Miami lawyer bullied a ‘low income’ person while trying to garnish his money
Impugning a judge’s integrity, making a filing against judicial orders he failed to read and bullying his opposition all played a part in a North Miami-Dade lawyer’s suspension.
Noam Cohen’s 90-day suspension began Jan. 22. Cohen’s disciplinary record since joining the Florida Bar in 2000 had been unblemished, according to an online search of state Supreme Court disciplinary cases.
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The behavior described in Cohen’s guilty plea occurred during a June 2024 garnishment case during which he tried to collect a judgment for his client, Pharus Funding, via a garnishee’s bank account. The garnishee was representing himself in the proceedings and had filed a claim of exemption for his bank account. But, after Cohen filed a claim of garnishment, the garnishee didn’t know he needed to file a second exemption.
During a June 17, 2024, Zoom meeting to evaluate the garnishee’s exemption claim, “Garnishee appeared pro-se and demonstrated a general lack of knowledge of both court proceedings and the law relevant to his claim of exemption.” That included knowing he had the burden of proof to sustain his claim.
But Cohen, according to his guilty plea, presented no evidence to impeach the claim or support his claim that the garnishee’s answers to his questions didn’t match what he’d told Cohen in an earlier conversation. So Judge Mary Green granted the exemption claim for the bank account.
Cohen accused Green of bias toward the garnishee while the hearing was still in progress. Green reacted by cutting off the Zoom meeting and referring Cohen to the professionalism panel.
The next day, June 18, 2024, Cohen filed for a rehearing and for Green to be recused, accusing her not only of bias but also “ignorance of the precedent or applicable legal standards.” The same day, Green issued a written order granting a claim of exemption for both the bank account and the garnishee’s wages, erroneously stating that was agreed to by the parties at the hearing.
Two days later, Green recused herself, and Judge Anne Gibson picked up the case.
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Reading is fundamental
Cohen filed a motion for final judgment for the garnishee’s wages, which Green had put under protection with her June 18 order.
“[Cohen] admitted in the instant disciplinary proceedings that he failed to read the June 18, 2024, order in its entirety and wasn’t aware of the provision alleging an agreement to extend the exemption to both garnishments,” Cohen’s guilty plea said.
Though the agreement claim counts as Green’s mistake, Cohen’s failure to read the entire order is a diligence failure, as the guilty plea admits.
In the end, Gibson ruled that Pharus Funding could garnish the garnishee’s tax refund and wages.
Cohen still got disciplined for lack of diligence, impugning the qualifications and integrity of a judge, and engaging in conduct that’s prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Disciplinary matters list mitigating and aggravating factors as relates to the punishment. Cohen’s lone mitigation factor was that he’s “demonstrated a positive reputation in his faith community for strong character.”
The factors under aggravation included noting that, despite his clean disciplinary record, Cohen has “a pattern of misconduct” and that he “refused to acknowledge the wrongful nature of the conduct during the first garnishment exemption hearing and in his motions for recusal, focusing instead on the judge’s alleged bias and incorrect application of the law.”
“The victim in the matter was an unrepresented and uneducated low-income individual who was vulnerable during the proceedings,” Cohen’s guilty plea said. After 25 years in this area of law, Cohen “was, therefore, aware that there were alternative, ethical means of accomplishing his client’s goals without impugning the integrity of the judiciary or intimidating the opposing party.”
Also, the guilty plea said Green described Cohen’s conduct in her court as “ frequently harsh and aggressive towards pro se debtors, and she is concerned that his conduct scares individuals such that they do not want to appear in court.”
