THE FLORIDA BAR, COMPLAINANT,
v.
RONALD S. GUNTHER, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1981-07-02
Nos. 59078, 59592
ADKINS, Acting C. J., and OVERTON, ENGLAND, ALDERMAN and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.
400 So. 2d 968 Florida Supreme Court (1981) Caution
Cited by 4 cases

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Holding

The court approved the referee's findings and recommendations, disbarring the respondent attorney.


Facts & Procedural History

The Florida Bar charged Ronald S. Gunther with neglecting legal matters entrusted to him after collecting fees but taking no action. Clients repeatedl…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

In these combined cases, The Florida Bar has charged respondent Ronald S. Gunther with a total of twenty-six counts of neglecting legal matters entrusted to him. In each of these counts, the referee found that respondent agreed to represent and collected legal fees from various clients on various legal matters, but that respondent thereafter failed to take any action on the clients’ behalf. It is clear from the report that the clients repeatedly attempted to contact respondent after their initial consultation and payment of fee but to no avail. No money was ever refunded.

Collectively, the referee recommended that respondent be found guilty of violating Florida Bar Code of Professional Responsibility Disciplinary Rules 1-102(A)(4), -102(A)(6), 5 — 105(A), -105(B), 6-101(A)(3), 7 — 101(A)(2), -101(A)(3), and 9-102(B)(4). The referee further recommended that respondent be disbarred for his actions.

Respondent made no appearance before the referee and has not sought review in this Court. Accordingly, the referee’s findings and recommendations are approved. Respondent, Ronald S. Gunther, is hereby disbarred, effective immediately. Execution shall issue against respondent for the cost of these proceedings in the amount of $1,005.36.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS, Acting C. J., and OVERTON, ENGLAND, ALDERMAN and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • THE Florida BAR v. Batista, 846 So. 2d 479 (Fla. 2003)
    …mproper "witness-contact incident could properly be treated as an aggravating factor and that it could be utilized to enhance Batista’s discipline. [*485] The Bar relies on Florida Bar v. Agar, 394 So. 2d 405, 406 (Fla.1980), Florida Bar v. Gunther, 400 So. 2d 968 (Fla.1981), Florida Bar v. Segal, 462 So. 2d 1091 (Fla.1985), and Florida Bar v. Page, 475 So. 2d 1236 (Fla.1985), for the proposition that disbarment is appropriate for Batista’s conduct in contacting the witnesses. We disagree and find that those…
  • THE Florida BAR v. Shoureas, 892 So. 2d 1002 (Fla. 2004)
    …d by the Bar in its answer brief are similarly- distinguishable in the number of violations involved, the type of conduct involved, and the fact that the violations were uncontested both before the referee and this Court. See Florida Bar v. Gunther, 400 So. 2d 968, 968-69 (Fla.1981) (noting in an uncontested proceeding that the attorney “agreed to represent and collected legal fees from various clients on various legal matters [in twenty-six cases] but that respondent thereafter failed to take any action on t…

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