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Court reprimands lawyer over misleading ads
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Nevada Supreme Court publicly reprimanded a Las Vegas lawyer Friday for running a Spanish radio advertisement in 2008 that "grossly misstated the law."
According to the order, Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Lopez Jr. ran the 10-second advertisement on two radio stations in Las Vegas and one in Reno. It cost about $19,500 and ran for about three months.
The commercial told listeners: "If you have had an auto accident, by law you have the right to receive at least $15,000 for your case."
"The record demonstrates that the advertisement misled the public into believing that they had a right to $15,000 if they were involved in a car accident regardless of the merits of their case," according to the Supreme Court order. "Moreover, as the State bar argues, Lopez's prior instances of misconduct evidence his disregard for the rules of professional conduct."
Neither Lopez nor attorney Felicia Galati, who represented him at a disciplinary hearing in January 2009, could be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
A panel of the State Bar of Nevada's Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board conducted the hearing and found that the misrepresentations in the commercial "harmed the public by fostering unnecessary and unwarranted litigation by people who were not necessarily entitled to any recovery."
The panel, which rejected Lopez's argument that the commercial had been intended to inform the public of the minimum insurance requirements for automobile drivers, recommended the public reprimand. The panel also recommended that Lopez be required to run "a Spanish-language public service announcement campaign equal to the $19,500 (he) spent in promoting his misleading advertisement."
"This public service announcement would simply inform the public that drivers have a responsibility under Nevada law to maintain liability insurance with minimum limits of $15,000," according to the recommendation. "The advertisement must be a pure public service announcement and must not contain any solicitation for business."
The Supreme Court ordered Lopez to comply with all the panel's recommendations. Lopez, 49, has been licensed to practice law in Nevada since 1993.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
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A Writ of Mandamus was filed against the Nevada Supreme Court Justices for conspiring to conceal a crime, the crime being, that the prosecuting attorney Ron Rachow violated Brady V Maryland that showed someone else was responsibe for the crime for which an innocent man Nolan Klein was convicted of comitting 21 years ago. CV10-01057 1075 - Affidavit ... 30-Mar-2010 Extra Text: AFFIDAVIT OF TONJA BROWN 5. $3645 - $Petition .../Other Civil 30-Mar-2010 Extra Text: WRIT OF MANDAMUS 6. 3860 - Request for Submission 30-Mar-2010 Extra Text: DOCUMENT TITLE: AFFIDAVIT OF TONJA BROWN IN SUPPORT OF WRIT OF MANDAMUS PARTY SUBMITTING: TONJA BROWN DATE SUBMITTED: 4/8/2010 SUBMITTED BY: IFLORES DATE RECEIVED JUDGE OFFICE: The Writ can be found on the website JusticeForNolanKlein.com
As an attorney who does TV and Radio advertising, this is a disgrace. No justification for this lawyer whatsoever. He is misleading the public, plain and simple. Though I support a lawyer's first amendment right to free speech, this is not protected speech.
There's a lawyer joke here somewhere right? Did you hear the one about the mexican ambulance chaser who made false promises in his radio ads? Insert punchline here.
About the only thing funnier than this joke is this guy establishing a law practice in Nevada after fleeing Arizona and the Nevada State Bar allowing it. The other thing that's funny is the Nevada Supreme Court thinking this reprimand qualifies as some form of punishment. Good luck out there amongst the sharks people because you're not going to get help from anybody in this state if you happen to retain one.
Misleading adds from a lawyer???
You mean that there is gambling in Casablanca?
The check is in the Mail.
Trust me, this won't cost you a cent.