TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Dania Beach attorney Jeremy W. Alters has been suspended until further order following a May 21 Florida Supreme Court order regarding misappropriation allegations for which he was suspended nearly seven years ago, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar and a referee's report.
Alters's suspension was effective 30 days from the date of the Supreme Court's May order to allow him time to close out his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the state high court's order. The court's order followed its own motion in the case and a detailed 71-page referee's report that describes the meandering progress in allegations against Alters since 2011.
The state bar announced the discipline and the Supreme Court's order July 31.
In Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion would not alter the effective date of Alter's suspension.
Alters was admitted to the bar in Florida on April 23, 1997, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Alter was placed on emergency suspension following a December 2011 Supreme Court order after more than $1 million had been misappropriated from his law firm's trust accounts in 2010, according to the state bar's petition for emergency suspension filed at the time.
The Florida high court issued an order the following month lifting the emergency suspension after approving a referee's report in the matter. Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, Ricky L. Polston, Jorge Labarga and J.C. Perry concurred in the lifting of the emergency suspension while Chief Justice Charles T. Canady and Justice Peggy Quince dissented.
"It was also recommended that The Florida Bar be ordered to file its complaint if it still chose to do so expeditiously so that the matter could be resolved in short order," the referee's report said. "The court then reinstated [Alters], and two years later, on Jan. 22, 2014, The Florida Bar filed the complaint against [Alters], which is the subject matter of this case and against his former partner, Kimberly Lynn Boldt."
Since then, a series of hearings have been conducted and various motions filed, according to the referee's report.