TALLAHASSEE — Apopka attorney José G. Oliveira has been publicly reprimanded following a March 5 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations stemming from a business agreement and foreclosure matter, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Oliveira engaged in a conflict of interest and failed to provide proper communication to a client regarding a business agreement and foreclosure matter," the state bar said in its March 19 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
In its single-page order, the Supreme Court approved the consent judgment reached between Oliveira and the state bar. The consent judgment also included Oliveira's conditional guilty plea.
The high court also directed Oliveira to attend the state bar's ethics school, as he agreed to in the consent judgment, and ordered him to pay $2,048 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 Oliveira's reprimand.
Oliveira was admitted to the bar in Florida on March 19, 2009, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Oliveira's state bar profile.
Some of the allegations against Oliveira involved two parcels of real property in Orlando and Eatonville encumbered with a mortgage lien in which a bank had filed a foreclosure action, according to the consent judgment. The properties also were encumbered by "substantial liens" code violations.
After a judge entered summary judgment in favor of the bank in the foreclosure action, Oliveira reviewed a business agreement that would unencumber the properties.
Oliveira allegedly "did not fully explain the business agreement and its consequences" and he did not disclose that he had a prior working relationship with one of the parties in the agreement prior to drafting the agreement, the consent judgment said.
"The foreclosure action was completed as contemplated by the business agreement," the consent judgment said.