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New York attorneys Shane Rios and Daniel Levy have been suspended from the practice of law for nine months.   Mr. Rios and Mr. Levy admitted they advised their client she would have no viable case if she fell outside her church, as she had originally told them happened, but she would have a viable case if she fell across the street where there was a badly maintained sidewalk.  When the lawyers then asked where the client had fallen, she told them across the street from the church.  The panel of the First Judicial Department deciding the case found: “based on the record, it is clear that respondents intentionally influenced their client to misrepresent the situs of her accident in order to pursue an action which they knew was fraudulent from its inception.”  The lawyers were charged with violating Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(c)(dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation), 8.4(h) (conduct that adversely reflects on fitness as an attorney), 1.1(b) (handling a matter the lawyer is not competent to handle).

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire