Lawyer Who Got $8.4M from Detroit for Client Cops Misled Then-Mayor's Lawyer re Leak of Racy Texts
There’s going to be more fallout for a Michigan personal injury lawyer over an $8.4 million settlement by the city of Detroit that has created trouble for many of the lawyers who handled it and related matters.
Mike Stefani has been found guilty by the Michigan Attorney Disciplinary Board of failing to disclose to counsel Sam McCargo, who was representing then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, that he had turned over copies of racy text messages sent by the mayor to a top aide to a local newspaper, reports the Detroit News.
While it otherwise might well have been laudable to inform the public about the mayor’s misdeeds, Stefani violated attorney ethics rules by misleading Kilpatrick and the city’s lawyers into believing that the text messages were going to be kept confidential, the board said in a written opinion. “A calculated scheme to create this false impression is apparent.”
The Detroit Free Press, which received the text message copies from Stefani, also has a story about the board’s ruling. The newspaper won a Pulitizer Prize for its reporting on what became a public scandal over the $8.4 million settlement, followed by Kilpatrick’s resignation from office, criminal conviction and loss of his own law license.
Stefani’s lawyer had argued that he may have walked a fine line but nonetheless stayed on the right side as far as legal ethics rules were concerned, the Free Press noted. He also said Stefani likely will appeal the new ethics decision.
Stefani, who at the time was representing police officers in a whistle-blower case against the city, obtained the $8.4 million settlement in 2007. In exchange, he promised to keep a lid on the text messages, which also revealed that Kilpatrick had lied under oath in the whistle-blower case, the News article recounts, relying on a written opinion by the disciplinary board.
Stefani had faced a 30-day license suspension after being found in an earlier attorney discipline case to have failed to disclose information about the text messages to the court in the whistle-blower case. Now, however, he could face an additional penalty when he is punished for the new ethics infraction, the News article notes.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “New Ethics Case re Lawyer’s Testimony About $8.4M Detroit Pact & Ex-Mayor’s Racy Texts”
