Hello everyone and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals opinion disbarring a lawyer who, inter alia, filed several frivolous and inflammatory motions, failed to appear at a deposition of an important witness, failed to file certain motions which prejudiced the client, introduced the client’s confidential medical records into the public record, and sought and received a six month continuance of the client’s trial without her consent. In another matter, the lawyer failed to include fact witnesses in a pretrial statement which caused his client’s case to be dismissed and then fabricated a pretrial statement on appeal. The opinion is In re Ellis S. Frison, Jr., Case No. 13-BG-545 (D.C. Ct. of Appeals 4/24/14) and the opinion is here: https://www.dccourts.gov/internet/documents/13-BG-545.pdf
According to the opinion, the lawyer represented a client in an employment discrimination suit starting in September 2005, until she discharged him in November 2008. During the representation, the lawyer filed several frivolous and inflammatory motions, failed to appear at a deposition of an important witness who was hostile to the client, failed to file certain motions which prevented the client from presenting evidence for her retaliation claims, placed the client’s confidential medical records into the public record without justification, and sought and received a six month continuance of the client’s trial without consulting with her or obtaining her consent.
After the client discharged the lawyer in November 2008, he threatened her and refused to release her file to her. She then filed a Bar complaint and initiated an arbitration claim seeking repayment of some of the fees she had paid to the lawyer. The lawyer then submitted inconsistent bills that he had never given the client and which inflated the amount owed under the initial fee agreement.
After an award was entered against the lawyer, he filed a civil suit against her using the same falsified billing records that the arbitrator had rejected. He also submitted similar falsified billing records to the Bankruptcy Court, where he had filed a claim against the client. The opinion states that “(the lawyer) repeatedly submitted (the client’s) confidential medical records subject to attorney-client privilege into the public records in these and other proceedings.
In a second matter, the lawyer represented a client and her minor daughter in a personal injury action. He failed to identify any fact witnesses in the joint pretrial statement and was not able to put any fact witnesses on at trial to establish that the defendant had caused the client’s daughter’s injuries. The court then entered a judgment as a matter of law for the defendant. On appeal, respondent submitted a fabricated joint pretrial statement that included fact witnesses, and told the appeals court (the same court that issued this opinion) at oral argument that he had sent the fabricated document to opposing counsel prior to trial.
Bottom line: This lawyer certainly stretched the limit of how many Bar rules can be found to have been violated in a single Bar discipline matter. The misconduct also occurred at the trial and appellate levels and, amazingly, the lawyer fabricated a document in an appeal before the appellate court which determines discipline in D.C. Bar cases.
Let’s be careful out there.
Disclaimer: this Ethics Alert blog is not an advertisement and does not contain any legal advice and the comments herein should not be relied upon by anyone who reads it.
Joseph A. Corsmeier, Esquire
Law Office of Joseph A. Corsmeier, P.A.
2454 McMullen Booth Road, Suite 431
Clearwater, Florida 33759
Office (727) 799-1688
Fax (727) 799-1670
[email protected]
www.jac-law.com
Susan Knoll
Wow! I am speechless! Who does these kinds of things?!