After being suspended for misconduct, William Winters and Marc Yonkers have seen their commercials pulled from airing in Louisville and Florida. They head the law firm of Winters Yonker & Kannady, which paid $651,000 for 12,212 spots in Louisville for the first eight months of the year, according to the Courier-Journal.
The two were suspended for 91 days (Winter) and 60 days (Yonker) by the Florida Supreme Court after it found that the two stole clients from a former boss 11 years ago so they could begin their own firm. The court said that the two acted too aggressively when taking the clients with them.
They were also found guilty of other conduct that involved fraud, misrepresentation, deceit or dishonesty. While the suspension is active, the lawyers are not allowed to find new business or advertise in Florida. The law firm remains open in Louisville but the firm’s website has been shut-off in Kentucky and Florida.
The two attorneys are not licensed to practice law in Kentucky. The court suspended the lawyers on September 6 and said in the ruling that “The Bar argues that Winters and Yonker’s ‘personal use’’’ of their ex-boss’ client files constituted acts of criminal theft. We agree.”
The lawyers’ former employer, Richard Mulholland, won a judgment of $2 million against them back in 2008. To date, he has been able to collect just $750,000 from the judgment. Mulholland claimed that files were taken from the firm during lunch by Yonker and that Winters used the help of his girlfriend at the time, a legal assistant with the firm, to hack into his computer. When the suspension is complete, Winters ahs to apply to be reinstated and Yonker can resume his practice.