Florida Bar v. D'Ambrosio

25 So. 3d 1209, 34 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 621, 2009 Fla. LEXIS 1920
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 12, 2009
DocketNos. SC07-1369, SC08-256
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 25 So. 3d 1209 (Florida Bar v. D'Ambrosio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida Bar v. D'Ambrosio, 25 So. 3d 1209, 34 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 621, 2009 Fla. LEXIS 1920 (Fla. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

We have for review a report and recommendation from a referee with regard to the misconduct of Gerald John D’Ambro-sio. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. As we more fully explain herein, we approve the recommended sanction of disbarment.

FACTS

In July 2007, pursuant to Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 3 — 7.11(f) (contempt), The Florida Bar filed a petition for contempt and order to show cause directed to D’Ambrosio. Fla. Bar v. D’Ambrosio, Case No. SC07-1369 (hereinafter “contempt case”). This Court issued an order to show cause and after responses were filed a referee was appointed. The final hearing in the contempt case was conducted and concluded in February 2008.

Before the assigned referee completed the report in connection with the contempt case, he was also appointed as referee in another disciplinary case involving D’Am-brosio, Case No. SC08-256 (hereinafter “SC08-256”). Based on a motion by D’Ambrosio, and without objection from the Bar, it was determined that the designated referee would conduct a hearing in SC08-256 and provide a consolidated report that addressed both cases. In the report from that consolidated proceeding, the referee made the following findings and recommendations.

Contempt Case. In October 2006, in Florida Bar v. D’Ambrosio, 946 So.2d 977 (Fla.2006), the Court suspended D’Ambro-sio for one year. The suspension order was based on D’Ambrosio’s demonstration of “complete disrespect for the disciplinary process” by failing to give notice of his prior ninety-day suspension to his clients, the courts, and some opposing counsel. The one-year suspension, which began in November 2006, was to continue for a minimum of one year and thereafter until D’Ambrosio complied with specific terms and conditions established by the Court and secured reinstatement.

Despite being suspended, D’Ambrosio continued to occupy his former law office located in Boca Raton. He maintained his office telephone and fax numbers, and listed his office address and telephone number in the white pages of the telephone book. This contact information remains on his business letterhead. D’Ambrosio testified that since his suspension he only engages in non-legal business (for an entity called Media International Group) on the premises of his former law office. However, D’Ambrosio did not list that [1212]*1212business on his office letterhead and it did not appear in the telephone listings.1

In June 2007, while D’Ambrosio was under suspension, he wrote a letter to Gary Kurtz, an attorney in California. The first sentence of D’Ambrosio’s June 2007 letter to Kurtz stated: “I am counsel to Anglo Bio Tran” and affirmatively stated that he had provided legal opinions about the sufficiency of a complaint filed against Anglo Bio Tran and had discussed the legal course he would advise for his “client” in the extant or contemplated litigation. Kurtz reasonably believed D’Ambrosio was a Florida lawyer acting as in-house or general counsel for Anglo Bio Tran.

Based on the letter, as well as testimony presented at the hearing, the referee found D’Ambrosio guilty of engaging in the practice of law while suspended. He clearly represented himself to be a lawyer. The referee found D’Ambrosio acted in complete disregard of the Court’s two pri- or orders suspending him and in contempt of the Supreme Court of Florida.2

Case No. SC08-256 (Disciplinary Case). In February 2005, while D’Am-brosio was still a member in good standing of The Florida Bar, Dr. Tom Bolera, D’Ambrosio’s friend and client, contemplated filing a legal malpractice action against his former counsel, John Pcolinski, an Illinois lawyer. D’Ambrosio was never admitted to the practice of law in the State of Illinois. Nevertheless, D’Ambro-sio assisted Bolera in filing and amending a civil action against Pcolinski in Illinois. D’Ambrosio researched Illinois law on the Internet.3 Further, D’Ambrosio knowingly allowed Bolera to use D’Ambrosio’s law office address, telephone number, and fax number as Bolera’s own address for purposes of the Illinois civil action.

On February 15, 2005, while D’Ambrosio was still a member of The Florida Bar, he wrote a letter to Pcolinski and directed the letter to Pcolinski’s law office in Illinois. In this letter, written on D’Ambrosio’s Florida law office letterhead, D’Ambrosio outlined his client’s claim against Pcolinski and expressed legal opinions about the claim. D’Ambrosio directed Pcolinski to contact his malpractice carrier and to call D’Ambrosio to discuss the case.

On August 18, 2006 (prior to his earlier suspension by this Court), D’Ambrosio wrote a second letter to Pcolinski, using his Florida law office letterhead. D’Am-brosio again outlined the basis for his client’s claim against Pcolinski, expressed legal opinions, and asserted accumulated damages. D’Ambrosio again directed Pco-linski to contact his malpractice carrier. Pcolinski has been a lawyer since 1986. He is admitted in Illinois and Arizona. Having received the communications from D’Ambrosio, Pcolinski reasonably believed that D’Ambrosio was serving as counsel to Dr. Bolera.

Thereafter, Pcolinski was served with a summons and complaint (and then an [1213]*1213amended complaint), filed pro se by Bol-era. Pcolinski noted that the address used by Bolera was the same as D’Ambrosio’s office address. He initiated an investiga-, tion into D’Ambrosio’s conduct in the case, which revealed that D’Ambrosio was not admitted to the practice of law in Illinois. In January 2007, Pcolinski filed a complaint regarding D’Ambrosio’s conduct with The Florida Bar.

The referee took judicial notice of Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 4-5.5 (Unlicensed Practice of Law) and the comparable Illinois law on the subject: Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5 (Unauthorized Practice of Law). After considering these rules, the letters in evidence, and testimony, the referee found that D’Am-brosio engaged in the “unlicensed practice of law in Illinois” in violation of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar.

The referee concluded that D’Ambrosio practiced law in the State of Illinois, without permission to practice in that jurisdiction, in violation of the rules of professional conduct in both states. The referee recommended that D’Ambrosio be found guilty of violating Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 4-5.5(a) (a lawyer shall not practice law in a jurisdiction other than the lawyer’s home state, in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction, or in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in the lawyer’s home state or assist another in doing so). Because D’Ambrosio knowingly and intentionally permitted, and even assisted, Bol-era in filing a false pleading in Illinois (by allowing Bolera to use D’Ambrosio’s law office address as Bolera’s address in a civil action), the referee recommended that D’Ambrosio be found guilty of violating Rules Regulating the Florida Bar 4-8.4(c) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation) and 4-8.4(d) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct in connection with the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 So. 3d 1209, 34 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 621, 2009 Fla. LEXIS 1920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-bar-v-dambrosio-fla-2009.