Is it just me or does the comment that this country needs to have serious immigration laws have nothing to do with the point of the article that punitive damages can now be brought against an attorney???
Let’s remember that these plaintiffs admit that they were “illegal aliens”. They created their own mess by their own wrongful or illegal entry in violation of US Laws.
Their whole problem is that if they didn’t “voluntarily depart”, they would have been involuntarily “deported” anyway, which would foreclose any possiblity of a legal return. Alternatively, as long as they remain in the US, they are illegal, in constant fear of capture, and will be forever “on the lam” in the US. That’s the true “cause” of their emotional distress. Nothing done by the attorney caused that.
Their own wrongdoing got them into trouble, which is why they needed an attorney in the first place.
What the atorney did was to give tham a “strategy”– an “opportunity” to to legitimize their wrongdoing(using “voluntarily departure”) , and thereby obtain a valid legal visa going through proper legal chanels. If it takes 5 or 10 years to do that, that’s what is provided in the law (the attorney has no control over that).
The issuance of the visa is also a matter of “discretion” by the ALJ; again, something over which the attorney has no control.
The legal principles here are: (1) causation of the (emotional distress) damage by anything done by the attorney is missing; and, (2) that an excercise of attorney “judgment” or strategy is not a legal basis for attorney malpractice (Lucas v. Hamm) in the first place, even if the attorney’s “judgment” or choice of strategy turns out to be wrong.
“Angela Campbell, Miranda and Campoverde’s attorney, said the U.S. immigration system failed the family.”
Really? I say it failed the American People. “…The couple had lived undocumented in the United States for 15 years when …”
Luckily, they weren’t terrorists.
Can you sue your divorce attorney for emotional pain if you lose?
Is it just me or does the comment that this country needs to have serious immigration laws have nothing to do with the point of the article that punitive damages can now be brought against an attorney???
didn’t “laws”, said “reform”. That said, we don’t need “reform”, we need “enforcement” of the ones we have now.
What about our emotional distress for supporting those who enter our country illegally? Why do we insist on rewarding bad behaviour?
Let’s remember that these plaintiffs admit that they were “illegal aliens”. They created their own mess by their own wrongful or illegal entry in violation of US Laws.
Their whole problem is that if they didn’t “voluntarily depart”, they would have been involuntarily “deported” anyway, which would foreclose any possiblity of a legal return. Alternatively, as long as they remain in the US, they are illegal, in constant fear of capture, and will be forever “on the lam” in the US. That’s the true “cause” of their emotional distress. Nothing done by the attorney caused that.
Their own wrongdoing got them into trouble, which is why they needed an attorney in the first place.
What the atorney did was to give tham a “strategy”– an “opportunity” to to legitimize their wrongdoing(using “voluntarily departure”) , and thereby obtain a valid legal visa going through proper legal chanels. If it takes 5 or 10 years to do that, that’s what is provided in the law (the attorney has no control over that).
The issuance of the visa is also a matter of “discretion” by the ALJ; again, something over which the attorney has no control.
The legal principles here are: (1) causation of the (emotional distress) damage by anything done by the attorney is missing; and, (2) that an excercise of attorney “judgment” or strategy is not a legal basis for attorney malpractice (Lucas v. Hamm) in the first place, even if the attorney’s “judgment” or choice of strategy turns out to be wrong.