TALLAHASSEE — Cape Coral attorney Nicholas Joseph Zurawskyj has been suspended following a Nov. 21 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations he improperly obtained protected health information and shook down his former boss, according to a Jan. 31 announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Without authorization or prompting, Zurawskyj obtained protected health information by impersonating the opposing party in a contested family law matter being handled by his former boss," the state bar said in its Jan. 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order." Zurawskyj also attempted to extort $75,000 from his former boss in exchange for his requesting that the Bar dismiss the complaint he filed against the former boss and recommend that the former boss receive only a two-week suspension from the practice of law."
Zurawskyj, 30, and licensed to practice law in Florida for about six years, "permanently retired" before the state Supreme Court suspended him for six months but he "was still subject to discipline for prior conduct," the state bar's announcement said.
Zurawskyj suspension was effective immediately because he informed the state Supreme Court that he was no longer practicing law, according to the court's two-page order.
The court also ordered Zurawskyj to pay $1,390 in costs.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion does not alter the effective date of Zurawskyj's suspension.
Zurawskyj was admitted to the bar in Florida on Oct. 3, 2012, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Zurawskyj's state bar profile.
Zurawskyj admitted he obtained the protected health information during the summer of 2017 by impersonating an opposing party in a contested family law matter that his former boss was handling, according to the consent judgment filed with the court. The consent judgment also includes Zurawskyj's conditional guilty plea.
Zurawskyj also admitted to filing a grievance against his former boss and to misrepresenting he had committed the impersonation at his then-boss's direction, and then trying to get his former boss to pay in exchange for asking the state bar to dismiss his complaint, according to the consent judgment.