(Reuters) – The Washington, D.C., Office of Disciplinary Counsel issued an casual admonition to an legal professional who it stated requested sanctions for opposing counsel devoid of authorized basis to do so.
The ODC claimed past month that Maryland lawyer John Lillard’s motion for sanctions was “frivolous” and mentioned he did not assure that his arguments were being supported by legislation, in violation of D.C. attorney carry out policies, like on lawyer competence.
All through proceedings of a proposed class action lawsuit he filed towards engineering enterprise Stantec Inc. in 2020, Lillard claimed he was subjected to abusive steps and harassment from opposing counsel and requested sanctions.
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These assertions came after Stantec filed a movement to sanction Lillard for producing bogus assertions in an get and improperly serving a subpoena.
The U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, which listened to the litigation, explained that Lillard’s movement for sanctions lacked “lawful authority” and did not identify any “procedural, specialist, or statutory rule,” that was broken by opposing counsel.
The court sanctioned Lillard in January 2021. It also agreed to dismiss the underlying proposed class action at Lillard’s request.
The ODC stated that Lillard also violated a rule that bars lawyers from participating in perform that interferes with the administration of justice when the court was designed to critique the “many frivolous and procedurally deficient sanctions motions.”
The workplace said that in issuing the admonition, relatively than official disciplinary rates, it deemed Lillard’s cooperation with the investigation and arrangement to the admonition.
Lillard declined to comment on the admonition. A agent for the ODC did not straight away return a ask for for comment.
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