Though it likely won’t have a significant impact of the state-court case involving the claims of Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams, their lawyer has found himself in a pot of very hot water due to his alleged conduct in a separate case.
Lawyer Peter R. Ginsberg — the same one who represents the Williamses, a league source confirms — has been fined $372,000 and barred from practicing in a portion of Florida for five years.
Recently, the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the fine and the partial disbarment, based on a finding that Ginsberg “improperly tried to have a judge ousted from a case.”
According to Law.com, the Court of Appeals found that “Ginsberg’s conduct was ‘egregious’ and included overzealous litigation tactics and factual inaccuracies,” and that Ginsberg “demonstrated disrespectful behavior and bad faith.”
Ginsberg also has been involved in Mike Vick’s bankruptcy case. Per the Virginian-Pilot, Ginsberg failed to disclose the pending disciplinary action in paperwork submitted to obtain permission to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Unless Ginsberg is licensed to practice in Minnesota, he would have had to obtain similar permission — and most likely to disclose any pending disciplinary matters.
We’ve previously expressed concern regarding Ginsberg’s apparent overplaying of the strengths of the remaining StarCaps claims. Most recently, he reportedly suggested that placement of the players in the league’s enhanced testing program due to their positive test result for a banned diuretic constitutes “retaliation,” when in fact the better description is “standard operating procedure.”
As a practical matter, this is the kind of development that tests the strength of an attorney-client relationship. If there is any stress between Ginsberg and his clients, there’s a chance that they’ll use the fine as the catalyst for making a change.
StarCaps Lawyer Faces A Fine Mess In Florida
Posted by Mike Florio on June 16, 2009, 10:59 PM EST
20 Responses to “StarCaps Lawyer Faces A Fine Mess In Florida”
WTF??? Nice choice of representation Venus and Serena! Did you hire your lawyer off of Craigslist? Will the now just realize that they were wrong and serve the suspension they have spent so much time trying to weasel out???
““Ginsberg’s conduct was ‘egregious’ and included overzealous litigation tactics and factual inaccuracies,” and that Ginsberg “demonstrated disrespectful behavior and bad faith.”
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Wow, and I thought that was standard operating procedure for most attorneys. Did he work for Milberg Weiss?
Sounds like he’s a dishonest cheater, just like the Williams Sisters.
Time for more lawyer jokes?
There is nothing that makes me more sick than a lawyer who uses “Factual Inaccuracies and Overzealous Litigation Tactics.”
The State Of Florida should take away his Drivers Licence and his right to drive a vehicle FOR LIFE.
That will teach the S.O.B.
You mean to tell me that a lawyer lied? Imagine that.
With all these other head lines about actions by “professional football players”, people still whine the most about Favre still wanting to play football. Amazing…….
The same state that let a drunk driving killer off with 30 days is going to ban a lawyer for 5 years for lying. Can we now please cut Florida loose from the US like the infected appendix that it is?
The fact that the lawyer is a scumbag is not shocking, the fact the Williams sisters hired this bozo is not surprising in the least, the fact that the Vikings would be in the middle of another legal mess isn’t even newsworthy given their franchise history (illegally scalped superbowl tickets by the head coach, Love Boat, Whizanator, players tying plastic bags over the head of their children) its the fact the NFL has allowed to this fester this long that is sad.
Just suspend the two for four games, call it a day.
look what happened in fla.,an attorney named cornwell represented
the wide reciever who killed the pedestrian.why can’t lawyers conduct themselves like this attorney?you might not like the outcome,but the attorney served the client well,he kept the case out of the newspapers as well as he could and did not try to try the case in the court of public opinion.after all was said and done,all parties walked away from the table achieving what they wanted,which defines a just outcome.
I notice on the Starcaps stories it is primarily Packers fans who respond with negative comments.
Funny how their team has a DT who was busted for large amounts of narcotics, yet they are up in arms because the two Vikings DTs took a legal over the counter weight loss supplement.
Then again, the Vikings didn’t have to change their base defense at account for the possible loss of a DT or two for legal reasons.
