White Civil Rights Attorney Who Filed Discrimination Lawsuits For Blacks Is Suspended For Calling Prosecutor, Judges Racist
By Kathy Wray Coleman
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
Posted September 5, 2009
A Civil Rights attorney from Cleveland Heights, Oh. who represented Blacks in race discrimination lawsuits filed against Cuyahoga County and county officials recently had her law license suspended indefinitely by the Ohio Supreme Court for leveling charges of racism against Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judges William Coyne and Timothy McCormick, and a federal district court judge.
“The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor had information that government employees were engaging in race discrimination and illegal conduct, including crimes of forgery, fraud, and falsification of public documents, yet failed to investigate,” attorney Merrie Maurine Frost claimed in the affidavits of prejudice previously filed against McCormick and Coyne,” according to excerpts from the Ohio Supreme Court suspension decision issued June 24.
Mason said through a spokesperson that he had no comment.
The disciplinary counsel for the Ohio Supreme Court had charged Frost, who is White, with three counts of professional misconduct in violation of the Ohio Lawyer's Code of Professional Responsibility. According to the decision, which followed recommendations of discipline from the the disciplinary counsel's office , Frost was suspended for attorney misconduct, which included “making false accusations against a judge.”
Frost can petition Ohio's high court for reinstatement after two years, the justices said in the unanimous decision. At a disciplinary hearing on the matter that she attended with her attorneys Frost argued that her claims against the public officials were supported by “newspapers and documents.” She told the panel of Ohio Supreme Court justices that suspension would be harsh since she had a clean record as an attorney prior to the long running dispute. That dispute formed the basis of the suspension and centered around conflict from three lawsuits alleging race discrimination that Frost brought on behalf of an array of Blacks. Two of the lawsuits were filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and a third in federal district court.
The lawsuit filed in federal district court was against the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners and others on behalf of 14 Black Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court administrators and supervisors who had made allegations of employment discrimination. It was dismissed in 2005 by a federal district judge, prompting Frost to call the judge racist without justification, the Ohio Supreme Court said in its suspension decision.
The race discrimination lawsuits that Frost filed in common pleas court that were linked to the recent suspension of her law license were on behalf of Jennifer Simmons-Means and Norman Rice, both employees of the Cuyahoga County Department of Justice Affairs, and both of whom had alleged racial bias at work. In those suits Frost named the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners, among other defendants, with Simmons-Means' case assigned to McCormick and Rice's to Coyne. Both cases were ultimately dismissed by McCormick and Coyne, whose dismissals were upheld by the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals in 2005 and 2006.
Frost, however, just recently came under fire with the Ohio Supreme Court's office of disciplinary counsel because of affidavits of prejudice claiming racial bias in the cases before McCormick and Coyne that were dismissed years ago. In those affidavits of prejudice she also accused Mason of ignoring her allegations of alleged wrongdoing by county officials. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer had denied the prejudice affidavits years ago too, and before the cases were themselves dismissed, prompting questions as to why Frost was recently subject to the suspension punishment.
In a strong rebuke Ohio Supreme Court justices said in issuing the decision against Frost that the suspension was warranted because her allegations against the judges and Mason were “conjecture, rumor, and innuendo.”
Neither Frost nor her attorneys would comment.
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
Posted September 5, 2009
A Civil Rights attorney from Cleveland Heights, Oh. who represented Blacks in race discrimination lawsuits filed against Cuyahoga County and county officials recently had her law license suspended indefinitely by the Ohio Supreme Court for leveling charges of racism against Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judges William Coyne and Timothy McCormick, and a federal district court judge.
“The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor had information that government employees were engaging in race discrimination and illegal conduct, including crimes of forgery, fraud, and falsification of public documents, yet failed to investigate,” attorney Merrie Maurine Frost claimed in the affidavits of prejudice previously filed against McCormick and Coyne,” according to excerpts from the Ohio Supreme Court suspension decision issued June 24.
Mason said through a spokesperson that he had no comment.
The disciplinary counsel for the Ohio Supreme Court had charged Frost, who is White, with three counts of professional misconduct in violation of the Ohio Lawyer's Code of Professional Responsibility. According to the decision, which followed recommendations of discipline from the the disciplinary counsel's office , Frost was suspended for attorney misconduct, which included “making false accusations against a judge.”
Frost can petition Ohio's high court for reinstatement after two years, the justices said in the unanimous decision. At a disciplinary hearing on the matter that she attended with her attorneys Frost argued that her claims against the public officials were supported by “newspapers and documents.” She told the panel of Ohio Supreme Court justices that suspension would be harsh since she had a clean record as an attorney prior to the long running dispute. That dispute formed the basis of the suspension and centered around conflict from three lawsuits alleging race discrimination that Frost brought on behalf of an array of Blacks. Two of the lawsuits were filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and a third in federal district court.
The lawsuit filed in federal district court was against the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners and others on behalf of 14 Black Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court administrators and supervisors who had made allegations of employment discrimination. It was dismissed in 2005 by a federal district judge, prompting Frost to call the judge racist without justification, the Ohio Supreme Court said in its suspension decision.
The race discrimination lawsuits that Frost filed in common pleas court that were linked to the recent suspension of her law license were on behalf of Jennifer Simmons-Means and Norman Rice, both employees of the Cuyahoga County Department of Justice Affairs, and both of whom had alleged racial bias at work. In those suits Frost named the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners, among other defendants, with Simmons-Means' case assigned to McCormick and Rice's to Coyne. Both cases were ultimately dismissed by McCormick and Coyne, whose dismissals were upheld by the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals in 2005 and 2006.
Frost, however, just recently came under fire with the Ohio Supreme Court's office of disciplinary counsel because of affidavits of prejudice claiming racial bias in the cases before McCormick and Coyne that were dismissed years ago. In those affidavits of prejudice she also accused Mason of ignoring her allegations of alleged wrongdoing by county officials. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer had denied the prejudice affidavits years ago too, and before the cases were themselves dismissed, prompting questions as to why Frost was recently subject to the suspension punishment.
In a strong rebuke Ohio Supreme Court justices said in issuing the decision against Frost that the suspension was warranted because her allegations against the judges and Mason were “conjecture, rumor, and innuendo.”
Neither Frost nor her attorneys would comment.
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