Indiana Attorney's Comment on the Immigration Status of his Client's Spouse Leads to Suspension

According to the ABA Journal, an Indiana lawyer has been suspended for thirty days for making a comment about the immigration status of his divorced client’s spouse in correspondence sent to opposing counsel and the Judge in the case.  Objecting to his client’s lack of access to his child, the attorney wrote:

“Your client doesn’t understand what laws and court orders mean I guess. Probably because she’s an illegal alien to begin with.  I want you to repeat to her in whatever language she understands that we’ll be demanding she be put in JAIL for contempt of court.  I’m filing a copy of this letter with the court to document the seriousness of this problem.”

According to the ABA Journal, the Indiana Supreme Court held that the attorney’s letter violated rules of professional conduct concerning demonstration of bias or prejudice, and conduct with no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, burden or delay a third person.  The Court concluded that “accusing [the] mother of being in the country illegally is not legitimate advocacy concerning the legal matter at issue and served no substantial purpose other than to embarrass or burden [the] mother.”

 

In comments printed in the ABA Journal, the attorney said he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling, noting that he had written the letter threatening contempt of court only after the mother had previously been found in contempt for violation of the lower court’s parenting order. In defense of his immigration statement, he said that “people who come into this country illegally are not respecting American laws.”

For more information on professional liability matters, contact Attorney Simon Brown at 603-410-1500  or a member of Preti Flaherty's Professional Liability Group.