| ► Attorney James Caruso of Toledo, OH; apologist for Attorney Misfits |
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Attorney James Caruso of Toledo, OH; apologist for Attorney Misfits
The state of Ohio provided James David Caruso with a law license in 1978 after he graduated from the University of Toledo Law School.
In the past, James was a member of the Toledo Bar Association Grievance Committee. During his tenure on the Committee he had the chutzpah to basically act as defense counsel for attorney David R. Pheils, Jr. who was known to him and the local legal community as the most dishonest attorney in the area.
James’ defense came about when a subpoena was issued to the Toledo Bar for timesheets of its investigators so they could be compared against Pheils’ claim for attorney fees in responding to grievances filed with the Toledo Bar Assn. by a former client (victim).
Caruso had the audacity to argue that the Toledo Bar couldn’t be made to disclose said timesheets for comparison against Pheils’ wild claims because it was confidential. Put simply, Caruso said it was acceptable for an Ohio attorney to sue an ex-client for hourly attorney fees ($200) for time allegedly spent responding to ethics complaints.
In making such an asinine argument, Caruso was basically saying the person filing an ethics complaint would be barred from defending a claim for attorney fees by the complained of attorney by comparing that attorney’s hourly fee claim against the records of the Bar investigator.
Moreover, Caruso’s novel and unprecedented argument of confidentially, is akin to a plaintiff’s attorney arguing that defense counsel is not entitled to copies of his client’s medical bills in defense of a personal injury claim because the bills are confidential and irrelevant.
Caruso was aware that Pheils had claimed he spent 1.0 hours on the phone with the Bar investigator and another three (3 hours) providing a written response to her. He knew that a review of the investigator’s timesheets would have proven Pheils’ claim was false. Despite this knowledge, Caruso said this highly relevant evidence was confidential.
And lastly, Caruso fully supported the legal theory that Ohio attorneys could sue their former clients for time spent responding to ethics complaints. In fact, Caruso's conduct was instrumental in making Ohio the only state in the country that allows attorneys to collect attorney fees for any time they claimed to have spent responding to ethics complaints.
As we speak (ca. October 2012) James is employed as general counsel for the Catholic Diocese of Toledo at 1933 Spicebush Avenue in Toledo, Ohio.
Given Caruso’s sympathetic defense of crooked lawyers who have defrauded their prior clients, it would appear that the Catholic Diocese of Toledo made a wise choice if they find themselves in a position where they need to conceal the conduct of any pedophile priests.
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