Partner to give up law license to end state bar probe of opposing counsel's DUI arrest during trial
Three of the seven partners at a Florida firm have agreed to legal ethics sanctions that will at least temporarily suspend their practice of law, to end a state bar probe over the claimed set-up of opposing counsel for a drunken-driving arrest during a hard-fought trial.
Although they do not admit to wrongdoing or stipulate to facts in the legal ethics case, Stephen Diaco, 46, agreed to give up his law license, and Robert Adams, 45, and Adam Filthaut, 40, agreed to 91-day suspensions, reports the Tampa Bay Times. The deal will have to be recommended by the judge overseeing the case and approved by the Florida Supreme Court before it is final.
At issue is the January 2013 arrest of attorney C. Philip Campbell, who had unwittingly been drinking at a nearby Tampa steakhouse with Melissa Personius. She was a paralegal working for Adams & Diaco, his opposing counsel in the then-ongoing trial of a defamation case involving two radio program shock jocks. Phone records show she texted and called her bosses at the firm multiple times during the hours she spent with Campbell, and they then texted and called each other, the Times reports.
After the alleged role played by Personius and the law firm in Campbell’s arrest came to light, the DUI case was dropped and a Tampa police sergeant included in some of the communications that night eventually lost his job.
A FBI investigation to determine whether Campbell’s civil rights were violated is ongoing, and Florida Bar attorney Jodi Thompson said at a Tuesday court hearing this is the reason why detailed factual stipulations are not part of the plea deal in the legal ethics case. Diaco, Adams and Filthaut admitted only to a failure to supervise Personius properly, the Times reports.
In the legal ethics case, the trio are accused of disrupting the trial and treating opposing counsel unfairly. However, it isn’t clear from the article whether the same charges would be part of the plea deal, if approved. After giving up his law license, Diaco would be required to wait five years to reapply for admission and would have to retake the state bar exam. Filthaut and Adams also would have to reapply for admission after serving their 91-day suspensions.
Attorney Greg Kehoe is representing all three lawyers. He said Diaco is “trying to make a decision on behalf of himself and everybody else at the firm,” the Times reports. He told WFTS that the ethics case is “before the court and the Florida Supreme Court and we have to let the system work its way through.”
Attorney John Fitzgibbons represents Campbell.
“After more than two years of stalling and denials the three disgraced lawyers have surrendered and are now facing the consequences for their despicable role,” he said in a written statement provided to the media on Tuesday, adding: “They still do not have the guts or the honesty to testify under oath and be cross-examined about what happened that night, and they agreed to the bar sanctions because they know what they did was wrong and inexcusable.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “3 lawyers face legal ethics case in claimed mid-trial DUI arrest setup of opposing counsel”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “As libel trial losers battle $1M legal bill, FBI probes claimed mid-trial DUI set-up of their lawyer”
ABAJournal.com: “DUI case dropped against lawyer who claimed he was set up, mid-trial, by opposing counsel”
