TALLAHASSEE — Cape Coral attorney Renee Binns has been suspended from the practice of law indefinitely as a result of the attorney’s failure to comply with the terms of a previous suspension.
The Florida Supreme Court ordered the suspension when she did not respond to a State Bar letter investigating a complaint against her.
The suspension from which the latest discipline stems was ordered on Aug. 25, 2016. According to the formal complaint filed with court documents, Binns represented an out-of-state client in his child support and custody matter between November 2012 and November 2013. The attorney allegedly failed to respond to the client’s request for status updates and did not respond to opposing counsel’s discovery requests after filing a modification petition in late November 2012.
In June 2013, the opposing counsel filed two motions, one for the matter to be dismissed and the other to hold Binns’ client in contempt for failing to pay a portion of his child’s medical expenses. An evidentiary hearing was set in August 2013, which Binns allegedly failed to inform her client of. The attorney continued this pattern and was suspended for 90 days and ordered to pay $500 in restitution as well as over $2,000 in court costs, according to court records.
During the attorney’s 90-day suspension, a complaint was filed against her, but neither the petition for contempt and court order to show cause nor the Supreme Court order identify the nature of the complaint. Binns allegedly failed to respond and breached the terms of her suspension, warranting further discipline.
Binns is suspended indefinitely and will be responsible for paying the additional court fees of $1,250.
Binns was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1994 after graduating from the University of Dayton School of Law. She had one prior record of discipline before the initial suspension, another suspension ordered in 2015.