Dornan Law Team

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Meet Attorney Jason E. Troia

My name is Jason Troia. I’m from Omaha. I’m in my 25th year of practice. I specialize in criminal defense, been here at the Dornan Law Team since 2009, but I’ve actually been working with Stu Dornan since 1999, right out of law school. So I’ve got about 27, years of experience working with Stu. He’s my mentor. And so I’ve always just kind of settled myself with him, learned from him, learned how to do things the right way.

Do This IMMEDIATELY After Arrest

So after a person’s immediately arrested, they’re likely going to be asked questions by the officer. We call that an interrogation. And so it’s advised that no individual that’s arrested just start talking with the officer. They should, if they can, consult an attorney right away. One of the problems is, it could be after midnight, it could be on a weekend. And that attorney might not be immediately accessible. Or maybe the individuals never had an attorney before and so they don’t even know where to begin. Upon initial arrest, it’s best practice not to say anything. Exercise that right to remain silent.

What Should I Expect From my Initial Consultation?

Normally I don’t charge anything for the initial consultation. I think that does set us apart from a lot of the firms. One of the things I like to do is, get an idea of what the situation is. What is the person charged with? How did the encounter go? Usually it’s there’s some type of encounter with a police officer, whether it’s a traffic stop or a search or just an arrest. What did they tell the officer? What did the officer find? Were there any witnesses? Just get an idea of exactly what are we dealing with here? Then what I can do is give honest advice. I’m very straightforward with clients about kind of how I see their situation, what their options are. Then get a general idea of what or how this case is going to impact maybe their family, their job situation. You know, have them prioritize. What’s most important. Is it avoiding a felony? Is it avoiding jail time? What are their what are their financial means? Sometimes we look at, get an expert involved, whether that be to review evidence or give an opinion about evidence. And not everyone, you know, has that has that means. So just get an idea of what possibly can we do for them.

What Role Does A Defense Attorney Play in a Plea Bargain?

So after the defense attorney has evaluated the strength of the prosecutor’s case or the state’s case, then they can help the client decide on is going to trial the best option or is pursuing a plea deal the best option?

And so it really starts with the evaluation of the prosecutor’s case. The stronger the prosecutor’s case, the more likely the individual might want to consider a plea bargain. And then knowing kind of where the, the room in the middle is, where where you want to negotiate with the prosecutor. Like, what are they likely to give your client? What are they absolutely not going to give your client? Just with the experience of knowing where you can move that prosecutor can be helpful.

What Should I Look For When Hiring A Criminal Defense Attorney?

When someone’s looking to hire a criminal defense attorney, I think they should look for someone that’s got experience and a good reputation. It seems like a lot of people that we interact with, when we ask them, “How did you hear about us? How did you go about selecting an attorney?” They’ll say, “Well, I pulled up Google” or “I got on the internet.” There are some places, some firms, that will pay extra money just to be on the top of the list. But that might be the brand new attorney right out of law school who’s got some money from his or her parents, and they’re just investing in a startup law practice. But if you’ve got someone that isn’t really advertising, but, you know, their reputation, their name’s out there, their name rings bells, they’ve got experience. I think you start with them. Hopefully, you can get a free consultation to kind of see where where things are at, where you know what their options are. And maybe you get a second opinion. A third opinion. But definitely experience and reputation are the top two things.

How can A Defense Attorney Help with Expungement?

We get a lot of inquiries about getting a record expunged. And Nebraska really doesn’t have expungement unless it’s a special circumstance. Like, you know, the wrong John Smith had an arrest warrant out for him, and it’s this other John Smith that really was the one that they were looking for. But they got the wrong one. In that case, you can get it expunged. But other than some type of mistake by law enforcement or something like that, their option will be to get a set aside or to get their record sealed or to get a pardon. If you get a pardon, you have to go to the Board of Pardons. Or if it’s like a city ordinance violation for the city of Omaha, you would get a pardon from the mayor. But we don’t really have expungement. So usually what we’re doing is we’re advising our clients or educating them about the set aside process and the pardon process. And so the attorneys here at the office, you know, we’re the ones that do criminal work, know how to navigate the system to help people as best we can get their record cleared up so that it doesn’t present any future hurdles for employment.

