The Florida Supreme Court recently ordered the disbarment of Bernardo Roman for filing numerous bogus lawsuits on behalf of the Miccosukee Indians in West Miami-Dade. The 600-member tribe operates a casino resort near the Everglades.
Roman sued the tribe’s former lawyers, Guy Lewis and Michael Tein, alleging the pair conspired with then-Miccosukee Chairman Billie Cypress to get kickbacks while hiding Cypress’ spending from the rest of the tribe. A federal judge later dismissed those claims and ordered sanctions against the Miccosukees and Roman for filing a lawsuit with “no evidence or only patently frivolous evidence.” The tribe eventually agreed to pay $4 million to Lewis and Tein over that case and several other failed lawsuits.
The Florida Bar sought to disbar Roman. A Miami judge acting as a referee agreed and found Roman guilty of numerous misconduct charges, including his unsupported claims that a rival attorney attacked his nut-allergic law clerk by sprinkling pistachios and peanuts in her food.
At a hearing last year, Tein, a former federal prosecutor, said, “The tribe with its lawyers destroyed our law practice, destroyed our reputations that we spent a lifetime building.”
Roman also sued former Miami U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen, who represented the tribe on issues ranging from water management in the Everglades to tribal casino income tax matters.
