Special to the Daily Record
A Jacksonville attorney has been suspended by the Florida Supreme Court for 18 months for violating various rules.
Earl Mayberry Johnson Jr.’s suspension is retroactive to June 10, 2001, following a June 27 court order, according to the latest disciplinary reports issued by The Florida Bar.
In one matter, according to the Bar, Johnson was found by a U.S. District Court judge to have caused clients in four cases to have causes dismissed because Johnson did not prosecute civil matters and follow court orders.
The action against Johnson, the son of a former Jacksonville City Council member, was one of 15 statewide.
The others:
• Tracy Jacqueline Adams, Key West, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a May 30 court order. Adams failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client and, as a result, the client was ultimately evicted.
• Frank Xavier Gliozzo Jr., Coral Gables, permanently and perpetually enjoined from engaging in the practice of law in Florida, following a June 6 court order. Gliozzo was disbarred in 1996, yet he continued to practice law in Florida without a license.
• Franklin Leroy Hileman II, Miami, suspended from practicing law in Florida for 10 days, effective July 1, following a May 30 court order. Hileman failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing clients.
• Garland Hogan, Lady Lake, suspended automatically from practicing law in Florida, effective 30 days from June 3, following a June 5 court order. Hogan was found guilty of several felonies and on April 1, and was sentenced to a prison term of 324 months. Among other things, Hogan was found guilty of money laundering.
• Charles Edward Lincoln III, Cedar Park, Tex., suspended automatically from practicing law in Florida, effective 30 days following a June 5 court order. Lincoln was convicted on or about September 6, 2000, of false representation of a Social Security number.
• Christopher Thomas Mancino, Ft. Lauderdale, suspended from practicing law for 60 days, effective 30 days following a June 27 court order. Mancino failed to provide competent representation to a client, to act with reasonable diligence in representing a client, to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter, and to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit a client to make informed decisions regarding the representation. He also failed to respond in writing to a Bar investigation into his conduct.
• Mark Alan Marder, Miami, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a May 30 court order. Marder failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client, and to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.
• Ashby A. McClanahan Jr., Sanford, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a June 6 court order. McClanahan hired a former attorney, who had been disbarred, as an investigator/legal assistant in his solo practitioner law office. McClanahan failed to notify the Bar of the employment of the disbarred attorney, authorized the employee to have direct client contact, and failed to supervise the employee’s conduct with clients, which resulted in the disbarred attorney misrepresenting himself as an attorney licensed to practice law in Florida.
• David Scott McDonald, Orlando, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a June 6 court order. McDonald failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client, to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter, and to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit a client to make informed decisions regarding the representation.
• Michael Joseph Murphy, Coral Gables, suspended from practicing law in Florida until further court order, effective 30 days following a June 14 court order. An investigation by his law firm revealed that Murphy diverted client funds through a third person for his own personal use. Murphy admitted to The Florida Bar that he misappropriated client funds over a seven-year period.
• Heather Ann Rutecki, Miami, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a June 6 court order. Rutecki was arrested for driving under the influence in July 1996 and July 1998. She was also charged, but not arrested, for driving under the influence in August 1996.
• Jonathan Stephen Schwartz, Miami, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a June 20 court order. Schwartz filed unsubstantiated grievances with The Florida Bar against two former employees who left his law office to form their own law firm. Schwartz also announced in open court, during a calendar call on one of his firm’s clients’ cases, that the former employees had “illegally sought and solicited clients, stole client’s lists, letters, files” and that there was a criminal investigation pending against them. In fact, there was no criminal investigation pending.
• Gerald Clifton Surfus, Sarasota, resigned in lieu of disciplinary proceedings, without leave to seek readmission, effective 30 days following a June 13 court order. Surfus violated trust account rules.
• Harry Winderman, Boca Raton, reprimanded for professional misconduct following a June 13 court order. Winderman made a statement that he knew to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge.
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Court orders are not final until time expires to file a rehearing motion and, if filed, determined. The filing of such a motion does not alter the effective date of the discipline.
As an official agency of the Supreme Court of Florida, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with the administration of a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct of the 70,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida.