Although there was a $5,000 annual cap in place on guardianship and
other fiduciary fee awards before the problems became known publicly
and the rules were amended, court records reveal that Margaret Ann
Bomba, a NY elder-law practitioner, managed to pull in over $90,000 in
one single 12-month period. How did she do that? Systematic computerized
billing, with reliance on paralegals and other office staff to do most
of the work which she was supposed to be performing. She even
charged $37.50 to leave a message on an answering machine and hourly
legal fees for other things which did not require the services of a
lawyer and should not have been charged at a "legal" billing rate. In one
case
we checked, she submitted a fee bill which was actually 81 pages long.
How did she get away with seeking and obtaining excessive fees?
The legislators gave judges "discretion" to establish a plan for "reasonable
compensation." Corrupt judges were rubberstamping the guardian fee
requests, and no one was watching the judges!
VoG 2001