Attorney found guilty of forging court order
- Peter Schneider
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
I have repeatedly advocated telephone consumer protection act plaintiffs to always check the work of opposing attorneys, and this non-TCPA case illustrates why.
The background is a little busy. Man A assaults Man B. A court orders Man A to not come within 1000 feet of Man B (criminal no-contact order) but Man B got a civil protection order to keep Man A 5000 feet away.
Problem - Man A lives about 1000 feet from Man B, and these orders would keep him out of his own house. Man A's lawyer gets the criminal no-contact order cut down to 500 feet, but the 5000 foot civil order remains in place.
Someone sees Man A too close to Man B at a local store, and calls the police, and they come out. Long story short, the Girl Friend of Man A gets on the phone with Man A's attorney, who provide GF with an amended civil court order of 500 feet.
I am sure in many situations, that's the end of the story. Police see amended court order, and drive away. However in this case, a police officer dug deeper and found out this amended court order was never on the court's docket, and later came to conclude the amended court order was forged, and he came to conclude it was forged by Man A's attorney, Josephine Townsend. Ms. Townsend would later point the finger at Man A's GF.
The story is quite lengthy and you can read it here. Ms. Townsend elected to take bench trial and was found guilty. On the surface, Ms. Townsend forging a court order for a client makes no sense from a risk-reward standpoint. The risk? After getting caught, Ms. Townsend's law practice is shuttered and she will almost certainly be disbarred. What could Man possibly have paid Ms. Townsend to be worth the risk, and apparently no evidence surfaced that Man A did.
Ms. Townsend claimed Man A's GF gave her the forged court order, but that story seems, to put it mildly, far fetched. Ms. Townsend seems to be in the best position to know if the court amended its order, and a court isn't going to modify its own order just because and without notice. So GF shows up with an amended order and Ms. Townsend naively accepts it as valid, and then emails it to GF later?
If it wasn't for money, what? Well, from my observations, I suspect Ms. Townsend had done this sort of thing many time and never got caught, to the point she was willing to forge documents to get clients out of minor jambs, or clients she fell in love with. Not in the literal sense, but often attorney's will cross lines for particular clients they want to protect.
I've seen a pattern myself. Attorneys start bending the rules. Little things get noticed but many judges are lazy or don't want to blemish someone's career, and start looking the other way or white washing anything that does get caught. The attorney starts to feel that this is just how the system is now, there will never be consequences, and they get bolder, and take bigger risks.
Then something like this happens and all the people who were looking the other way or white washing can't help anymore, and the attorney flames out. All the people looking the other way and whitewashing were not truly helping the bad apple, if they had called out bad behavior while it was small, a lot of it wouldn't get big, and the bad apple probably would have a criminal conviction and get disbarred now.
What's my overall point? The legal system is full of bad actors, protected by judges looking the other way and white washing, which pumps up the bad actors up even more. It can be somewhere between infuriating and disheartening to watch as these people get away with thing after thing after thing because the system protects them, but I encourage you to keep plugging away. One day they'll go too far for the system to protect them, and they'll start on the way down. Maybe because of a shot you took.
The more pompous and confident the opposing attorney, the more you should check their work. Pompous and faking it often go hand in hand. Even if you can't bring them down, they might at least become more wary of pulling it on you.
Are telemarketers bothering you in Washington or Oregon? I handle TCPA lawsuits in both states and may be able to help. If you're considering action against illegal robocalls or Do Not Call list violations, reach out for a legal consultation.
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📧 Email: peter@nwdebtresolution.com
Note: The opinions in this blog belong to me (Peter Schneider) and do not count as legal advice. If you’re considering suing over illegal robocalls or Do Not Call violations, please contact me for a legal consultation.
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