Geez, nice client list. Did this guy work on the OJ trial too?
what do ya call 300 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?
a good start…
I hope this guy’s overzealous representation and attention getting isn’t the reason the Williams boys didn’t take the settlement supposedly offered by the NFL.
The cheeser pot-calling-the-kettle-black posts are entertaining and ironic as hell. It’s not like the Pack has had any child molesters (Chumura), girlfriend/wife beaters (Barnett), dorm closet dumpers (Davenport), drunk drivers (too numerous to mention) or dopes that are caught with pot and a large glass of codine outside a bar in the wee hours of the morning (Jolly), among others, on their team. Hey, it looks like the Vikes may even be signing one of their former pill poppers.
One man alleged misconduct is another man’s zealous representation…
Think about it, if you have hire an attorney, do you want the guy who’s going to do everything he can to get you a favorable outcome, or do you want the guy that will collect his fee and rollover in court.
Oh, and to clarify (not that accuracy is important to some people):
Scalping tickets is not universally illegal and (as far I know) did not result in criminal charges, though it did get Mike Tice fined the league.
3 members of the Love Boat crew were convicted of and/or pleaded guilty for their crimes.
Onterrio Smith was never charged with a crime for possession of a whizzanator (again, as far as I know).
Darrion Scott was not a member of the Vikings when the plastic bag / kid incident occurred.
Thus, not every undesirable or embarrasing activity is illegal.
Go Bret go.
bgman says:
June 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I notice on the Starcaps stories it is primarily Packers fans who respond with negative comments.
Funny how their team has a DT who was busted for large amounts of narcotics, yet they are up in arms because the two Vikings DTs took a legal over the counter weight loss supplement.
Then again, the Vikings didn’t have to change their base defense at account for the possible loss of a DT or two for legal reasons.
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And if Jolly gets tossed in jail or suspended for awhile, we’re all going to be up in arms? Is that your argument?
I say Jolly made his bed and he should sleep in it. I’m comfortable with whatever jail time/fines/suspensions get handed down to him.
Which happens to be the same way I feel about Kevin and Pat Williams. I’m fine with the suspension. I believe they should serve their suspension and STFU.
And here I thought Florio had been saying the league was overplaying its hand all the time. Oh, well – cue the lawyer jokes
bgman says:
June 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I notice on the Starcaps stories it is primarily Packers fans who respond with negative comments.
Funny how their team has a DT who was busted for large amounts of narcotics, yet they are up in arms because the two Vikings DTs took a legal over the counter weight loss supplement.
Then again, the Vikings didn’t have to change their base defense at account for the possible loss of a DT or two for legal reasons.
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When did the Packers change their base defense to account for the loss of their of a DT or TWO for legal reasons???? If you’re stupid enough to believe that, then it’s almost not even worth responding to your ridiculous posts (as usual). Who is the other DT with legal problems? Also, you might want to consider the reason why Jolly hasn’t been suspended is because he’s never been in trouble with the law. That’s the way Goodell works. Part of the problem is that there were multiple people in the car, which happened to be Jolly’s, so the legal process needs to take place. When was their weed found in the car? If you’re going to spout off, make sure you get the facts straight?
The difference is that Venus and Serena took supplements that are BANNED by the NFL and their own players association signed off in agreement that PLAYERS are responsible for everything that goes in their body, even if it doesn’t show up on the label. This is to prevent the excuse of “but I didn’t know that substance was in there” excuse. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so any schmo can create a supplement and not accurately list all ingredients.
Perhaps you should be angry with Venus and Serena’s agents for not passing the information that was sent out from the NFL to all agents saying (as Florio pointed out from reading the lawsuit) that players should not endorse or TAKE supplements manufactured by Starcaps.
If Venus and Serena were backup players, you know damn well you wouldn’t be arguing like a little girl about how they’ve been so wronged.
My apologies to bgman, it wasn’t you who talked about Jolly getting busted with weed, it was your other half brained fellow “fan”, littlepurpleman.