Paralegal wins legal ruling in ongoing dispute with state
Flathead Valley paralegal and former state Sen. Jerry O’Neil has prevailed in a recent court ruling that denied attorney general charges that his advertising has been “deceptive as a matter of law.”
The Montana Attorney General’s Office filed charges in June 2007 alleging that O’Neil violated the state’s Unfair Trade and Consumer Protection Act, seeking summary judgment in the case.
But this week, Helena District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock denied that motion in a ruling with language that supports O’Neil’s arguments.
“He indicated my ads were not deceptive,” O’Neil said Wednesday. “But that was the only motion before him.”
The case is not settled. Unless the state and O’Neil come to an agreement, the case will proceed to a jury trial.
O’Neil’s legal tangles over his status as an “independent paralegal” go back several years, resulting in Polson District Judge Kim Christopher affirming an injunction that prohibited him from practicing law or advertising that he is capable of doing so.
That resulted in O’Neil making some changes to his business cards and advertisements and in his business practices.
“O’Neil claims he has complied with the permanent injunction and is not violating MCPA, as he is not providing services that only a lawyer can perform and is now working under the auspices of an attorney,” Sherlock’s ruling states. “O’Neil claims he only prepares forms for individuals seeking dissolutions or step-parent adoptions. Those forms are then reviewed by an attorney before they are filed with the respective court.”
It is also noted that O’Neil pays his supervising attorneys.
Sherlock found that O’Neil’s advertisements offering “Low Cost Divorce” do not warrant summary judgment and they “arguably comply with the 2005 injunction.
“O’Neil’s new advertisements present a new set of facts, and the issue as to whether there has been any violation of the MCPA presents a jury question,” Sherlock wrote.
The judge cited an affidavit in support of O’Neil from Kalispell attorney Dean Knapton: “Knapton states that he has reviewed O’Neil’s paperwork for step-parent adoptions and divorces and believes that even with an attorney’s review of the paperwork prepared by O’Neil, clients are obtaining ‘low cost divorces’ as advertised by O’Neil.”
Sherlock further noted that Montana Legal Services uses volunteers who are not lawyers to basically provide the same services that O’Neil does, and they do so without subsequent attorney reviews.
From O’Neil’s standpoint, the state Attorney General’s Office is seeking steep penalties against him: a $10,000 fine for each alleged violation; forfeiture of all fees received through alleged unauthorized practice of law; forfeiture of his business phone number and a permanent injunction banning from advertising or doing any legal work that only licensees lawyers can perform; and a $10,000 penalty for any future violations.
O’Neil said he is countersuing the state for “interfering in my business,” a pursuit he claims is motivated by resistance to any threat to the state’s lawyer “monopoly.”
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com