Case Title: The Florida Bar v. Borges-Caignet

Citation: 321 So. 2d 550

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1975-07-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
321 So. 2d 550 (1975)
THE FLORIDA BAR, Petitioner,
v.
Alfredo BORGES-CAIGNET, Respondent.
No. 44005.

Supreme Court of Florida.
July 30, 1975.
Rehearing Denied November 26, 1975.
Norman K. Schwarz, Leonard Rivkind, Miami Beach, David W. Walters, Miami, Richard C. McFarlain, Asst. Director, and William B. Wiley, Asst. Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Franklin D. Kreutzer, Miami, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
This cause is before us on the petition of The Florida Bar filed pursuant to Article XVI of the Integration Rule and charging Respondent with the unauthorized practice of law. Article II, Section 2, of the Integration Rule provides:
Our jurisdiction to prohibit the unauthorized practice of law stems from Article V, Section 15, Florida Constitution, which provides that this Court "shall have exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the admission of persons to the practice of law... ." This constitutional authority necessarily includes the power to prevent the unauthorized practice of law.[1]
This Court having issued its Rule to Show Cause, Respondent filed his motion to dismiss and/or test legal sufficiency of the petition, combined with his answer to which Petitioner replied. Thereafter, this Court appointed Judge Francis X. Knuck as Referee and directed that he should hold such hearings and take such testimony as might be necessary to establish the facts of this case. After a hearing, the Referee entered the following findings of fact:
Additionally, the Referee made the following recommendations:
The record and the Referee's report have been examined by this Court. We hereby approve the Referee's finding of guilt and agree that the foregoing conduct on Respondent's part constitutes the unauthorized practice of law. We also follow the recommendation that Respondent, at this point in time, be held in contempt of this Court and on or before August 31, 1975, pay a fine of $100.00 and the costs of this proceeding to be assessed by The Florida Bar. We hereby issue a permanent injunction restraining Respondent from engaging in the acts complained of and from otherwise engaging in the practice of law in this State. Upon proof of any subsequent violation of the terms of this permanent injunction, Respondent will be held in contempt and this Court will take appropriate action then.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, C.J., and ROBERTS, BOYD, OVERTON and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
[1]  State ex rel. Florida Bar v. Sperry, 140 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 1962), judgment vacated on other grounds 373 U.S. 379, 83 S. Ct. 1322, 10 L. Ed. 2d 428 (1963).