A few weeks back we noted that the Florida Family Policy Council’s John Stemberger was being sued for $10 million over his role in the Rifqa Bary saga.
And now it looks like things are getting progressively worse for him as the Florida Bar Association is preparing to file a misconduct complaint against him:
A professional organization for lawyers said Thursday it is drafting a misconduct complaint against the former attorney of a teenager from Ohio who ran away to Florida after converting to Christianity.
John Stemberger, an Orlando, Fla., lawyer, represented Rifqa Bary after she alleged her Muslim parents in suburban Columbus would harm her for converting.
The Florida Bar’s grievance committee found enough evidence of alleged misconduct to prepare a complaint, said bar spokeswoman Karen Kirksey.
The bar looked into the matter after a formal complaint was filed with the group by Ohio lawyer Omar Tarazi, who represented Bary’s parents in Ohio juvenile court.
Tarazi alleged Stemberger misrepresented himself as Bary’s lawyer after Bary returned to Ohio and had new lawyers. Tarazi, who is Muslim, also accused Stemberger of alleging that Tarazi has terrorist ties.
The bar committee expects to file its complaint with the Florida Supreme Court this fall.
Gee, who would have ever imagined that Stemberger’s legal work might be questionable:
An attorney suing Dollar Rent-A-Car has apologized for filing a lawsuit that characterized the Irish as hopelessly tethered to pubs and pints and unfit to drive the highways of America.
John Stemberger admitted he made a mistake and promised Wednesday to rewrite the negligence lawsuit he filed in March.
The suit was filed on behalf of the family of Carmel Elizabeth Cunningham, an Irish woman who was killed last year when her boyfriend, Sean McGrath, crashed their rental car. He is also Irish.
Prosecutors say McGrath, 33, was drunk at the time of the crash and have charged him with manslaughter. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
In the suit, Stemberger claimed Dollar “knew or should have known about the unique cultural and ethnic customs existing in Ireland which involve the regular consumption of alcohol at `Pubs’ as a major component to Irish social life.”
He went on to charge that Dollar “knew or should have known that Sean McGrath would have a high propensity to drink alcohol.”
On a side note, according to Stemberger’s Twitter account, he attended an Arlington Group meeting in Washington DC last week and then spoke in South Carolina along with Newt Gingrich and David Barton.
