R.I. high court censures lawyer J. Ronald Fishbein
6:13 PM Fri, Oct 30, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Supreme Court has publicly censured longtime lawyer J. Ronald Fishbein for neglecting client matters and failing to communicate with clients. In an order published Friday, the high court said it was imposing the sanction in two complaints brought against Fishbein. It said Fishbein has a history of misconduct "substantially similar to the conduct before us today" and that it considered this to be "an aggravating factor" in deciding the punishment to be meted out. "His clients deserve better," the court said. One of the public censures came as a result of a disciplinary complaint filed by Shirley Reccko, who hired Fishbein almost 30 years ago after she found out that a 1980 Cadillac Coupe de Ville that was sold to her as "brand new" by Criss Cadillac had been in a wreck. The justices said that Fishbein "diligently pursued her case, including two appearances before this court," but then failed to inform Reccko that his attempts to collect a $25,000 punitive-damages award had been fruitless. By the time the Supreme Court ordered the $25,000 award, Herb Chambers Cadillac had bought Criss Cadillac's assets, and Herb Chambers balked at paying the award. The court noted that Fishbein took no "substantive legal actions" to collect on the $25,000 judgment against Criss between 1992 and 2001, then let the matter lie without any further action for another five years. Reccko filed a complaint with the court's disciplinary counsel in 2008 saying she couldn't get a status report on the case from Fishbein. The other complaint was filed by Mary Ellen Zuba, who hired Fishbein to sue a credit union in connection with a piece of property she bought in 1990 and later lost due to financial difficulties. Zuba claimed the credit union had made false representations about the value of the real estate which had induced her to buy it. Fishbein sued the credit union in 1998 and according to the court, "diligently pursued the case until 2002," when, "by the respondent's own admission, the case 'fell through the cracks.' " It was not until 2005 -- when Zuba filed a disciplinary complaint against Fishbein for failing to communicate with her about the case -- that he took any further action, the court said. He discovered that in 2004, a Superior Court judge had thrown out the lawsuit because of his failure to proceed with it. Fishbein was able to get the case reinstated, but the credit union convinced a judge to toss it out before it was heard by a jury. Fishbein appealed the dismissal, but the appeal was denied. "The respondent neglected his client's case for a period of three years, allowing her case to be dismissed by the Superior Court for lack of prosecution," the court said in censuring Fishbein. "Although the case was reinstated, and eventually heard on the merits, it is clear that the filing of a disciplinary complaint was required to spur respondent to resume activity on her claim. This is not an acceptable level of diligence on the part of a member of the bar," the court said. A lawyer is obligated to keep a client adequately informed about the status of his or her case, the court said, and Fishbein has failed to do so. 
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One of the all-time worst pieces of garbage ever to be given a license to practice law, and that's saying something!
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