This is not what I thought happened at Phish shows. I have been to two of them and they were many things – tedious, a little cultish – but not this.
Colorado disciplinary authorities recently issued a public censure to a lawyer for events that arose out of a Phish concert in Mexico. Allegedly, a lawyer, “while naked, shoved [a woman] and other crowd members when [the lawyer] attempted to rush the stage at the concert.” But here is the best part: The naked, stage storming lawyer – let’s call him Runaway Jim – is not the one who received the censure!
No. The alleged victim’s friend, a lawyer, wrote a demand letter to Runaway Jim that caused her to be censured.
According to the Presiding Disciplinary Judge’s decision, the attorney’s letter “used demeaning and unprofessional language to refer to the lawyer, calling him a ‘violent psychopath’; ‘a violent [a__hole]’; ‘an idiot’; ‘obnoxious’; ‘stupid’; ‘a shameless, ridiculous boasting [s__t]’; ‘a terrible [f___king] attorney’; and ‘a disgrace to the Colorado Bar, the Phish community, and [his] family.’” The letter demanded that Runaway Jim pay $50,000 and “enter an agreement never to touch or contact the client again and to stay at least twenty-five feet away from the client at future Phish concerts.” In exchange, the client would agree not to sue or recruit other Phishheads – whose twirling was no doubt interrupted by Runaway Jim – to sue.
If Runaway Jim did not accept the settlement, then the lawyer threatened to “issue a press release with the complaint and an un-redacted video allegedly showing the lawyer engaged with security at the concert.” The lawyer also threatened, absent settlement, to sue in federal court and in Mexico and to report the lawyer to the local Mexican police.
The lawyer’s strategy apparently backfired because the Presiding Disciplinary Judge in Colorado held that the lawyer’s conduct “violated Colo. RPC 4.4(a) (in representing a client, a lawyer must not use means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person) and Colo. RPC 4.5(a) (a lawyer must not threaten criminal, administrative, or disciplinary charges to obtain an advantage in a civil matter).”