KANIA Legal News

Look to this page for information on the firm's recent accomplishments:

July 26, 2007
James Yang acquitted on all three counts.  The Kania Law Office, through attorneys James M. Wirth and Charles J. Kania, completed a three day trial, which after an hour of jury deliberation, resulted in Mr. Yang being found not guilty of (1) Animal Cruelty, (2) Obstructing an Officer, (3) Destruction of Evidence.  Mr. Yang shot two dogs trespassing on his property because they were chasing his cattle.  The prosecution alleged Mr. Yang was untruthful with deputies during the initial investigation and that Mr. Yang incinerator one of the deceased dogs in an attempt to destroy evidence.  

Over a year ago, on April 25, 2006, Kania Law Office asserted on this page the expectation that the felony charge of animal cruelty against Mr. Yang would be dismissed or that Mr. Yang would be exonerated at trial.  This has finally come to fruition.  

See the links below for recent news coverage on this case.

Muskogee Phoenix - July 25, 2007

Muskogee Phoenix - July 26, 2007

Muskogee Phoenix - July 27, 2007  

Tulsa World - July 31, 2007

May 24, 2007
The Kania Law Office announces its 2007 outstanding High School Senior College scholarship award. See below, the recipient, Ryan Nicklas, of Tulsa Oklahoma, a 2007 Holland Hall graduate, accepting his $500.00 scholarship check.  Ryan will be attending Oklahoma State University (OSU), Stillwater campus, this coming fall. 

April 30, 2007
The Kania Law Office has moved our office five (5) blocks up Lewis Avenue in Tulsa.  Our new location at 5319 South Lewis Avenue, Suite 120, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has two additional offices to support the Kania Law Office's continued growth.  Images of our new office will be available here shortly. 

March 19, 2007
The Kania Law Office hires University of Tulsa Law Student, Eric B. Brown, as a legal intern.  Mr. Brown, who is a candidate for Juris Doctor degree in 2009, will first be assigned to the Kania Law Office's Oklahoma bankruptcy practice area, but will work his way through all Kania Law Office departments, while completing his law degree at TU.

March 14, 2007
The Kania Law Office Tulsa Criminal Law attorneys represented their Client in Sayer Oklahoma, Beckham County District Court.  The Client was stopped on US Interstate 40 and arrested by the Oklahoma Drug Interdiction Task Force and is charged with Trafficking in illegal drugs. The case was called and Kania Law Office Oklahoma criminal law lawyers plead their client not guilty.  Case is set for preliminary hearing in early April 207. 

March 10, 2007
The Kania Law Office's managing partner and attorney, Charles J. Kania, announces that his niece, Jamie Kania, of Cheektowaga, New York, was accepted for enrollment as a first year law student at Saint Thomas University Law School of Miami, Florida. We wish her our best and expect that she will make a great attorney. 

February 23, 2007
The Kania Law Office represented two separate biological mothers whose children were unlawfully taken from their custody by the natural fathers.  When the local police were unable to help the mothers, who believed that their children were in danger, the family law attorneys at the Kania Law Office filed for emergency hearings.  On the same day as the motion was filed, the Kania Law Office put on two separate hearings with the Honorable Judge Robert Perugino (Tulsa County Special Judge) and was granted two orders requiring the Tulsa County Sheriff to pick the children up and return them to the Kania Law Office's clients.  The same evening as the hearing, the Tulsa County Sheriff's office was able to locate the children and return them to their mother.  One of the fathers was arrested on an unrelated warrant.  

January 23, 2007
The Kania Law Office has been so busy over the last few months that many firm accomplishments and newsworthy events have not been posted.  But, today's news could not go unreported.  The Kania Law Office has won our appeal filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court and assigned to the 3rd division of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.  This reverses the April 7, 2006 trial judgment of Oklahoma County Special Judge Brian H. Upp, which allowed Baby Boy K. to be adopted without his father's consent.    The Kania Law Office, representing the child's father, filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court on June 15, 2006 (AD-103465).  The January 23, 2007 decision on appeal held that  Baby Boy K. cannot be adopted without his father's consent and that his father's parental rights cannot be terminated.  Since Baby Boy K. was taken out of state with the prospective adoptive parents within days of birth, and before Baby Boy K's father had notice of the birth, the father has never been allowed to see the child.  With the favorable appellate opinion received, the Kania Law Office hopes to unite father and son as soon as possible.  Please click below to review the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals opinion:

January 23, 2007 Opinion of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals (HTML)

January 23, 2007 Opinion of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals (MS Word)

November 2, 2006
The Tulsa personal injury attorneys at the Kania Law Office's settle a motorcycle wreck case for policy limits of $100,000.00.  The Kania Law Office's client was injured when she was thrown from the motorcycle on which she was a passenger, when the driver of the vehicle lost control at high speed in the rain.  

