This August, a client came to MLSA's Billings office for help with her custody case. She already had some forms and instructions she had purchased for $400 from the internet. She just needed some advice on filling them out. An MLSA attorney asked to look at the forms and immediately saw they were the free self help forms drafted by MLSA for the Montana Supreme Court Commission on Self Represented Litigants (the Commission).
These forms are copyrighted. They were created to help self represented litigants who could not afford an attorney. They are available for free on the Montana State Law Library Website as part of a comprehensive family law packet. Unauthorized distribution of the forms for profit violates copyright law, and more importantly, charging an exorbitant fee for the forms, undermines the important purpose for which they were created.
 Bob Lukes, of the Garlington Firm in Missoula, has practiced copyright law since 1996. He does pro bono work on behalf of the Commission and MLSA. Bob had registered the copyright for the family law forms packet. He sent the out of state company a "cease and desist" letter and eventually spoke with someone at the company who indicated there were other outfits doing the same thing claiming "everyone does it". Bob explained that distributing copyrighted material without the owner's permission violated the law. The representative then claimed that the company charged its customers not for providing the forms, but for advising its clients about them. Bob explained that this would likely be an unauthorized practice of law.
MLSA and the Commission have since learned of several other companies that are selling Montana Self Help forms, in one case for as much as $1,000. In addition, accesses to justice entities in other states have had their copyrighted materials appropriated in the same way.
The Commission is poised to launch 5 new forms packets for use by self represented litigants. Judy Meadows, the Montana State Law Librarian and Co-Chair of the Commission, is considering next steps to combat the misappropriation of forms. She explained that this is an especially egregious act of theft stating "These forms were created in part with taxpayer money. They were reviewed and edited by volunteer judges and attorneys across the state. Most importantly, they were created as a tool to help those who cannot afford an attorney and they are supposed to cost nothing. To see someone charged $1,000 for our forms is heartbreaking. We are not going to let this continue." The Commission is presently considering a number of strategies to deal with this scourge.
Medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.
By JAN FALSTAD
Of The Gazette Staff
Danielle Dolan and her husband, Chad, have avoided leaning on credit to raise their six children. They have lived on cash, maybe spending the rare $20 at the end of the paycheck on a gallon of paint to fix up the 100-year-home they bought in Broadview.
The Dolans, however, typify the main reason families are forced into declaring bankruptcy - medical bills.
 "We got stuck in the cracks of no income, too much income or switching jobs," she said. "When Chad switches jobs, you either have to have health insurance already or the company won't cover pre-existing conditions."
As a member of the Montana Laborers Local 1686, he switches jobs often.
On Oct. 24, Danielle, cradling their 1-year-old, Bow, picked up the telephone. It was Chad.
"Did you get laid off? Hmmmm, darn," she said.
Chad was working with bricklayers at the ExxonMobil refinery in Billings. Half the crew was laid off the previous week and his turn had come. Unemployment insurance generally takes three weeks to kick in, and it doesn't cover many expenses.
"It's pretty much feast or famine," he said. "You've got work months at a time and all of a sudden, the work dries up and you're left hanging. With our family size, it's even harder."
A miscarriage followed by a problem pregnancy with Sadi, their now 2-year-old daughter, meant that payments to a midwife for a home birth were for naught. Sadi had a small hole in her heart, forcing a last-minute emergency room delivery costing nearly $4,800.
"It was very scary for us, pretty nerve-wracking and expensive," she said.
Luckily, Sadi's heart has healed without surgery. And so far, the Dolan kids, age 1 to 13, have been healthy, except for some stitches. Still, even infrequent trips to the doctor for a split lip or Chad's leg, cut open while chopping wood, have added up.
"We did try for years to make payments, but that was only covering the interest," she said.
The first round of medical bills, around $500, was small enough that their church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, helped pay the tab. But the second round of debt after Sadi's birth started climbing with interest and fees.
On average, Chad's pretax income was $43,000, about $3,308 a month, which went fast. Danielle estimates that she spent about $2,700 a month, including $900 for food, $500 for their house payment, $120 for medical bills and $230 toward a $4,000 loan on a 2003 car, which has been surrendered to the bank. They also own a motorcycle to save on Chad's commuting expenses, an old truck to haul wood and a minivan.
After their account was turned over to a collection agency, Danielle figured her family would never get the debt paid off. So, on Aug. 25, she attended the Montana Legal Services' course on how to file bankruptcy without an attorney, hoping to dismiss nearly $19,000 of mostly medical debt.
