May 06, 2008 03:39 pm
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By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
A hearing is set for Wednesday on Emma France’s request to end her guardianship by Rita Hunter, Jasper County public administrator.
But it is unclear whether the session in circuit court will focus on that issue or on motions that each side has filed concerning questioning that was to take place before the hearing.
Attorneys will ask the court to hear competing motions involving depositions — under-oath questioning of Hunter and France — that were scheduled to take place in April. Those motions are to be brought before Judge David Mouton at the 1:30 p.m. hearing in Joplin on France’s guardianship.
France was made a ward the public administrator’s office nearly a year ago.
Her attorneys are asking the court to set aside that ruling, arguing that it was based on actions that violated the rights of the 95-year-old Carthage resident.
France’s daughter, Delores Forste, 67, of Needles, Calif., was charged with kidnapping after taking France, at her request, from Jasper County to California. Forste was arrested in November in California and was jailed for two weeks. She was returned to Jasper County in December. In February, the county deferred prosecution on charges filed against her and her husband, Steve Forste, who was never arrested.
Hunter has said she was following the law in the court action that had France declared incompetent, and in the kidnapping charges against her daughter and son-in-law.
France and Forste have filed lawsuits against Hunter and her attorney, John Podleski. The lawsuits seek damages, and contend that actions that made France a ward of the county were void because, among other things, France was not allowed to attend the hearing and her family was not given notice of the hearing.
Competing motions at issue focus on attorneys’ questioning that was to take place before Wednesday’s hearing. Questions of Hunter were interrupted after her attorney objected to some of what was being asked. In a motion to the court, he is asking for an order that would bar France’s attorney from asking “questions concerning the public administrator’s personal background and questions calling for legal conclusions.” Those questions, Hunter’s attorney argues, are irrelevant, not calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, and are designed to harass Hunter.
Hunter is being represented by Matthew Miller, a Springfield attorney. Podleski withdrew after he was named in the lawsuits filed by France and her daughter.
France’s attorney is asking the court to bar depositions of his client until Hunter’s questioning is complete and also is asking the court to compel Hunter to complete her deposition. He argues that questions about Hunter’s family information are “normally the subject of discovery when a jury trial is to be requested.”
Questions about her duties and understanding of her duties under state law “go directly to the qualification and competency of Rita Hunter” to serve as guardian, France’s attorney argues.
France is being represented by R. Lynn Myers, of Springfield. Myers on Monday said he hopes that all the issues in question can be addressed Wednesday.
Phone calls to Miller were not returned.
Move allowed
David Mouton, who serves as probate judge in Jasper County Circuit Court, on March 26 issued orders allowing Emma France to live with relatives in Barton County until a trial challenging her guardianship.
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