asa brian kramer transcript phone call nov-30-2010
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1 * * * * * * * * * *
2 NOTE: All calls on the home office business
3 telephone extension (352) 854-7807 are
4 recorded for quality assurance purposes
5 pursuant to the business use exemption of
6 Florida Statutes Chapter 934, Section
7 934.02(4)(a)(I), and the holding of Royal
8 Health Care Servs., Inc., v. Jefferson-Pilot
9 Life Insurance Company, 924 F.2d 215 (11th
10 Cir. 1991).
11 AUTOMATED ANSWERING MACHING: This call is
12 being recorded for quality assurance purposes.
13 MR. GILLESPIE: Hello.
14 MR. KRAMER: Hey, may I speak to Neil
15 Gillespie, please.
16 MR. GILLESPIE: Speaking.
17 MR. KRAMER: Mr. Gillespie, this is Brian
18 Kramer, how are you?
19 MR. GILLESPIE: Good.
20 MR. KRAMER: Mr. Gillespie, I wasn't sure, I
21 guess secretary must have miscommunicated with me.
22 I thought our meeting was going to be in person so
23 I didn't realize until I started looking at my
24 calendar that your phone number was on there and
25 that it probably meant that it was by phone.
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1 MR. GILLESPIE: Well --
2 MR. KRAMER: How are you doing?
3 MR. GILLESPIE: The meeting was for tomorrow,
4 right?
5 MR. KRAMER: Actually, it's on my calender for
6 today.
7 MR. GILLESPIE: I have it for December 1st at
8 1:30.
9 MR. KRAMER: Okay. Well, let me check my
10 calender real quick and see if that is available
11 for me. And if it is --
12 MR. GILLESPIE: But, you know, doing it over
13 the phone might be well, because I'm down here in
14 Ocala and it's just a long ride for me to get up
15 there.
16 MR. KRAMER: I see. Okay. Okay. Well, it's
17 fine, I have time, I have a deposition that starts
18 at three o'clock. I have to leave here at about
19 2:45. So as long as our conversation today doesn't
20 take longer than from now until 2:45 we could talk
21 now and then if we need to meet in person, we can
22 certainly do that.
23 MR. GILLESPIE: That's fine, I appreciate
24 that. Let me just pull up the file here so I can
25 talk intelligently about this. I'm not that
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1 familiar with the process, so that might help.
2 MR. KRAMER: Sure. And as I said in my
3 letter, you know, the information that I have at
4 this point is certainly complete enough for me to
5 do what I need to do and my purpose of contacting
6 you was twofold. One is to make sure there wasn't
7 any other information you wanted the Bar to
8 consider and also to explain the process to you.
9 And essentially, the way the process works is
10 this. You obviously submitted a complaint and that
11 complaint went to the Bar. And there are reviewers
12 at the Bar and they make an initial determination
13 as to whether or not the complaint has enough merit
14 to it on a variety of reasons to go forward in the
15 process. This one obviously does. And so when
16 that is the case it is referred on to the Grievance
17 Committee for the purposes of investigation and to
18 determine what should happen further at that point.
19 And the Grievance Committee takes -- we
20 have -- there are nine members, three are
21 nonmembers of the Bar, six are members of the Bar.
22 And one of them -- one of the committee members is
23 assigned as an investigator. In this case that's
24 me. And that person then no longer is not really a
25 member of the committee for the purposes of voting
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1 on what should happen with this case, with the
2 grievance at that point, become an investigator.
3 And my job as the investigator is to gather
4 the information necessary to make a decision on the
5 complaint. And then present that information to
6 the Bar Grievance Committee in a neutral and
7 impartial sort of way. And then the committee
8 makes a decision on what they should do.
9 So part of what I'm doing is contacting you,
10 talking to you. I'm also going to contact and have
11 contacted, and will eventually have a meeting with
12 Mr. Bauer and speak with him. I'll gather any
13 documents that are necessary to make a
14 determination, if there are any. And then present
15 that to the committee.
16 When I present it to the committee it's
17 generally done in a sort of summary format. The
18 committee members have available to them all the
19 documentation of the file. They have already seen
20 all that. They have that. So I present it to them
21 in sort of a summary format; this is what the
22 situation is. This is what's going on. And then
23 the committee decides what should happen at that
24 point.
