Via the MiamiHerald.com:

Asbestos clients sue Florida Bar for millions - Thousands of former asbestos clients who claim their disbarred Miami lawyer stole millions of dollars from them have sued the Florida Bar.

Miami Herald
By Jay Weaver
January 11, 2006

More than 4,000 people ailing from asbestos exposure sued the Florida Bar on Tuesday to recover $13.5 million in damage settlements allegedly pilfered by a disbarred Miami lawyer. The proposed class action by the asbestos victims once represented by former attorney Louis Robles sought civil relief in Miami federal court after the Bar refused to pay any of the misappropriated settlements from a special fund.

''This lawyer stole $13.5 million from ill and elderly victims, and no one gives a damn,'' said lawyer Thomas Tew, whose firm, Tew Cardenas, is representing the nationwide group of Robles' former asbestos clients. In early 2003, Tew was assigned by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court to sort out thousands of asbestos claims left in limbo after Robles -- once dubbed the King of Torts -- shut down his firm, dumping client files, including X-rays, on the floor of a West Miami-Dade warehouse. Tew, himself a member of the Florida Bar, said he has tried in vain to compel the organization to use money collected from 70,000 member lawyers who contribute to a client security fund to compensate victims such as those wronged by Robles.

The Florida Bar, which has mandatory membership and regulates its own lawyers, declined to comment. But spokeswoman Francine Walker said the Bar has never been sued by a group of people who have suffered losses because of their attorney's misconduct. She said the Bar's security fund program is designed to compensate individuals victimized by their lawyers...

All the gory details about this novel case can be found here, in the full article.

-- MDT