Two South Florida attorneys have been suspended from practicing law after they settled a client's case and collected money following his death. According to the state Supreme Court, Boca Raton’s Lee Sarkin and Ocean Ridge’s Drew Levitt did not allow their plaintiff client’s passing to stop them from putting his name on lawsuit settlements and collecting funds from defendants. Both the defendants and the courts reacted with anger to this conduct because while attorney-client privilege survives death, the legal authority for attorneys to act on behalf of a deceased person does not.
Fraudulent Settlements in Federal Court
The suspensions follow guilty pleas by Sarkin and Levitt, who have been members of the Florida Bar since 1992 and 1988, respectively. The disciplinary action stems from cases involving David Poschmann, described as a "tester" in hundreds of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits. In one instance involving the Oceanside 99 Condo Association in Ormond Beach, negotiations were underway when Poschmann died on November 12, 2021.
Despite his death, both sides filed a joint notice of settlement on November 17, 2021. The guilty pleas state that the next day, unable to reach Poschmann, Sarkin and Levitt signed his name with an ink signature to the agreement. Settlement proceeds were paid into their trust account as agreed. It was not until December 16, nearly a month later, that the attorneys learned of their client's death. They did not inform the Oceanside Association, which only discovered Poschmann’s death approximately a year and a half later.
Legal Consequences and Restitution
The court determined that because the settlement was reached after Poschmann died, Sarkin and Levitt no longer had authority to act on his behalf. The judge ruled the settlement unauthorized and their conduct constituted fraud on the court. In addition owing Oceanside a $11,287 fee award, each lawyer received a nine-month suspension from appearing in the Middle District of Florida federal courts.
A similar incident occurred with another 2021 lawsuit against the Linda Young Reffitt Revocable Trust. Despite Poschmann's death on November 12, Sarkin and Levitt reached a settlement agreement on December 7, circulating an agreement with a handwritten signature dated December 9. The defendants paid the amount, and the case was dismissed. It took nearly 17 months for the trust’s attorneys to discover what happened in the Oceanside case and Poschmann's death. Sarkin and Levitt returned that settlement money on May 8, 2023.
