GUARDIANSHIP FUNDS HEARING Judge Maloney hires Cincinnati firm

The judge overruled an agreement that involved the prosecutor's office.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Cincinnati law firm will represent Mahoning County's probate judge in a matter pending in the 7th District Court of Appeals.
Judge Timothy P. Maloney retained the firm of Montgomery, Rennie & amp; Johnson to respond to a petition filed on behalf of former lawyer Richard D. Goldberg.
Judge Maloney had wanted to have a hearing to determine whether Goldberg had concealed funds from a guardianship.
The appellate court, however, temporarily stopped that hearing and had given the judge until today to show why he should not be permanently stopped from ordering Goldberg to appear for the concealment hearing.
In an entry filed Monday, Atty. Ralph E. Burnham of the Cincinnati firm asked the appellate court to extend Judge Maloney's time to respond to May 24. Burnham wrote that the reason for the extension was because the firm only learned it had been appointed April 27.
There was a conflict that didn't allow the county prosecutor's office to represent Judge Maloney, Burnham wrote. County commissioners approved a resolution April 19 calling for outside counsel. Commissioners set a cap of $10,000 for the legal work.
Judge Maloney earlier last month had ordered Goldberg to appear in probate court to question him on whether he wrongfully concealed or retained $1 million in assets of the guardianship of the estate of Michael James Kish.
A special-needs trust had been established for Kish, who is incapable of taking care of himself. Goldberg had represented the Kish family in a malpractice lawsuit after Michael Kish had become incapacitated.
March ruling
In March, Judge Maloney overruled an agreement between Goldberg's lawyers, the lawyer who is the guardian of Kish's estate, and the county prosecutor's office in which Goldberg agreed to make restitution of $60,733 to Kish.
In his March 25 entry, the judge said the concealment action had not been resolved in his court. Judge Maloney had a three-day hearing on the matter in May 2000 but did not rule and continued the case. His entry says he still has jurisdiction.
Further, since Goldberg had pleaded guilty to 29 charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft and forgery, the disbarred lawyer had waived his Fifth Amendment privilege of self-incrimination, Judge Maloney's entry says.
Goldberg's lawyer, Brian E. Dickerson of Columbus, asked the appellate court to stop the probate court hearing because Judge Maloney did not have jurisdiction.
The motion asserted, among other legal matters, that Goldberg had filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and that U.S. Bankruptcy Court now had jurisdiction over any financial matters in which Goldberg was involved.
The bankruptcy court has not released its jurisdiction, and therefore, Judge Maloney could not order Goldberg to probate court on the concealment issue, Dickerson argued in his motion.