A Miami attorney ‘misappropriated’ $26,500 of a client’s settlement, Florida Bar says
Saturday should’ve started the emergency suspension in full of a Miami personal injury attorney accused of “misappropriating” over $26,577 of a client’s $40,000 settlement.
The Florida Bar’s petition for emergency suspension says $26,577.30 should’ve gone to two medical providers ($8,997.64) and the client ($17,975.66) of James Leano, a West Miami-Dade resident working out of Coconut Grove. And, when Leano sent his client a check for the client’s $17,975.66, it was a year after receiving the settlement and the check bounced.
With documentation of the above, including Bank of America account records and a client agreement, the Bar’s petition was granted by the state Supreme Court on Nov. 30. From that point, Leano couldn’t accept any new clients or file any new lawsuits. By Saturday, 30 days after the court’s decision, Leano had to “cease all practice of law” and “cease holding himself out as a Florida Bar member or lawyer and eliminate all indicia of [Leano’s] status as a Florida Bar member or lawyer.”
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Money coming in, but enough money going out?
Leano has been a Florida Bar member since 2011 with a previously clean discipline record. He and his wife bought a 5-bedroom, three-bathroom 1967-built house a few blocks west of Coral Gables for $850,000 in June 2021.
The Bar says after negotiating a settlement with Geico for a client, Leano received a check received a check for $40,000 in February 2022. Leano’s part of the settlement was $13,026.70.
Bank records say Leano deposited the check in his firm’s trust account on March 17, 2022, bringing the trust account balance from $59.17 to $40,059.17. Over the next 13 days, Leano wrote four checks on the account. Three checks totaling $22,630 — for $17,500, $3,000 and $2,130 — were to “James Leano, P.A.,” possibly his law firm’s operating account. The remaining check, for $14,394.41, appears to be to “Bo Ra Yook,” who was neither medical provider nor client in this case.
“A review of the bank records for both the operating accounts showed that there were no payments made to the two medical providers,” Bar auditor Patrick Dougherty wrote. “A review of the trust account records shows that there were no payments made to (the client).”
As of April 30, 2022, Dougherty said, Leano had $395.42 in his operating account and trust account to pay $26,973.30 owed to the medical providers and his client. So, Leano was short $26,577.88.
On March 13, 2023, Leano sent the client a check for $17,975.66 from the operating account. The operating account, Bank of America records say, was operating with only $264.89. The check bounced.
