Emails Draw Reprimand
The North Carolina State Bar Grievance Commission has reprimanded an attorney for e-mails to a landlord who had sought access to his client’s premises
It is in those e-mails that your comments began to become problematic, including stating, “But I don’t think it’s wise to give me a reason to be pissed off.”
On February 27, 2021, the landlord’s agents arrived and demanded entry as W.W. said they would. In your e-mails to W.W. on February 27, 2021, you made the following statements:
1. “I’m grinding my teeth and thinking about how I can be unreasonable.”
2. “An understatement might be that I’m one of the ‘bigger’ attorneys in the area.”
3. “I’m about to be pissed off. That is an understatement.”
4. “Google me. I have 4-5 offices in Charlotte and 16 or so employees. I employ 4 attorneys. Raising my stress level will not result in anything good for any of us. That is my second understatement.”
5. “I’m debating unpleasant things that will cost you a lot of money. . . . This will be personal.”
6. “I am grinding my teeth . . . . I’m trying to stay calm, and failing. This is going to be really, really bad.”
7. “I want apologies and Bruce a happy person, or I’ll take it upon myself to make him a happy person.”
These comments did not serve any purpose in resolving the actual legal dispute. Instead of focusing your comments on the subject matter and maintaining a professional tone, your comments were emotional, you explicitly said you were making this personal, you threatened to be unreasonable, you made a statement that cannot be substantiated about your law practice, and you threatened to engage in “unpleasant things” that would cost W.W. a lot of money. W.W. indicated she felt your e-mails were threatening and intimidating, and she was concerned because, as she stated, the threats seemed “non-litigiously oriented.”
Your comment about being one of the bigger attorneys in the area was a comparison of your services with other lawyers’ services that cannot be factually substantiated and thus is false and misleading in violation of Rule 7.1(a)(3). Your other statements constituted means having no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person in violation of Rule 4.4(a). As stated in comment [2] to Rule 4.4, “Threats, bullying, harassment, insults, slurs, personal attacks, unfounded personal accusations generally serve no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden others and violate this rule.
(Mike Frisch)