Broward Chief Judge Vic Tobin was miffed recently when an e-mail he sent judges regarding attorney Scott Rothstein quickly spread on the blogs.

Rothstein is under federal investigation amid accusations he financially wiped out his firm.

Tobin sent an e-mail to judges at 6:45 a.m. Monday about the ``distressing news.'' He asked judges to be patient with the firm's lawyers, and for the jurist assigned to the case related to Rothstein's firm to set it quickly. After that e-mail was published, Tobin sent another to judges the next day, which was posted on the courthouse gossip jaablog. In the e-mail, Tobin complained about his e-mail -- which he said was not a public record -- being distributed.

``This has been harmful to the Circuit and has prohibited the use of a valuable tool to speak with each other as a group,'' Tobin wrote. ``Someone is distributing protected material and violating our exemption as created by the Supreme Court and the Legislature. I asked that we work together to stop this unethical conduct.''

-- AMY SHERMAN