What is the Difference Between a Misdemeanor and a Felony?

The difference between a misdemeanor or a felony varies by jurisdiction. But in Nebraska, if the person’s subjected to more than a year in jail or prison for their offense, it’s a felony. If the maximum they’re facing for
their offense is a year, then it’s a misdemeanor. So that’s the basic difference between the two.

Why Pay for an Attorney Instead of Accepting the Free Public Defender?

A lot of times we get asked the question, why should why should they hire us versus going and representing themselves or asking for the appointment of a public defender? Usually what I tell them is – so the public defenders, a lot of them are very skilled, very experienced, great attorneys. However, they don’t get to control their caseload. They get all the cases for individuals that ask for an attorney that can’t hire an attorney. And so sometimes their workload prevents them from being able to put that detail into a case that a private attorney can. As a private attorney, we can kind of dial back our our caseload if we take on more complicated cases or more cases that have a lot of discovery or things to review. And unfortunately, the public defender’s office, they don’t have that ability.

Meet Attorney Deana Klein

My name is Dana Klein. I’ve been practicing at the Dornan Law Team for seven years. I grew up in Nebraska, was born and raised here and attended high school here. Both of my parents have very large families, and most of them still reside here in the Omaha, Nebraska area. I went to college at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri, where I met my husband and then stayed for law school and to begin our family. After being in Saint Louis and practicing there for seven years, we decided it was time for us to return home to Omaha to raise our family. We’ve been here for seven years and are very, very glad that we made the transition and are very happy. The primary area of my practice is domestic relations. That includes paternity, custody, divorce, legal separation, modification of child custody agreements, and also can include grandparents rights or grandparents visitation cases. I also do guardianships and conservatorships in the probate court, where I also frequently serve as a guardian ad litem for persons who are incapacitated or there’s a question about their capacity. I also work in juvenile court, doing cases there where I represent parents whose children have been removed. I often serve as a guardian ad litem for juveniles, for the children in those cases, and also for children who have been charged with a crime, whether that’s a status offense merely because of their age – for example, they have cigarettes or they have alcohol and they’re not old enough to do that – or because they’re charged with a more serious crime.


What is the Difference Between Divorce & Separation?

The difference between legal separation and divorce really starts at the outset with what the court has jurisdiction to hear. And what the first thing that we look at when deciding between legal separation and divorce oftentimes, is how long you’ve lived here. A person to file for divorce in Nebraska has to have resided in the state of Nebraska for at least one year prior to the filing, to be eligible to file for divorce. If you haven’t resided in Nebraska for a year, but you feel as if you still need to take some steps to maybe not end your marriage right away, but to take some steps, have some court intervention or structure. A legal separation is the option that’s available. If you have been a resident of Nebraska for less than one year prior to the filing. The main difference that we think about when we think about the difference between dissolution of marriage or a legal separation, is the legal bond of marriage and that relationship between spouses. In a dissolution of marriage, the ultimate goal is to dissolve that legal bond, such that the marriage is dissolved and you are no longer husband and wife or partners, spouses. In a legal separation, what happens is we can think about it as a pause, so to speak, in that legal relationship. You’re not free to marry other people, but the bond of marriage is still intact. The process that we go through to achieve a legal separation or a dissolution of marriage is almost exactly the same here in Nebraska. It all begins with filing of a complaint. If there are minor children, we address custody. If there are spousal support issues, we address spousal support. If there is property that needs to be addressed and divided, we address those issues too. But at the end of the case, your marriage in a divorce will be dissolved, and in a legal separation, you are still legally married, but you are separated.

