INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Supreme Court banned high-profile Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger from seeking temporary admission to the Indiana bar for two years Friday because of professional misconduct.
The court ruled that Fieger misrepresented the status of a disciplinary action pending against him in Michigan when he applied for temporary admission to the bar in St. Joseph County in 2005.
The court said Fieger asserted under oath that no "formal disciplinary proceedings" were pending against him, saying he altered the form to insert the word "formal."
But the court said the Michigan Supreme Court at the time was considering whether Fieger should be reprimanded for "vulgar and crude" attacks against appeals court judges.
The court said Fieger testified he intentionally added the word "formal" to protect himself from a charge of dishonesty in case there was some "complaint floating out there that I don't even know about or that I don't recall."
The court said if that were true, it would have made more sense to say no "known" proceedings were pending.
Fieger barred from Ind. cases; misconduct cited