As a father, I understand that when our children are injured, our parental instincts take hold and we spring into action. These injuries are even more devastating & infuriating if the injuries occur at a facility that’s supposed to be watching our children.
If daycare neglect occurs, we have the right to get angry and also to pursue legal recourse.
The American Medical Association defines neglect as “an act or failure to act that results in serious harm or imminent risk of harm.” Many types of injuries could fit under this definition, but one example would be an unsupervised child getting injured on the playground.
At the law office of J. Antonio Tramontana, we understand the sensitivity of these claims, and are dedicated to providing professional and discrete legal services to families in need. If necessary, we’ll help you contact the appropriate authorities, and provide legal recommendations if you decide to file a claim.
Criminal charges and civil cases are both options if a child gets hurt due to neglect. After the authorities have been notified, the government may decide to pursue criminal charges. Sometimes justice can be served by putting the neglectful operators behind bars; but, depending on the evidence, sometimes nothing can be done. And unfortunately, criminal charges will not compensate the child’s family for their pain and suffering.
So regardless of the criminal case, children’s families may also pursue a civil case to hold the accused financially accountable as well. Compensation could be awarded for physical and emotional suffering, medical expenses, and any other justifiable costs.
Heed the warning signs and regularly inspect the condition of any facility or home providing care for your child. If your child was injured at a school or daycare, we want to hear your story, and we’re happy to answer any questions you may have. You can contact us at 318-340-1515 or TramontanaLaw.com
Access to justice in Louisiana, particularly for poor or minority citizens, has been a problem for decades. Louisiana has consistently limited funding for public defenders and, as a result, has left thousands of defendants without proper representation.
To mitigate the judicial crowding, some parishes have ordered non-criminal lawyers to represent the indigent. In some cases, judges have called upon personal injury lawyers in Louisiana, or insurance or tax attorneys, to represent defendants in criminal trials, including murder cases where a defendant could face life in prison.
In 1984, Glenn Ford was convicted of murder in Louisiana. Ford spent almost 30 years on death row, in Louisiana's Angola prison, until new evidence revealed he did not commit the murder. He was exonerated in 2014, but tragically died of lung cancer about a year later.
In a 60 Minutes interview from 2015, Bill Whitaker spoke to the prosecutor who sent Ford to prison: Marty Stroud from Shreveport, Louisiana.
Stroud admits the cards were stacked against Ford from the beginning; Ford’s court-appointed lawyers had never practiced criminal law.
"There were no African Americans on the jury," explained Stroud. "So, when Glenn Ford walks into that courtroom, he's got a count of zero and two against him, and a fast ball's coming right at his head for strike three."
Ford was sent to one of the most infamous lock-ups in America, Angola, a maximum-security prison known for harsh conditions, including summer temperatures that reached 104 degrees on the death row block.
According to Dale Cox, the current district attorney of Caddo Parish, Glenn Ford received "delayed justice," but justice nonetheless.
According to Cox, the fear of putting an innocent man to death is a risk all of us must be willing to take in order to secure peace and an effective criminal justice system.
Glenn Ford was entitled to $330,000 in compensation for his wrongful conviction and mistreatment at Angola. The state is currently denying Ford’s family the opportunity to collect after the Louisiana Supreme Court announced it would not consider the two lawsuits brought on by Ford’s family.
Last year, a state district judge ruled that Ford wasn’t eligible to receive compensation because "the trial evidence showed that he was involved in lesser related crimes."
More specifically, it’s been alleged that Ford knew the robbery of the Shreveport jeweler, Isadore Rozeman, was going to take place and did nothing about it.
The state’s compensation law excludes compensation for anyone who committed any crimes based upon the same set of facts used in the original conviction and allows a judge to consider any evidence regardless of whether it’s admissible or excluded from the criminal trial.
Moreover, exonerated individuals in Louisiana must prove their innocence in any related crimes in order to collect. This is in opposition to states like California, where the state pays without the need to prove innocence for any related crimes.
Ford was found to be an accessory to armed robbery after the fact; he was also found to have possessed stolen items relating to the same crime. Because of this, Ford’s 30 years on death row will not be compensated.
Louisiana Rep. Cedric Glover is currently fighting for improved access to justice in cases similar to Ford’s. Glover is attempting to revise Louisiana’s current compensation legislation and will bring his second attempt forward sometime next year (the first attempt was defeated).
According to Andrea Armstrong, who is managing Ford's estate, "It is not the end of [Glenn’s] story..."
Access to justice is relevant to everyone in Louisiana, not just the wrongfully convicted. Everyone has the right to qualified representation, lest we forget what happened to Glenn Ford and his family.
If you have questions about obtaining access to justice, or a personal injury claim, we at the Monroe Law Office of J. Antonio Tramontana, Attorney at Law, want to hear from you.
For a free case review, please fill out the form on this page, or call me directly at (888) 982-1290.
Today’s legal professionals practice law similarly to the way they did 100 years ago. Of the many professional trades that rely on intelligent technologies, legal practice is one area that has been slow to adapt despite the obvious synergy between the two.
The legal profession is defined by rules and evidence, criteria that pair well with automation, machine learning, or, the more familiar term, artificial intelligence (AI).