25 And there are a variety of things that the
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1 committee can do. One of them is to do nothing.
2 That's always a possibility. They could say that
3 they don't find any reason to continue on with the
4 grievance.
5 The next thing that they could do in order of
6 severity would be to essentially do nothing but
7 also issue what's call A Letter of Advice. Which
8 is the committee's way of saying, we're not going
9 to do anything to you, we're not going to make this
10 grievance go further than that, but we do believe
11 that what -- your conduct in the case was less than
12 what was the highest standard of conduct for an
13 attorney and here is what we think you should have
14 done as opposed to what you did.
15 And that is not discipline. It's not a form
16 of discipline. It's -- the lawyer could ignore
17 that if they wanted to, but the committee does
18 issue those letters from time to time in certain
19 types of situations.
20 The next thing that the committee could do is
21 make a finding of what's called Minor Misconduct.
22 So if the committee makes a finding of Minor
23 Misconduct, then the committee would also
24 recommend, or the Bar counsel would recommend, sort
25 of a punishment for the person, which is generally
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1 either LOMAP, which is a Law Office Management
2 Program that they come into the office and evaluate
3 and assist the attorney in making their office run
4 better. Or ethics school, which is a -- generally
5 a one day lecture on ethics that the attorney has
6 to complete. And that -- a Minor Misconduct does
7 require the attorney who is being grieved to agree
8 that -- to that sanction. If they don't, then it's
9 not an available way to end the case.
10 Then the next thing beyond a Minor Misconduct
11 is a finding of what's called a Finding of Probable
12 Cause. Which is essentially saying the committee
13 believes that there is more evidence than not that
14 the person committed some form of misconduct. That
15 essentially becomes a complaint, not unlike a
16 lawsuit, that's filed in the Court. It's a
17 petition for discipline in the Supreme Court. And
18 then it's handled like pretty much any other civil
19 lawsuit. There's no jury trial entitlement, but
20 there is a trial entitlement, you know, like any
21 other lawsuit. And it's tried by a special master
22 appointed by the Supreme Court, because it is in
23 the Supreme Court of Florida.
24 And then if the person, you know, it goes on
25 from there. If the person is found to have
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1 committed some kind of Bar violation, then there is
2 a discipline hearing. And then that goes on to the
3 Supreme Court and it can get complicated from
4 there. But that is the process in a nutshell.
5 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh.
6 MR. KRAMER: Is there any -- do you have any
7 questions about the process?
8 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, I think you have laid it
9 out. I'll go back and look over the notes that
10 I'll make and maybe I'll have some questions then.
11 I'm just looking at this document that was sent to
12 me, the Notice of Assignment of Investigating
13 Member and/or Panel.
14 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
15 MR. GILLESPIE: And I guess that's the latest
16 thing. And I'm also looking at my notes with
17 Ms. Carver. It said that -- I think she said in
18 January is when there is going to be this meeting?
19 MR. KRAMER: Correct. I believe, I want to
20 say the 18th, is the -- it's a Thursday -- Tuesday
21 afternoon, I believe, is when the Bar meets and
22 this case is on the calendar in January.
23 MR. GILLESPIE: Do they just, I mean, meet by
24 themself or --
25 MR. KRAMER: Correct.
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1 MR. GILLESPIE: So --
2 MR. KRAMER: It's not a public hearing, it's
3 confidential.
4 MR. GILLESPIE: Would I attend that or could I
5 attend that?
6 MR. KRAMER: Not that hearing. If there is
7 going to be a hearing on the case, like a trial,
8 sort of a small trial, then that is something that
9 the complainant would be invited to and would
10 actually be required to attend.
11 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. Okay. So that's the
12 next meeting in January that the committee will
13 make some decision about this matter.
14 MR. KRAMER: Probably. Now, I could -- it's
15 theoretically possible that I could present the
16 case to the committee and the committee could tell
17 me, we would like you to do further investigation,
18 we would like you to gather further documentation,
19 go back and speak with other witnesses, if that is
20 necessary.
