This DUI didn’t get the Florida attorney disbarred. A problem with his 4 earlier DUIs did
A Palm Beach County attorney’s DWI arrests in Minnesota didn’t get him disbarred in that state, where he’s still admitted to the Bar, but they did get him disbarred in Florida.
Because Kip Kootz didn’t tell the Florida Bar about those four arrests that led to convictions until he got busted for DUI in the Palm Beach town of Ocean Ridge.
“It is often said that the cover-up is worse than the crime,” the referee’s report to the Florida Supreme Court said. “In this instance, it is very true.”
The court disbarred Kootz as of May 2. The Florida Bar announced his punishment on its monthly discipline report. Minnesota state records say Kootz remains an attorney in good standing there.
Minnesota records show each state admitted Kootz in 1996. The report by case referee Stacey Schulman says he kept an active practice both places, spending slightly more time in Minnesota.
That’s also where Kootz got arrested for DUI on Nov. 27, 2002, Nov. 3, 2006, May 25, 2009 and Feb. 13, 2015, according to the referee’s report. His blood alcohol content measured at least 0.23 grams per 210 liters of breath in each incident, 0.35 in the 2015 arrest. As in most state, including Florida, a BAC of 0.08 is legally impaired.
Kootz’s children were in the car for the first of those incidents, all of which ended with plea deals. The 2006 case got pleaded down to refusal to take a blood test, the referee wrote.
Kootz blew a 0.261 on Feb. 9, 2017 when, the arrest report said, he blew through a 30 mph zone at 44 mph, went southbound in the northbound lanes, nearly hit a stopped car and tried to turn into a gated community on the outbound side of the gatehouse.
“Kootz advised he drank two glasses of wine with dinner,” the arrest report said.
Unlike the Minnesota cases, Kootz took this to trial and got convicted of misdemeanor DUI-enhanced. He spent a few weeks in the Palm Beach County Detention Center before benig put on work release. Because this also broke the terms of his 2015 DWI sentence, Kootz owed Minnesota six months behind bars, but was let off with work release.
The referee’s report says its unclear how the Florida Bar learned that Kootz had an alcohol and driving history from which he hadn’t learned, but merely repeated. But the Bar didn’t learn it from Kootz, whom the referee found “candid” about his alcoholism, what it’s done to his family and the challenges ahead.
Still, the referee said, “This referee understands a lapse in judgment, addiction and emotional problems. However, [Kootz] has had five DUIs. [Kootz] has created this situation and cannot escape responsibility for it by claiming to be a victim of his own destructive choices.”
As for Kootz saying he kept quiet about the Minnesota arrests because he didn’t know what the Florida Bar would do, the referee said the Bar could’ve offered help with his addiction problems had he come to it after the first or second arrest. Then, even another incident might’ve prompted only the professional probation Kootz sought.
“However, after five different instances of being caught while driving under the influence with none of those having been reported to the Florida Bar, lesser disciplines and rehabilitation are inapposite at this point,” the referee wrote. “The referee finds that Mr. Kootz does not get to benefit from the fact that this is the first time the Florida Bar has learned of his substance abuse issues and ensuing criminal conduct.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 4:52 PM.
