Lawyer's fate in the hands of judge, court

The Tampa lawyer is accused of stealing $30,000 from a client he represented last year.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 20, 2001

LARGO -- Domenic Massari III's clients have included a businessman convicted of scheming to bilk a bank of $30-million and a company that went bankrupt, leaving investors out more than $150-million.

But now, the Tampa lawyer finds himself a target of investigators and accused of his own financial misdeeds.

The Florida Bar accuses Massari of stealing $30,000 from a client he represented in a Tampa civil case last year, forging documents to get his hands on the money and then to cover up the fraud.

A Pinellas judge will rule today what, if any, punishment he will recommend for Massari to the Florida Supreme Court. The bar, which investigates allegations of misconduct, is urging the high court to take away Massari's license to practice law -- the harshest possible penalty.

Massari has fought the allegations, most recently at a two-day trial in August in front of Pinellas County Judge Thomas McGrady, who is presiding over the case that will go to the state Supreme Court.

The court, which ultimately will determine the attorney's fate, likely will take one or two months to make a decision, longer if either side contests McGrady's ruling.

Disbarment of an attorney is a rare step reserved for the most severe cases. Of the more than 68,000 lawyers in the state, just 38 were disbarred last year, the Florida Bar said. Others were punished in less severe ways: 155 were suspended, 57 were publicly reprimanded and 70 were admonished privately.

Massari, 48, who works in Tampa, and his attorney, John Weiss of Tallahassee, could not be reached for comment last week. Massari has had a license to practice law in Florida since 1977 and works primarily as a bankruptcy attorney.

The Florida Bar also is looking into two other complaints against Massari, said Brett Alan Geer, an attorney who works for the bar in Tampa. Complaints are not public record at this stage of the inquiry.

But the other two investigations may not be that important if the court decides Massari should lose his license in the case involving the $30,000.

Tampa police began investigating the case as well, considering criminal charges against Massari, but Geer said officers dropped the inquiry after the victim, Ronald D. Martinez, declined to cooperate.

Martinez hired Massari to represent him and his company, Martinez Construction and Design, in 1997 in a civil lawsuit in Hillsborough Circuit Court. The two sides resolved their dispute, and Martinez expected to receive $30,000 in a settlement, according to the complaint. The First American Title Insurance Corp. was going to disburse the money it was holding in the case after getting the proper paperwork.

The bar accuses Massari of signing and giving the paperwork to the company instead of having Martinez sign it, the complaint says. The title company gave the $30,000 to Massari, who put it into his client trust account, the bar claims.

Martinez was not aware the check had been issued and did not endorse it, but the complaint says his signature appears on it.

In April and May 2000, Martinez tried to contact Massari to get the money, but Massari told him that the title company still had it and that a judge needed to approve the settlement, the bar says.

Martinez discovered the truth in late May when he went to the title company directly. The company then reported the situation to other attorneys in the case and the police and bar soon began investigating.

In mid-June, $24,200 was deposited into Massari's account from Robert Swain, a Pinellas developer whom Massari represents in bankruptcy proceedings, Geer said. Massari then gave Martinez that money and asked him to sign a letter to the police explaining that the situation was resolved, he said.

The Florida Bar accuses Massari of spending money that wasn't his; not keeping the money in a separate account; not notifying Martinez that he received the money; lying about the money and forging signatures.

- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

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