The state board that investigates ethics complaints against Minnesota lawyers has filed a petition seeking to suspend or disbar Minneapolis lawyer Paul Hansmeier, who built a career suing thousands of people nationwide for downloading Internet porn, then turned to filing what some call "nuisance lawsuits" against small businesses that allegedly fail to comply with disability access laws.
The 43-page petition by the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, signed Oct. 28, was made public Monday, just days after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee moved to liquidate Hansmeier's assets forcibly, arguing that he sought court protection from creditors in "bad faith."
Those and harsher words were sprinkled through the lawyers' board petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court, recounting Hansmeier's actions related to his so-called "porn trolling" cases. In recommending discipline, the board cited numerous legal rulings against Hansmeier characterizing those suits as "vexation litigation designed to coerce settlement," as false statements made in court, in depositions and on state documents under penalty of perjury.
Hansmeier and his associates in the porn trolling cases were hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars in court-ordered sanctions. He now makes a living suing bars, restaurants, stores and other small businesses on allegations that they fail to comply with disability access laws, a practice denounced by Chambers of Commerce and some politicians. He's filed more than 120 such lawsuits in two years.
As Hansmeier's creditors closed in, he filed for bankruptcy protection seeking to reorganize more than $1.5 million in debts, taxes and court sanctions. He has asked the federal bankruptcy court to let him restructure his debts so that he can move on with his life.
Neither his creditors nor the bankruptcy trustee think that should happen. They filed more than 500 pages of documents late last week objecting to his plan.
U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Daniel McDermott characterizes Hansmeier's financial disclosures as incomplete and misleading. McDermott alleges that Hansmeier made fraudulent transfers of assets to his wife, Padraigin Browne, and that they're selling their condo in the Carlyle, a downtown Minneapolis luxury high rise, without court approval. They now rent a home in Woodbury.
Colin Kreuziger, an attorney representing the trustee, wrote that Hansmeier's actions leading up to bankruptcy indicate that he filed his petition solely to keep his creditors at bay.