TALLAHASSEE — Sarasota attorney Eric Charles Feasley faces suspension following an Feb. 20 Florida Supreme Court order and his alleged failure to comply with probation in his discipline over his 2014 and 2016 alcohol-related arrests, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Feasley failed to comply with the terms and conditions of his probation, specifically he failed to comply with his Florida Lawyers Assistance, Inc. contract," the state bar said in its Feb. 27 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
In its two-page order, the Supreme Court approved the uncontested referee's report filed in the matter before suspending Feasley for 45 days. Feasley's suspension will be effective 30 days from the date of the court's order to allow him time to close out his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the high court's order.
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 Feasley's suspension.
Feasley was admitted to the bar in Florida on April 17, 2009, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Feasley was admonished following an unpublished Supreme Court order in August 2017 and he was placed on three years of conditional probation.
In the consent judgment reached at the time between Feasley and the state bar, Feasley’s probation followed his guilty and no contest pleas in his August 2014 and September 2016 alcohol-related arrests.
Feasley's probation conditions included, among other things, a rehabilitation contract with the state bar's lawyers assistance program and that he would abstain from alcohol.
In late 2018, the program reported that Feasley twice tested positive for alcohol, according to the state bar’s subsequent petition for contempt.
“The second positive test result was reported to [Feasley] who remained adamant that he had not drank but he agreed to be mindful of medicines containing alcohol and foods that may be cooked with alcohol,” the petition said. “The Medical Review Officer explained that these results could only be obtained by the ingestion of a minimum of seven ounces of alcohol within the two to four weeks prior to the initial blood draw.”
In a more recent consent judgment, which included Feasley’s conditional guilty plea, Feasley agreed to the 45-day suspension.