TALLAHASSEE—North Miami Beach attorney Andrean Rose Eaton faces suspension and probation following a March 5 Florida Supreme Court order and an investigation into her client trust account, according to a Florida Bar announcement.
"Eaton was late in responding to the bar's requests for information and her trust account records were not compliant with minimum trust accounting requirements, although there was no resulting client harm," the state bar said in its March 19 disciplinary announcement. "Eaton has a prior discipline for similar misconduct."
In its two-page order, the Supreme Court of Florida approved an uncontested referee's report filed in the matter before suspending Eaton 90 days, followed by six months conditional probation.
The high court also ordered Easton to pay $1,680 in costs.
Eaton's suspension is scheduled to be effective 30 days from the court order date to allow time to close out her practice and protect her existing clients' interests, according to the 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 Eaton's suspension.
Eaton was admitted to the bar in Florida on Dec.18, 1995 according to her profile at the state bar website.
The state bar initially reached out to Eaton in November 2017 regarding an overdraft notice on her trust account and asked her to explain it within 15 days, according to the consent judgment reached between Eaton and the state bar. The consent judgment also includes Eaton's conditional guilty plea.
Eaton did not send in her response until the following January, informing the state bar that she unintentionally issued a check from the wrong checkbook, triggering an overdraft on her trust account.
Eaton also acknowledged that her response to the state bar had been untimely.
Eaton also failed to produce all requested documents but has "provided assurances that she will work with a CPA to ensure her trust accounting records are compliant with the rules," the consent judgment said.
In a previous discipline, Eaton was publicly reprimanded following a Supreme Court order in October 2012 for allegedly failing to maintain minimum trust accounting records and to comply with minimum trust accounting procedures, according to the referee's report.