Iowa attorney faces suspension in Wis.

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A Dubuque, Iowa, attorney disciplined in his home state for failing to resolve a settlement issue in a timely fashion is facing reciprocal discipline in Wisconsin.

The Iowa Supreme Court in December suspended David Lemanski, a solo practitioner, for 60 days. According to the court’s decision, Lemanski settled a case for a client in June 2011. He received the money the next month, but he could not disburse it because he had to resolve a Medicaid subrogation claim before giving the money to his client.

He hired a contractor to submit information about the subrogation, but the contractor delayed his action. Meanwhile, Lemanski did not keep his client informed of this, and a complaint was filed.

The subrogation issue was resolved in December 2012, but by that time, Lemanski faced further discipline for not cooperating with an ethics investigation, according to the decision.

Wisconsin’s Office of Lawyer Regulation filed its related complaint Aug. 29. It has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to suspend Lemanski’s law license for 60 days as reciprocal discipline.

Lemanski graduated from Drake University Law School in Des Moines in 1979. He was admitted to practice in Wisconsin in 2002.

According to the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision, Lemanski also was suspended there for 30 days in 2000 for a case that was “strikingly similar” to the current case.

Reached Wednesday, Lemanski said he could not comment because he had not yet seen Wisconsin’s complaint. Follow @eheisigWLJ