Worst. Attorney. Screw-up. Ever.

A month ago an unusual situation occurred. An attorney I was dealing with somehow (the byzantine explanation he gave me is too long to fit on this blog) sent me a signed and served arbitration brief. He admitted signing and serving it. The problem: it basically was a modified version of a letter he sent his client.

To say this brief was shocking would be woefully inadequate. Forgetting for a minute the curse words and personal attacks against my clients (and to a lesser extent, myself....although to be fair I was very hostile towards him and deserved that critique...), it contained the following:

1)A detailed plan for hiding discoverable documents and avoiding disclosing facts they were under a duty to disclose. I.e., don't send letter XXXX.
2)A detailed evaluation of the case including an ADMISSION of fault on the part of his client;
3)A detailed settlement proposal;
4)Numerous witnesses that were not disclosed during discovery.

He basically killed his client. I am now seeking sanctions and moving to have discovery reopened. Most amazing of all, the attorney tried to lie his way out of the situation by claiming that the arbitration contained an attorney client communication (for example, a letter), when it did not. He was just stupid enough to sign a document containing his work product.

The case will probably settle, but as far as I can tell something like this has never been recorded in the California Courts. If this was a large case (which it isn't), he would have been fired already.

I'm tempted to link to his myspace page, as it contains hilarious poetry ("I feel like a small child wandering the beach, looking for my mother's hand"...I kid you not, but for professional reasons must refrain from the temptation).