Advice for People Beginning A Divorce

For anyone beginning the divorce process, I would suggest that they have begun to gather up and take inventory of all of their financial assets. And assets, when we think about that, we want to think about our house, retirement plans, savings accounts, pension. We want to think about other banking accounts. Could be cryptocurrency as well. We want to think about vehicles. We also want to think about the debts that people may have that can be unsecured debt, such as credit cards or personal loans. Also mortgages, home equity lines of credit. We want to think about auto loans, all of those sorts of things. We want to essentially make a list and take an inventory of what you know of or what you have. Folks often say, well, there might be things I don’t know about, and that’s fine. Tell me what you can or what you think might be out there that you don’t know about, and any little nuggets of information that you might have about where we can look for those types of things. You also want to proceed as if, text messages, emails, other things that you send could potentially be read out loud in court one day or used as an exhibit. You want to conduct yourself with your spouse or soon-to-be ex-spouse, as in a business like manner. Don’t speak to them in a way that you wouldn’t speak to a business colleague, or better yet, a boss. You want to be professional, courteous, but also direct.

What Should Parents Consider When Creating a Co-Parenting Plan?

When parents are creating a co-parenting plan, I want them to think about several different things. First of all, are we able to co-parent? And what I mean by that is actually engage in meaningful conversation and make decisions together. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to agree on everything or about everything, but are you able to have a conversation about it and even in disagreement, reach a resolution?

That’s the first and probably most important thing to consider. The other thing to consider, of course, is what are the needs of your kids? If any of your kids have special needs or things that make them particularly unique, we want to consider those things. Are there significant amounts of therapy that they need to go to, or are there significant difficulties that they have with transition?

Or is one house physically set up in a way that provides for that child in a way another house does not or needs to have physical accommodations made? For example, could be a wheelchair ramp or some other sorts of lifts for assisted bathing or other things that might need to happen. We also want to think about how busy our kids are. Are our kids going to activities often? Do our kids go to regular five day school?

Are they grade school aged? Are they high school age? Are they preschool aged? All of those things make a difference when we’re thinking about what type of parenting plan we’re going to have for the parents. It also really helps parents in coming with a co-parenting arrangement or agreement to think of being on-duty or off-duty instead of I have custody and you don’t have custody.

As parents, there are times that we have to be off-duty, even when we’re married or when we’re together. That might be when we go to work or when we go to the grocery store. There are times that I’m off-duty and the other parent is then on-duty, and it can help to come up with agreements and arrangements that keep a child focused When we think about parents being on-duty and off-duty, instead of a parent having or not having custody.

How Can an Attorney Help in a High-Conflict Divorce?

In a high-conflict divorce, we want to take a step back and be very measured in our responses to things. All divorces, in some regard, are contentious, and there’s a continuum with which that happens. Some, even though there’s contention or there’s disagreement, we’re able to come to the table and reach some agreements. Other times, for whatever reasons that may exist – and it can be mental health, it can be infidelity, or there could be another host of reasons why things are high-conflict – it becomes very, very difficult for those two persons to reach any sort of agreement. What an attorney does, or what I try to do in those types of situations is meet my client where they’re at. It’s not my job to fix them. It is my job to help them, guide them and counsel them. They are very emotional in those moments, and they absolutely should be. But they’re looking to somebody like me to be the calm voice in the storm and to help navigate them through to the next steps. That’s where, while we are advocates as attorneys, there’s a reason that we’re known as attorneys and counselors at law because we are guiding our client and counseling them in what we believe the law is based on their facts and circumstances, but also helping them to navigate to the next steps. And that can be giving other advice or assistance with helping them connect with providers who can help them, whether it be a coach of some sort or a therapist. And it can also help them to give what what I think is so helpful in high-conflict cases, the separation between themself and their spouse. Let me be the voice for you. If there are issues that need to be addressed, tell me what those are and let me communicate with your spouse. Or if your spouse is represented, let me communicate with that person’s attorney because we are able to do so in a way that is more concise, more direct, and also without all of the conflict and emotion that the two of you are experiencing, which can then create additional what I will call opportunities for conflict. The attorneys don’t have those as much as the spouses do.

What is the Role of Mediation in Divorce and Custody Cases?

