Attorney Charged With Discrimination; Allegedly Falsely Claimed Black Male Drove Her Car

The Ohio Supreme Court web page has posted the charges and hearing schedule of a number of bar disciplinary matters.

One case filed by the Lorain County Bar Association alleges that an attorney who was admitted in December 2014 drove while under the influence and made a false police report.

The charges allege that the attorney caused an accident and began to walk away from the scene with a friend who had been a passenger. When police arrived, the two were noticed and questioned. They confirmed that they had been in the vehicle.

The attorney allegedly falsely claimed that an “unidentified black male” had offered to drive them from a bar called the Train Station and that he was the responsible driver.

The police checked video at the Train Station, saw evidence that the attorney was both intoxicated and the driver and concluded that the black male was a fictional character.

Criminal charges ensued.

Notably, the attorney is charged with a violation of Rule 8.4(g) in that her “false and misleading representations to [the police] in an official law investigation that the suspect was a black male who caused the accident in which she was the actual driver constitutes discrimination prohibited by law because of race by a lawyer in her professional capacity and is a violation of OPRC 8.4(g).”

Given the recent ABA rule amendment, that charge will be interesting to monitor.

The passenger also is an attorney and faces related charges. He is alleged to have given the police the story

Respondent advised that the unknown black male, whom he described as wearing a red ball cap, dark colored shirt and camouflage shorts, ran from the scene in a southbound direction through the parking lot following the accident.

The passenger has a record of prior discipline.

on April 21, 2009 Respondent was suspended from the practice of law for one year by the Supreme Court of Ohio for forging a judge’s signature on a previously time-stamped judgment entry…

He was reinstated in May 2010. (Mike Frisch)