TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Supreme Court of Florida appointed a referee Wednesday to preside over a petition filed by the Florida Bar for an emergency suspension of the law license of Christopher Chestnut, an attorney who who has handled many high-profile cases, including the family of a Florida A&M University drum major who died in a hazing incident.
The referee will submit a report and recommendation to the state Supreme Court within seven days after the hearing.
In the emergency motion filed last month, the Florida Bar said Chestnut "appears to be causing great public harm" and has already been the subject of nine different bar disciplinary issues, including the exploitation of an Alachua County family.
Chestnut filed a response on Sept. 7, claiming that "certain members of the Florida Bar 'establishment' have been conspiring with the Florida Bar prosecutors to predatorily prosecute" him because of "personal vendettas, racial animus and greed."
FILING: Chestnut's response to the Florida Bar
“The Florida Bar has a history of prosecuting more harshly and more frequently lawyers of color,” Chestnut said in an interview with the I-TEAM. “The system in and of itself is inherently biased against small firms.”
The I-TEAM checked Florida Bar records and found that 29 emergency suspensions were issued against Florida attorneys over the last five years. Of those, 24 were issued against white attorneys, one against a Hispanic attorney and one against a black attorney. The races of three of the attorneys were not available.
“I'm not the only one this has happened to,” Chestnut said. “I'm just the only one that's been successful enough early enough to fight back. So I think with an investigation, there will be a lot unfolding as it relates to racism, institutional sexism, and Florida is not that anymore. This is 2016.”
Chestnut sues Florida Bar
A day after filing his 85-page response to the bar's request for his license to be suspended, Chesnut filed a formal complaint against the Florida Bar, claiming "damages in excess of $15,000."
“It's what you have to do,” Chestnut said of his lawsuit. “They're trying to take me out."
Chestnut, who also represented the Jacksonville family of Makia Coney, a University Christian School student who was murdered by two classmates, is representing himself in the matter.
MORE: How to report misconduct to the Florida Bar
“At some point you've got to confront the bully,” Chestnut told the I-TEAM. “They are trying to create havoc, hysteria, (to) disrupt my way of earning a living.”
He said he doesn't believe that a lot of people are out to get him.
“I think there are a lot of people who are victims of this predatory practice by the Florida Bar,” Chestnut said. “What they do is weigh you down, weigh you down, false accusation after false accusation.”
Chestnut said fighting the bar has cost him $25 million to $50 million in lost revenue and forced his firm to downsize.
Representatives of the Florida Bar declined comment because of the ongoing litigation.
Previous problems with Bar
The Bar filed a six-count complaint in May against Chestnut, alleging "egregious conduct involving ... lack of competence, candor, diligence and communication, solicitation, dishonesty, failure to supervise and excessive fees."
He was previously found guilty of "lack of diligence and communication," receiving a public reprimand in October 2015.
FILES: Georgia complaint | Texas complaint | Alachua County complaint
Chestnut is accused of agreeing to represent clients in Georgia and Maryland, even though he wasn't licensed to practice law in those states. In the Georgia case, he withdrew just two weeks before the statute of limitations expired in the case. The Maryland case was also compromised because of the false representation, and that victim sued Chestnut in federal court.
“My Georgia cases are worked out of an Atlanta office that is staffed by Georgia lawyers, so it can't be the unlicensed practice of law if Georgia lawyers are working the cases, just like it's the Morgan and Morgan brand, the Ken Nugent brand,” Chestnut said, admitting that he is personally licensed to practice only in Florida.
'Not the America I know'
The Florida Bar alleged that in another case, Chestnut "schemed to defraud his own client out of settlement funds." He denied that.
“It's because I upset the establishment, because I dared to be ambitious. How dare you young Negro dare to be ambitious?” Chestnut said. “And it's unfortunate, and it's not the America I know.”
The case involves an Alachua County man who was paralyzed in a work-related accident. He later received a settlement of more than $8 million for his injuries.
VIEW: Petition for emergency suspension of Chestnut's license
The victim and his family later sued Chestnut to get back the exorbitant fees that they said he charged. After a trial, a jury found that Chestnut "committed civil theft, breached his fiduciary duty and exploited his client."
Chestnut was sued last month in Texas over allegations that he solicited a client without having a license to practice in the state.
The complaint said that as a woman lay dying in an ICU in Dallas, a city councilwoman called the woman's daughter repeatedly and then put Chestnut on the phone with her. She declined his services. The councilwoman and Chestnut were college friends, the complaint said.
The strongly worded complaint begins with: “To the court and jury: The darkest hour in any man's or woman's life is when they sit down to scheme and plan how to get money without lawfully earning it. The criminal conduct complained of herein demands a jury's wrath.”
The complaint said Chestnut misrepresented himself as a Georgia attorney based in Atlanta.
The Florida Bar's emergency petition said Chestnut has already and likely will continue to cause "immediate and serious harm to clients and/or the public and that immediate action must be taken for the protection of respondent’s clients and the public."
Chestnut was scheduled to face another trial in December on the Bar violations from May 2016.
The Supreme Court has granted 622 petitions for emergency suspension since 1980 and has denied 32.