In divorce and custody cases here in Nebraska, mediation actually plays quite a significant role. There is a mandatory mediation rule. What that means here is that the parties are obligated, and the court orders them to participate in mediation as it relates to child custody, in good faith. Does that mean that everybody is going to reach an agreement? It does not. But it does mean that both parties are expected to come to the table and attempt to reach a resolution on some issues. Mediation is an opportunity for each of you to attempt to resolve issues that may be happening right now. Mediation tends to occur earlier in the case rather than later, so it can be an opportunity to talk about what are we going to do for birthdays or upcoming holidays? What are we going to do for parenting time next summer when your sister is getting married? There are different things that mediation gives an opportunity to do. One of the things that I think mediation can be very beneficial is that there are a variety of different issues we have to decide in a child custody case, and that can be within a dissolution, a modification, or in an initial custody case like a paternity action. And those are legal custody, physical custody, parenting time, holiday parenting time, and communication, to name a few. That’s not inclusive of all of the things that we have to decide or we want to talk about, but any issues that the parents can resolve in mediation are issues that we then don’t have to deal with at trial, or don’t have to continue to negotiate throughout the case. And ultimately, what that does for the litigants or for my clients is that saves them time and that saves them money, because anything that we can agree to in mediation become resolved issues, and they’re submitted as part of a partial parenting plan. And then we can move on and spend our time, money, and efforts on the things that are unresolved and really matter and not have to spend time negotiating things that you were able to reach agreements on. And sometimes that can be something as seemingly insignificant as how the parents are going to communicate. Is it going to be through text message, telephone call, parenting app, combination?

And that would be something then that we can then move our focus away from communication. We can practice that communication throughout the rest of the case to see how it works and if there’s anything we need to tweak in our final order. When it comes to financial settlement, say in a divorce with mediation, it can be very, very helpful to participate in mediation – I like with your attorney – when it comes to a financial resolution. It allows us greater opportunity to get everyone into the room together to see what types of things motivate one another. And sometimes there are things that we haven’t considered or haven’t thought about in a financial resolution or proposed settlement that we’re able to think about with the assistance of a neutral mediator. When we have everyone together in a mediation session focusing all at the same time at the common goal of finding a resolution to the case.

What is Guardianship and When Might it be Necessary?

A guardianship is a legal mechanism whereby we allow somebody else to step in as decision maker for the ward. A ward can be a minor child and that’s, in Nebraska, somebody that’s younger than the age of 19. They’re legally incapable of making their own decisions because of their minority. So if they don’t have a parent who is able to make those decisions for them, the best way to think about it is a parent that’s unavailable or unable or unwilling to make those decisions. It could be necessary for a guardian to step in and be appointed to make those decisions, and step into the shoes of parent for that child. When it comes to an an adult, we think about capacity. That’s the requisite word. Is the person incapacitated such that they’re not able to process and receive information to make decisions that are in their own best interests. If a person is incapacitated, an adult is incapacitated, then a guardian could be necessary to step into their shoes and make decisions that are in their own best interests. We’ve been seeing this happen a lot lately as our population is aging and living longer, which is a blessing in many ways. But with that comes cognitive decline.

What Should Someone Consider Before Becoming A Guardian?

Before someone becomes a guardian, they absolutely want to consider the need of the person. If that’s a minor child, is that parent unavailable, unwilling, or unable to provide for the needs of that child? And does the child then need a legal guardian because either of the natural parents are unable to to be that? In the context of an adult what we want to consider is the degree of capacity that the adult has. Do they have a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s or a mental illness that there is unmanaged to the degree that it’s debilitating and they’re unable to make decisions? Once you have come to those kind of threshold questions of, do we need a guardianship, if the answer is yes, the facts and circumstances fit the legal basis that we need to establish a guardianship, the proposed guardian should think about the rights and responsibilities that they will then have if they become the Guardian. Do you have the time and the ability to take on these responsibilities when it comes to a minor child, it’s very much like taking on the role of parenting a child. Oftentimes, although not always, the child will live in the home of the Guardian. The Guardian’s responsible for school and rate over enrollment and making sure that their educational needs are met, making sure medical needs are met and appointments are occurring. Maybe enrolling them in extracurricular activities, just as if it was a child of that guardian. When we think about an incapacitated adult, we think about a lot of the same things. Whether or not that person resides with the Guardian is is not dispositive of the guardianship role, but the Guardian is responsible for making sure that they are living somewhere that is the least restrictive environment possible to meet their reasonable needs that can be independent living with supports. It can be assisted living. It can be skilled nursing. It can be a whole host of things. But that Guardian is responsible for gathering information, processing that information and ultimately making those decisions. And oftentimes in the case of a full guardianship, that guardian’s also responsible for dealing with the person’s money and assets, sending money and checks where they need to be, directing investments that are in the best interests of the ward. You’re acting as a fiduciary in that capacity, and every decision that you make, whether you’re a guardian of a minor, the guardian of an adult, is supposed to be through the scope of the best interests of that person. And you also need to make sure that none of your own interests could come into conflict with what is at interest of their best interests, or what is at issue with their best interests.

