Turnabout

Isn't this Miami Herald story delicious? The Florida bar is getting sued by plantiffs of a Class Action lawsuit who were defrauded by a now disbarred Florida lawyer.

I've pointed out many times how the legal system doesn't police itself properly. Click here for the latest example. Now it could just come up and bite all of them on the ass. Maybe this will be a lesson learned, I certainly hope so.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Third World County,

More than 4,000 people ailing from asbestos exposure sued the Florida Bar on Tuesday to recover $13.5 million in damage settlements allegedly pilfered by a disbarred Miami lawyer.
The proposed class action by the asbestos victims once represented by former attorney Louis Robles sought civil relief in Miami federal court after the Bar refused to pay any of the misappropriated settlements from a special fund.

''This lawyer stole $13.5 million from ill and elderly victims, and no one gives a damn,'' said lawyer Thomas Tew, whose firm, Tew Cardenas, is representing the nationwide group of Robles' former asbestos clients. In early 2003, Tew was assigned by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court to sort out thousands of asbestos claims left in limbo after Robles -- once dubbed the King of Torts -- shut down his firm, dumping client files, including X-rays, on the floor of a West Miami-Dade warehouse.

Tew, himself a member of the Florida Bar, said he has tried in vain to compel the organization to use money collected from 70,000 member lawyers who contribute to a client security fund to compensate victims such as those wronged by Robles.

The Florida Bar, which has mandatory membership and regulates its own lawyers, declined to comment.

But spokeswoman Francine Walker said the Bar has never been sued by a group of people who have suffered losses because of their attorney's misconduct. She said the Bar's security fund program is designed to compensate individuals victimized by their lawyers.