Another eye-popping report from Alabama Today titled “Protected or Prisoner Part 2: How our grandparents and their livelihoods are being stolen by the court system” has rocked the legal establishment.
We have learned that other victims of the alleged elderly exploitations scheme have reached out to Alabama Today directly.
Even we, the CDLU, have been contacted via our tip hotline by alleged victims of The Birmingham Triangle of Balch & Bingham’s Amy Adams, Jefferson County Conservator Greg Hawley, and Judge Alan L. King.
At $425 an hour, Amy Adams of Balch & Bingham has reaped generous fees from numerous estates. Now with audio files allegedly implicating Balch’s Adams in using bogus “scare tactics” and allegedly demanding an 88 year-old widow fire her other lawyers, Balch appears to be in hot water, boiling hot water.
And Balch, along with Judge King, who abruptly announced his “retirement” just hours after the audio files were published, could possibly be investigated for criminal and/or financial misconduct if numerous more victims speak up.
Alabama Today points out that lawyers and judges in Alabama have been prosecuted and gone to prison for misconduct, writing:
Late last year, the Attorney General’s office announced that Marshall was had obtained a felony indictment of Limestone County District Court Judge on Ethics, Exploitation, and Theft Charges.
The charges center around Doug Patterson and his ward Charles Hardy. According to the Attorney General’s office, “Hardy, who is now deceased, was an incapacitated senior living in a Limestone County nursing home for military veterans. At the time Patterson became his conservator, his account had over $43,000. By December 2016, the account had less than $200, and Patterson had withdrawn $47,800 for his own personal use. Patterson deposited Hardy’s money into his personal account, his law firm account, and his business account. Some of these withdrawals took place after Patterson became a judge. In each of these instances, Patterson converted the money to personal use unrelated to Hardy’s care or well-being.”
Another judge was sent to prison. Alabama Today writes:
In 2008, then-Attorney General Troy King successfully brought charges against Covington County Probate Judge Sherrie Phillips. Phillips was arrested and convicted of 6 felony ethics and theft charges stemming from $1.8 million she stole from the estate of a deceased man, Cary Douglas Piper of Castleberry in Conecuh County. She served three years of a ten-year sentence and was released in October 2012.
As another alleged pattern of corruption emerges, a criminal investigation and forensic audit are in order.
Like disgraced ex-Balch partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert or the alleged spearhead of the Newsome Conspiracy Case, ex-Balch partner Clark A. Cooper, Balch & Bingham’s leadership should consider immediately firing Amy Adams.
Balch’s newest scandal is about to boil over the top. Time to turn off the burner.