Meet Attorney Joseph L. Howard

My name is Joe Howard, and I’m one of the partners here at Dornan Law Team. I was originally an Air Force brat, and we grew up all over the country. I graduated from Ramstein American High School and then came back stateside, graduated from Marquette University, and then went on to law school there. I graduated in 2000. Since then, I have been licensed in Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, in Iowa. And my practice ranges from state court to federal court. I’m licensed before the United States Supreme Court and a number of different federal district courts. I really enjoy working at DLT. We have a really great group of people who are dedicated to helping others. Primarily, I practice criminal defense. I’ve worked my way up through the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorney’s Association and was privileged to be the president a few years back. And I try to maintain my relationships that I’ve built through that organization. I think it’s important that we maintain, a current knowledge of the law. It’s always changing, and our clients need to know exactly what they’re facing and what we can do to help them.

What's the Process from Arrest to Trial?

Unfortunately, if you or a loved one is arrested, that can be a very scary time. Upon arrest, it’s basic advice that I give my client is not to say anything. And it’s not because you may have something to hide, but it’s more because you need to speak with a trained professional. You need to know what to say, what not to say. If you’re arrested, unfortunately, you’re going to be taken into custody and placed in a local jail. Within 24 hours you’re supposed to be brought before a judge or a magistrate for a bond setting. Bond is really important. Okay, there’s a couple things that have to be articulated to the judge. That’s why you need an attorney who understands the issues. The issues are: 1) Are you a flight risk? Are you someone that’s going to pack up and leave as soon as they post bond? And 2) Are you a risk to society. Okay? You need someone who understands you, who can articulate who you are. You’re not just a number. You’re not just another face, but you’re important. You have a history. You have a family. You have business. You have ties to the community. All of those have to be explained to the court. You have to be humanized. And that’s what we do. After bond is set, you or a loved one can post the bond. In Douglas County, you can post 10% of whatever bond is is set, or you can post the entire bond. Should you post 10%, 10% of the 10% will be deducted at the very end. So at the end of your case, you will be refunded your bond. If you post all of the bond, you will get all of the bond back at the end after you post bond – or if you don’t, if you cannot post bond – your case will proceed on to what’s called a preliminary hearing. If you’re being charged with a felony at the preliminary hearing, it’s the government’s responsibility and burden to demonstrate that there’s probable cause that the charges happened or occurred. We represent clients daily in preliminary hearings. In the event that the case is not dismissed at the preliminary hearing level, it will be bonded over or bound over to the district court in the district court in Douglas County and throughout Nebraska, you will be assigned a district court judge, and that judge will remain your judge for the duration of your case. We normally have a number of pre trials where we collect the evidence to study the evidence and if necessary, use our connections with experts from around the country to weigh in as to whether or not you have been the product of coercion. If the police have used coercion against you, if your statements were made voluntarily, we have experts that we use to help us understand the nuances of different types of DNA cases, gun residue cases, different forensic cases. And we have a special emphasis on defending sex assault cases. We have, over the years, built a reputation with experts. They understand who we are, what we do, and they come to us and we bring them in for the benefit of our of our clients. In the event that we do go to trial, we make sure that we have conducted all of the necessary depositions and we’ve reviewed all of the necessary discovery. And if the discovery is lacking, then we have investigators who will go out and search for that evidence, turn over stones, talk to people, figure out what really happened so that we can provide our clients a full defense.

What If I'm Charged with a Crime I Didn't Commit?

