Miami attorney Dennis Roland Bedard has been disbarred following a May 25 Florida Supreme Court order following a complaint by former clients that he'd misused client funds.
Bedard also was ordered by the state court to pay the Florida State Bar's costs of $10,313.89.
The state Supreme Court issued its order of disciplinary revocation, tantamount to disbarment, with leave to seek readmission after five years. The Florida State Bar announced the discipline and the supreme court's order June 29.
Bedard was admitted to the bar in Florida on July 27, 1988, according to his profile at the state bar website.
He was suspended following a state supreme court order in November for failing to comply with subpoenas for his trust accounting and other records which were served on him in March and June 2016, according to the state bar's petition of contempt filed Feb. 27 with the court. Because he was already suspended, Bedard's disbarment was effective immediately.
The documents requested included monthly bank statements, cancelled checks, check stubs, deposit slips and receipt and disbursement journals, as well as all client ledger cards with activity or a balance between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2015, according to the petition. Upon receiving the subpoenas, Bedard produced some but not all of the request documents and did not respond to a notice of hearing or offer any explanation for his failure to comply more fully with the subpoenas, according to the petition.
On Sept. 29, 2016, a state bar auditor stated in a sworn affidavit included with the petition that without the records subpoenaed she could not complete her investigation into whether Bedard properly accounted for and disburse funds received from his former clients.
The state bar's inquiry stemmed from a dispute between two former business partners who'd been represented by Bedard and disagreed over the disbursement of trust monies, according to the petition.
Bedard made no factual admissions about any issues in the proceedings but did "acknowledge that the allegations, if proven, would form the predicate for significant disciplinary action by this court," the petition said.
Bedard had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to the petition.