"Purported" 3d DCA Watch -- Guy Bailey Jr., Leo Greenfield And Jack Kerouac Edition

Hi kids!

Everything is the same, the fog says 'We are fog and we fly by dissolving like ephemera,' and the leaves say 'We are leaves and we jiggle in the wind, that's all, we come and go, grow and fall' — Even the paper bags in my garbage pit say 'We are mantransformed paper bags made out of wood pulp, we are kinda proud of being paper bags as long as that will be possible, but we'll be mush again with our sisters the leaves come rainy season' — The tree stumps say 'We are tree stumps torn out of the ground by men, sometimes by the wind, we have big tendrils full of earth that drink out of the earth' — Men say 'We are men, we pull out tree stumps, we make paper bags, we think wise thoughts, we make lunch, we look around, we make a great effort to realise everything is the same.'

That's Jack Kerouac, in the depths of delirium tremors from alcohol abuse, roaming around the central California coastline in his last semi-coherent book, Big Sur.

I feel like I stepped into Jack Kerouac's alcohol-soaked dharma brain reading this fascinating opinion by Judge Salter, involving disbarred local attorney Guy Bailey, Jr., and possible one-time attorney Leo Greenfield.

Greenfield's "purported" attorney status is described thusly:

Greenfield’s disciplinary resignations, tantamount to disbarment, are reported at The Florida Bar v. Greenfield, 868 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2004), and 634 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 1994).

To get the right flavor for this opinion, consider the "purported" order under appeal, titled "Order Granting Motion for Reconsideration of Order Dated November 21, 2008 Granting Plaintiff’s Motion to Vacate Order of June 6, 2008 Pursuant to Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.540(b) in that Court Was Without Jurisdiction to Enter the Order, Vacating Same, and Substituting the Within Order in Its Stead.”

Any order whose title alone is nearly a full paragraph long must have been written by Jack Kerouac.

Here is Judge Salter trying to unpack it all:

The text of the Order, and prior orders in the same case, described a series of procedural maneuvers by the appellants, in three judicial circuits, obviously calculated to delay a commercial foreclosure in Polk County, Florida.

The very filing of the notice of appeal was immediately called into question by the appellees. One of the appellants, former Florida attorney Leo Greenfield, signed the notice of appeal on behalf of attorney Guy Bailey, Jr., in a signature block for counsel for Diversified. In short order, for reasons having nothing to do with this case, Bailey himself was disbarred.

Bailey and his firm then withdrew as counsel for Diversified, and a motion for extension of time to file the reply brief was then filed (based on Diversified’s successor counsel’s purported need to review the file). “Purported” is once again the correct term, because it developed (in subsequent affidavits directed by this Court to be filed by the purported successor counsel and by Greenfield) that purported successor counsel for Diversified had not authorized anyone to file a motion for extension of time on his behalf, to sign any such motion, or to enter any other form of appearance in this appeal. An inspection of the motion for extension of time revealed that only photocopied signatures were filed, and that they were strikingly similar to those filed in a circuit court pleading. In his own sworn affidavit, Greenfield denied having filed the unauthorized photocopied signature. The purported successor counsel and yet another prospective successor attorney for Diversified withdrew, leaving Diversified without representation.

Following these revelations, we dismissed Diversified’s appeal with prejudice. We now turn our attention to Greenfield, the remaining appellant.

So kids, how do you think it turned out?

Well, let's put it this way -- Judge Salter transmitted the whole thing to the Florida Bar for further consideration.

Maybe the appeal wasn't that good an idea?

BTW, you can read Guy's disbarment by consent order here.