Tampabay: Lawsuits strain ex-judge's credibility

Since the Florida Supreme Court removed her from the county bench in 1998, Hapner said, there had not been a single complaint about her legal work. Not one.

She apparently wasn't counting Hal Silverman, who accused Hapner in March of legal malpractice, or Peter Croizat, who filed a complaint against her with the Florida Bar in May 2001, or Washington Mutual Financial Inc., one of two companies that have sued Hapner over what they say are unpaid bills.

In another lawsuit, a Pinellas County judge found against Hapner in June for failing to make payments on a leased Jeep Cherokee.

The complaints haven't jeopardized Hapner's law license nor her ability to run for the circuit bench against four other lawyers. The malpractice suit was dismissed. The Bar complaint was found insufficient. The lawsuit by Washington Financial is still pending.

But the complaints do call into question her credibility.

Hapner did not respond to several requests seeking comment for this article. But in an interview when she announced her candidacy last month, Hapner, 45, said she hadn't faced any complaints since her removal from the bench. She also said she had put her financial affairs in order.

"It's ancient history," Hapner said.

Her past troubles stem from statements she made after she was elected county judge in 1996.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which polices Florida judges, accused Hapner of giving misleading testimony during a bitter divorce, and giving untruthful and inaccurate answers to an appeals court's request that she finish an overdue legal brief.

The JQC also said Hapner neglected her clients while running for office -- a charge she still denies.

In 1998, the Florida Supreme Court removed Hapner from office for a pattern of dishonest and irresponsible behavior, calling her unfit to be a judge. The court later suspended her law license for 90 days and placed her on probation for a year.

Her probation ended this month.

Hal Silverman, who sued Hapner for malpractice, had heard about Hapner's problems when he hired her as his divorce attorney.

At first, Hapner appeared "very professional, very astute," he said. "I guess the reason I stuck with her was because she was a judge, and she knew the ins and outs of the law. You would assume that, wouldn't you?"

But Silverman said Hapner would not respond to calls or e-mails for months. When the judge ruled against Silverman in his divorce, Hapner would not cooperate with a new lawyer hired to handle an appeal, Silverman said.

Silverman's malpractice suit against Hapner claimed she failed to create an adequate record for an appeal and didn't hire a court reporter for a hearing.

A Hillsborough judge recently dismissed Silverman's lawsuit, saying that a lawyer can't be sued for malpractice for failing to bring a court reporter to a hearing.

Peter Croizat also hired Hapner as his divorce attorney.

Like Silverman, Croizat said he had trouble reaching Hapner after he hired her in 2000.

"Every time I would call her office, her paralegal would say, 'She is not available. She is in court,"' Croizat said. "It became very frustrating for me."

In the midst of his divorce case last year, Croizat's ex-wife called: Hapner had been suspended from the Bar, she said.

"She was gloating over that," Croizat said. "I didn't believe her."

When he called Hapner's office, he said Hapner's assistant initially denied it. Then Croizat said he was told his case would be reassigned to another lawyer.

"You have to be kidding me?" Croizat thought. "You are still trying to sell me on an attorney who has ethics violations? I said, 'I don't want her.'

"Well, guess what," he said he was told. "You are stuck with her."

Croizat fired Hapner, refused to pay an additional $1,400 bill, and filed a complaint with the Florida Bar. Croizat didn't follow up on the complaint, which the Bar dismissed for insufficient evidence.

Some of Hapner's creditors haven't been pleased with her, either.

World Omni Inc. sued Hapner in 2000 after the company said she kept a leased 1996 Jeep Cherokee after the lease expired and didn't make payments on it. Hapner wanted to buy the Jeep, but the sides couldn't agree on a price. The company said it repossessed the Jeep in February 2000, but Hapner has denied this in court documents. She said she turned the Jeep into the dealership.

"If you report this ridiculous allegation to the credit bureaus or otherwise take action on this frivolous claim, I will sue your company for defamation and request attorney's fees and costs for the frivolous claim," Hapner wrote the company in February 2000.

The leasing company sued, and a Pinellas County judge last month ordered Hapner to pay $1,209 for missed payments and late fees.

Washington Mutual Financial Inc. sued Hapner in December 2001 for owing $9,415 on a loan she and her ex-husband obtained in 1993. The company said Hapner stopped making payments in January 1997.

Hapner argued in court papers she had never done business with Washington Mutual. Court records show she signed a loan agreement with a company that later merged with Washington Mutual.

"It's just a name game," said Michael Cooper, an attorney for Washington Mutual. "She doesn't want to pay or doesn't have the money."

Hapner, a single mother raising a son, has acknowledged that her removal from the bench created financial strains. She said she owed her lawyers $200,000.

In 1998, Huntington Mortgage Co. filed suit to foreclose on Hapner's home in Carrollwood. A circuit judge entered a $132,000 judgment against Hapner in April 2000, but the judgment was set aside after Hapner settled the case out of court. Property records show that Hapner and her mother still own the property.

Even with these problems, Croizat, her former client, said he thinks voters might return Hapner to office.

"The voting populace has a 5-minute memory span," he said. "She presents herself well. She will be an easy sell."

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