September 13, 2006
Kania Law Office put on a four (4) hour preliminary hearing in Muskogee County for the Webbers Falls farmer who was charged with felony animal cruelty for shooting two dogs, which were chasing his livestock.  See Muskogee County CF-2006-290.  Through cross-examination of the State's witnesses Kania Law Office elicited the following testimony:

• The alleged victim's in this case released between twelve (12) and fifteen (15) trained coyote hunting dogs on a road near Kania Law Office's client's home, for the purpose of sport.

• According to testimony from the alleged victims, the sport of coyote hunting involves letting your pack of dogs run loose all night, while the dog owners loiter on a country road and listen to the fighting.

• As none of the coyote hunters owned any of the property adjacent to the county road, they released these dogs with the intention for them to hunt coyotes on other people's property without permission. 

• Each of the three dog owners called to testify by the State admitted that when their dogs are home on their own property, the dogs are caged and not allowed to roam freely.

• According to Sheriff Deputy Jeff Smith's police report, at 1:00 a.m. on the early morning of March 26, 2006, two of the alleged victim's dogs were shot.

• The alleged victims testified that at time of the incident, the dogs were chasing something, which they stated was a coyote.  However, they admitted that they could not see the dogs nor the dogs' prey.

• The alleged victims testified that there were no cows in the field were the incident occurred; however, Deputy Jeff Smith, testified that there were cows and calves on Kania Law Office's client's property.

• Deputy Jeff Smith testified that while investigating the case the morning following the incident, he witnessed a dead calf on Kania Law Office's client's property.

Oklahoma statutes specifically provides that person may lawfully shoot a dog that is chasing livestock on his property.  See Okla. Stat. tit. 4, § 41 (2002).  However, despite the overwhelming evidence that the shooting of these two dogs was lawful, the Muskogee County District Attorney continues to use their limited resources on prosecuting this case.

August 15, 2006
Merger and acquisition attorneys at the Kania Law Office announce the completion of the successful acquisition by eCentia Group, Inc., of Tulsa’s leading taxi service, Tulsa Airport Taxi. The acquisition completes months of negotiations between the two taxi giants.

June 15, 2006
Kania Law Office has filed an appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in In the Matter of the Adoption of Baby Boy K (AD-103465).  Kania Law Office's client is the father of Baby Boy K, whose mother relinquished her parental rights and allowed her child to be taken out of state with prospective adoptive parents, within days of birth.  Meanwhile, the father, Kania Law Office's client, had not even received notice of the four week premature birth or that adoption was even being considered.  To date the father has been disallowed from seeing his son or knowing his son's location and on May 16, 2006 an Oklahoma County District Court judge ruled that Baby Boy K could be adopted without his consent.  It is from this judgment that the Kania Law Office has filed its appealed to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

May 22, 2006
Kania Law Office hires attorney Adam L. Haselgren as an Associate Attorney.  Mr. Haselgren comes to the firm with a background in Criminal defense and is expected to be a great asset for the firm.

April 25, 2006
Kania Law Office has been retained to represent a Webbers Falls farmer (James Yang) who was charged with felony animal cruelty after shooting two dogs that were trespassing on his property.   Mr. Yang, an immigrant to the United States, bought his farm three years ago to begin living his American dream.  He currently has 100 cows, 50 calves, and 50,000 chickens and works his ranch seven days a week.  Mr. Yang had been having problems with dogs harassing and even killing his calves, so in March 2006 when be observed a pack of around 12-15 dogs chasing his livestock he shot two of the dogs in order to protect his livestock. 

Kania Law Office believes that the felony charge of Cruelty to Animals is completely inappropriate given the facts of this case and we fully expect that this felony charge will be dismissed or Mr. Yang will be exonerated at trial.  

See the links below for news coverage of this case.  

Dayo Adetula Blog - May 7, 2006

Muskogee Phoenix - April 15, 2006
Muskogee Phoenix - April 1, 2006

Muskogee Phoenix - April 24, 2006 - Opinion

April 13, 2006
The largest child support judgment the Honorable Judge Cantrell of the Tulsa County District Court "Rocket Docket" had seen was obtained by the Kania Law Office Family Law attorneys today.  Seth D. Childers had been avoiding his child support obligations on his four (4) children for years, when Kania Law Office's private investigator tracked him down and obtain service of an Indirect Contempt of Court Citation for failure to pay child support as ordered by the court.  When Mr. Childers failed to appear at his 9:00 a.m. arraignment a civil warrant for arrest was issued by Judge Cantrell with a cash only purge fee of $79.222.00.  Childers v. Childers (Tulsa County District Court: FD-2002-2509).

April 10, 2006
Kania Law Office appeared in Tulsa County District Court as counsel for the Defendant in Oklahoma v. Palazio (CM-2004-4683).  The case was set for trial this day on Domestic Assault and Battery charges.  Although Mr. Palazio was facing possible jail time on the charge, Kania Law Office attorneys were able to get the prosecution to dismiss the charges completely without a trial.  

