“Conflictineering” Draws Disbarment

An attorney admitted in 1967 has been disbarred by the Georgia Supreme Court for misconduct in a post-divorce matter

The facts as admitted by virtue of Farmer’s default are as follows. Farmer, who was admitted to practice in 1967, was retained in 2008 by a client (hereinafter, “Wife”) to pursue a malpractice action against the attorney who had handled her 2006 divorce. The crux of the claim was that the divorce attorney’s negligence had resulted in a shortfall of approximately $50,000 from the division of marital property. In 2010, after Wife’s ex-husband (hereinafter, “Husband”) had been joined as a defendant in the litigation, Farmer refused Husband’s settlement offer for the full $50,000 and threatened to make the case “expensive and painful” unless he paid $150,000. Husband ultimately acceded to the demand.

In 2011, Husband filed a petition in Coweta Superior Court to modify the parties’ child custody arrangement, and Wife again retained Farmer. Throughout his representation in the custody litigation, Farmer employed litigation tactics that he himself referred to as “Conflictineering,” the purpose of which was to disrupt the judicial process to the point that either the court or the opposing party would simply capitulate for the sake of restoring order. In furtherance of this strategy, Farmer filed repeated frivolous motions and pursued baseless appeals, ultimately yielding more than 500 filings in the case, and routinely made ad hominem attacks against parties, the trial judge and court staff, and participants who took positions contrary to those of his client. See, e.g., Murphy v. Murphy, 328 Ga. App. 767, 773-774 (759 SE2d 909) (2014) (imposing frivolous appeal penalties on Farmer and his client).

In one emblematic episode, Farmer counseled Wife to refuse to participate in the custody evaluation and, in direct violation of an express court order, discussed substantive issues involved in the custody litigation with the parties’ children. He then willfully refused to appear at the resulting contempt hearing, after which both he and Wife were held in contempt.

He threatened witnesses and

In addition, purporting to act on Wife’s behalf, Farmer filed suit against the trial judge’s court reporter – against whom he had also filed a professional grievance – and the Board of Court Reporting, which had rejected said professional grievance. After the trial court dismissed the suit on summary judgment, Farmer appealed and, after submitting filings accusing the trial judge of bias and corruption, was subjected to frivolous appeal sanctions. 

Thus

On this record, we have little difficulty concluding that disbarment is the appropriate sanction in this matter.

(Mike Frisch)