# NJ Attorney lies to the court multiple times & is suspended for 6 months. Why not disbarred? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860 "2013-08-22T08:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/1 "2013-08-22T08:07:48Z")
How in the world does this attorney get to keep his license to practice law after this blizzard of lies he tells the court? [Ethics panel says Perth Amboy attorney should be suspended for lying in contract forgery case](http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130820/NJNEWS20/308200040?odyssey=mod%7Cmostcom) > [@](#): > > In 2008 Arzadi signed an agreement with architect Jeffrey Kusmick to renovate a three-story, eight-unit apartment building he owned in New Brunswick and paid him $7,500. The agreement called for a $7,500 initial payment and a lump sum payment of $34,500. > > After refusing to pay the remainder of the bill, Arzadi turned up an agreement that purported to show that the job would be completed for $7,500. After Kusmick filed a lawsuit in 2008, Arzadi countersued with the claim that he wasn’t the owner of the property, that Kusmick performed shoddy work and that Kusmick duped him into signing two contracts. > > During the ethics hearing, however, Arzadi admitted that he owned the company that owned the building and that he had concocted the claims about Kusmick’s poor job simply as “one of the defenses I threw in there.” > > Arzadi also blamed the forged contract on his office manager and former girlfriend, Michelle Sandrik, who invoked her Fifth Amendment right at the hearings to not answer questions, according to case documents. > > Arzadi claimed that he didn’t read the contracts carefully and relied too heavily on his staff. His attorney testified that Arzadi was a busy attorney who also liked to party and had “a lot of girlfriends.” Arzadi denied having ordered anyone to forge the contract and admitted that he did not adequately supervise his staff because he had “too many oars in the water.” > > The ethics complaint claimed that Sandrik’s role in the case “was orchestrated for theatrical effect” to give the appearance that she, not Arzadi, was responsible for the forgery. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/2 "2013-08-22T08:31:53Z")
Very odd case. The bar complaint was filed by someone who was not a client of the disciplined attorney, nor a party in the lawsuit that gave rise to the complaint. Just some random blogger who seems to like digging through court files. Normally, I’d expect a complaint like that to be filed by an opposing attorney (we have an obligation to report suspected ethical violations by other attorneys) or by the Judge. I guess the reason for the relatively light sanction is that the attorney was acting as a party in a lawsuit, rather than as an attorney, when he lied to the court. In my state, I think the punishment would have been considerably harsher. At least a year’s suspension, and a requirement to take an ethics class, possibly even pass the ethics portion of the bar exam again, prior to reinstatement. Possibly prosecution for perjury and disbarment. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/3 "2013-08-22T19:43:49Z")
plea bargained? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/4 "2013-08-22T20:28:00Z")
Apparently it’s his first offense, and he was the party, not the attorney; attorney discipline is primarily intended to keep the practice of law ethical. Still, a very very light consequence. Amazingly so. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/5 "2013-08-22T22:09:20Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Apparently it’s his first offense, and he was the party, not the attorney; attorney discipline is primarily intended to keep the practice of law ethical. IANAL, but this certainly matches what I’ve seen while observing various legal shenanigans over the years. It seems an attorney needs to establish a pattern of egregious behavior, generally while acting as an attorney across multiple cases, before disbarment is seriously considered. Even then, it may be a temporary (though lengthy) thing, allowing a possibility for the disbarred attorney to reapply after some years. The only permanent disbarment I can think of offhand involved an attorney found guilty of 27 violations, including “making false statements to tribunals, disparaging and humiliating litigants and other lawyers, and improperly practicing law outside of [the state in which he was licensed]”. The judge refereeing the proceedings and making the disbarment recommendation described his behavior as “cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of inappropriate conduct, and continued behavior consistent with the previous public reprimand”. I’m sure our resident attorneys know of others, but that’s my reference point. Disbarment is a big stick, and it doesn’t get wielded lightly. That said, I agree that this guy should have gotten slapped down harder. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-attorney-lies-to-the-court-multiple-times-is-suspended-for-6-months-why-not-disbarred/666860/6 "2013-08-22T22:55:08Z")
Same thing with revocation of health care workers’ licenses. About the only thing that will get a HCW’s license revoked on first offense is commission of a felony, especially one involving violence or drugs. There was a woman physician in my area several years ago whose license was suspended after she killed her autistic daughter (her motive was “she had no quality of life”). It was later revoked when she was convicted of yet another offense that was described as “one requiring that her name be placed on the Sex Offender Registry”. :eek: I wonder what that was, because she’s been incarcerated all this time.