21 I don't know that that is the case with this
22 particular case. But it's always possible. There
23 are no real time limitations, no one is in any kind
24 of hurry to deal with these cases. So, you know,
25 if they feel like they need more information before
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1 they make a decision they certainly will tell me
2 that and I will go back and do it.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Okay. I guess the other thing
4 is, I guess in some Bar complaints they are simple
5 in the fact that, for example, if somebody, if an
6 attorney just stole money from a trust fund.
7 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
8 MR. GILLESPIE: You're focusing on that one
9 issue. In this Bar complaint it kind of focuses on
10 the entire attorney/client relationship between
11 Mr. Bauer and myself over the period of a couple
12 years.
13 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
14 MR. GILLESPIE: And you know, there's
15 hundreds, perhaps thousands, of documents.
16 Hundreds of e-mails, all kinds of evidence. So
17 it's just difficult to whittle that down, at least
18 from my perspective as an outsider looking in at
19 the process.
20 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
21 MR. GILLESPIE: The other thing that disturbed
22 me about the complaint, how the complaint process
23 worked, was the fact that Mr. Rodems, the other
24 attorney from the other side, injected himself into
25 the complaint process.
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1 MR. KRAMER: What is it about that that upsets
2 you?
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, it just seems untoward
4 that he is now working for the benefit of his
5 former adversary. I don't understand that.
6 MR. KRAMER: Well, I'm not sure that I
7 understand exactly why it would upset you. The Bar
8 is going to gather information from anyone who we,
9 the Bar, thinks is -- has relevant information
10 about the circumstance. And not unlike the fact
11 that you are welcome to present whatever you would
12 like in support of your allegation that Mr. Bauer
13 has committed misconduct, Mr. Bauer is entitled to
14 present whatever he would like to say he did not
15 commit misconduct.
16 What information the Bar actually will
17 consider is up to the Bar. It's not up to
18 Mr. Bauer. It's not up to Mr. Rodems. And it's
19 certainly not up to anyone else to tell the Bar
20 what they're to consider and what they're not to
21 consider --
22 MR. GILLESPIE: Right.
23 MR. KRAMER: -- in determining whether or not
24 there is probable cause to, you know, to determine
25 whether there is probable cause. Once the case is
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1 in civil court it is subject to the Rules of
2 Evidence.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Yeah, I guess my objection is
4 just more of a, you know, layman's complaint.
5 Certainly the Bar can consider whatever it wants.
6 The problem with Mr. Rodems, and just to give
7 you a little bit of my background. I have known
8 this Barker, Rodems and Cook firm for about 10
9 years now. So I'm very familiar with their
10 reputation and tactics.
11 And also, prior to moving to Florida I
12 operated a business in Pennsylvania, a car
13 dealership for many years. And I have used a lot
14 of attorneys. I'm somewhat familiar with that
15 process.
16 Mr. Rodems really uniquely stands out as a
17 complete and utter liar and there is no tactic
18 beneath him. So that is the problem with Rodems.
19 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
20 MR. GILLESPIE: He's just -- and I think he
21 did almost a disservice to Mr. Bauer who he is
22 apparently trying to help, in that, you know,
23 Mr. Bauer apparently adopted some of these
24 ridiculous talking points of Mr. Rodems which are
25 pretty easily disproved. Whether or not the Bar is
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1 going to look at that is another question, but I
2 don't think that helped Mr. Bauer by incorporating
3 a lot of, you know, falsehoods into his responses.
4 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh, uh-huh. Well, are there
5 any specific examples of things that you would want
6 me to note for the Bar to take back to the
7 committee to say, you know, I spoke with
8 Mr. Gillespie and he noted that the following
9 things were false in Mr. Rodems' response?
10 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, I made a, you know, I
11 responded to all of this in writing and --
12 MR. KRAMER: I read it.
13 MR. GILLESPIE: -- it's pointed out there.
14 MR. KRAMER: Okay. Well, that's fine. And
15 that information I have read it and all the
16 committee members will have that available to them.
17 And I certainly am going to review that with him
18 when I present the case to the committee.
19 But as far as your concern about Mr. Rodems
20 and his ability to make comment or to provide
21 information to the Bar, I don't know that there is
22 anything I can really do to, you know, make you
23 feel better about that. It's sort of the protocol
24 and procedure that's followed on a normal basis.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh.
