| ► Attorney Mark Yates of Flemington, NJ; congenital liar |
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Attorney Mark Yates of Flemington, NJ; congenital liar
The state of New Jersey presented Mark G. Yates with a law license in 1980.
The New Jersey Disciplinary Board found Mark guilty of the following misconduct.
In April 2008 Magdi Gadalla hired Mark to pursue a medical malpractice action against the Somerset Medical Center. In January 2010,
In January 2010, Mark reviewed the file to prepare the lawsuit. He then discovered that the statute of limitations had expired in December 2009. Rather than tell his client and take remedial action, Mark panicked. The only action Mark took was to hide the status of the matter from the client for all of 2010.
In late 2010, Gadalla grew curious about the status of his case. He pressed Mark for answers. Rather than tell his client the truth, Mark fabricated a settlement agreement. The sham agreement falsely stated that a complaint had been filed in November 2004 (4 years before Mark became involved) and that Somerset Medical had filed an answer denying the allegations of medical malpractice.
The phony settlement agreement also falsely stated that Somerset had agreed to settle the case for $600,000. Mark then had his client sign the phony document, leading the client to believe that a large settlement was guaranteed.
Over the next six weeks, Gadalla repeatedly asked Mark about the settlement funds. Mark repeatedly lied to him that Somerset had drafted a check and that it was “on its way.” The old “it’s in the mail” BS! Finally, Gadalla and his wife went to Mark’s office, looking for the settlement funds. It was only then that Mark the Liar finally admitted that he had “screwed up.”
In May 2011, Gadalla filed a legal malpractice lawsuit against Mark. The case is still pending.
As a consequence of this misconduct, the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the New Jersey Supreme Court punished Mark by gifting him with a complimentary 180-day suspension of his law license.
As we speak (ca. October 2012) Mark practices at 210 Main Street in Flemington, New Jersey.
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