10/05/2012 - Myclipp

Bizjournais/ - News, Sex, 11 de Maio de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
State board accuses Minneapolis lawyer
Peter Nickitas of bullying opposing
attorney
Lawyers have been known to get verbally aggressive
with each other in the courtroom. But a state board is
saying one Minneapolis attorney went too far and
wants him publicly disciplined for "harassing and
bullying" another lawyer.The Office of Lawyers
Professional Responsibility, which monitors attorney
ethics, has asked the Minnesota Supreme Court
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Follow this company to suspend Minneapolis attorney
Peter James Nickitas, partially for insulting statements
he allegedly made to lawyer Michelle Hurley.Nickitas
said in an interview Friday that "the allegation of
bullying is false."Nickitas has been in the news
recently as the lawyer representing three same-sex
couples seeking marriage licenses in Hennepin
County. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Court of
Appeals revived their challenge to a state law that bars
same-sex couples from marrying.Nickitas and Hurley
opposed each other in a 2009 case in which an
arbitrator was asked to decide who owed who how
much money in a traffic accident that damaged a taxi
cab.The first time Nickitas and Hurley met in a hearing,
Nickitas said as part of his presentation that "Hurley
could not read and needed glasses," the ethics group
said in its petition to the Supreme Court."After the
arbitration hearing concluded, respondent told Hurley
that he knew of a good place for her to get the glasses
she needs," according to the petition.After a second
hearing several months later, the petition says Nickitas
made multiple threatening and insulting comments to
Hurley."As Hurley was leaving the courtroom,
respondent yelled at her that he hoped she "sleep(s)
with the fishes," the petition said. "As Hurley was about
to exit the building, respondent, who was trailing,
caught up to Hurley, got in front of her and went
nose-to-nose to her and began screaming at Hurley.
Respondent had to be pulled away by an associate of
his as a bailiff approached."
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