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1 MR. KRAMER: And it's really probably not
2 going to be any different in this case.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. I mean, I -- of
4 course the Bar wasn't involved with Mr. Rodems'
5 former firm, but I think with his -- when I first
6 got involved with that firm, if the Bar had taken
7 action on matters that were in the press it would
8 have at least alerted me as a client that these
9 guys were outrageous.
10 I mean, Mr. Alpert, his partner, you know,
11 threw a cup of coffee on opposing counsel during a
12 mediation. That doesn't get any reprimand from the
13 Bar? It just seems outrageous.
14 MR. KRAMER: Are you asking me that?
15 MR. GILLESPIE: Pardon?
16 MR. KRAMER: Are you asking me whether or not
17 in theory if that occurred would that render a
18 reprimand from the Bar?
19 MR. GILLESPIE: Yes.
20 MR. KRAMER: I suppose it would. I mean, it
21 certainly could be a crime as well, it could be
22 battery to do that.
23 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, that's what the police
24 report said.
25 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh. Yeah, I suppose. I
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1 don't know. Of course that is not before this
2 committee, but I certainly think that the Bar would
3 be concerned about physical violence between
4 attorneys.
5 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. Well, I mean, nothing
6 ever happened with it.
7 MR. KRAMER: I don't know. I don't really --
8 I wish I could comment more. I don't know. I
9 mean, because I really don't know about the
10 circumstances that you're discussing. I mean, I'm
11 considering it on a hypothetical level.
12 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, a lot of this which I am
13 telling you now is in my responses.
14 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh, I know. Oh, I have read
15 it, yeah.
16 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. So with that kind of
17 background with the Bar just ignoring that, this
18 doesn't give me much confidence that the Bar is
19 going to do anything in this case. The only thing
20 that I see --
21 MR. KRAMER: Well, what I can tell you with
22 regard to that, other than to tell you that, you
23 know, the way that, you know, that justice is
24 usually dispensed in our particular culture is
25 through the following protocol and procedure. And
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1 you know, that's why we really call it procedural
2 justice, because you can't guaranty an outcome.
3 All you can really guaranty is that if a procedure
4 is followed then that is procedural due process.
5 That's procedurally being fair to a person.
6 Outcomes, you know, because it's a human
7 system and it's run by humans, the outcome itself
8 can be flawed. Many times people are dissatisfied
9 with the outcomes of our justice system, whether
10 it's civil or criminal. Or in your case this is
11 more of an administrative situation. But if we
12 follow the process that's essentially the best that
13 we can do. And while I can't assure you that you
14 will be satisfied with the outcome, I can assure
15 you that we will follow the process that is
16 presided by law.
17 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. I'm sure you will.
18 But again, I'm looking at it as an outsider. And I
19 just, from what I know of the Bar, they usually
20 don't do much.
21 Another case that I'm familiar with is an
22 attorney that stole almost a million dollars from
23 his clients.
24 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: He faced no discipline. He
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1 was allowed to resign with leave to reapply in five
2 years. And he received no jail time. So you know,
3 these are the cases I'm familiar with.
4 MR. KRAMER: As am I. I certainly don't
5 disagree with you that there are cases like that
6 that occur where one looking at it from the outside
7 would be alarmed or dismayed by the lack of
8 discipline handed out by the Bar. Those do exist,
9 I agree.
10 MR. GILLESPIE: The only thing I see that is
11 working against Mr. Bauer is that he took up
12 litigation against another attorney. So that I
13 don't think is going to be helpful to him, but
14 again, that's just my view as an outsider.
15 MR. KRAMER: Well, I can tell you this, I
16 don't think that that is something that the Bar is
17 going to be concerned about. I have never in any
18 meeting I have ever been in, never heard any sort
19 of bias against an attorney because they litigated
20 against another attorney on, you know, one attorney
21 suing another. I haven't heard that in a Bar
22 meeting I have ever been involved with. I can
23 understand why that might be your perception. I
24 think that there are other things that are more
25 concerning for Mr. Bauer with your particular
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1 circumstance.
