An attorney who resigned from the New York Bar amid allegations of misconduct should not receive any fee for his work in settling a $2.4 million medical malpractice suit, a federal judge in Brooklyn has determined.
Eastern District of New York Judge Edward R. Korman concluded that the attorney, Steven F. Goldman, had deliberately fabricated his application for fees and disbursements, which initially totaled $428,000.
The judge added that even if an appeals court determined there was no ethical misconduct in calculating the fee, Goldman should receive no more than $100,000 for his work because of the "grossly incompetent and inexplicable manner in which [he] conducted himself" after the settlement was reached.