March 29, 2006
Kania Law Office's private investigator was able to obtain service of process on Seth D. Childers after this elusive deadbeat dad had been hiding out and dodging his child support obligation for years.  The back child support that Mr. Childers owes to support his four (4) children had accrued to over $76,000.00, but Mr. Childers was still running when the first few attempts at service were made.  In one example Mr. Childers fled his workplace when a Kania Law Office process server attempted service.  This resulted in a highway chase down Route 66 and an apparent realization by Mr. Childers that Kania Law Office was not going to stop chasing him.  After more than ten (10) attempts at service, Mr. Childers gave up and accepted process. 

March 29, 2006
Danial Arlen Johnson was one State's main witnesses against Kania Law Office's client Andrez Hernandez in the March 17, 2006 preliminary hearing.  However, today Mr. Johnson is making headlines himself, being arrested for the March 28th murder of a ten year old.

TulsaWorld.com Screen Shot - March 29, 2006 at 1:50 p.m.
KTUL.com Screen Shot - March 29, 2006 at 2:05 p.m.
KOTV.com Screen Shot - March 29, 2006 at 2:07 p.m.
Fox23.com Screen Shot - March 29, 2006 at 2:09 p.m.

TulsaWorld - March 29, 2006 at 12:50 p.m.
KTUL.com March 29, 2006 at 9:59 a.m.
KJRH - March 29, 2006
KOTV - March 29, 2006 at 12:10 p.m.
Fox23 - March 29, 2006 at 10:04 a.m.

March 17, 2006
One of the City of Tulsa's highest profile criminal cases came on for Preliminary Hearing before Judge Clifford Smith of the Tulsa County District Court today, March 17, 2006.  Arguments and testimony in State v. Andrez Hernandez (CF-2005-4977), regarding charges of First Degree Murder and Accessory After the Fact, were heard at 9:00 a.m.  The Defendants' second case, State v. Andrez Hernandez and Alisha Marie Freeman (CF-2005-5272), which carries charges of Shooting with Intent to Kill, First Degree Robbery, and Accessory after the fact was heard beginning at 2:00 p.m.  Kania Law Office Tulsa Oklahoma attorneys Charles J. Kania and of counsel attorney  J. Bird appeared as defense attorneys for Andrez Hernandez.  Kania Law Office's senior associate attorney, James M. Wirth, and the Kania Law Office's lead investigator were also present as a part of the Kania Law Office criminal defense team.  Upon completion of the full day proceedings, both cases and both Defendants were set for District Court Arraignment on March 27, 2006.  

Click below for news coverage relevant to these cases.

KTUL: 11/21/05 at 5:29 p.m.
KTUL: 11/21/05 at 8:05 a.m.  
KTUL: 11/07/05 at 5:14 p.m. 
KTUL: 11/04/05 at 7:48 p.m.

March 14, 2006
Judge Mark Barcus decided in Kania Law Office's client's favor in the March 7, 2006 divorce trial of Blanco v. Blanco (FD-2004-3221) in Tulsa County District Court.  Although opposing counsel argued that the martial debt should be split evenly between the parties and that Kania Law Office's client was entitled to less than half of her husband's military retirement pay, the Court ordered otherwise.  Judge Barcus, upon hearing the case regarding the parties' forty-five (45) year marriage, ordered that Mr. Blanco be liable for the entirety of the martial debt, while Mrs. Blanco be awarded fifty percent (50%) of her husband's military retirement pay, ten (10) years of spousal support,  and half of the martial property.  

February 28, 2006
Judge Thomas P. Thornbrugh sustained Kania Law Office's Demurrer to Information & Motion to Quash Binding Over and dismissed all charges in the Tulsa County case of State of Oklahoma v. Demonze Lavar Curtis (CF-2005-5019).  The Defendant was facing a possible ten (10) year sentence for False Personation, but the Judge agreed with the Kania Law Office's position that the state had not met its burden under the law.   The attorney for the state gave oral notice of intent to appeal.

January 27, 2006
Kania Law Office filed formal notice of claim against Tulsa County under the Oklahoma Government Torts Claims Act for the wrongful death of Timothy Walker while he was incarcerated in David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center on or about the 20th day of January, 2006.  Tulsa County has ninety (90) days to evaluate the claim before civil action can be filed against the County.

November 29, 2005
Kania Law Office has retained Tulsa County Criminal Defense attorney John J. Byrd as a criminal defense trial attorney for the firm.  Mr. Byrd's extensive experience in representing Defendants from simple misdemeanors to murder trials adds again raises the value that Kania Law Office offers its clients.

November 14, 2005
Kania Law Office hires attorney James M. Wirth as Senior Associate Attorney.  Mr. Wirth comes to the firm with a strong background in Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation prosecution and is expected to be a great asset for the firm.