"They want to know everything just in case I have a yacht that could help pay my bills," she said joking and pointing to a stack of bankruptcy papers. Out the kitchen window sat a backyard tepee and a trampoline for the kids.
Jennifer Beardsley, an attorney for Montana Legal Services, said the Dolans are typical of families seeking help. The current cutoff to qualify for help from Montana Legal Services for a family of four is $42,400.
"Medical bills are by far and away the leading cause of bankruptcy by our clients," Beardsley said. "People even pay medical bills with their credit cards now."
The second leading cause of bankruptcy is divorce. Not only does divorce create two households, doubling expenses, but the couple's financial lives remain married through their joint debt.
"When the judge divided the bills, often one party doesn't pay," Beardsley said.
Montana Legal Services has seen its bankruptcy counseling become quite popular.
In 2005, the Billings seminars teaching people how to file pro se, or by themselves, attracted 10 to 15 people. Attendance doubled this year. And so far in 2008, 422 debtors have called for other debt advice, which is more calls than all of last year.
For five years, Chad Dolan worked in the oil fields near Big Piney, Wyo., but the long commute and living apart convinced the couple to change jobs so they could be together. Broadview offered the Dolans an affordable old house and a good school a block away.
A do-it-yourself effort with relatives replaced a leaking roof and siding and modernized the century-old plumbing in the four-bedroom, one-bath home. An avid hunter, Chad brings home game for family meals. Danielle said she even figured out how to serve bear meat by pounding the life out of steaks because the hamburger is terrible.
For a couple of years, Danielle worked as a certified nursing aide at the Billings Clinic, but after her third child she decided to stay home. Her pay of $8 an hour wouldn't begin to cover commuting costs and child care.
The youngest children have generally been covered for medical expenses through Medicaid and the Montana Children's Health Insurance Plan, but the family has never had everyone covered. The union's health plan is too expensive for their big family, Danielle said.
On Tuesday afternoon, she appeared before a U.S. trustee in Billings.
"It was pretty simple. I testified under oath that the information was true to the best of my knowledge," she said. "And I have to give them my tax returns next year."
If the Dolan's bankruptcy application is accepted and she completes financial counseling, the family's debts will be discharged in about 60 days.
"Since I've declared bankruptcy, I've looked at my life and decided how to make sure it never happens again," she said.
The Dolans' debts can be wiped clean in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, giving the family another start. However, when asked about controlling her family's financial future, she pauses when it comes to predicting medical expenses.
"There never is any guarantee. You just have to keep plugging away," she said.
Contact Jan Falstad at jfalstad@billingsgazette.com or 657-1306.
Published on Sunday, November 02, 2008.
Last modified on 11/2/2008 at 1:13 am
Judy Williams, an MLSA attorney from 1985 to 1995 wrote in to tell about something inspiring that happened on Election Day. Judy was serving as a Voter Protection Poll Monitor and had just decided to stay a bit longer than her shift because her replacement had not shown up. A woman came in with a young blind man who wanted to vote on his own. While the election judges were setting up the Braille machine, the woman turned and said "Judy?"
 Judy had no idea who the woman was but recognized her voice. The woman turned out to be a former client whose custody case Judy had taken all the way to the Montana Supreme Court. The client, Jane (not her real name) was recovering from drug addiction when Judy represented her. Jane looked so good now, Judy didn't recognize her. The young man, Matt (not his real name), was Jane's son and the subject of the legal work.
Jane told how she had stayed clean for twenty years since another MLSA staff member, Kathy Kirk, convinced her of the importance of getting treatment. Jane told how she was happily married and living in Kansas. When Jane found out that she'd missed the deadline to register to vote in Kansas as well as the deadline to vote in Montana by absentee ballot, she drove to Billings so she and her son could vote in person.
Judy had thought of Jane many times over the years and wondered what had become of her and Matt. She was amazing to have them walk into the polling place that she had planed to leave a half an hour earlier. Judy teared up when Jane introduced her to Michael as the "person who fought for you and me when I couldn't fight for myself." Jane gave Judy a big hug and, after Matt voted, went off to cast her own vote.
After her time with MLSA, Judy Williams served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Protection Unit handling child abuse and neglect cases. Now she runs MSU-Billings' Student Legal Services
Office and serves as an Attorney Guardian Ad Litem for abused and neglected children in Yellowstone County through a contract with the Montana Supreme Court. She remembers her time and colleagues at MLSA fondly. jwilliams@msubillings.edu
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