Vero Beach attorney Norman A. Green, practicing in Florida for 43 years, has been publicly reprimanded by publication in the Southern Reporter following a Nov. 2 Florida Supreme Court order over a property transfer issue in a marital settlement agreement.
The court's single-page order followed Green's conditional guilty plea and consent judgment for discipline, which the court approved. Green also was ordered to pay about $2,007 in costs.
The Florida State Bar announced the discipline and the court's order Dec. 28. In Florida, court orders are not final until the time to file a rehearing motion expires.
Green was admitted to the bar in Florida on Oct. 29, 1974, according to his profile at the state bar website. Green had no record of prior discipline before the state bar, according to his profile and the consent judgment filed with the court. The judgment also includes Green's conditional guilty plea.
Green had not been hired for post-dissolution proceedings in the marital settlement agreement but agreed to effectuate an agreed to property transfer by recording a deed that granted property in North Carolina to the wife, his client, according to the consent judgment. The husband failed to timely deed the property to the wife, and Green did not file pleadings to enforce the transfer, the consent judgment said.
Green did speak with the husband's counsel "on numerous occasions" and eventually received a signed deed. However, while looking into tax issues on the property, it was discovered that another deed had been issued granting title to a limited liability company in Delaware and the wife did not receive title to the property, according to the judgment.
The wife and Green's malpractice carrier were in resolution discussions at the time the consent judgment was filed.
Green also was alleged to have engaged in a conflict of interest when he included an improper provision in the marital settlement agreement. Under that provision, Green and an accountant were to receive a 12.5 percent security interest in the sale proceeds of the property, totaling about $40,000, the consent judgment said.