OLR moves to revoke license of missing attorney

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The president of a controversial religious group in northern Wisconsin who called a judge a racist has not responded to a complaint the Office of Lawyer Regulation filed seeking revocation of her law license.

The agency is now asking for a default judgment.

Naomi Isaacson filed numerous documents in state and federal courts alleging a large conspiracy between city and state officials, attorneys and judges across Wisconsin and the United States. The OLR filed a case against her in March, asking the state Supreme Court to revoke her law license.

But Isaacson, whose State Bar profile lists her employer as Arendal Dental Clinic in St. Paul, Minn, has not engaged in the proceedings. Court filings show that Wayne Arnold, an attorney the OLR retained in the case, has tried to reach Isaacson by letter and by email but received no response.

According to court filings, a sheriff’s deputy tried to serve the complaint but was unsuccessful. Attempts to mail the complaint also did not work.

Now, the OLR has asked a referee to issue a default judgment against Isaacson and to rule in its favor. In a sanction memo attached to the motion, Arnold wrote that “a lawyer should not derive some benefit by ignoring and violating” rules that require attorneys to keep their address up-to-date with the State Bar.

“Otherwise, all lawyers facing serious disciplinary charges would ‘head for the tall timber,'” according to the memo.

The default judgment motion was filed Aug. 11. Isaacson was to respond by Sept. 5, but did not. A conference call for the default judgment motion is set for Oct. 17.

James Curtis, the court-appointed referee in Isaacson’s case, said he could not comment on the proceeding because it is ongoing.

Isaacson is the head of Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology Inc., or SIST, in Shawano. SIST has been referred to as a “cult,” though Isaacson has refuted that label in court filings. The organization and its subsidiaries – which have invested in convenience stores and a Go-Kart amusement park in Shawano – have struggled financially for several years. Much of that has spilled into state and federal courts in Wisconsin and Minnesota, among other states.

Isaacson alleged in several court filings that the religious group and its leaders have been persecuted, according to the complaint. She stated in an Aug. 18, 2010, affidavit that Shawano Mayor Lorna Marquardt “formed a secretive, racist organization whose sole function is to wage psychological, physical and financial war against SIST’s Indian President, other SIST personnel, and businesses.”

She also has alleged bias by judges and other leaders, blaming it on a persecution of her religious group. But the most noteworthy statements she made were against late Minnesota bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher, whom she referred to as a “black robed bigot” and a “Catholic Knight Witch Hunter” in a December 2011 affidavit.

Dreher later issued a warrant for Isaacson’s arrest when she didn’t appear at a court hearing, though court filings show the warrant was rescinded after Dreher died in 2012 and another judge presided over the conclusion of the case.

“Isaacson had been a lawyer in Wisconsin for almost 13 years,” Arnold wrote in the sanction memo. “She has had substantial experience and should know better.”

When the OLR reached out to Isaacson during its investigation, she tried to have the investigator removed from the case because “she felt that because of the race and religion of OLR’s investigator, OLR was unable to conduct a neutral investigation,” according to the complaint.

When the OLR refused, she responded by inundating the investigator with documents and digital files that had little to nothing to do with the investigation, the March complaint states.

Messages left for Isaacson were not immediately returned Friday.

In the case in front of Dreher, Isaacson was represented by Rebekah Nett. The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Nett, of Westview Law Center PLC in Hastings, Minn. for a year in July.

That case’s investigation was primarily handled by Minnesota’s Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, as Nett was disciplined there as well. Isaacson also is expected to face discipline in Minnesota, but that disciplinary office has said the OLR is handling its case first. Follow @eheisigWLJ