Court Opinion

ID: 9650195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:26:49.713977+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:18.882481
License: Public Domain

*440MANDERINO, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. The opinions of Judge Hoffman and Judge Spaeth in the Superior Court leave no doubt that injunctive relief in this case is completely unwarranted. Adler, Barish, et al. v. Epstein, etc. Superior Court, 382 A.2d 1286 (1977). Since their opinions were filed, Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association, 436 U.S. 447, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978) has been decided by the United States Supreme Court. That decision relied on by the majority does not support the majority’s reinstatement of an injunction in violation of appellees’ free speech rights. Ohralik condemned in-person solicitation which deprives citizens of an opportunity for reflection before signing quickly on the dotted line. Id. at 1917. It does not, as the majority asserts, condemn regulation of the type of speech or conduct engaged in by the appellees which did not include any coercive in-person solicitation. The majority’s reliance on Ohralik is completely unwarranted.
Specifically, the majority relying on Ohralik concludes that appellees, former associates of the law firm, Adler, Barish, engaged in illegal solicitation when they mailed to the clients of Adler, Barish form letters which could be executed to discharge Adler, Barish as counsel, name appellees as client’s new counsel and then create a contingent fee agreement.
Contrary to the majority’s analysis, however, the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Ohralik does not prohibit the type of direct solicitation which is before this Court today.
When the majority says that “just as in Ohralik, the [Federal] Constitution permits regulation of their [appellees’] conduct,” it widely misses the mark. See at 1181.
One need not be a legal scholar to see the distinction for First Amendment purposes between the ambulance-chasing tactics used by the lawyer in Ohralik and the written communications which appellees mailed to the clients of Adler, Barish. The letters sent to prospective clients which would *441discharge Adler, Barish should the client sign on the dotted line contained no arm-twisting device pressuring clients to make an immediate response. Nor were these clients uninformed about the choices they could make in either retaining or discharging Adler, Barish as legal counsel. Additionally, appellees’ communication contained no false and misleading statements which would confuse, deceive, or mislead prospective clients. More importantly, appellees did not attempt to motivate these clients to stir up litigation as was done in Ohralik.
This Court today misuses its injunctive powers to prohibit not only what is a protected form of direct solicitation under the First Amendment but to prohibit an attorney from truthfully informing a client about the client’s legal rights. The Order of the Superior Court should therefore be affirmed.