How ignoring clients worked out for a Broward immigration attorney
Hard consequences came to a Weston immigration attorney delinquent with client work and who ignored The Florida Bar when those clients complained.
Civil courts handed Don Gonzalez’s clients judgments. The state Supreme Court handed Gonzalez disbarment in July.
Gonzalez, 63, had been a member of the Bar since 1993, but also had been suspended by the state Supreme Court since May 22, 2024, for giving the Bar the silent treatment on his grievances.
For example, Gonzalez didn’t answer when the Bar asked for information related to Gaby Gisella Solari Montoya.
What happened to mom’s money?
Solari hired Gonzalez in January 2022 to work on her mother’s estate. Not only did Solari accuse Gonzalez of slipshod work and replaced him, she said he didn’t turn over estate money “rightfully belonging to Ms. Solari in her capacity as personal representative of the estate; and failed to provide Ms. Solari with an accounting of the alleged trust account despite her continuous demands.”
Gonzalez also didn’t answer the civil lawsuit Solari filed in Broward County. She was awarded a default judgment in June 2023 of $121,302 plus 5.52% interest until the judgment was paid.
Discipline case referee, Judge Reid P. Scott, wrote, “At the February 21, 2025, sanctions hearing, [Gonzalez] acknowledged that he still had not remitted and/or returned $121,302” to Solari.
If Solari looked in Broward County court records before hiring Gonzalez, she would have seen Richard Donahue’s problems with Gonzalez.
Donahue family matters
Donahue paid Gonzalez $7,700 to handle his wife and stepdaughter’s change in immigration status to permanent resident in 2020. Despite questions from Donahue, the referee’s report said, Gonzalez didn’t keep them reasonably updated on what was happening. Donahue fired Gonzalez via Oct. 2, 2020, letter, and demanded a refund.
The Donahues filed suit against Gonzalez on Dec. 21, 2020, for breach of contract and negligence and were granted default judgment on May 6, 2021, eight months before Solari hired Gonzalez. On June 10, 2021, the judgment was set at $8,070.
Money for nothing
Gonzalez’s non-work ways resurfaced with Ramona Watson. She paid Gonzalez $2,100 to handle probate issues around an aunt’s estate (“The Mack Estate”) in March 2022.
“The court docket in the Mack Estate probate case reflects no other filings by [Gonzalez] between April 22, 2022 and August 17, 2022,” the referee’s report said. Gonzalez “did not keep Watson reasonably informed about the status of the Mack Estate probate case... [Gonzalez] failed to complete the legal services he had been hired to perform on behalf of Watson.”
Gonzalez didn’t answer Bar inquiries about the Watson abandonment either.
Paying for what turned out to be a DIY job
At least Gonzalez refunded the $3,735 that Pierre Shirley paid him in February 2022 to handle the legal side of Nerissa Shirley’s immigration status change to permanent resident.
Nerissa Shirley got an email on March 24, 2022, from U.S. Customs and Border Protection telling her that her temporary visitor admission would expire in 10 days. Gonzalez told the Shirleys that the “matter was in process.”
But when they heard no more from Gonzalez, they sent a May 16 letter wanting to know what was happening with the application to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), and worried that Narissa Shirley’s staying in the country beyond April 3, 2022, petition could affect her becoming a permanent resident.
“During the legal representation, [Gonzalez] did not provide the Shirleys with confirmation that Narissa Shirley’s petition for adjustment of status to permanent resident was received by USCIS,” the referee’s report said.
After Gonzalez refunded $2,500, Pierre Shirley handled the application himself. Gonzalez refunded the rest of the attorneys’ fees on Aug. 18, 2022.