2 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, a lot of things in this
3 world aren't spoken. Some of the most powerful
4 statements go unspoken.
5 MR. KRAMER: I agree.
6 MR. GILLESPIE: But other than that, that's my
7 view of things.
8 MR. KRAMER: Okay.
9 MR. GILLESPIE: I don't really have many
10 expectations. Really this is a matter between the
11 Bar and Mr. Bauer.
12 MR. KRAMER: Correct.
13 MR. GILLESPIE: I view myself as just a casual
14 observer at this point.
15 MR. KRAMER: And that's a very good attitude
16 to take towards this, the situation. I appreciate
17 it. I think that that's the right attitude to
18 take, you know. But I'll tell you what, when I
19 speak with Mr. Bauer, if he raises any issues that
20 I think need to be readdressed with you, I would be
21 happy to get back in touch with you, either in
22 writing or in person, by telephone to discuss it
23 and see if, you know, if there's any comment you
24 have. You know, most of the time the things that
25 people are most interested in in these type of
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1 situations are fees that they paid returned to
2 them, those type of things. The Bar doesn't have
3 any jurisdiction to handle that problem and it's
4 something that has to go on between you and the
5 attorney.
6 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh.
7 MR. KRAMER: So, you know, most of the time
8 people are really -- they're dissatisfied to begin
9 with on that level, you know, they're saying, well,
10 you can't really do what I want. You know, that is
11 not even a possible outcome. So, you know, I think
12 you understand this quite well. You know, I think
13 you understand the nature of the circumstances.
14 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh.
15 MR. KRAMER: But if you have any questions,
16 you're free to call me, let me know. I'll be happy
17 to get back with you.
18 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, you know, just on that
19 issue.
20 MR. KRAMER: If I have anymore questions I
21 certainly will call you.
22 MR. GILLESPIE: Yeah, just on that issue
23 because you raised it, I'm familiar with that,
24 you're not in a position to return fees. However,
25 an attorney I spoke with, actually consulted and
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1 paid him to review this matter, it was his opinion
2 that since Mr. Bauer constructively changed his
3 billing from an hourly rate to a contingent fee
4 basis, that that was grounds to reevaluate the fees
5 in this matter, because there was a change.
6 MR. KRAMER: You mean in civil court?
7 MR. GILLESPIE: Pardon?
8 MR. KRAMER: In -- like in civil court or for
9 the Bar to do so?
10 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, you know, that's a legal
11 question. That's what this attorney told me as --
12 MR. KRAMER: All I can tell you,
13 Mr. Gillespie, is that I have never seen a
14 circumstance where the Bar has even discussed the
15 idea of making an attorney do something with fees.
16 Like return fees, that type of thing. It's just
17 not something that comes up.
18 Now, if the attorney you spoke with was
19 telling you, I think you could sue him in civil
20 court and recover your fees because he changed the
21 contract, a contingency fee contract to a fee
22 for -- from a fee for services to a contingency fee
23 contract and that because he did that and made not
24 recovery on your behalf you would be entitled to
25 return of the fees that you paid. I think he has a
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1 sound legal theory. You know, I don't -- I can't
2 criticize that legal theory. Whether or not that
3 is factually true in your circumstance, I don't
4 have the first clue.
5 MR. GILLESPIE: Yeah, and that is not
6 exactly --
7 MR. KRAMER: As far as the Bar is concerned, I
8 know of nothing that would allow the Bar to require
9 Mr. Bauer to return fees to you.
10 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. Well, that's not
11 exactly how it was presented, but I believe your
12 statement that the Bar is not going to get involved
13 in having an attorney return fees.
14 MR. KRAMER: Correct.
15 MR. GILLESPIE: If they let an attorney steal
16 a million dollars from clients that the attorney
17 had no claim over without mandating he return that,
18 they're certainly not going to get involved in
19 fees, right?
20 MR. KRAMER: Yeah, and understand that, you
21 know, what you're talking about with this trust
22 fund theft, it's also a criminal offense. And I
23 don't know whether that particular attorney was
24 prosecuted or not prosecuted.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: There was five counts of grant
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1 theft.
2 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: The Judge determined that, I
4 mean, he pled guilty so there was no question about
5 the guilt. He pled guilty to five counts of grand
6 theft and received probation.
