Latest news with #Breault
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Columbus lawyer who won $42 million verdict is now suspended by Georgia Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Georgia has suspended a Columbus lawyer. Chris Breault, a Columbus lawyer who specializes in personal injury lawsuits, received a six-month suspension of his law license for what the court said are violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. The violations involve events that happened in 2017, when he was brought on a case to act as lead counsel for a husband and wife, according to court documents. The husband suffered two breaks in his back and a skull fracture after a tractor trailer struck his truck, which caused it to go over the side of a bridge and into the Savannah River, court documents say. Court documents say Breault came to believe the clients needed to pursue a claim based on traumatic brain injury and learned the husband had been treated by a neurologist. Breault and a Georgia lawyer, identified as 'C.M.,' met with the physician, according to court documents. Court documents say C.M. made an audio recording of the meeting unbeknownst to Breault or the physician. 'During this meeting, the physician described the Husband's purported brain injury as 'all kind of speculative' and made remarks casting doubt on the possible brain injury claim,' the court documents say. Breault called the office manager on June 14, 2017, and canceled the deposition following this meeting, according to the documents. Breault called and talk talked to the office manager June 20, 2017, regarding whether the physician would be able to testify at trial. The office manager told Breault the physician wouldn't be able to due to their workload, according to court documents. Court documents say Breault responded in a threatening manner, stating the physician would have to do a deposition or he (Breault) would subpoena him for trial. Court documents say the defendants in the lawsuit filed a motion the following day to revoke Breault's pro hac vice admission to the case because his actions violated the court's guidelines for courtroom conduct. Breault was previously given a pro hac vice admission, which allows for the addition of an attorney to a case where they are not licensed to practice, according to the Cornell Law School website. The defendant's motion included an affidavit from the office manager detailing the conversation, court documents say. Breault responded to the motion without discussing it with the clients, according to court documents. Court documents say Breault included a transcript of the audio recording taken by C.M. during the June 7, 2017, meeting with the physician. Breault also obtained an audio recording of the meeting and sent it to all lawyers in the case and to the court, according to the documents. 'In his response to the defendant's motion to revoke, Breault admitted that the recording was 'attorney work product and includes many insights into how the Plaintiff[s] view every part of this case,' and that his actions 'tipp[ed] the 'playing field' in favor of the Defendants by disclosing this work product,' but that he 'fe[lt] the esteem and confidence of this Honorable Court are more important,' the documents say. Court documents say Breault admitted at a disciplinary hearing that he made the disclosures public to make the defense counsel look like 'a disingenuous a**hole.' The district court denied the defendant's motion but found the disclosure of the conversation was unnecessary and damaging to the clients' case, court documents say. Breault was allowed to add a neuropsychologist to the client's witness list and was ordered to depose the neuropsychologist by the middle of August 2017, according to court documents. Court documents say Breault told defense counsel that 10 a.m. on Aug. 14, 2017, would work for the neuropsychologist's deposition without having confirmed the date with the neuropsychologist. The neuropsychologist informed the parties that he wouldn't be available that day, court documents say. 'Breault told defense counsel that he would ask the court for more time to schedule the deposition, but he never filed the request,' court documents say. Breault was discharged by the clients Aug. 16, 2017, through a hand-delivered letter, according to court documents. Court documents say the following day Breault went unannounced to the clients' home in South Carolina, called into question the competency of the clients' remaining counsel and told them they would lose out on funding for medical treatment if he were removed from the case. The wife texted Breault after hisvisit, telling him she didn't want him to represent them, and Breault acknowledged the message and said he would file withdrawal paperwork the following day, according to court documents. Court documents say Breault failed to file the withdrawal paperwork and instead advised the husband to seek legal advice from a litigation funding company and reached out to the wife, requesting she attend a focus group about the case. The clients filed a motion to revoke Breault's pro hac vice admission, according to court documents. Court documents say Breault filed a response 54 days after being discharged as counsel and again disclosed confidential information he gained while representing the clients. Breault filed withdrawal paperwork following an Oct. 30, 2017, disciplinary hearing, according to court documents. 'The district court entered a Disciplinary Order, in which it found that Breault had violated several provisions of the GRPC (Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct) and that his disclosures of the Clients' protected information had been damaging to the Clients, and revoked Breault's pro hac vice admission,' the documents say. Breault's suspension began Tuesday and will end after six months with 'no conditions on Breault's reinstatement other than the passage of time,' according to court documents. The Ledger-Enquirer asked Breault for comment and received the following statement in an email: ''I have never once in my entire career been in trouble with the State Bar of Georgia. If you look at my record since I finished law school at the University of Georgia in 2012, twelve (12) years ago, I have zero Bar complaints or Bar discipline. It is odd that it is 2025, weeks after I get a $42 million jury verdict — the largest jury verdict in Georgia history in a motorcycle wreck — and I'm being said to have violated Bar rules from a case in 2017. 'I did excellent work for the client in that case they are talking about from 2017. Because of my work, the client became a millionaire. This all took place back in June of 2017, one month before trial. I was hired by the client's original lawyer to come and try the case in court as lead trial counsel. The client in the case was rear-ended by a tractor trailer and sent off a large bridge, falling nearly 200 feet. I came onto the case, proved he had a brain injury, and then the case settled for seven-figures and the client was happy. Because of my work, the client took home more than double what he was going to get before I was hired. 'I stand by my work in that case. I'm the first lawyer in Georgia history that they've ever accused of breaking these rules like this. I was part of a team of four (4) lawyers and I'm the only one they say violated a Bar rule. For years, they wanted me to take some slap-on-the-wrist penalty as long as I admitted I did something wrong. I refused, because I did nothing wrong. I'm sorry that in order to get outstanding results, you have to do things differently than your average Joe Schmoe lawyer out there. It means that you are creative and think outside the box. It doesn't mean you 'broke the rules.' 'After reading the Supreme Court's order on this matter, it's clear that whoever wrote it — sometimes it's a clerk or an assistant — does not have or understand all the facts. I plan to submit a motion for reconsideration to the court in ten (10) days to have them review it. 'As stated by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., 'the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends towards Justice.' If you are willing to work and seize the opportunities that God provides, then God will take care of you. That has been my experience and I expect that to continue in the future.'
