Hello everyone and welcome to this Ethics Alert which will discuss the recent Florida Supreme Court opinion disbarring a lawyer who “dodged discovery requests” and was “untruthful and intentionally misleading” during alimony dispute and was jailed for contempt. The case is: The Florida Bar v. Koepke, Case No. SC20-286 and the Supreme Court’s October 28, 2021 opinion is here: https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/798875/opinion/sc20-286.pdf
The lawyer was divorced in 1990. When he became behind in alimony payments, the lawyer for his ex-wife heard that one of his personal injury cases may have settled and requested documents related to that settlement. The ex-wife’s lawyer filed a motion to compel when the lawyer refused to provide the client file and settlement documents.
The lawyer eventually provided a copy of the fee agreement but did not produce any documents related to the settlement, which would pay him a $400,000.00 contingency fee. The lawyer further stated “there being no settlement”, no documents available to respond to the request.
The judge ordered the lawyer to provide the client file. The lawyer ultimately complied and the file included the settlement documents. As a result, the his ex-wife’s lawyer filed an order to show cause why the lawyer should not be held in contempt.
The lawyer wired his $400,000.00 fee to an irrevocable trust that he set up for the benefit of himself and his grandchildren, and then offered to settle the litigation with his ex-wife for a payment of $100,000.00 if the contempt motion and other motions were dismissed and if his ex-wife gave up all past, present and future claims to alimony and attorney fees. The ex-wife refused this settlement.
The lawyer was found guilty of indirect criminal contempt and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He appealed the contempt order and lost, ultimately serving 20 days in jail. The trial judge estimated that the lawyer’s actions cost “100 or more hours of attorney time and hours upon hours of court time to resolve.”
The trial judge referred the matter to The Florida Bar. A referee was assigned and heard the matter, found substantial mitigation, and recommended a one-year suspension. The Bar filed a petition for review. In its opinion, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the recommendation of a one-year suspension and disbarred the lawyer, stating that he was “untruthful and intentionally misleading” during alimony dispute, “abused the legal process in a way that resulted in a serious interference with his alimony proceedings”, “dodged discovery requests”, and “refused to answer questions truthfully”. The lawyer also “hastily” settled a trust to put the contingency fee funds out of reach. “This was deceitful abuse of the process by someone who knew better”.
The opinion concludes:
“In reaching the conclusion that Mr. Koepke must be disbarred, we are mindful that divorce proceedings can bring out the worst in people. Yet even at one’s worst, we expect a lawyer’s oath to mean something. Indeed, we expect the oath to mean something then especially.”
Bottom line: The Florida Supreme Court found this lawyer’s misconduct in his personal family law matter to be a violation of the Florida Bar Rules and his oath of admission and that the misconduct was so egregious that it warranted disbarment.
Be careful out there.
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Joseph A. Corsmeier, Esquire
Law Office of Joseph A. Corsmeier, P.A.
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Palm Harbor, Florida
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