DUI and stealing among the misdeeds leading to 8 South Florida attorneys being disciplined
DUI, grand theft, “misappropriated funds” and bungling the filing of a case earned attorneys from Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach punitive actions from the state Supreme Court, and put them on the Florida Bar’s monthly discipline report.
In alphabetical order...
▪ This is third-degree grand theft, Danielle Butler-style. According to a probable cause affidavit, Fort Lauderdale firm Luxury Law Group had been hired to handle a 2018 boat purchase and registration. Butler, admitted to the Bar in 2001 and then with Luxury Law Group, ordered an employee to change invoices so it appeared the client owed the boat sellers $7,161.67 more than he actually did.
Online court records say this case didn’t hit the Broward County court system until February and Butler pleaded no contest in May, got a withheld adjudication, a year’s probation and $517 fine. Online state records say, in June, Luxury Law Group removed Butler as its registered agent, a position she’d held since 2016. She no longer appears on the company’s website.
Butler started her suspension June 18. The length of her suspension will depend on the recommendation of a referee and whether or not the state Supreme Court feels that recommendation is appropriate.
▪ The arrest paperwork after an April 2016 traffic crash says Aventura attorney Lisa Jacobs (admitted to the Bar in 1999) claimed to have had three glasses of wine at Outback Steakhouse before picking up her kids, ages 14 and 10, getting into a crash, then trying to drive away from it.
Jacobs eventually pleaded no contest to reckless driving. She got a year’s probation, 50 hours of community service, DUI school, an online parenting course, $100 restitution and had to make a $250 donation to victim services. On the attorney side, she entered into a contract with Florida Lawyer’s Assistance, which lists monitoring attorneys with substance abuse issues among its functions.
Jacobs violated that contract by testing positive for alcohol use “on a few occasions,” one of the occasions being Dec. 15, 2018. That night, an arrest report said, witnesses told police she caused a two-car crash. She told police she thought she was on Interstate 95, on her way home to Aventura from Fort Lauderdale’s YOLO restaurant.
She was actually at 14800 Pines Blvd., 11 miles west of I-95.
Jacobs pleaded no contest to DUI and refusal to submit to a blood or breath test and was found guilty. In addition to the failed alcohol tests, she didn’t inform the Bar of her conviction within 10 days.
Her 30-day suspension began July 2.
▪ Just 29 days after being admitted to the Bar, Pembroke Pines’ attorney Tarica LaBossiere almost hit a Boynton Beach patrol cruiser and a median while on West Woolbright Road on May 15, 2018. After the officer stopped her, LaBossiere blew a 0.258 and 0.260, three times the legal limit. She was found guilty of DUI, put on probation for a year, got her driver’s license suspended for six months and wound up paying $1,526.
As far as discipline, LaBossiere entered into a contract with Florida Lawyers Assistance, then didn’t comply with it. Her guilty plea doesn’t detail how she didn’t comply.
Now, she’ll be on professional probation for three years, get an admonishment for minor misconduct and enter into a new contract with FLA.
▪ Speaking of FLA, Boca Raton attorney Allen Libow (admitted in 1991) had to contact FLA by Saturday to schedule an evaluation. Libow’s guilty plea for consent judgment admits he got out of line in communication with opposing counsel, particularly Danielle Ostrovsky and Jason Brodie, while representing wives in two divorce cases in front of Palm Beach County Judge Jessica Ticktin.
The guilty plea quotes his opening in an email that went to several women as, “Ladies (and Ms. Ostrovsky).”
An email that indirectly accuses Brodie’s client of child abuse and perjury also says to Brodie, “You are now caught red handed with your lies and attempted judge shopping and manipulation in the court. You should turn yourselves in to the bar. You should tell your client he has made for an irreconcilable conflict with you in losing all your objectivity for purposes contrary to statute. / The racket is over.”
When Ticktin told Libow to cut it out, Libow filed a motion to disqualify her, a motion that included “disparaging comments about Judge Ticktin.”
In 2016, the guilty plea says, Libow sued a former client, claiming the client owed fees. That former client hired Libow’s former partner after the professional split with Libow. The court found Libow’s lawsuit was “vexatious,” (filed just to tick off the opposing party) and “based upon [Libow’s] conduct, the court ordered respondent to pay nearly $70,000 in attorney’s fees.”
Libow has received a public reprimand and has to attend The Florida Bar’s Professionalism Workshop.
▪ The Bar isn’t satisfied with how Key Largo attorney Diane McGuire (admitted in 1990) has responded to an inquiry and request for documents. On Feb. 11, the state Supreme Court said McGuire didn’t answer why she shouldn’t be held in contempt for her incomplete response, so it found her in contempt.
A Feb. 17 letter from the Bar says McGuire’s filings in the above matter prompted the Bar to “investigate whether you present a risk of harm to the public” and asking her to undergo a “voluntary” evaluation with Florida Lawyers Assistance.
Despite the use of the term “voluntary,” McGuire’s failure to appear or schedule her evaluation and complete FLA intake sheets were given as the reasons for the Bar’s June 10 petition for interim probation. The court put McGuire on indefinite interim probation on June 14, but said she needed to undergo FLA evaluation in 30 days, which is by Wednesday.
▪ An emergency suspension came down on Miami’s Arthur Morburger (admitted in 1973) after a couple of checks on Morburger’s trust account bounced and a Bar auditor found $19,000 “misappropriated.”
Read the full story about Arthur Morburger, a Miami Realtor and a Coral Gables attorney.
▪ The guilty plea of West Palm Beach attorney Dave Roy (admitted in 1996) says he was hired by Elliott Pinkney in April 2017 to file a civil suit over injuries that Pinkney said police inflicted on him during a Sept. 12, 2014, arrest. Roy had until Sept. 12, 2018, 17 months, to file the complaint before the statute of limitations ran out.
He filed it Sept. 13, 2018 — one day too late. There’s no grace period involved with the statute of limitations.
Though Pinkney tried to contact Roy to find out what was happening with his case, Roy didn’t tell Pinkney about all this until Sept. 6, 2019. Once he told Pinkney, Roy tried to pay his client in exchange for a release of liability.
The negligence and the payoff offer earned Roy a 10-day suspension.
Pinkney’s filed a legal malpractice suit against him.
▪ It took until March for Oakland Park attorney Michael Walsh (admitted in 1999) to answer Bar inquiries dated Oct. 9, 2020, Nov. 3, 2020, and Nov. 16, 2020. While acknowledging Walsh’s answer, the state Supreme Court said this wasn’t timely, so he’s still in contempt. No suspension, but a public reprimand.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
