Virginia Attorney Suspended for Instructing Client to Alter His Facebook Page

According to the ABA Journal, a Virginia lawyer has agreed to a five year suspension for advising his plaintiff-client to clean up his Facebook photographs.

The client had sued a cement company for wrongful death after one of its trucks tipped over onto the vehicle he was driving, killing his wife.  Prior to trial, opposing counsel requested screen shots of the client’s Facebook page.  The lawyer then instructed a paralegal to tell the client to clean up his Facebook page.  Following this instruction from the lawyer’s office, the client deleted sixteen photographs, including one in which he was holding a beer can and wearing a t-shirt with a provocative slogan.  Defense lawyers recovered the photographs prior to trial, and jurors were told about the deleted photos.  Only after the trial did the lawyer disclose to the court emails between him, the paralegal, and the client concerning the Facebook page.

According to the ABA Journal, as a sanction for the lawyer’s conduct, the trial judge ordered him and his client to pay $722,000 to lawyers representing the concrete company for their legal fees, and the judge reduced the client’s $8.5 Million jury award.

The Virginia Supreme Court later reinstated the verdict.  The lawyer, however, was suspended for five years for violating ethics rules requiring candor toward the tribunal, fairness to opposing party and counsel, and prohibiting “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
For more information on professional liability matters, contact PretiFlaherty Attorney Simon R. Brown at 603-410-1500 or contact a member of PretiFlaherty's Professional Liability Practice Group.