Court Sanctions Lead To Bar Discipline

A lawyer who was found, in four separate instances, to have made false or friviolous assertions in litigation was suspended for one year by the New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department. In each instance, the lawyer had been subject to court-imposed sanctions.

As to the disciplinary sanction, the court noted:

In mitigation, we have considered that respondent has no public disciplinary record and that his misconduct has already been punished to some extent by sanctions. However, we find that this record clearly shows that respondent has repeatedly crossed the line separating zealous advocacy from professional misconduct. Accordingly, we conclude that, to protect the public, deter similar misconduct, and preserve the reputation of the bar, respondent should be suspended from practice for a period of one year.

In one instance, the lawyer had accused a judge of participating in a criminal conspiracy to predetermine cases, mail fraud, regular impermissible exparte communications and conspiracy to tamper with court files. In another case, sanctioons had been imposed based on a judicial finding that the lawyer used “litigation to further ‘his personal vendetta’ against the Catholic Church.” (Mike Frisch)