County Attorney Suspended
A County Attorney has been indefinitely suspended by the Minnesota Supreme Court with the right to seek reinstatement after 90 days.
DL-Online reported on the sanction
Mahnomen County Attorney Julie L. Bruggeman was indefinitely suspended from practicing law by the Minnesota Supreme Court on June 23.
She can apply for reinstatement after 90 days, according to the order signed by Associate Justice Natalie E. Hudson.
In Mahnomen County, Bruggeman oversees a staff of four or five attorneys, legal secretaries and victims advocates, Mahnomen County Administrator C.J. Holl said in a brief interview.
As county attorney, Bruggeman handles a wide variety of cases, including felony and other criminal prosecutions, child support enforcement, juvenile and family matters, and she provides legal counsel for county administration.
Bruggeman did not immediately return a call to her office on Wednesday.
She was appointed as county attorney by the Mahnomen County Board last year, to replace Mitchell Schluter, who left to become an assistant county attorney in Anoka County. She was the sole applicant for the job.
She ran unopposed in November and started a four-year term on Jan. 1, Holl said. She also served as Mahnomen County Attorney from 2003 to 2010. Bruggeman lives on her parents’ farmstead in Mahnomen County.
The county has hired outside legal counsel, Holl said in a news release, “and will be diligently reviewing the matter and taking the next steps promptly. Ethical practices of the highest standard are always the expectation for all Mahnomen County employees as well as appointed and elected officials. The County Board takes this license revocation seriously and with professional legal advice, will be taking appropriate action.”
According to the petition for disciplinary action filed by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Bruggeman committed professional misconduct warranting public discipline.
For example, in one client matter, she represented clients with a conflict of interest, provided incompetent representation by naming an improper party as a defendant in a complaint, and failed to properly serve defendants with the complaint.
She is accused of neglecting the matter, failing to communicate with the clients, forging a client’s electronic signature on an affidavit and filing it with the court, making multiple knowingly false statements to the clients, failing to timely withdraw from representation, failing to provide the clients with a copy of the file upon termination of the representation, and failing to inform the clients whether their costs would be deducted before or after the contingent fee was calculated.
Bruggeman is also accused of fabricating documents and making knowingly false statements to the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility during its disciplinary investigation.
In a discipline agreement, Bruggeman unconditionally admitted to the allegations and agreed to an indefinite suspension, with no right to petition for reinstatement for 90 days.
(Mike Frisch)