Kentucky Law Review

LAWYERS: "'The aggressive attorneys' lose own case Winters, Yonker hit with civil damages "

Sunday's Courier-Journal story by Andrew Wolfson follows:

'The aggressive attorneys' lose own case - Winters, Yonker hit with civil damages

Their names are stripped across the top of every other page of the Louisville phone book and intoned on TV commercials by an announcer who describes them as "the aggressive attorneys." Their calendars are on refrigerator doors in countless kitchens.But now the law firm of Winters Yonker & Rousselle has gotten the kind of publicity that businesses like to avoid.

A jury in Tampa, Fla., the firm's home base, returned a verdict last month of nearly $1 million against two of the firm's three partners for civil theft, after they were accused of copying files from their former mentor and hacking into his computer system to steal business.

On July 11, a judge there, after striking a portion of the damages as excessive, tripled the resulting total under a Florida law designed to discourage theft and entered a judgment of about $1.7 million.

Competing Louisville attorneys have rushed to spread the news about the verdict, noting the two lawyers subject to the Florida judgment -- Marc Yonker and William Winters -- are not licensed in Kentucky, although they are featured in the firm's extensive Louisville ad campaigns. The third partner, Joseph Rousselle, was licensed in Kentucky in October 2006, about a year after the firm opened its Louisville office.

* * *

The June 30 Florida verdict against Yonker and Winters came after a weeklong trial that The St. Petersburg Times described as being "rife with allegations of theft, sex and deceit."

According to local news accounts of the testimony, when the pair left Tampa Bay attorney Richard Mulholland's firm in 2001 to start their own, they had a secretary hack into the firm's computer to change the addresses and phone numbers of clients they wanted to keep, so Mulholland's staff couldn't contact them.

The secretary, with whom Winters acknowledged having an affair, also met with Yonker on the campus of a local university, where he handed her files to photocopy. And the weekend before Yonker left the firm, he and the secretary visited clients, told them no one would be left to handle their cases once the attorneys left, and signed them up for new contracts, the St. Petersburg paper reported.

Allegation denied

Yonker and Winters denied telling the secretary to change the computer records. And in a phone interview from his office in Tampa, Yonker said Mulholland "fabricated a lot of things and made us look bad in front of the jury."

In another phone interview, Mulholland said the case was painful for him financially and personally. "They were my two most trusted employees," he said. "The jury saw them for who they are."

click on heading for the rest of the story by Andrew Wolfson at the Courier Journal.

LAWYERS: "Winters And Yonker Must Pay In Civil Theft Case" out of Florida

According to the following story found on line at Tampa Bay Online from the Tampa Tribune - "Winters And Yonker Must Pay In Civil Theft Case." 

Per this story, a Florida civil jury awarded nearly $1 million to Florida attorney Richard Mulholland of Mulholland and Associates on his claims that his former associates, Bill Winters and Mark Yonker, stole clients and case files when they left his firm to start their own firm.

Winters and Yonker also have offices in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky as well as in Florida.

The Tampa Tribune further reported that

After six days of trial, the jury returned saying Winters and Yonker did not conspire to commit theft. They did, however, commit theft, the jury determined.

The jury said Winters must pay Mulholland nearly $750,000 in damages and $122,500 in legal fees. Yonker must pay nearly $190,000 in damages but does not have to reimburse for any legal fees, the jury determined.

For the complete story by Thomas W. Krause with the Tampa Tribune, then click on the following heading.  An extract of the story is as follows:

Winters And Yonker Must Pay In Civil Theft Case
Published: July 2, 2008

TAMPA - A lawyer who claims two of his associates stole clients and case files when they left to start their own firm was awarded nearly $1 million from a jury on Monday.

Because the allegations involved civil theft, the defendants could be forced to pay three times the awarded damages.

According to a lawsuit, Richard Mulholland, who ran Mulholland & Associates, said William Winters and Marc Yonker removed case files from the office during lunch hours and gave them to a former secretary who copied the files before they were returned. The secretary, Elizabeth Chapa, also hacked into Mulholland's computer system to change phone numbers and addresses of clients so Mulholland would have a difficult time contacting them in an effort to convince them to stay with his firm, the suit alleges.

* * *

Donald Smith, the defense attorney for Winters, said the jury verdict is preliminary and the judge has not entered the final order.

"There are multiple post-trial motions and issues to be decided by the judge on both defendants," Smith said. "This matter is still pending."

He declined further comment.

Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen has not yet ruled on post-trial motions or the possibility of tripling the damages. Hearings on those matters are set to begin Monday.

* * *

Mulholland asked for $4 million in damages, claiming civil theft and conspiracy to commit civil theft.

See also, Lawyers on the hook for on $1M for story at TampaBay.com from the St. Petersburg Times by reporter Colleen Jenkins.

