Attorney Sanctioned $29,000 by U.S. District Judge for Client’s Foul Language During Deposition

Well, it doesn’t rise to the level of legal malpractice, and it didn’t happen in Louisville but it is very interesting. Law.com is reporting that attorney Joseph R. Ziccardi has been sanctioned $29,000 by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno for his client’s foul language during a deposition.

Every litigation attorney has, at one time or another, been in a deposition where his client said something unexpected.  Most of the time its no big deal, but here Judge Robreno decided that Aaron Wider, the CEO of HTFC, engaged in “hostile, uncivil, and vulgar conduct, which persisted throughout the nearly 12 hours of deposition testimony.”

Robreno noted that Wider used the “F word” or variations of it 73 times during the deposition and that the video shows that Ziccardi at one point “snickered” at his client’s conduct.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any video of that deposition.  But for a classic deposition taken Texas style click here to see two attorneys practically come to blows.

Hans Poppe