Guardian ad litem, who can be one?

[Kaiser ActobogG]

What is the name of your state? California

I tried to bring litigation against a government office and a corporation a few years ago, and my child was involved. I was told that she had to have a guardian ad litem represent her interests in court. I tried to be appointed as her guardian ad litem, and was told that I couldn't act as such, as I was an interested party in the court action. I never actually got one for her, and lost the case (actually I got two remands from the appellate court, but was told that I could no longer pursue it in federal court in forma pauperis, which was an interesting ruling).

I traveled to Northern California and checked out one of my father's old law suits from the early '60s. My family had been in an automobile accident, and brought suit in state court. I found in that case that my father had been appointed as my guardian ad litem, as I had also been in the car at the time of the wreck. He had been, too, and he was my biological father, the same circumstance as the one with my daughter and I. Both points of partiality, from what the court told me in my case when it disqualified me as guardian ad litem.

I think that I have a precedent from my own family that should reverse the decision of the court about my daughter and myself. This adverse decision that I got was from state court, before the case was certified and placed in federal court. But would the fact of it being in federal court change any of these circumstances?

Now, at the same time as I was trying litigation with my child, another case was in court that involved guardian ad litem appointments. A female acquaintance of mine had been killed by a city employee in the city where I live. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed against the city on behalf of her child, who was in foster care at the time of her death. I found out that the child's attorney was named as his guardian ad litem. But isn't an attorney an interested party in a civil action? If the case wins, the attorney receives financial gain, just as a co-litigant does. Wouldn't this fact make the child's lawyer just as partial in the court's eyes in this case as it said that I was in my filing? Or was my father's appointment as my guardian ad litem similar, in fact, to the lawyer's appointment as my friend's child's? And if that is the case, then why couldn't I be appointed as my child's guardian ad litem?

Are there any points of similarity in these cases? Who does get to legally be a guardian ad litem?

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: I tried to be appointed as her guardian ad litem, and was told that I couldn't act as such, as I was an interested party in the court action.

A: Correct.

Q: But isn't an attorney an interested party in a civil action?

A: No, not unless the lawsuit was against him or if started the lawsuit.

 

[Kaiser ActobogG]

So how does my father having been my guardian ad litem get explained?

This is where it gets confusing. My father was a federal employee at the time of his lawsuit, and the girl who was killed had been employed at a state university. Two civil servants, and the rules guiding the appointment of guardian ad litems are shown to be widely diverse.

In my instance, immediately after I was disqualified as my child's guardian ad litem, the case was removed to the federal court so that one of the defendants (a federal employee) could be severed from the action. I believe that I had grounds for sanctions in the way that the removal was handled, and when I found my father's old case this belief was strengthened, although my motions for sanctions were denied.

I have a precedent in my own family that shows the court follows its own guidelines in certain areas, when government employees are involved.

As for the wrongful death suit (which was for a large amount), the attorney that was appointed guardian ad litem moved her office out of town for a couple of years until the case was lost, then returned to town. Apparently this suit caused not a small amount of concern in the legal community. Could her appointment have been the cause?

So, does a guardian ad litem's employment ever have anything to do with guardian ad litem appointments? The obvious answer is no, of course not, but I have a precedent here that says otherwise.

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: So how does my father having been my guardian ad litem get explained?

A: The laws may have been different. Besides, the court has absolute discretion in appointing a GAL and doesn't have to justify the choice to anyone.


Q: In my instance, immediately after I was disqualified as my child's guardian ad litem, the case was removed to the federal court so that one of the defendants (a federal employee) could be severed from the action.

A: You don't get into federal court just because a party is a federal employee. Something else happened here that you may not know about.


Q: As for the wrongful death suit (which was for a large amount), the attorney that was appointed guardian ad litem moved her office out of town for a couple of years until the case was lost, then returned to town. Apparently this suit caused not a small amount of concern in the legal community. Could her appointment have been the cause?

A: I have no idea.


Q: So, does a guardian ad litem's employment ever have anything to do with guardian ad litem appointments? The obvious answer is no, of course not, but I have a precedent here that says otherwise.

A: Yes, a guardian ad litem's employment could very relevant to the court's choice.

 

[Kaiser ActobogG]

Thanks.

Qualifications that a person wishing to be a guardian ad litem must comply with seem to be flexible, especially when the federal government is involved. It seems that sometimes a person could be assigned as a guardian ad litem whose interests might be in actual conflict with the child litigant. This conflict should be apparent to the court, and the court should take steps to disqualify the guardian ad litem, but I guess it doesn't all the time.

And I guess that flexibility also carries into appointments that are questionable when the guardian ad litem is acting in the best interests of the minor. From what I have read my father's appointment was very circumspect, as we were both litigants in the civil suit. But it was obvious that he was acting in my best interests at the time.

But I wonder now why my family's lawyer wasn't just appointed as my guardian ad litem. The child's lawyer in the wrongful death suit was the one appointed there, so that manuever was legally sound. It should have been the same in my family's case, and then would have avoided any questions brought up by the defendant's attorney.

I understand the issues of timeliness, but I also know that there are reasons why an untimely petition can be presented to the court.

Thanks again.