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
Georgia Supreme Court suspends law license of Columbus Attorney Chris Breault
COLUMBUS, Ga. () — The Georgia Supreme Court has suspended the law license of a Columbus attorney for his actions in a 2017 case in U.S. District Court, Southern Division. The court asserted that Chris Breault acted improperly and against Georgia Bar Association Rules of Professional Conduct and suspended his license for six months beginning March 4. Here is the March 4, 2025, order from the state Supreme Court. This matter has been under investigation by Special Masters assigned by the Georgia Bar Association for more than five years. Late last year, the Special Master assigned to the case recommended a one-month suspension. The Supreme Court rejected that and asked for additional information. The Supreme Court said the Special Master 'failed to adequately analyze Breault's conduct under the framework found in the American Bar Association Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions.' Breault was accused of violating a rule that prohibited making public privileged information. The new Special Master recommended a one-year suspension, but the final decision rested with the state's highest court, which went with six months. Breault, a high-profile civil litigation lawyer, has to cease practice during the suspension. In late November, Breault was the lead attorney in a case that received a $42 million jury award in Muscogee County Superior Court. His client was severely injured in a motorcycle crash at Warm Springs and Miller roads. Breault sent the following statement when WRBL contacted him about the suspension: 'I have never once in my entire career been in trouble with the State Bar of Georgia. If you look at my record since I finished law school at the University of Georgia in 2012, twelve (12) years ago, I have zero Bar complaints or Bar discipline. It is odd that it is 2025, weeks after I get a $42 million jury verdict–the largest jury verdict in Georgia history in a motorcycle wreck–and I'm being said to have violated Bar rules from a case in 2017. I did excellent work for this client and because of my work, the client became a millionaire. This all took place back in June of 2017, one month before trial. I was hired by the client's original lawyer to come and try the case in court as lead trial counsel. The client in the case was rear-ended by a tractor trailer and sent off a large bridge, falling nearly 200 feet. I came onto the case, proved he had a brain injury, and then the case settled for seven-figures and the client was really happy. Because of my work, the client took home more than double what they were going to get from the other lawyers they had had for 2 years before me. I stand by my work in this case. I'm the first lawyer in Georgia history that they've ever accused of breaking these rules like this. I was part of a team of four (4) lawyers and I'm the only one they say violated some rule. For years, they wanted me to take some slap-on-the-wrist penalty as long as I admitted I did something wrong. I refused, because I stand by my work. I'm sorry that in order to get outstanding results, you have to do things differently than your average Joe Schmoe lawyer out there. It means that you are creative and think outside the box. It doesn't mean you 'broke the rules.' After reading the Supreme Court's order on this matter, it clear that whoever wrote it—sometimes it's a clerk or an assistant—does not have or understand all the facts. I plan to submit a motion for reconsideration to the court in ten (10) days to have them review it. As stated by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., 'the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends towards Justice.' If you are willing to work and seize the opportunities that God provides, then God will take care of you. That has been my experience and I expect that to come in the future.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Petition seeks to name submarine after 'The Silent Service's First Hero'
Putnam — The nation's only enlisted submariner to receive the Medal of Honor lies in a grave in St. Mary's Cemetery. Year after year, volunteers would come to clean the headstone of Henry Breault. While the local veteran community knew Breault's distinction as Putnam's only Medal of Honor recipient, Brian Maynard, the past commander of American Legion Post 13, said it took years before they knew the extent of his story. 'He did something that everybody in the military questions whether they would do,' Maynard said. 'You hope that if that situation arose, you would, but everybody always questions, 'Would you?' and Henry Breault did.' In 1923, when a Navy submarine started to sink near the Panama Canal, Breault sacrificed his only means of escape to ensure that his shipmate would have a chance at survival. After a 31-hour rescue operation, both men made it out of the wreckage alive. Today, more than a century after President Calvin Coolidge awarded Breault the Medal of Honor in 1924, a coalition of more than 2,000 men and women across the country are petitioning the U.S. Navy to name a Virginia-class submarine in Breault's honor. On Saturday, March 8, 101 years to the day after Breault's award, the town is placing a spotlight on the nationwide effort with 'Henry Breault Day' in Putnam during a ceremony planned for noon at Veterans Park. 'He was the first submariner and to this day is the only enlisted submariner to ever have received the Medal of Honor,' said Maynard, one of the founding members of the Henry Breault Association. 