In re Petition for Disciplinary Action Against Rebekah Mariya Nett, A12–1442.

• Decision Date: 27 November 2013
• Docket Number: No. A12–1442.,A12–1442.
• Citation: 839 N.W.2d 716
• Parties: In re Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION against Rebekah Mariya NETT, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 299571.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

839 N.W.2d 716

In re Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION against Rebekah Mariya NETT, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 299571.

No. A12–1442.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Nov. 27, 2013.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The referee clearly erred when he found that respondent's cooperation in the disciplinary proceedings and lack of disciplinary history are mitigating factors.

2. Respondent's misconduct warrants an indefinite suspension with no right to petition for reinstatement for a minimum of 9 months.

Martin A. Cole, Director, Patrick R. Burns, First Assistant Director, Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for petitioner.

Zorislav R. Leyderman, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for respondent.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

The Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (Director) filed a petition for disciplinary action against respondent Rebekah Mariya Nett. The petition alleged that Nett violated Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 3.1, ¹4.4(a),²8.2(a),³8.4(d),⁴and 8.4(g) ⁵ by engaging in a pattern of bad faith litigation, including making false and harassing statements toward judges and others involved in litigation against her clients. Nett answered the petition, but she did not accompany her attorney to the evidentiary hearing before the referee. Following the evidentiary hearing, the referee concluded that Nett had committed the alleged misconduct and recommended an indefinite suspension for a minimum of 6 months as the appropriate discipline. We conclude that the referee clearly erred when he considered Nett's lack of disciplinary history and cooperation with the disciplinary investigation as mitigating factors. We further conclude that the appropriate discipline for Nett's misconduct is an indefinite suspension from the practice of law with no right to petition for reinstatement for 9 months.

I.

Nett was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in May 2000. She had no history of discipline before this matter. Nett's misconduct relates to 11 filings she made in 5 separate matters over the course of 17 months. All of her misconduct occurred in cases in which she represented the Dr. R. C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology, Inc. (SIST), or related commercial entities. The referee made the following findings related to Nett's misconduct, which neither party disputes.

U.S. Acquisitions & Oil, Inc., SIST Matter

In August 2010, Nett represented SIST and other related entities in a Wisconsin state court action. Nett sought removal to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.⁶ Nett filed several documents containing false accusations about judicial and other local officials, including a document contending that the judiciary and law enforcement had conspired with the mayor of Shawano, Wisconsin, against SIST. That filing also accused local Wisconsin state judges of being members of a secretive racist society, alleged that various judges had discriminated against SIST based on their common race and religion, and complained that courts follow no procedures and act as if there is no law. Nett accused the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin of granting opposing counsel's requests because the opposing counsel was the judge's former law clerk. Subsequent motions and pleadings by Nett contained similar allegations against the opposing party and the opposing party's counsel.

In October 2010, the federal district court sanctioned Nett, ordering her to pay the opposing party's attorney fees and other expenses incurred in bringing a motion for sanctions. In that order, the court called Nett's statements “detailed, serious, [ ] bizarre[,] ... fantastic[,] and delusional,” and pointed out that the allegations had “absolutely nothing to do with the merits of [the] lawsuit.”

D.S. Criminal Matter

In November 2010, Nett filed a brief in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals appealing D.S.'s conviction for violating a municipal ordinance. In the brief, Nett falsely asserted that the mayor of Shawano, Wisconsin, and other local officials have “positioned themselves against SIST's president,” implying that they had done so because SIST's president is from India. In February 2011, the court affirmed D.S.'s conviction and directed Nett to pay a $200 sanction for filing a brief containing technical deficiencies and assertions in the statement of facts that had no support in the record. The court characterized Nett's assertions as “brazen” and “completely unsupported by the record.”

