A Minneapolis attorney best known for successfully challenging repeat drunken-driving arrests while on his Segway has been recommended for punishment by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility.
However, the multiple complaints against Mark Alan Greenman have nothing to do with his most recent Court of Appeals victory, or a pending lawsuit against the city of Medina and its Police Department related to his repeated arrests.
According to a petition for disciplinary action, Greenman is accused of failing to correctly file court documents on behalf of clients, filing documents that contradict testimony by his own clients, failing to tell clients about necessary deadlines and not paying court reporters in full for their services.
A fifth count levied against Greenman claims he placed a client's file from a closed case in the basement storage vault of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange building. When the client's new attorney asked Greenman to retrieve it, he allegedly refused, citing possible asbestos contamination in the vault. After the client filed an ethics complaint, Greenman's former partner found the file and Greenman returned it to the client more than a year after the initial request, the complaint said.
Greenman, 48, who could not be reached for comment, has defeated multiple drunken-driving charges stemming from arrests made when he was on his Segway personal mobility device. The Minnesota Court of Appeals in January ruled that a Segway is not a motor vehicle. Greenman also has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city for the repeated arrests; it recently was moved to federal court.
ABBY SIMONS