'For Putnam, it's a remarkable honor, because there's no other town that can claim this.' Breault's story started in Putnam, where he was born on Oct. 14, 1900, but his legacy was solidified off the coast of Panama on Oct. 28, 1923, when a commercial steamship struck the USS O-5. Less than a minute after the collision, the O-5 sank. But before the submarine descended into the water, Breault had a choice. Instead of jumping overboard to safety through the access hatch, Breault closed the hatch, went back into the torpedo room where his shipmate was trapped, and sealed the chamber's watertight door shut. Had he escaped and left the hatch open, those who remained on board would have died from the flooding. 'He made a split-second decision based on the fact that he hadn't heard that they were abandoning ship,' said Ryan Walker, an adjunct naval history professor at the United States Naval Community College and the author of 'The Silent Service's First Hero,' a book on Breault's life. 'His action saved the life of (Lawrence) Brown, and likely another guy named Charles Butler, who managed to self-escape in a different compartment.' Walker was 20 years old when he first learned Breault's story in enlisted submarine school. 'It was the first time I understood what being a submariner meant,' Walker said. 'He represents, in my mind, the entire submarine force and the duties we expect of submariners.' When the O-5 sank, Walker said, the Navy had no established escape or rescue procedure for submarines. He said it was hours before a diving team tapped on the hull of Breault's chamber in search of survivors. 'The only way to escape that (the Navy had) tried was through the torpedo tubes,' Walker said. 'One person can go in the torpedo tubes, and they could essentially flood the tube and let them swim out by opening the door. But crucially, one person would have had to stay behind to do that. So at some point, Breault and Brown look at each other and say, 'It's either both of us or neither of us are going to make it out of there.' So they guess they had about 48 hours of oxygen (and) they decided to wait it out.' As they waited, Walker said, a battery explosion ignited an electrical fire in an adjacent chamber. 'They must have literally felt they were boiling alive in the already tropical waters,' Walker said. It took 31 hours to complete the rescue. Walker said barges carried the submarine through the Panama Canal, where divers could clear the wreckage and pull the vessel to the surface. The winch snapped three times before rescuers successfully lifted Breault and Brown's chamber. 'When they raised … they asked both of them, 'How did you guys make it?' And Lawrence Brown said, 'Breault is the reason I made it. Breault saved my life,'' Walker said. After 30 minutes, Walker said, Breault was taken away to a hyperbaric chamber for Caisson's disease, also known as 'the bends' or decompression sickness. 'He almost died,' Walker said. 'I firmly believe that's why he had a young life. … He died in 1941 at 41 years of age, because he never probably fully recovered.' After earning the Medal of Honor for his bravery and sacrifice on that day, Walker said, Breault went on to receive the Yangtze Service Medal and served in China during a 'period of time where China was not a safe place to be.' By 1935, Walker said, Breault was disqualified from submarine service after failing an eye exam. 'He spends the rest of his career trying to get back on a submarine,' Walker said. '(When) he gets someone to sign off that he's requalified for submarine duty, he heads out to the lovely New London Submarine Base, … he gets to the medical examination, … and they say, 'This man belongs in the hospital.'' Breault was sent to a Naval hospital in Newport, R.I. Walker said medical records show Breault was experiencing severe chest pain and had difficulty breathing. 'On Dec. 5, 1941, the autopsy report says he was sweeping the passageway, he said he had a good amount of sleep, and suddenly while he was sweeping, he just keeled over dead,' Walker said. 'They believe his heart gave out.' Walker said Breault was largely lost to history until 2000, when the Navy launched an effort to incorporate Breault into the nation's submarine heritage. Walker said there's a pier at Pearl Harbor named in his honor and a plaque in Wilkinson Hall at the submarine base in Groton, but 'there's never been a Naval vessel named in his honor.' Walker's petition to name a Virginia-class submarine the USS Henry Breault has amassed nearly 2,200 signatures from across the country, including communities in New York, Vermont, California and Washington, where Breault once lived. 'We just have a huge opportunity here to show unified support for the submarine force from multiple states and the entire nation,' Walker said. 'This isn't just one person's idea, this is 2,000 people's idea.' Walker said Breault personifies the principles of 'ship, shipmate, self,' and the 'fighting spirit of the Navy' in the Sailor's Creed. 'When faced with a tremendous situation, Breault chose above all to do everything in his power for the ship and the shipmates before worrying about himself, at great risk to himself, and probably to his detriment,' Walker said. 'He did everything he could to make sure his friends, and the people on board would have a fighting chance, and there's something to be said about that.' 'Breault's action — that is the fighting spirit. And to embody that in a submarine, I think it would be great for the Navy's recruitment, for retention, and for recognizing how important its personnel are to the mission,' Walker said.
