Satisfaction Required

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered a 60-day suspension and satisfaction of a judgment in an attorney discipline matter

Attorney Hudec was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin on May 21, 1979. He has a substantial disciplinary history: a 1989 consensual private reprimand; a 1993 consensual private reprimand; a 2001 consensual private reprimand; a 2008 consensual public reprimand; and a 2014 public reprimand.

That’s a lot of wrist slaps.

Here one complaint involved the representation of a plaintiff in a defamation suit

Over the following months, Attorney Hudec missed a variety of court-imposed deadlines. In April 2013, B.K. filed a motion for sanctions as a result of these missed deadlines. Attorney Hudec failed to inform N.K. of this motion, and failed to inform her of the subsequently scheduled hearing on the motion. Attorney Hudec then failed to appear at the sanctions hearing. The circuit court dismissed plaintiffs’ case with prejudice, finding Attorney Hudec’s actions were egregious, extreme, substantial, and persistent. The circuit court noted the following facts: (1) Attorney Hudec had been granted extensions for various medical issues; (2) court-mandated mediation never took place; (3) Attorney Hudec failed to provide requested discovery to opposing counsel; (4) Attorney Hudec failed to file a pretrial report; and (5) Attorney Hudec stated that he intended to withdraw as counsel for plaintiff, but failed to so do, filing only unsigned documents.

The client sued

Although the referee’s report does not note as much, the court takes judicial notice that, according to Wisconsin’s Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) records, a $9,235.48 judgment against Attorney Hudec and in N.K.’s favor was entered on December 14, 2018, and Attorney Hudec has not filed a notice of appeal of the judgment.

Sanction

We agree with the referee that a 60-day suspension is appropriate. Clearly, Attorney Hudec’s many previous reprimands have not impressed upon him the importance of his ethical obligations…

Although the OLR did not seek restitution related to the N.K. matter, the parties stipulated, and the referee agreed, that the court should condition Attorney Hudec’s continued practice of law on his satisfaction of any monetary judgment entered in N.K.’s civil lawsuit against him. As mentioned above, CCAP records show that N.K. obtained a $9,235.48 judgment against Attorney Hudec in December 2018. Consistent with the parties’ stipulation and the referee’s recommendation, we deem it appropriate to require, as a condition of the reinstatement of his Wisconsin law license, that Attorney Hudec satisfy this judgment.

(Mike Frisch)