A Rare Occasion

A reciprocal discipline matter involving a Tennessee public censure drew a more severe sanction from the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department

The AGC and respondent, however, fail to fully acknowledge the gravity of respondent’s misconduct. Respondent’s client retained him to prevent the loss of her home to foreclosure. Respondent then negligently mishandled the matter by taking no action, respondent’s client lost ownership of her home, and respondent then told her that she should remit a further fee so that respondent could fix his own mistake. Furthermore, even after she paid the further fee, respondent still did nothing to fix the situation, ultimately telling her that she could simply try to lease her home from its new owner. This Court has previously suspended an attorney for such misconduct (Matter of McHale, 162 AD3d 117 [1st Dept 2018] [in reciprocal discipline matter, suspending attorney for three months after she practiced in federal Bankruptcy court without authorization, and noting that “the flagrant mishandling of [the debtor’s] bankruptcy case lost her the opportunity to try and save her home where she lived with her four children and grandchild, which was her stated goal in filing for bankruptcy relief”]). In view of the aggravating circumstances described, this matter presents the rare occasion wherein the sanction of the original jurisdiction ought to be departed from.

Accordingly, the AGC’s motion for reciprocal discipline predicated on discipline imposed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee should be granted to the extent that respondent is suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York for a period of three months and until further order of this Court, effective June 24, 2024.

(Mike Frisch)