La. Supreme Court: People can't be sued over complaints to lawyer discipline board

The Louisiana Supreme Court reprimanded a Metairie attorney for suing his sister because she repeatedly filed complaints against him — and appealed when the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel ruled them baseless.

But several facts make the lightest penalty appropriate for Roy A. Raspanti, who sued his sister, Janine Raspanti, the court said in a unanimous opinion Tuesday.

The disciplinary board had recommended suspending him for three months, with another nine months' suspension deferred.

Roy Raspanti did not immediately return a call to his office Tuesday. His sister has an unlisted number.

The justices said Louisiana guarantees that nobody who files a complaint with the office can be sued for doing so, even if the attorney involved considers the complaint malicious.

It noted that Raspanti represented his sister only because his parents urged him, and he apparently was trying to end what the disciplinary board had found to be unfounded complaints.

During a hearing, the high court said, Roy Raspanti testified that "Ms. Raspanti filed disciplinary complaints against him whenever she did not want to pay him his fee."

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel dismissed her complaints in 1974 and 1997, but didn't notify Roy Raspanti that the second complaint had been made.

He testified that he would not have represented her in 1999 had he known about the 1997 complaint. She filed a third complaint in 2001. It was also dismissed.

Roy Raspanti argued that he could sue for defamation because his sister repeated her allegations when she appealed the dismissals to the Louisiana Supreme Court.