Can LEGAL AIDE be sued? Legal aide is supposed to be there for people that are not able to afford the price of a lawyer. In the state of Missouri. A disabled man was denied help cause legal aide allready had files on his wife. Remember now. The man is disabled, cant work. Then the mans wife called to get help and she was granted help. Now the wife works a 40 to 50 hour a week job. Makeing $13 an hour. And has nothing to pay for but rent and utilities. On the other hand the DISABLED man is takeing care of there four children with no help from the wife. The wife doesn't want the children but for one day every two weeks. There has been a couple of times where the wife took the children and hid them for a few days the dropped them off down the street from the husbands family members. With out anyone knowing. But LEGAL AIDE is still helping her try to get custody of the children. There are so many other things to. CANT this guy sue LEGAL AIDE?
2007-12-13 09:44:19 · 5 answers · asked by chriswh90 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
After reading this. Many people are takeing that the women asked for help first. No The man asked for help way before the women did. The only reason Legal Aide has stuff on his wife was because she has went through them a few years earlier.
2007-12-13 10:01:25 · update #1
All attorneys can be sued.
But attorneys cannot be forced to take a case due to conflict of interest. For that they would be disbarred.
What Legal Aid should have done is refer him to the State Bar pro bono program, or some other program in the state that provides free or low cost legal services.
** Note: This answer has not created an attorney-client relationship. This is a general discussion of the subject matter of your question and not legal advice. Local laws or your particular situation may change the general rules. For a specific answer to your question you should consult legal counsel with whom you can discuss all the facts of your case. **
2007-12-13 09:54:16 · answer #1 · answered by scottclear 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. How many attorneys do they contract with? If there is just one, or the ones they do have work as a unified partnership, then the wife got to them first. You can't sue them for that. If they took your case, it would be a conflict of interest.
What you could do, is call around to other attorneys and ask them if they will take your case pro bono. I guarantee none of them will want to sue legal aide but they might be able to help out a disabled guy for other legal issues for sure. My dad isn't part of legal aide but he's an attorney and takes pro bono cases all the time - if he has the time for one and believes in the client's cause.
I meant "he" not "you" sorry.
Edit: If she went to them earlier (years ago), then there could still be a conflict of interest. When ever we took new clients for divorces, etc., we would check our old client files to make sure we didn't represent the other side before. If we did, we wouldn't represent them.
2007-12-13 09:52:16 · answer #2 · answered by Eisbär 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think legal aide wants to represent both parties in a lawsuit.
You can't sue them for not taking a case. Nobody has to do charity work if they don't want to.
Go to a University and get some law students to help.
2007-12-13 09:54:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Legal Aid cannot ethically represent and man and his wife both (unless they are together against another party). But they can't in separate cases as you describe.
It's called "conflict of interest".
2007-12-13 09:53:52 · answer #4 · answered by Wyoming Rider 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Legal Aid generally cannot be sued.
2007-12-13 09:49:37 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