N. Ari Weisbrot was quoted in the New Jersey Law Journal article "Fla. Lawyer's Pro Hac Vice Admission Denied in ADA Case." While the full text can be found in the September 5, 2014, issue, a synopsis is noted below.
A federal judge in Newark has denied pro hac vice admission to a Florida disability lawyer in a suit over alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at a shopping center due to his frequent use of that mechanism to practice in the District of New Jersey.
In denying the motion by local counsel for the plaintiff, the court noted that the case would have been the 24th time in the past two years that the Florida attorney was admitted to practice in a New Jersey ADA case.
"By regularly conducting business in this district by continually filing actions here with the same local counsel in each matter, Mr. Fuller appears to be using the courtesies afforded to out-of-state attorneys to practice in this district pro hac vice as a means of avoiding New Jersey State Bar admission and plenary admission to this court. Our pro hac vice rules are not designed for this purpose," U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy Waldor said in a September 5 letter.
Ari Weisbrot, the attorney representing the shopping center owner, opposed a motion by local counsel to admit the Florida attorney, saying the application was a de facto substitution for admission to the bar of New Jersey given the number of times the attorney had been admitted to the District of New Jersey recently.
"Judge Waldor concluded that the same result can be achieved without the additional distractions and complications that result from" the attorney's pro hac vice admission, Weisbrot said.
The attack on the attorney's high-volume practice comes as New Jersey experiences rapid growth in the number of ADA cases against shopping centers, restaurants, motels and other public establishments, due largely to filings by the attorney and a few other Florida lawyers.
Originally published by New Jersey Law Journal,
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