Reply #30: Ah, an example in today's Miami Herald. [View All]

[eomer]

An example of the client directing the lawyers to back off on a case because of the client's moral views:

Crist's check and the state's shameful stance

BY FRED GRIMM
[e-mail]

Charlie Crist pledged to write a personal check for $360, ordered his lawyers to back off an ignominious case against buying blankets for a profoundly disabled little boy and signaled the introduction of a radical new concept when he takes over the governor's office next month.

What to call it? A sense of shame? Conscience? Common sense? I don't know, but it was a startling thing to behold.

-snip-

BRUTAL INTRANSIGENCE

APD said no. The agency refused to pay $360 for a year's supply of thermal blankets. An APD contractor, hired to cut costs, decided without bothering to see Kevin that the blankets weren't ``medically necessary.''

APD then spent thousands of dollars fighting a lawsuit filed on his behalf, explaining in language familiar to anyone who has ever grappled with a bureaucratic snag at the Department of Motor Vehicles: ``You can't set aside procedures one time. That invalidates the whole process.''

That might have been the last word. Jeb Bush's administration, these last eight years, has become infamous for brutal cost-cutting intransigence when it comes to providing care for the state's most pathetic cases. It took years of litigation and finally threats to hold APD's hierarchy in contempt of court before the agency finally, reluctantly, agreed last month to provide needed therapy and medical equipment for 333 foster kids in acute need of help.

-snip-

The Kevin Estinfil case had all the markings of another brick-wall stand by the state of Florida. But Charlie Crist read about Kevin in The Miami Herald. The attorney general immediately told his lawyers to abandon APD's defense. The governor-elect said he would write a personal check to help with the blankets.

Something is changing in Tallahassee. A change of administration. A change of heart.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/fred_grimm/16199441.htm

(I know, apologies, Crist is a Republican, but we can still hope he is better than a Bush.)