Wis. justices suspend attorney for statements about judges

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A Minnesota attorney who is suspended from practicing law in her home state for making disparaging statements about judges in court filings has been suspended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a year.

Rebekah Nett, of Westview Law Center PLC, was suspended indefinitely by the Minnesota Supreme Court in November for engaging in bad faith litigation and making brazen accusations against state and federal judges in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Wisconsin’s discipline, handed down in a per curiam decision, was reciprocal to the one handed down by Minnesota’s justices. She will not be able to apply for reinstatement for at least nine months.

According to the Minnesota Supreme Court, “Nett repeatedly made frivolous and harassing personal attacks and discriminatory statements in 11 different pleadings in five distinct manners.” Those statements led to sanctions by judges.

The statements were made while Nett was participating in cases involving the Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology Inc. The religious group, based in Shawano, Wis., has frequently been referred to as a “cult,” and has gotten into heated feuds with Shawano leaders, alleging discrimination against SIST stemmed from a disagreement over its leader’s religious beliefs. Much of the actions that led to the discipline stemmed from her representation of SIST’s president, Naomi Isaacson, who is also facing attorney discipline in Wisconsin.

According to the Minnesota Supreme Court’s opinion, Nett:

• Accused Wisconsin judges of “being members of a secretive racist society” and that the mayor of Shawano had conspired with police and judges against her client.
• Wrote that Eastern District of Wisconsin Chief Judge William Griesbach granted her oppositions’ requests because the opposing attorney used to clerk for Greisbach. In an order for sanctions filed in October 2010, Griesbach called Nett’s statements “bizarre, fantastic and delusional.”
• Wrote that the treatment of her client in a case in the Eastern District of Wisconsin was comparable to the “‘justice’ Jews experienced under Hitler in Germany.”
• Signed an affidavit saying the late Minnesota bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher was a “black robed bigot” and a “Catholic Knight Witch Hunter.” Following an order to show cause why Nett and Isaacson should not be sanctioned, both did not show up to a hearing, and Dreher issued a warrant for their arrest.

“The nature of the misconduct,” according to the court’s opinion, “ … also cast the legal profession in a negative light and harmed the public.”

According to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s opinion, Nett sent a letter saying she did not contest the complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Nett – who graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1999 – declined to comment. Follow @eheisigWLJ