything. Remain silent, speak with your lawyer -- conversations that will be kept private -- and put together a plan of how best to proceed.

Talking with police will only bolster the state's case. Enact your right to silence by asking for a lawyer as soon as police come knocking. The risks far outweigh the reward of speaking.

Continue reading "Great Neck Juvenile Defendants Must Stay Quiet, State v. Pearson Shows" »

In a sharply divided ruling, a panel of appeals judges ruled recently 3-2 that a man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder should have his prison sentence reduced based on a history of mental illness.

An 11-year sentence for a man who attacked a person with a machete was "unduly harsh," so the judges reduced the sentence to eight years in prison, Reuters reports.

Mental health issues have become extremely important in Great Neck criminal cases. As we have seen in recent years, people have been falsely accused of crimes and convicted anyway, which shows that there are still issues in our criminal justice system.

Mental health issues for defendants must be taken seriously by judges. There are specialized hearings that defendants may be entitled to in their criminal case in order to show they aren't capable to stand trial or may have been insane at the time of the crime.

Many in the public would consider these to be "technicalities" or merely excuses made by the defendant. But those would be the opinions of people who aren't trained to detect mental illness or understand its effects on a person's actions.

Illnesses can range from the extreme where a person is convinced they are being told to commit a crime, to simply not understanding the consequences of their actions. Teenagers in particular don't have fully developed cognitive processes and the results can often be an underestimation of the consequences of their actions.

In the recent court case, the 57-year-old originally from the Dominican Republic attacked a man without provocation in 2007, causing severe injuries.

According to the news article, the man had endured "unspeakable abuses" as a child after participating in peaceful anti-government protests. The ruling states he first started hearing voices as a 15-year-old. Shortly after his mother died in 2007 and after being declined by Medicaid, he stopped taking his psychiatric medication. That preceded the attack. Two months later, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Prosecutors argued that the 11-year sentence was "quite lenient" given the facts of the crime. After the man had controlled his psychosis by medication, he decided to plead guilty rather than attempt an insanity defense. He said he would prefer a known amount of prison time to an unknown amount of time in a psychiatric facility.

Despite the majority finding in favor of the defendant and reducing his sentence, the two judges who dissented voiced their opinion in a strongly worded dissenting opinion that said the decision was based on sympathy rather than case law. They wrote there was "no basis" to reduce the sentence. There was no evidence he was coerced into accepting the plea and that the judge didn't abuse his authority in accepting the plea.

The ruling was a victory for the man, but also for defendants with mental illnesses who follow. A person's mind can cause them to do strange things. It is appropriate for prosecutors and judges to take this into consideration when filing charges and handing down sentences.

Continue reading "New York Appeals Court Reduced Attempted Murder Sentence" »