Former judge now faces ethics complaint as lawyer over same baseball tickets that led to his resignation from bench

A former 12th Judicial Circuit judge and two Palmetto attorneys are facing ethics complaints filed by the Florida Bar regarding the same baseball tickets that led to the judge’s resignation from the bench.

Last week, following its own investigation, the Florida Bar filed ethics complaints with the Florida Supreme Court against former Judge John Lakin and Palmetto-based attorneys Melton Little and Scott Kallins.

According to the complaint, by soliciting the law firm Kallins Little & Delgado for free tickets to Tampa Bay Rays games and later accepting those tickets, Lakin created an appearance of impropriety and undermined his independence, integrity and impartiality when he presided over a case involving the firm.

Likewise, complaints filed against Little and Kallins allege that by offering and later gifting the baseball tickets to Lakin, it also created created an appearance of impropriety, and as a result called Lakin’s impartiality into question.

Calls to Lakin’s attorney and to Little and Kallins for comment were not returned Wednesday. Patrick Kane, Lakin’s partner at the law firm Lakin Robinson Durham Kane Kurpier in Bradenton, did speak on behalf of the law firm.

“John Lakin is one of the best lawyers that I’ve known and that’s included practicing in states,” Kane told the Bradenton Herald. “His love of the law is demonstrated by how he represents his clients an ethical and zealous manner.”

According to Kane, Lakin was rated well by the Sarasota Bar Association in 2015, the same year the tickets were exchanged between the former judge and two attorneys. Lakin was rated 4.12 out of a possible 5 overall by local attorneys, and 4.32 for the area of integrity and ethics, he said.

“While he was on the bench, he was one of the best judges,” Kane said. “I found him to be fair and impartial. He always treated court personnel with dignity and respect. I think he had the prefect the temper for a judge.”

At the center of the complaint is a civil suit that was filed by Sandy Wittke — represented by the law firm Kallins Little & Delgado — in August 2012. Wittke claimed that Wal-Mart was at fault when she slipped and fell in December 2009 at the store at 5315 Cortez Road W., Bradenton.

Lakin presided over the case in which a jury ruled in favor of Wal-Mart. In August 2015, Lakin granted Kallins Little & Delgado’s motion for a new trial on Wittke’s behalf.

Wal-Mart in turn appealed Lakin’s decision to grant the plaintiff a new trial that September. In October 2016, the Second District Court of Appeals reversed Lakin’s decision and reinstated the jury’s finding in favor of Wal-Mart.

As the appeal was pending however, the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission formally charged Lakin with misconduct in February 2016 for accepting Tampa Bay Rays tickets from the law firm Kallins Little & Delgado. The commission also determined that he had received baseball tickets from the law firm Gallagher & Hagopian law firm and attorney Ed Sobel.

Although Lakin admitted to taking the baseball game tickets, he denied it had any effect on his ruling or that it demonstrated his inability to sit on the bench. In March, Lakin’s resignation was announced in a letter sent to Gov. Rick Scott, citing “professional and family reasons.”

Following his resignation, the commission dismissed its case against Lakin.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Former judge now faces ethics complaint as lawyer over same baseball tickets that led to his resignation from bench."