Title: The Florida Bar v. Fischer

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

549 So. 2d 1368 (1989)
THE FLORIDA BAR, Complainant,
v.
Randy FISCHER, Respondent.
Nos. 72894, 73216.

Supreme Court of Florida.
August 31, 1989.
Rehearing Denied November 6, 1989.
John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director, and John T. Berry, Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, and David G. McGunegle, Bar Counsel, Orlando, for complainant.
Randy Fischer, Ocala, in pro per.
Michael H. Hatfield, co-counsel, Umatilla, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
This disciplinary proceeding is before the Court on two consolidated complaints of The Florida Bar and the referee's report. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 15, Fla. Const.
In case no. 73,216, the referee found respondent not guilty on charges that he backdated a motion for new trial. The Bar does not contest the referee's report or recommendation on this count.
In case no. 72,894, however, the referee found the following facts:
Based on the foregoing facts, the referee recommended that respondent be found guilty of violating Disciplinary Rules 1-102(A)(2) (for circumventing a disciplinary rule through the actions of another); 1-102(A)(3) (for engaging in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude); 1-102(A)(4) (for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deception, or misrepresentation); 1-102(A)(5) (for engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice); 1-102(A)(6) (for engaging in any other misconduct reflecting adversely on his fitness to practice law); 3-104(C) (for failing to exercise a high degree of care to ensure compliance by non-lawyer personnel with provisions of the Code of Professional Responsibility); 7-102(A)(3) (for concealing or knowingly failing to disclose that which he was required by law to reveal); and 7-102(A)(7) (for counseling or assisting in conduct that he knew to be illegal or fraudulent).
The referee recommended that respondent be suspended from the practice of law for a period of sixty days with automatic reinstatement at the end of the period of suspension and that respondent pay costs in the amount of $2,979.41.
Neither the Bar nor respondent contests the referee's findings of fact and recommendation of discipline. Respondent, however, does petition for review of the costs assessed by the referee. Specifically, respondent objects to the investigator's fees and the costs assessed for case no. 73,216 in which he was found not guilty. The Bar concedes that under The Florida Bar v. Allen, 537 So. 2d 105 (Fla. 1989), the investigator's costs of $1,170.65 should not be *1370 taxed. The Bar further concedes that the following costs attributable to case no. 73,216 also should not be taxed: $150.00, administrative costs; $173.15, deposition of Mary Ditto; $49.85, Bar counsel travel expenses; $169.60, hearing transcript.
We approve the referee's findings but find that greater discipline is warranted. Respondent's actions in perpetrating a fraud on the court evinces a total disregard for the justice system he has sworn to uphold. We cannot countenance manipulating the courts in this manner. Accordingly, we hereby suspend respondent from the practice of law for ninety-one days effective October 2, 1989, thereby giving him time to protect the interests of his clients. Respondent shall accept no new business after the date of this opinion. Judgment for costs in the amount of $1,266.16 is hereby entered against respondent, for which sum let execution issue.
It is so ordered.
EHRLICH, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD, SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.