A longtime Santa Rosa Beach attorney nicknamed "Grim Reaper" for dressing up as that dark specter to criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic has lawyered up in response to a state appeal court's request that The Florida Bar consider sanctions.
However, Daniel W. Uhlfelder's new attorney, Mark Steven Levine, recently told the Florida Record that it is too soon for him or his client to comment about possible bar sanctions.
"Let me just be clear about something," Levine said during a Florida Record telephone interview. "We just recently got involved in this matter."
Levine said he is only just studying relevant documentation including a Florida First District Court of Appeal three-judge panel's order issued Feb. 5 requesting the state bar to consider sanctions against Uhlfelder over his litigation to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to order closure of the state's beaches during the still ongoing pandemic. The order said there was "no good-faith basis" for Uhlfelder's appeal of a lower court's ruling and that he and his counsel in the litigation "undoubtedly used this court merely as a stage from which to act out their version of political theater."
"This was unprofessional and an abuse of the judicial process," the order said.
Appeal court Judge Susan Kelsey, who concurred in part, said in her concurrence that Uhlfelder and his counsel in the litigation, "used the appeal process improperly and unethically, and that sanctions are warranted."
"I would also impose significant monetary," Kelsey said.
Uhlfelder began attracting national headlines last spring when he first appeared in public, particularly on the beach, dressed as the Grim Reaper to call attention to the governor's decision not to close the state's public beach during the pandemic. In addition to litigation aimed at forcing that to happen, Uhlfelder also has launched and chairs the "Remove Ron" political committee.
Uhlfelder, who describes himself on his Facebook page as a "Florida lawyer, father, husband, advocate & the Grim Reaper," got his law degree from the University of Florida in 1996 and was admitted to the bar in Florida in 1998, according to his profile at The Florida Bar's website.
Levine, also a University of Florida graduate, was admitted to the bar in Florida in 1978, according to his own state bar profile.
Levine said the time for comment in the matter is after he has studied the appeal court's order and other documents in the case.
"At this point, it's premature for Mr. Uhlfelder or us to even comment on the whole scenario," Levine said. "I mean, clearly the court has the authority to make the referral. Whether it was proper or what the extent of any type of referral would be is still yet to be determined."
Levine is not involved in Uhlfelder's litigation against the governor and he steadfastly declined to speculate in any way about possible sanctions against Uhlfelder.
"It's just too early to tell without me knowing all the factual basis surrounding this matter from the very beginning," Levin said. "Again, we respect the right of the court to do what it deems proper but, as lawyers, we have not yet made a determination as to what the extent of the properness of what the court has requested, is."
It's unclear whether Levine will represent Uhlfeder before the state bar if that body pursues sanctions.
"At this point, we don't know that," Levine said. "That will be up to Mr. Uhlfelder, if it comes to that. We are capable of doing that. At this, we're just trying to get an overview of what occurred from day one thru [the] order referring it to the state attorney for referral to the bar."