PETER L. OSTERMILLER Attorney at Law Kentucky Home Life Building Eighteenth Floor 239 South Fifth Street Louisville, Kentucky

Transcription

1 PETER L. OSTERMILLER Attorney at Law Kentucky Home Life Building Eighteenth Floor 239 South Fifth Street Louisville, Kentucky Telephone: (502) Fax: (502) Admitted Commonwealth of Kentucky 1980 Admitted United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Areas of Practice: Representation of lawyers in attorney disciplinary proceedings. Counseling and representation of attorneys regarding fee disputes, law practice dissolution matters, client relations matters, legal malpractice matters, etc. Representation of applicants seeking admission and attorneys seeking readmission before the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, Character and Fitness Committee. Counseling and representation regarding Unauthorized Practice of Law matters and Advertising Commission matters. Counseling and representation of Judges regarding Judicial Conduct Commission matters. Personal Injury and Wrongful Death matters. Appellate practice and Original Actions before Kentucky appellate courts. Administrative Disciplinary proceedings. White Collar Crime cases representing Defendants. General litigation practice. Education: University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences, B.A., Political Science, 1977 University of Louisville School of Law, J.D., 1980 Managing Editor, Journal of Family Law

2 Professional Associations: Kentucky Bar Association Louisville Bar Association Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers American Judicature Society Kentucky Association of Trial Attorneys Professional Experience: Stallings and Stallings, Associate, General civil practice of law, Litigation, Appellate practice, Domestic Relations, Attorney Disciplinary, Attorney Ethics, Judicial Ethics Frank E. Haddad, Jr., Attorney at Law, White Collar crime, Litigation, Appellate Practice, Attorney Discipline, Attorney Ethics, Judicial Ethics. (Began working with Frank Haddad on attorney disciplinary cases in 1985 and continued until Mr. Haddad s passing in April of 1995). Peter L. Ostermiller, Attorney at Law, 1995 to present. Litigation, Wrongful Death, Appeals, Attorney Disciplinary, Attorney Ethics, Judicial Ethics and Disciplinary Matters, Administrative Law, White Collar crime. Professional Presentations: Judicial Ethics and Legal Ethics for Master Commissioners Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, January, 2004 The Judge s Advocate Judicial College, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, October, 2003 Judicial Ethics and Legal Ethics Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, June, 2003 Responding to a Bar Complaint and Common Ethics Challenges, 2001 Criminal Defense Ethics, July 14, 2000 Responding to a Bar Complaint or the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Louisville Bar Association, June 2, 2000 (Available on videotape from the Louisville Bar Association and on-line video and on-line audio through westlegaledcenter.com)

3 Practical Legal Ethics National Business Institute, 2000 Practical Legal Ethics in Kentucky National Business Institute, February 12, 1998 Bar Complaints: How to Deal with and How to Avoid Them or No Good Dead Goes Unpunished Louisville Bar Association, April 8, 1997 Bar Complaints: How to Deal With Them Louisville Bar Association, April 8, 1997 Ethical Problems on the Horizon How to Avoid Them or Defend Them Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys, October 16, 1992 Representing Lawyers with Ethics Violations Louisville Bar Association, June 11, 1992 MISCELLANEOUS: Kentucky Solo Builds Practice Representing Lawyers Lawyers Weekly USA, May 24, 2004 When lawyers need a lawyer: Attorneys, judges call Louisville man when trouble arises Courier-Journal, January 11, 2004 Kentucky Bar Association Ethics 2000 Committee regarding Rules of Professional Conduct, member Kentucky Supreme Court Task Force on Kentucky Attorney Disciplinary Procedure Rules , member APPELLATE CASES OF NOTE: Ogle v. Ogle, Ky. App., 681 S.W.2d 921 (1984). Trial Court does not lose subject matter jurisdiction over Motion to modify child support and maintenance obligations during pendency of appeal from original award. Jackson v. Jackson, Ky. App. 734 S.W.2d 498 (1987). Trial Court in divorce case may not adopt as its findings of fact a settlement agreement which had been signed by only one of the parties. City of Devondale v. Stallings, Ky., 795 S.W.2d 954 (1990). Failure of Appellant to name indispensable parties in timely filed Notice of Appeal is a

