Page 32 - Feb2019_BarJournal

BarJournal COLuMN

JULY/AUGUST 2015
ETHIc PErSPEcTIvE

lIarS In THE nEWS

Brian Toohey

t’s not what you’re thinking. This is about Okuley’s road rage tab included his arrest The Court ascribed the Board’s more severe
liars who are lawyers. Ohio lawyers. for not appearing in court, community control, proposed sanction as due to Okuley’s:
Two recent cases demonstrate what 90-day suspended sentence, $100 fine, $950 in [D]eceit from the outset of this matter, his
a tangled web lawyers weave when restitution, and $5,000 to settle Bahling’s civil evasive and untruthful deposition and hearing
Ipracticing to deceive. suit. testimony, failure to acknowledge the wrongful
Google Columbus lawyer John Okuley Oh, and the Columbus Bar Association nature of his conduct, or to express any remorse.
to see an abbreviated video of a road rage charges him with intentionally causing the The Court appeared to be about to lower
incident following a bicyclist’s collision Mercedes/bicycle collision, provoking a physical the boom, but didn’t. It gave significant weight
with Okuley’s Mercedes. An eyewitness, Dr. altercation with an eyewitness, misrepresenting to Okuley’s having “suffered consequences
Bahling, is videotaping Okuley on his cell facts to law enforcement and during the ensuing outside the attorney disciplinary process”
phone. Okuley knocks the phone to the criminal, civil and disciplinary proceedings. (criminal conviction, restitution, fine, court
ground. The bicyclist calls 911. What happens In his disciplinary case and his civil suit costs and civil settlement). More important, I
next is the subject of Columbus Bar Ass’n v. filings, Okuley stuck to his story. No one bought suspect, was Okuley’s having “suffered serious
Okuley, 2018 Ohio 1582. The Court reports it. injuries” in a “multiple vehicle accident” during
that an intense verbal conflict between Okuley Instead, The Board of Professional Conduct the disciplinary process and having “entered
and Bahling, “quickly escalated into a physical found violations of Rules 3.1 [falsity in into a three year mental-health contract
wrestling match.” proceeding], 3.3 (a) [offering evidence known with [OLAP].” The Court imposed a one-
The bicyclist testified that Okuley “stomped false], 3.7 (a) [destroying evidence], 3.4 (c) year suspension, with six months stayed,
on the doctor’s phone when it fell to the ground [disobeying tribunal rules], as well as 8.1 (a) conditioned on compliance with OLAP’s
during the scuffle.” Okuley somehow ends [false statement in disciplinary matter] and 8.4 contract and no further misconduct.
up with the doctor’s phone and sunglasses. (c) [deceit] (d) [prejudicial conduct] and (h) Closer to home, you may have seen this
Okuley tells the police, “[T]wo guys hit me.” [conduct reflecting adversely on fitness]. October 12 headline on Cleveland.com:
When ordered to return Bahling’s property, The Board’s hearing panel recommended a “Cleveland lawyer captured on tape coaching
Okuley argues he is “allowed to collect one-year suspension, with six months stayed, client to lie loses law license.” Cleveland Metro.
evidence.” You get the picture. and an additional reinstatement condition. The Bar Ass’n v. Moody, Slip Op. No. 20 Ohio 4071,
It gets worse. When Okuley goes to court full Board raised the ante, recommending two- spells out the gory details.
for his hearing on criminal damaging charges, year suspension, one year conditionally stayed, Moody represented Barrios in an
the case does not begin on time. He leaves.
plus an additional condition for reinstatement. employment case against PNC Bank. PNC
retained Boston lawyer Siobhan Sweeney.
trustworthiness (/ˈtr∧s(t)wә:õinәs/) noun. Reliable honesty; a Ms. Sweeney removed to federal court and
thing or person one can believe in; the most important element of began discovery. Moody was uncooperative
the resolution of disputes. in responding to discovery and in facilitating
Barrios’s deposition. She flew to Cleveland for
plaintiff’s scheduled deposition, but Barrios
. Jerome F. Weiss, Mediator and Moody were no shows. Barrios had a good
excuse: he knew nothing about the deposition.

Facilitating dispute resolution Moody did. He called Ms. Sweeney claiming a
scheduling conflict. Court orders for discovery
for individuals and institutions responses and compelling Barrios’s deposition

Tel 216.589.9995 followed. Discovery responses were provided,
Fax 216.589.9723 but not verified. The court-ordered deposition
www.mediate.com/mediationinc was scheduled, but never happened. Barrios

smelled a rat and “surreptitiously recorded”

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