In an opinion released Feb. 27, the state Supreme Court agrees with The Florida Bar that Jacksonville attorney Charlie Farah Jr., partner in the Farah & Farah law firm, violated the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar for his involvement in the filing of thousands of meritless personal injury claims in federal and state court.
In October 2017, the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, issued an opinion and order finding that Farah and Jacksonville attorney Norwood Wilner were to be held to account for maintaining more than 1,000 nonviable claims related to the federal “Engle” product liability actions that were brought by smokers against the tobacco companies and subsequently settled.
The Feb. 27 opinion states that while Farah’s firm originated only 163 of the cases, he knowingly partnered with Wilner, agreeing to divide the labor and to evenly split any attorney’s fees recovered. Farah’s name was listed in the signature block of all the cases filed.
Although Farah predominantly played a behind-the-scenes role, mainly providing personnel support and financial backing, he knowingly agreed to provide legal services for which he intended to be paid at the end of the litigation on the other Engle cases initiated by Wilner, the opinion states.
The federal court order directed that Wilner and Farah be reprimanded and sanctioned more than $9.16 million for filing and maintaining complaints involving deceased plaintiffs; plaintiffs or decedents who were not smokers; plaintiffs or their survivors who never lived in Florida; cases already adjudicated or plaintiffs that did not respond to a court questionnaire and could not be contacted.
The sanction amount later was reduced to $4.33 million and Farah and Wilner each paid half.
The state Supreme Court suspended Wilner in March 2022 for 91 days for filing the claims and for knowingly misrepresenting the cases to the federal court. The court later denied Wilner reinstatement to the Bar when he failed to fully comply with Bar rules during his suspension.
The federal court order referred the matter to The Florida Bar to conduct an investigation into possible violations of the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct.
The Florida Bar charged Farah with violating rules related to diligence, communication with clients and terminating representation The Bar’s complaint was referred to a referee, who held a hearing and filed a report recommending that Farah be found not guilty of the charged rule violations.
The referee found that the Bar improperly based its case on a federal special master’s report and investigatory materials and did not conduct its own investigation into Farah’s conduct.
The Bar challenged the referee’s recommendation that Farah be found not guilty of the rule violations and contends that Farah should be suspended from the practice of law for 30 days.
The Feb. 27 opinion concludes: “Charlie Easa Farah, Jr., is hereby found guilty of violating rules 4-1.3, 4-1.4(a), 4-1.16(a)(1), and 4-1.5(f)(2). This case is referred back to the referee to hold a hearing and consider the appropriate sanction. The referee must file an amended report recommending a disciplinary sanction within 90 days of the date of this opinion.”