Daniela Labinoti

Daniela Labinoti

A guardian ad litem is always been appointed when children are involved. In fact, the guardian ad litem has to prepare a report and approve settlement. The judge has to conduct a hearing and approve the settlement. So, a lawyer could not settle without consulting or an ad litem recommending the settlement and/ or the judge accepting such recommendation as in the best interest for the child. Lawyers don't make the laws, but is the lawyer's duty to advise you of the law and of the consequences of not considering a very reasonable offer of settlement in light of liability and the law. The risk of been honest and caring too much is of been accused rude or harsh. You know as well as I do that you were consulted every step of the way. A lawyer that is not telling you the truth of how difficult a case can be is a non caring lawyer. Lawyers that truly know the law and practice medical malpractice in the state of Texas, where med mal is practically been vanished as a cause of action, would tell you that you got more than what cases of this nature are usually valued. There are a lot of lawyers that don't practice in the field, nor understand the issues and risks and sadly make promises that they cannot meet. I truly hope that after the court's hearing and the judge's ruling you will feel different. Initially I was not willing to take the case because of how difficult liability was; then because I wanted to help the child and have difficulty say "no" to a client that I can see they are suffering -I took the risk. I got the authority for less and got more. I am truly sorry for the way you feel. I have a small child and I understand that nothing could pay for even a small and minor injury to my child. I understand your pain and how that great love for the child takes away our ability to be objective. Sadly, in my role as a lawyer-I have to remove the robe of the mother and advise you of the law and the reality of the law. The other sad part is that in comparison to what other cases are valued in our community -we did extremely well and more that I anticipated. May God bless you for your amazing courage and care for the child. As a mother, I admire you! I can't imagine the energy and care is needed to take care of a child with disability. I can't imagine the pain you must feel anytime someone does not treat your child as they should. That is why, I wanted to help you even though I felt that the law and the damages were not in our favor. It saddens me that you are experiencing these feelings as since the first day of our meeting I advised you of the difficulty of your case. My only hope is that next time Texans vote for Tort Reforms -Texans think hard about the effects such reforms are having on our loved ones. Medical Malpractice Tort Reforms in Texas have taken away people's rights to have justice for their injury and get the compensation they deserve. Every citizen in Texas that will be subject to an injury as a result of medical malpractice in our state will not be able to get true compensation for their injury or any compensation at all. Lawyers are been discouraged to help people because of how difficult it is and the compensation is not adequate. So, the conclusion is that you work hard and you can't get for the clients what they deserve. Instead of blaming the laws of our state, the clients blame the lawyers. Accordingly, my office has stopped from taking any medical malpractice cases. We have not accepted any medical malpractice cases in the last 2 years. We truly hope that after experiencing the effects of tort reforms, Texans will fight to have the current laws changed to where people's rights can be adequately vindicated.