7 MR. KRAMER: Right.
8 MR. GILLESPIE: No jail time.
9 MR. KRAMER: Just as an aside or a side note,
10 you also should understand that if he was adjudged
11 guilty, meaning the judge found that he committed
12 the offense and adjudged him to be guilty and he
13 was a convicted felon, no convicted felon can be a
14 member of the Florida Bar. So that person,
15 regardless of whether they were allowed to reapply,
16 wouldn't be eligible to reapply because they
17 couldn't pass the background check. You can't be a
18 convicted felon and be a lawyer in Florida.
19 Even if the person had adjudication withheld,
20 meaning that the judge made no direct finding of
21 guilt, placed him on probation, you still when you
22 reapply under those circumstances, you're suspended
23 more than 91 days.
24 If you reapply to the Bar you still have to
25 pass the background check. The could be very
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1 difficult if you have five counts of grand theft in
2 your background, if not impossible.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. Well, you know, I
4 just don't know enough about the law to respond to
5 that. I'm just saying what the facts were at the,
6 you know, at the trial. I mean, there was a trial.
7 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. Well, and
8 you know, like you say, sometimes it's easier to
9 talk about these things in the abstract than it is
10 to talk about -- unless you have the entire
11 information in front of you it's hypothetical and
12 you're speaking in the abstract. You know, if you
13 have the entire file in front of you it sometimes
14 becomes much more clear.
15 MR. GILLESPIE: Okay. Well, I'll go over what
16 we discussed today. If I have any other
17 questions --
18 MR. KRAMER: Absolutely, give me a call.
19 MR. GILLESPIE: There's a lot of documentation
20 that because of the limits of 25 pages in responses
21 it wasn't able to be put forth.
22 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
23 MR. GILLESPIE: But that's all I can tell you.
24 MR. KRAMER: Right.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: All right. So --
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1 MR. KRAMER: Yeah.
2 MR. GILLESPIE: I guess --
3 MR. KRAMER: I don't know, Mr. Gillespie, I
4 don't know that that 25 page limit applies now.
5 Okay. Understand that I believe that that 25 page
6 limit only applies to the initial complaint, in
7 that you can reference, you can make reference to
8 documents to be quote available upon request. So
9 that the Bar investigator can look at 25 pages of
10 information and make a determination as to whether
11 or not they want more information.
12 Now, if you want to forward me whatever
13 information you want the Bar to consider, you can
14 forward it to me. If it's more than 25 pages, it's
15 fine.
16 MR. GILLESPIE: All right, well, I know there
17 were Mr. Bauer's reply and my rebuttal were also
18 limited to 25 pages.
19 MR. KRAMER: Correct.
20 MR. GILLESPIE: Okay. You know what, I made
21 the original --
22 MR. KRAMER: I don't believe that that applies
23 at this point in the proceedings, Mr. Gillespie. I
24 think that at this point if there is other
25 information you want me to consider, you want me to
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1 present to the Bar that supports your claims that
2 you think they should consider, I would encourage
3 you to present it to me.
4 Understand that, you know, if you present to
5 me, you know, 10,000 pages of documents, it's very
6 helpful for me to have some form of index or
7 guideline as to which specific documents you
8 should -- I should consider. You know, the
9 totality of the circumstances type thing that you
10 were kind of alluding to at the beginning of the
11 conversation, that is a very difficult thing to
12 deal with from the Bar's perspective because the
13 Bar looks at specific instances of conduct; you did
14 this act and this act. It's either violative of
15 the rules or it is not violative of the rules. To
16 say that your entire conduct in some way generally
17 fell short of what's expected, I have never seen
18 anything like that. We generally look to very
19 specific instances of conduct.
20 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, right, you know, when I
21 filed the complaint initially I mistakenly sent
22 more than 25 pages.
23 MR. KRAMER: Right.
24 MR. GILLESPIE: In fact, it was mostly
25 exhibits and it came to about 100 pages.
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1 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
2 MR. GILLESPIE: So that was returned. And I
3 guess I'm guessing the original complaint was about
4 17 or 18 pages and I just selected a few exhibits
5 to attach.
