Friday, December 5, 2014

Town of Gulf Stream still pondering RICO action...

Another news story, this time from Dan Moffett at the Coastal Star about the Town of Gulf Stream and the O'Boyle Law Firm. The Town of Gulf Stream is mulling a RICO suit against that firm. From the article:
Attorneys for the town of Gulf Stream are challenging the legitimacy of The O’Boyle Law Firm in their defense against dozens of lawsuits brought by resident Martin O’Boyle.
    In the crosshairs of the town’s counterattack is O’Boyle’s son, Jonathan, who, in documents filed with the Florida Department of State in February, lists himself as the law firm’s president and director.
    While Jonathan O’Boyle has a license to practice law in Pennsylvania, he is not licensed in Florida, and the Florida Bar requires that lawyers supervising cases have a state license.
    During a six-hour deposition with Martin O’Boyle in September, Robert Sweetapple, an attorney for Gulf Stream, repeatedly raised questions about the relationships between Jonathan O’Boyle, the family law firm, the firm’s nonprofit partner Citizens Awareness Foundation and hundreds of lawsuits that together they filed across the state.
    Sweetapple accused Martin O’Boyle of putting his son in “an untenable position” by enlisting him to perform legal work he wasn’t licensed to do.
    “You were in such a rush to have your O’Boyle law firm that you actually put your son in a position where you opened a law firm in Broward County, Florida, before he became a Florida lawyer,” Sweetapple said in the deposition.
Read the entire article here.