Lawyer accused of violating bankruptcy rules by filing lawsuit in fake will case

Lawyer accused of violating bankruptcy rules by filing lawsuit in fake will case


Published: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 12:38 PM Updated: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 5:03 PM

By Brendan Kirby, Press-Register Press-Register


View full sizeMary Beth Mantiply ... accused of violating bankruptcy rules.

MOBILE, Alabama — A Baldwin County lawyer faces possible sanctions for filing a lawsuit against a lawyer even though he had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Mary Beth Mantiply filed the lawsuit against lawyer Richard Horne on behalf of two women who claimed their father's will had been altered to cut them out. The plaintiffs accused Horne of conspiring with his clients to present an altered will that included a change in beneficiaries and his forged signature.

Horne’s attorneys argue that the lawsuit, filed in March of last year, was improper because of the bankruptcy filing that occurred in January 2011. Under federal law, creditors are required to halt any efforts to collect debts while the court sorts out the bankruptcy issues.

Horne’s lawyers seek $47,000 from Mantiply to compensate Horne and his wife for legal fees and emotional distress that they suffered between the time that Mantiply filed the lawsuit and a Mobile County Circuit Court judge dismissed it n November.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Shulman denied a request today by Mantiply’s attorney to strike the damages motion and urged both sides to try to settle the dispute.

“Has anybody mentioned the word ‘mediation?’” Shulman asked the lawyers. “Outside of court is better than inside of court, because it gets ugly.”

Shulman ordered the attorneys to let him know by the end of the week if they would agree to mediation.

If the 2 sides cannot resolve the matter, Shulman said, he would schedule a trial date.

Mantiply’s lawyer, Henry Callaway, said outside court that his client did not intentionally violate bankruptcy rules requiring a “stay,” or a freezing of the lawsuit.

“She’s not a bankruptcy attorney. She accidentally violated the stay,” he said. “Our view is they’re trying to take revenge against her.”

C. Michael Smith, an attorney for Horne, disputed that characterization.

“She may not practice in Bankruptcy Court regularly, but she clearly was aware of the stay,” Smith said. “I don’t see how that can be deemed to be an accident.”

Shulman already has determined the Mantiply was aware of Horne’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing when she filed the lawsuit. In an Oct. 23 ruling, the judge determined that Mantiply had “actual knowledge” of the bankruptcy filing as early as Jan. 23 of last year, when the Press-Register reported it.

Yet, Horne’s lawyers contend, Mantiply failed to withdraw the lawsuit even after Shulman’s order.

The case unfolding in Bankruptcy Court offers Horne a chance to play the role of aggressor after trying to fend off Mantiply's pursuit of him in various venues during the past year and a half. In a December 2010 trial in Mobile County Probate Court, a jury determined that the will of Joseph Brunson that Horne submitted was a forgery, and Judge Don Davis invalidated it.

Afterward, the stepfather of Katie and Micki Brunson —the original beneficiaries of Joseph Brunson’s will — filed a complaint against Horne with the Alabama State Bar.

Brunson was a colorful figure in Mobile legal circles who spent about 3 years in federal prison on a drug conviction and lost his law license for a time.

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