Two South Florida attorneys have been suspended from practicing law after they settled a client's legal cases following his death and collected the resulting funds. The state Supreme Court issued three-year suspensions for Lee Sarkin of Boca Raton and Drew Levitt of Ocean Ridge, both members of the Florida Bar since 1988 and 1992 respectively. Their disciplinary action follows guilty pleas regarding their conduct in handling lawsuits for a client named David Poschmann.
Forged Signatures on Posthumous Settlements
The misconduct centers on specific cases where the attorneys continued settlement negotiations after learning of, or failing to act upon, Mr. Poschmann's death. In one instance involving the Oceanside 99 Condo Association in Ormond Beach, Mr. Poschmann died on November 12, 2021. Despite this, both sides filed a joint notice of settlement five days later.
According to guilty pleas, when the attorneys could not reach their client, they signed his name to the settlement agreement with an ink signature. The proceeds were paid into the lawyers' trust account as per the agreement. The defendants did not learn of Mr. Poschmann's death until approximately a year and a half later.
Fraud on the Court
The court determined that because the settlement was reached after the client's death, Sarkin and Levitt no longer had authority to act on his behalf. The judicial finding stated their conduct constituted a fraud on the court. Consequently, they were ordered to vacate the settlement and pay an $11,287 fee award to Oceanside. Additionally, each lawyer received a nine-month suspension from appearing in the Middle District of Florida federal courts.
A similar pattern emerged in another 2021 lawsuit against the Linda Young Reffitt Revocable Trust. Despite Mr. Poschmann's death on November 12, 2021, the attorneys reached a settlement agreement with defendants on December 7, 2021. They circulated an agreement including a handwritten signature for Poschmann dated December 9, 2021.
Restitution and Professional Consequences
The truth regarding Mr. Poschmann's death came to light in May 2023 when the trust attorneys discovered what had occurred in the Oceanside case. On May 8, 2023, Levitt and Sarkin returned the settlement money from the Reffitt Trust case.
The state Supreme Court ruled that attorney-client privilege survives death but does not preserve a deceased client's power to authorize legal actions or settlements. This distinction was central to the court's decision to impose severe professional penalties on both attorneys for their failure to adhere to basic ethical standards regarding representation and authority.