Midwest Amusement Park, LLC, Matter

In January 2011, Nett filed a brief as counsel for several SIST entities that were defendants in a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. That brief falsely asserted that discrimination based on race, religion, and negative propaganda dictated the course of the litigation. The brief also compared the defendants' “experience of justice in the United States” to the “ ‘justice’ Jews experienced under Hitler in Germany.” The following month, the federal district court ordered Nett to show cause why she should not be sanctioned $5,000 for violating the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by filing the offensive statements. In its order, the court called Nett's “gratuitous and continued attacks” on the court's ethics and impartiality “startling.” The order also stated that “no reasonable attorney could suppose the [allegations] to have any merit whatsoever.”

Nett responded to the order by hurling even more false allegations against the Eastern District's Chief Judge, including accusations that the judge was “standing first for his religion rather than the U.S. Constitution,” that the United States District Court is “united under a common race and religion to rule against SIST,” that the court engages in a grand scheme of discrimination, and that the court supports a political campaign against the defendants. Nett also claimed that the Chief Judge was “simply supporting his decision not to recuse himself” by entering a default judgment for the plaintiffs and directing Nett to show cause why she should not be sanctioned.

The court imposed a $5,000 sanction against Nett. It noted that Nett “would have been better to ignore [the] order to show cause than to respond to it.” The court also stated that “[d]espite the seriousness of the charge,” the defendants “have been able to muster only conclusory allegations of bias.”

Nett appealed the $5,000 sanction, but the Seventh Circuit upheld it. Subsequently, the Seventh Circuit suspended Nett from the Seventh Circuit bar for her failure to pay the sanction on time. In light of her suspension from the Seventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota automatically suspended Nett.

Midwest Oil of Minnesota Bankruptcy Matter

Nett represented a SIST-related entity that initiated bankruptcy proceedings in Minnesota. In February 2011, Nett filed a motion asking the bankruptcy judge to recuse himself and for the removal of the attorney representing the United States trustee (who Nett misunderstood to be the trustee himself). Along with the motion, Nett filed a memorandum of law containing false allegations that the attorney Nett believed to be the United States trustee and the bankruptcy judge were biased against her client. Among other improper statements, Nett's memorandum falsely stated that the judge is a religious bigot. In March 2011, the bankruptcy court issued an order denying the motions, stating “the motion and memorandum are unsupported by any factual record.”

Yehud–Monosson USA, Inc., Bankruptcy Matters

Nett also represented a SIST-related entity in bankruptcy proceedings that were transferred to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota. Nett's filings and affidavits from the entity's president, which were attached to or incorporated into several of those filings, falsely accused the trustees and several bankruptcy judges of bias based on race and religion. One filing called one of the bankruptcy judges a “black robed bigot” and a “Catholic Knight Witch Hunter,” the Chapter 7 trustee a “Jesuitess,” another bankruptcy judge a “Jesuit,” and the United States trustee a “priest's boy.” The filing also asserted that “these dirty Catholics have conspired together to hurt Debtor.”

During the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, the bankruptcy court found the entity's president in contempt based on her knowing and willful failure to comply with a turnover order. Around the same time, the bankruptcy court directed Nett to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed based on offensive statements she made in a memorandum. At the show cause hearing, the court found that Nett had not conducted a reasonable investigation of the facts before making specific statements and that she had violated the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure by making the false allegations. The court issued an order imposing a $5,000 sanction, enjoining Nett from filing any document referring to the religious beliefs (or lack thereof) of the court or of others, requiring Nett to attend legal ethics training, and referring her to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota for possible removal from the roster of attorneys admitted to practice before that court.

Nett appealed the sanctions order to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. In May 2012, that court affirmed the sanctions order. At the time of the Director's appeal to this court, Nett had completed all of these requirements and had paid the $5,000 sanction. The record does not indicate, however, whether Nett has paid the sanctions imposed by the Wisconsin state and federal courts.

In his conclusions of law, the referee concluded that Nett violated the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct by repeatedly filing frivolous pleadings containing allegations about the qualifications of judges and others that were false and made with knowledge of their...