Custody Chaos: Lackawanna County mom sues court-appointed attorney

Sarah Scotchlas of Dunmore is the mother of a 2-year-old girl. She lost custody of her child a year and a half ago. What happened back then is at the center of her lawsuit against her child's court-appointed attorney, called a Guardian ad Litem.

Since the suit was filed in Lackawanna County court in May, a gag order was placed on anyone involved in the case.

Action 16 Investigates talked to Scotchlas before the gag order about the allegations she's making against the guardian ad litem.

"I've missed her first steps, I missed her first words, I've missed so much," Scotchlas said.

Scotchlas lost custody of her daughter five months after giving birth, she said, because she was taking antibiotics.

"These antibiotics were very low; it was azithromycin, which is a Z-pack. They said because I was taking these antibiotics, I was a danger to my daughter," Scotchlas said.

Scotchlas worked in the medical field. She studied to be a physician assistant before she had her daughter. She took the antibiotics with an IV with a prescription and at the recommendation of her doctors to prevent passing her Lyme disease to the baby through breast milk. 

But Scotchlas said her doctor's recommendations didn't matter when her child's father filed an emergency petition for custody in November of 2021.

Police reports show Dunmore police officers came to Scotchlas' home with a court order and removed the child. The courts granted temporary custody to the father...and sealed the records.

But Scotchlas isn't suing the father. She's suing Brenda Kobal, the attorney appointed to represent her daughter. Kobal serves as a guardian ad litem in many custody cases in Lackawanna County's family court.

The lawsuit alleges that Attorney Kobal violated Scotchlas' civil rights since she still has not been able to defend her right to custody in a hearing that should have been held in November of 2021.

Scotchlas said she followed Kobal's recommendations to get her daughter back, including taking a hair follicle drug test. She shared the results with Action 16; it was negative for illicit drugs.

"Just even being accused of harming your child in any way and not being given that chance to defend yourself is really hard. It's really, really hard. I'd rather be in jail than have that," she added.

Action 16 contacted Attorney Brenda Kobal about the lawsuit against her. She referred us to her attorney, who has not called us back.

This is not the first time that parents involved in custody disputes have lodged complaints against the family court system in Lackawanna County. A decade ago, complaints from parents led to a federal investigation.

The head guardian ad litem at the time, Danielle Ross, was charged with tax fraud after parents accused her of excessively billing them for work she didn't do. Ross pleaded guilty and served time in federal prison.

Brenda Kobal was working as a guardian ad litem back then. She's now filled Ross's role and is the longest continually serving Guardian ad litem in Lackawanna County.

Following that federal investigation in 2012, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in Harrisburg issued 51 recommendations for Lackawanna County. Those recommendations reveal how little oversight guardians ad litem had before Ross's arrest.

The state courts asked Lackawanna County to set clear guidelines for its guardians ad litem, more training, and better ways to report income and track cases. All the recommendations aimed to improve the accountability and efficiency of the family court system.

It's unclear whether the county implemented any of these recommendations, and it's unclear whether improved oversight would have helped Sarah Scotchlas.

She may have her day in court as a plaintiff in her lawsuit against Guardian ad Litem Brenda Kobal before she has the chance to go before a judge and defend her right to custody of her child.

In the lawsuit, Scotchlas' attorney writes that they're seeking two things: punitive damages and also to inform people in Lackawanna County of the potential danger Kobal could cause as a guardian ad litem in other custody cases.

"Going through this, I knew there had to be some positive; there had to be. Maybe, just maybe, I'm going through this so that I could help other people. Because somebody has to do something. Somebody has to be the first person who brings this up and brings this issue and brings this problem, even with the court system, to light," Sarah said.

Action 16 reached out to Lackawanna County family court administrators. We wanted to know if the county took any of the recommendations from the state in 2012.

In the past 24 hours, County court officials responded to our questions. they told us the suggestions made by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts concerned what county court officials called, "a defunct system that has not been utilized in over a decade."