If someone’s charged with the crime that they didn’t commit. You have to remember the last time that you were driving down the road and you saw a car get pulled over. What did you think to yourself? You thought to yourself, oh, so-and-so, that driver just got popped for speeding or or whatever the infraction was. We don’t think in terms of, innocent until proven guilty. If you have been charged, falsely charged with a crime you didn’t commit, you need a very good defense team. You need a defense team that isn’t just going to review the evidence and give you some weak advice. You need a defense team that is going to go to bat for you. We often hear the phrase innocent until proven guilty. Well, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the case is innocent until proven innocent. And that’s what we do. We go the extra mile. We want to hire experts. We want to go above and beyond the investigation. Oftentimes, the lacking investigation that’s being done by the either the sheriff’s, the DEA or the FBI. It’s our job to make sure that if you come to us and you tell us that you didn’t commit that offense, that we do everything possible to exonerate you. And if that means hiring experts, let’s do it. 

How Can A Criminal Defense Attorney Help with Juvenile Cases?

A criminal defense attorney is integral even when you’re facing a juvenile charge. Why? Because juvenile charges can stick with you for the rest of your life. You need an attorney who understands how juvenile court works. Okay? You need to understand that oftentimes, very serious felony crimes are levied against children, but those children are charged as adults. To have a child who’s 14 years old, 15 years old, charged with very serious crimes, takes a commitment on the defense attorney and that commitment is doing what we can to demonstrate to the district court that that child’s case needs to be transferred from the adult court, district court, to the juvenile court. And that’s not an easy task sometimes. What we like to do in our firm is hire an expert who can review the child’s school records, extracurricular activities, and mental health reports to have a full understanding of who that child is and why they would be better suited for the services available in the restorative court, the juvenile court, versus the punitive adult district court.

What Qualifies as a "Lemon"?

It you think you have a lemon, give me a call. I can go through with you and talk to you a little bit about what qualifies as a lemon under Nebraska lemon law. Nebraska lemon law covers a vehicle during the first year of ownership by the original owner. And what it does, it says you are entitled to a brand new vehicle or repurchase of the vehicle. If that particular vehicle has been in the shop four or more times, four or more times for the same defect, and the manufacturer cannot cure the defect, or if it’s been out of your service for reasons of defects, for 40 or more days within that first year of ownership.

Are Used Cars Covered Under Nebraska's Lemon Law?

Used cars are not necessarily covered under the Nebraska Lemon Law. But Congress has enacted a law, the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, which says that if your car is defective and you still have the manufacturer’s warranty, if that vehicle goes into the shop for an unreasonable number of repair attempts, you may be due damages. Give me a call. I can review your repair orders. I can review your purchase agreement, and I can tell you whether or not you are due damages under the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.

How Long Does A Lemon Law Claim Take?

One of the biggest questions my clients have regarding lemon law cases is “how long is this going to take?” And the answer to that is, “it depends.” And what it depends on is whether the manufacturer is going to step up and take responsibility for the defects in the vehicle, or if they’re going to deny responsibility. Oftentimes, we can send a certified demand letter, which will result in an overnight repurchase or settlement. However, sometimes we have to go to the mat. And what that means is litigation and litigation can take a long time. So our goal here at DLT is to get these cases resolved as quickly as possible for our clients.

What Makes Us Different?

We strive to provide exhaustive service. And that means not only with respect to legal needs, but with respect to counseling, advocacy. We’re a very family-oriented firm. In fact, one of the most important members of our firm is a dog who is our service dog. And Bruiser is maybe the most important front of the firm if you will. So we just really like to have people feel comfortable, try to take their minds off of stressful situations and really drill down and be very aggressive with respect to whatever needs they have for us.

The Future of Dornan Law Team

The future of Dornan Law Team is very bright. We have a wide variety of individuals who are very skilled in their specialties. The ages of the folks in the firm are, go from being young to being very experienced. So we believe that our future moving forward is going to be well taken care of with respect to the attorneys and staff that we have on board.

Love in Action at Dornan Law Team

I’m really fortunate to love my job. I view it as a ministry. It’s a great opportunity to help people who are often poor, friendless, and needy. And that really is an extremely rewarding experience. What we try to do is just something real simple. We try to practice love in action.

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