Corruption and collusion between family law court judges and lawyers are reported in this video clip from CNN Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield. Banfield and Dr. Drew Pinsky discuss the documentary film Divorce Corp, which “shines a bright light on the appalling waste, and shameless collusive practices seen daily in family courts.”
Divorce Corp catalogs egregious examples of family court corruption throughout the United States, with California courts portrayed as the most corrupt in the country. Within California, Sacramento Family Law Court emerges as the poster child and worst-of-the-worst.
Four cases from the Central Valley jurisdiction get screen time in the movie, and the namesake of the notorious Ulf Carlsson case gets a starring role. Carlsson’s unsettling story, including the near-sociopathic retaliation against him by Judge Peter McBrien is recounted in this startling Divorce Corp video clip, posted at YouTube. Sixth District Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Conrad L. Rushing characterized McBrien’s conduct in the case as a “judicial reign of terror.”
The four Sacramento Divorce Corp cases implicate McBrien, along with Judges James Mize, Eugene Balonon, Matthew Gary, Jaime Roman, Thadd Blizzard and several Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section divorce attorneys who also serve as temporary judges in the same court, all of whom have been involved in the cases profiled in the documentary.
San Diego County Family Court reform advocates report corruption problems like those catalogued in the documentary film Divorce Corp.
Even before the release of the documentary, Sacramento Family Court News, an online, nonprofit journalism organization published investigative reports and news about the troubled Sacramento court system. Click here to visit the Sacramento Family Court News home page.
San Diego County Family Court reform advocates report similar corruption problems in the local court system. The San Diego-based California Coalition for Families & Children has filed a massive federal lawsuit alleging that virtually every aspect of the system fails to meet state and federal constitutional standards, deprives the public of the federally protected right to honest government services, and acts as a racketeering enterprise. And last month the coalition filed a Federal Tort Claims Act claim and demand packagealleging that the U.S. Attorney for the San Diego area has failed to enforce federal law against family court judges and employees.
