In the Matter of Earnest Redwine

A lawyer named Earnest Redwine was hired in December 2016 to pursue a personal injury claim for a client. He falsely told her he was working on the case, filed the lawsuit just before the deadline but never had it served on the defendant, and then failed to show up when the court called the case, leading a judge to dismiss it permanently. Redwine never told his client the case had been dismissed, and she found out on her own and filed a complaint with the State Bar of Georgia, which Redwine ignored along with the Bar's follow-up investigation. The State Bar filed formal disciplinary charges. Rather than fight them, Redwine asked to voluntarily surrender his law license, admitting the key facts. A special master reviewed the case and recommended the court accept the surrender, and the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed, treating it as equivalent to disbarment.

The court held that Redwine's admitted misconduct, neglecting a client's case, lying about his work, and hiding a dismissal, warranted accepting his voluntary surrender of his law license, which the court treats as equivalent to disbarment.

The case shows how the State Bar of Georgia disciplines lawyers who abandon clients and cover it up, reassuring the public that such conduct can end a legal career. Redwine's client lost her personal injury claim entirely because of his neglect and dishonesty.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted, tantamount to disbarment

1. The Special Master found Redwine violated several Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, including rules on diligence, communication, and honesty toward the tribunal, based on his admitted misconduct in neglecting the personal injury case and misleading his client.
2. Some of these violations, including the rules on diligence and honesty, can carry disbarment as the maximum penalty, while others carry only a public reprimand as the maximum, showing the seriousness of the core violations.
3. The court considered aggravating and mitigating factors under the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, a framework courts use to weigh how severe a sanction should be; it found dishonest motive and substantial legal experience as aggravating factors, offset only by Redwine having no prior disciplinary record.
4. The Special Master pointed to several past Georgia disciplinary cases involving similar neglect and dishonesty that resulted in disbarment, supporting the conclusion that Redwine's conduct warranted the same outcome.
5. Because Redwine admitted the essential facts and asked to give up his license rather than contest the charges, the court accepted that voluntary surrender as equivalent to disbarment rather than imposing a lesser sanction.

• attorney discipline
• license surrender
• personal injury case dismissal
• State Bar of Georgia