Bankruptcy judge threatens to send 2 lawyers to the slammer for 30 days for ignoring $49K sanction
Almost a year ago, Bankruptcy Judge Charles E. Rendlen III entered an order that imposed a $49,720 sanction on two attorneys and a law firm of one of them.
As James Robinson, his Critique Services firm and then-counsel Elbert Walton Jr. appealed the penalties in federal district court, they didn’t ante up, get a bond or for the sanction or secure a stay pending the appeal, Above the Law reports.
After the district court affirmed the $49,720, Rendlen issued a show-cause order, but “demonstrating their usual unmitigated arrogance and complete lack of respect for the court or themselves as attorneys, Robinson and Walton did not respond to the pay, post or show-cause order,” the judge wrote in a Wednesday bench warrant.
It orders the U.S. Marshals office to arrest the two lawyers and hold them for 30 days if they don’t post a bond by May 4 in the Eastern District of Missouri case.
Once behind bars, they can win release by paying $52,206. Otherwise, the two, described by Rendlen as “bad-actor attorneys who believe that contempt is an acceptable form of professional practice,” will appear before the court after 30 days for a further hearing.
Related coverage:
St. Louis Business Journal (2014): “Walton, former Northeast fire district attorney, is banned from bankruptcy court”
