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FLORIDA RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

Florida Supreme Court grants Oldsmar attorney's petition for disbarment

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A petition by Oldsmar attorney Giorgio Vallar to be disbarred without leave to seek readmission was accepted following an Aug. 24 Florida Supreme Court ruling in light of pending disciplinary matters against him, including trust account violations.

Other pending disciplinary matters against Vallar include allegations of wrongdoing in his handling to two residential property closings. Vallar's disciplinary revocation, tantamount to disbarment, was effective 30 days from the state supreme court's two-page order to allow Vallar time to close out his practice and protect the interests of his existing clients.

The high court also ordered Vallar to pay about $1,467 in costs.

The Florida State Bar announced the discipline and the state supreme court's order Sept. 27. In Florida, court orders are not final until after time to file a rehearing motion expires.

Vallar was admitted to the bar in Florida on Sept. 20, 1990, according to his profile at the state bar website. Vallar has had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to his profile and his petition for disciplinary revocation.

In one of two matters in which disciplinary charges were pending against Vallar, he failed to secure satisfactions or releases for the judgment liens, or notify the buyers and the seller of the encumbrances in a case in which he was acting as the attorney for the seller and closing agent for the sale, according to the petition. 

Among other allegations in the case, Vallar conveyed title to the properties to the buyers, when the properties had unremoved judgments encumbering the properties, according to the petition. Vallar admitted to breaching his fiduciary duty and obligation to the buyers in the two closings by failing to convey free and clear title to the properties, the petition said.  

The other matter is rooted in a state bar investigation initiated after the bar received a notice of insufficient funds in Vallar's trust account, according to the petition. That was the result of a canceled sale in which Vallar requested a deposited $10,000 check be returned. However, in the interim, he wrote two more checks on his client's behalf, according to the petition. The check subsequently returned as unpaid and Vallar failed to provide the state bar with documentation showing that a stop payment had been placed, the petition said.

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