4 non-waiverable jurisdictional defect. This is a often cited appellate law case in Kentucky. Kentucky Bar Association v. Unnamed Attorney, Ky., 834 S.W.2d 649 (1991). I represented an attorney who had been previously suspended from the practice of law. The issue in the unnamed Opinion was the effective date of that suspension when a Petition for Rehearing was filed with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rarely does Unnamed Attorney reported decisions in attorney disciplinary cases. There was ambiguity in the way the Rule read regarding the effective date of suspensions, and the effect of the filing of a Petition for Rehearing. As a result, the Unnamed Attorney Opinion was to give guidance to other attorneys in Kentucky as to the Court s interpretation of the applicable Rules. Hoye v. Hoye, Ky., 824 S.W.2d 422 (1992). Supreme Court, in unanimous decision, abolished tort of intentional interference with the marital relation, which included the common law tort including alienation of affections. Kentucky Bar Association v. Rankin, Ky., 862 S.W. 2d 894 (1993). First case in Kentucky adopting probation as part of a disciplinary sanction. Opinion also established probation conditions for a substance impaired attorney which the Kentucky Supreme Court and the KBA now refer to as a Rankin-like disposition. Greene v. Kentucky Bar Association, Ky., 904 S.W.2d 233 (1995). Attorney reinstatement case in which attorney was reinstated. Attorney had filed bankruptcy after disbarment for defrauding investors in a stock scheme. The former attorney also had previously suffered from a gambling abuse problem and alcoholism. Case represents a comprehensive review of attorney reinstatement law. Underhill v. Kentucky Bar Association, Ky., 937 S.W.2d 193 (1997). Attorney publically reprimanded for entering into business transaction with client without given client opportunity to seek advice from independent counsel or obtain written consent from client. Lookofsky v. Kentucky Bar Association, Ky., 982 S.W.2d 670 (1999). Attorney received 30days suspension for misrepresentation to clients regarding status of personal injury claim. This was the first case in which the attorney was automatically reinstated following the period of suspension. A major overhaul of Kentucky disciplinary procedure rules had taken effect October of McDonald v. Ethics Committee of the Kentucky Judiciary, Ky., S.W.3d 740 (1999). Irepresented a number of retired Judges who regularly served as special judges and sought to endorse political candidates. The Supreme Court vacated, on First Amendment free speech grounds, the Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion which prohibited such retired judges/special judges from endorsing political candidates.

5 Thomas v. Judicial Conduct Commission, Ky., 77 S.W.3d 578 (2002). I represented a judge before the Judicial Conduct Commission. The case was tried before the Commission, and appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in a split decision, upheld the action of the Judicial Conduct Commission. Schoenbachler v. Renyard, Ky., 110 S.W.3d 776 (2003). I represented the husband in adivorce appeal. One of the main issues on appeal was whether the Trial Court could impute undocumented gambling income of the wife in determining child support or otherwise considered an economic circumstance of the wife. Haggard v. Kentucky Bar Association, Ky., 118 S.W.3d 589 (2003). I represented an attorney who had been charged with a crime. She had entered an Alford Plea as part of a felony pretrial diversion agreement. The Supreme Court, in an earlier Opinion, held that the temporary suspension provision of SCR applied. In the present case, the Court accepted the Motion for Consensual Resolution to resolve the underlying disciplinary case. Hines v. Kentucky Bar Association, 2003 W.L , rendered December 18, I represented an attorney who received a Public Reprimand. The attorney had allegedly violated RPC 1.15(a) by placing real property of his client in his name during the pendency of possible criminal proceedings against the client. The client had previously been declared a ward in a civil disability proceeding. PERSONAL: Married 27 years, Kathy Ostermiller One child, 15-year old daughter, Beth Ostermiller