
A Tigard lawyer who publishes complaints to the Oregon State Bar on the web faces a lawsuit by a Eugene lawyer claiming libel.
Former Rogue of the Week Daniel Bernath (pictured above) keeps a website where he claims to publish all complaints against Oregon lawyers submitted to the bar. Toward the bottom of that web page is the following statement:
“Michael Vergamini This Oregon lawyer committed malpractice.”
A link after that statement goes to a separate page that appears to reprint the text of a bar complaint against Vergamini brought by client Christopher Wood. The complaint claims Vergamini ignored a witness subpoena to appear in court. Bar spokeswoman Kateri Walsh says the bar is still investigating the complaint.
On June 25, Vergamini sued Bernath in Multnomah County Circuit Court for $175,000. Vergamini claims Bernath committed libel by publishing a false statement that Vergamini committed malpractice. The lawsuit notes that Bernath’s website yields search engine results saying “Michael Vergamini committed malpractice.”
Bernath has an interesting back story. He was denied membership by the Oregon State Bar in 1998 for “lack of good moral character.” The decision pointed to Bernath’s one-year suspension from the California Bar in 1995 for failure to pay child support and cashing a client’s settlement check without her permission. Bernath, according to the decision, also failed to report a $34,000 judgment against him for malicious prosecution and destroyed all his case files from California when he moved to Oregon in the late 1990s.
Despite not being a member of the bar, Bernath represents clients trying to cliam payments from the Social Security Administration, which allows anyone to represent clients in its courts.
Reached by WW for comment on the lawsuit against him, Bernath was still smarting from his Rogue of the Week moment in 2005.
“Are you gonna be a little whore of a journalist too, or are you gonna be fair?” he asked this reporter.
On the lawsuit, Bernath repeated his claim that Vergamini “committed malpractice,” citing the bar complaint.
“He says he didn’t commit malpractice. That’s something for the Oregon State Bar to determine, and others,” Bernath said. “All I’ve done is publish the official complaint that some citizen made against him.”
Read about more Juicy Suits here.