 

GOVERNMENT: Governor Beshear Appoints David L. Armstrong as Chair of Kentucky Public Service Commission

Governor Beshear Appoints David L. Armstrong as Chair of Kentucky Public Service Commission

By Dick Brown
502-564-2611 on Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office

Gov. Steve Beshear today appointed David L. Armstrong as Chair of the Kentucky Public Service Commission, effective June 1, 2008. The governor also appointed James W. Gardner as Vice-Chair of the Commission, effective June 16, 2008.

OTHER BLOGS: Poppe Blog reports on "Louisville Lawyer Suspended from Practice and Criminally Charged For Allegedly Stealing"

Hans Poppe at his law firm's web site has posted the following blog entry entitled "Louisville Lawyer Suspended from Practice and Criminally Charged For Allegedly Stealing". The post references a Courier Journal story on the suspension and criminal charges and  Hans adds the following comment.  However, click on the story for his entire post and a link to the Courier Journal story referenced therein.

As reported today in the Courier Journal, Louisville attorney Louis Smith has been accused of stealing money from his clients.  Prosecutors allege that Smith, an estate attorney, began stealing from clients, including Emily Strange, around 1999. * * *

It has been my [Hans Poppe's] experience that lawyers that steal money from clients don't usually have any insurance or assets. This necessarily means that it will be very difficult for any of his victims to recovery in a legal malpractice lawsuit; however, that doesn't mean his victims should sit idly by, they should hire an attorney to investigate if insurance is available and what, if any, assets are available to reimburse the clients and their estates.

LAWYERS: Atty Tom FitzGerald appointed by Gov. to Environmental Education Council

From Kentucky.Gov - Attorney Tom FitzGerald appointed Tom FitzGerald to serve as a member of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council. Governor Beshear Appoints Member to Kentucky Environmental Education Council

BOOK REVIEW: "Kentucky Lawyer" by Mac Swinford reviewed by Judge Boyce Martin

Book review in courier journal:

Honoring Kentucky lawyers
By Boyce F. Martin Jr.
Special to The Courier-Journal

A drunk lawyer is stuck in his shirt. A woman rents out her baby. A ghost story. Get a mug of hot chocolate, pull up a chair in front of the fire, and listen to true stories at the feet of one of the longest-serving judges in United States history. This reissue by the UK Press of Mac Swinford's book, originally published in 1963, brings to life again the fact that Kentucky's history is far more exciting than fiction.

I first encountered Judge Swinford as a newly employed assistant U.S. attorney in Bowling Green, Ky., in 1964. I quivered in my boots before the judge that May morning, his awe-inspiring presence in front of me and a packed courtroom behind. Judge Swinford began with a glowing historical rendition of freedom beginning with the Magna Carta and ending with the beauty of Kentucky from the Big Sandy to the mighty Mississippi. He inspired in us an appreciation of the Kentucky lawyers and judges he lauds in this little book.

Judge Swinford was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1922, three years before he received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, and became a federal judge in 1937 and continued until his death in 1975. As an elder statesman of the court recounting the well-practiced stories of his long experience, Judge Mac Swinford had more in mind for his book than a compilation of chain e-mail jokes. The true end of this chocolate-box of stories is not just to give the passing pleasure of a good laugh, but to use the poetry of humor to honor the zeal and integrity of the Kentucky lawyer. With his disarming stories, Swinford raises up the prosaic practice of everyday law that "strengthen[s] the sinews of our democracy" through the talent of the Kentucky bar.

Boyce F. Martin Jr. is judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He lives in Louisville.

LAWYERS: "Supreme Court affirms suspension of former county attorney"

Supreme Court affirms suspension of former county attorney herald leader

The Kentucky Supreme Court has affirmed the temporary suspension of a former eastern Kentucky county attorney.  The high court's ruling on Thursday means former Bath County Attorney Donald "Champ" Maze must reapply to practice law after being released from prison.

copy of opinion.

PUBLIC DEFENDERS: More than just bad pay, now unhealthy working conditions!

She's short on space, staffers, funding HEARLD LEADER

An abandoned room at the Fayette County Public Defender Office on Church Street has so much mold in the drywall from a leaky roof that it's considered a health hazard.

Three lawyers are crammed into the library, the only space left for them to have an office. With few support staff members to handle minor tasks, the office's 18 underpaid, overworked lawyers copy files and archive case files themselves. They share printers.

CLICK ON HEADING FOR ENTIRE STORY. 

POLITICS: Louisville Attorney Bob Heleringer seeking State Senate seat

Heleringer seeking Senate seat

Republican Bob Heleringer, who served 23 years in the Kentucky House of Representatives through 2002, filed yesterday to seek the state Senate seat held by Democrat Tim Shaughnessy.

LOUISVILLE ATTYS: "Attorneys create program for WKU journalism students"

Attorneys create program for WKU journalism students COURIER JOURNAL

Jon Fleischaker and Kim Greene, two Louisville attorneys known for their work with the media, have created a scholars program for the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University.