Lawyer who sued over $75 boot fee for Porsche paid $56K in sanctions; no discipline recommended
A special master considering two grievances filed against a Georgia lawyer who carried through on a threat to sue over his booted Porsche Cayenne has concluded that there is no need for disciplinary action.
The special master last week recommended no discipline for lawyer James Potts II, two months after the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Potts’ challenge to a $56,732 attorney-fee sanction imposed against him in the Porsche litigation, according to the Daily Report (sub. req.).
The special master, David Swift III, rejected allegations that Potts had sued merely to harass or injure the defendant. Rather, Swift said, “it appears to me that the respondent intended to pursue the case in an effort to rectify perceived wrongs—the illegal booting of an automobile and the alleged practice of predatory booting.”
Swift also found that Potts did not fail to disclose material facts he should have believed were necessary to a ruling when he sued on behalf of a law firm employee who had parked the Porsche in the parking lot of her apartment building. The car was booted because it had no visible parking permit. The fee for removing the boot was $75.
Potts spoke to the owner of the booting company and a lawyer representing the apartment building, and threatened court action if the boot was not removed, according to court records cited by the Daily Report. The boot stayed on and two days later Potts filed a class action on behalf of the employee and others who were similarly situated. Potts was later added as a plaintiff.
Judge Jerry Baxter dismissed the suit in 2012 after finding that Potts and the employee misled the court about the car’s ownership to mask the fact that the employee did not have standing, according to the Daily Report account. Baxter found the case was the type of frivolous, groundless and vexatious litigation warranting an award of attorney fees. “All this work derived from the 48-hour booting of plaintiff Potts’ Porsche Cayenne, which would have cost him $75 to remove,” Baxter wrote.
Potts told the Daily Report he has paid the money. In an email, he told the publication that the special master’s report “clearly shows that I was at all times truthful and proceeded appropriately against companies that engage in the deplorable practice of predatory booting to gouge the public with exorbitant fines.”