Legal professionals have always relied on experience to assess information, make value judgments, and determine the relevant facts of a case; but many of these things can now be done through statistical analysis and algorithms. The result is less work for lawyers, paralegals, and document review lawyers, who are particularly fearful of what automation might do to their jobs. With the industry’s current excess in supply not waning, there is a question every legal professional should be asking: how much of a lawyer’s job can really be automated?
There are two recent studies that are trying to answer this question: the first by a team at McKinsey & Company (a management consulting company) and the other by Frank S. Levy (MIT) and Dana Remus from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
The former suggests that as much as 69% of a paralegals’ time could be automated, and 23% of a lawyers’ time. The same study has made similar estimates for other professionals, including surgeons.
The latter study suggests a much lower percentage: about 13% of a lawyer’s time could be automated using current and advanced intelligent technologies.
The MicKinsey study set definitions based on a U.S. Department of Labor project called O*Net, while the Levy and Remus study defined its tasks using the American Bar Association (ABA).
MicKinsey looks at what kinds of automation technology would be necessary to automate a range of tasks defined by O*Net, whereas Levy and Remus studied 13 core tasks extrapolated from the ABA and assigned a value to each task depending on how predictable and manageable it would be if it were automated.
While both studies believe that automation is wise, if not inevitable, they disagree to what extent automation will play a part in legal services today, and in the near future.
MicKinsey projects higher numbers because it has a more optimistic view of future technological advancements in the field of automation and machine learning capabilities.
Levy and Remus are more conservative but ardent believers that document review has the greatest potential for automation today. Following automated document review, the study sites case administration and management, document drafting, due diligence, research, and analysis.
Legal professionals that learn to work with automation will come out on top. Early adopters are already carving new legal professions out of automation technologies.
For example, e-discovery is a relatively new term that refers to any process wherein electronic data is researched and retrieved with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal case. It’s a basic automated process that does much better when managed by a legal professional. New programs, books, and training courses are popping up at places like Georgetown University, where anxious document review lawyers can regain their footing alongside automation technologies.
While it’s unclear to what extent automation will be incorporated into our legal system, there are limits to what technology can provide in terms of social and emotional cognition, which can’t be ignored in criminal and civil cases. It’s the human experience that drives our greatest potential in the legal field, and for the time being it looks as though that won’t change.
Here in Louisiana, we’re excited to explore the potential that automation will bring to our state’s legal systems and our clients at the Monroe Law Office of J. Antonio Tramontana.
We specialize in a range of Louisiana personal injury claims, including medical malpractice and auto accident. If you have questions, we at the Monroe Law Office of J. Antonio Tramontana, want to hear from you.
For a free case review, please fill out the form to the right, or call me directly at (888) 982-1290.
At Family Promise of Ouachita, the goal is to serve as a “hand up” — rather than a handout — to homeless families with children. Recently, the group received a helping hand thanks to a Catholic tradition with a rich history.
As the result of Red Mass, an annual celebration of judges, lawyers and the community, Family Promise received a donation of $900. Attorney at law J. Antonio Tramontana served on the committee that organized and hosted Red Mass in Monroe, Louisiana.
The traditional Red Mass seeks divine guidance for legal counselors to properly represent their clients and for representatives of the justice system to rightly administer the law in the court system and in public office.
The Roman Catholic tradition of Red Mass — attended by members of the bench and bar — began in England in the Middle Ages. The name Red Mass hails from the color of the robes worn by clergy members and representing tongues of fire that symbolize the Holy Spirit. The celebration historically denoted the official beginning of the judicial year.
In the United States, the tradition began in 1928 at New York City’s old St. Andrew’s Church. Since that time, Red Mass has been celebrated throughout the country in the autumn prior to the beginning of the term of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Monroe, members of the legal and judicial professions, along with local leaders and students, celebrated the 22nd annual Red Mass and marked the opening of the session for the 4th Judicial District of Ouachita and Morehouse Parishes. The service, held at St. Matthew Catholic Church, sought the blessing of the Holy Spirit for the administration of justice during the court’s new year.
The mission of Family Promise of Ouachita is simple: helping homeless families with children. The organization works to assist families in getting back on their feet and providing a stable and healthy living environment for children.
Founded in 1988, Family Promise of Ouachita is one of 192 shelter programs in the country. The program and its affiliates have served more than 600,000 individuals with assistance from 160,000 volunteers and more than 6,000 congregations.
The group often works with local churches to provide temporary assistance to homeless families. When families in Ouachita Parish don’t know where to turn, they look to Family Promise for help.
“We don’t take any state or federal grant money here at Family Promise,” Executive Director Sandra Jones notes in a video presentation. “We like to rely on the community, our churches and businesses here to really support us and these families.” She noted that homelessness is “becoming an epidemic in our communities.”
Family Promise assists homeless families in a number of ways, including:
Since grade school, Monroe has been home to attorney Tony Tramontana. When not with his wife and three children, Tony spends time getting involved in the community, including serving his church and local charities.
As a practicing personal injury lawyer since 1991, Tony represents people across the state of Louisiana who have been injured through accidents, medical malpractice and the negligence of others. Tony also seeks justice and rightful compensation for those who have lost loved ones to wrongful death.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to negligence or medical malpractice, please contact Tony Tramontana through his website or by calling 318-340-1515.