6 MR. KRAMER: Mr. Gillespie, if it's a hundred
7 pages I would be glad to read it.
8 MR. GILLESPIE: And all it is is documents,
9 you know, evidence.
10 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
11 MR. GILLESPIE: So I'm sure I still have that
12 here in the file. That would be easy just to pop
13 that in the mail to you.
14 MR. KRAMER: Go ahead and do that.
15 MR. GILLESPIE: In fact, I had it all put on
16 CD as well.
17 MR. KRAMER: Then send me a CD and I can look
18 at it that way. You don't even have to send me
19 paper copies.
20 MR. GILLESPIE: Uh-huh. So --
21 MR. KRAMER: I mean, a hundred pages is
22 nothing. If you're going to send me 10,000, that
23 is a lot of pages for me to go through. A hundred
24 pages I can read over.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: You know, one of the -- just
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1 off the top of my head, a couple of -- one of the
2 most serious problems was when Mr. Bauer failed to
3 inform me of the requirements to fill out a Fact
4 Information Sheet, which in turn led to me being
5 found in contempt of court.
6 MR. KRAMER: Yes.
7 MR. GILLESPIE: And then I guess he borrowed
8 one of Rodems' talking points for an excuse about
9 that.
10 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
11 MR. GILLESPIE: That was a real problem.
12 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
13 MR. GILLESPIE: And then later on when he
14 agreed to do this as a contingency and he refused
15 to sign the contingency agreement or do it as a
16 contingency. Because when the documents arrived he
17 also sent me a release, which we did not talk
18 about. I just felt that if I signed the release
19 that he would just throw the case to get rid of it.
20 So I didn't sign a release. And -- but I did sign
21 and return to him the contingent fee agreement and
22 I never heard back from him --
23 MR. KRAMER: Uh-huh.
24 MR. GILLESPIE: -- on that issue.
25 MR. KRAMER: Well, if you want to send me
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1 documentation along those lines I would be happy to
2 review it.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Well, yeah, you know, that
4 was -- that's in the hundred pages, I believe.
5 MR. KRAMER: Well, I would be happy to review
6 those hundred pages for you.
7 MR. GILLESPIE: I'll get that in the mail and
8 we'll go from there.
9 MR. KRAMER: Okay, Mr. Gillespie. Well, if
10 anything else comes up please feel free to give me
11 a call or, you know, if you review your notes in
12 this conversation and something triggers other
13 questions in your mind, I would be happy to talk
14 with you again.
15 MR. GILLESPIE: Okay. So just to clarify, our
16 meeting for tomorrow is off then.
17 MR. KRAMER: Yes. Although, if you feel like
18 you need to come down here and meet with me in
19 person, I will make -- I will keep the meeting
20 tomorrow or I'll make another appointment for you.
21 MR. GILLESPIE: No, it's better, because it's
22 too difficult for me to get down there, if we can
23 do it by phone.
24 MR. KRAMER: Okay.
25 MR. GILLESPIE: I'm not in good health and
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1 that is a lot of traveling.
2 MR. KRAMER: I understand.
3 MR. GILLESPIE: Thank you, sir. I appreciate
4 your call.
5 MR. KRAMER: Take care, Mr. Gillespie.
6 MR. GILLESPIE: All right.
7 MR. KRAMER: Bye bye.
8 MR. GILLESPIE: Bye.
9 (Whereupon, the above recording was
10 concluded.)
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1 C-E-R-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-E
2 STATE OF FLORIDA
3 COUNTY OF HILLSBOROUGH
4
5 I, Michael J. Borseth, Court Reporter
6 for the Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial
7 Circuit of the State of Florida, in and for
8 Hillsborough County, DO HEREBY CERTIFY, that I was
9 authorized to and did transcribe a tape/CD recording of
10 the proceedings and evidence in the above-styled cause,
11 as stated in the caption hereto, and that the foregoing
12 pages constitute an accurate transcription of the tape
13 recording of said proceedings and evidence, to the best
14 of my ability.
15 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
16 in the City of Tampa, County of Hillsborough, State of
17 Florida, this 7 April 2011.
18 MICHAEL J. BORSETH, Court Reporter
19
20 ___________________________________
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