06-05-2025
A Miami personal injury attorney misappropriated up to $381,000, Bar says
Business A Miami personal injury attorney misappropriated up to $381,000, Bar says
When the client of a West Miami-Dade personal injury attorney complained to the Florida Bar that his lawyer wouldn't give him his part of a $41,000 settlement, the Bar auditor said he found two things:
He wasn't the only Xenia Hernandez Law client with that problem; and Hernandez had misappropriated $169,000 to $381,000.
Hernandez's emergency suspension doesn't begin officially until May 25, but she has already started the shedding of attorney designations required during suspensions. Xenia Hernandez Law's website is down, the firm's Instagram page has disappeared and emails to xhernandez@ get an automatic reply saying the address is no longer active.
The Miami Herald hasn't been able to contact Hernandez for comment.
Eleventh Circuit Chief Judge Nushin G. Sayfie appointed Eleventh Circuit Judge Alicia Priovolos Garcia to hear the Bar's case against Hernandez.
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Where's the money?
The Bar's petition for emergency suspension says it started a compliance audit of Hernandez's trust account for the period Nov. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2024, after a March 2024 complaint from Ryan Willoughby.
Staff, office bills, attorneys get paid out of a law firm's operating account. The trust account is where money for clients goes until it's sent to the client, minus attorney's fees. If money comes in for a client and that client is owed $100,000, the trust account should have at least $100,000 in it until that client gets his money. The trust account can't be handled as the operating account or a personal checking account can be handled.
Also, if you're an attorney and bounce a check on the operating account, the bank notifies you or your firm. Bounce a check on the trust account, the bank notifies the Florida Bar.
Xenia Hernandez
The Florida Bar
Hernandez represented Willoughby in a personal injury case that an insurance company settled for $41,723. That check was issued to Hernandez on Nov. 13, 2023. That day, the Florida Bar petition says, the Hernandez Law office reached out to Willoughby to tell him about the settlement and get a release signature. Hernandez put the $41,723 check in her trust account on Dec. 16, 2023, but the settlement money's train stopped before Willoughby.
Hernandez 'did not disburse the settlement proceeds in a timely manner,' the Bar petition said. 'Mr. Willoughby made numerous efforts to contact respondent to inquire about the settlement proceeds. [Hernandez] did not reply to these attempts.'
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Willoughby filed his complaint on March 12, 2024. Hernandez filed a response with a closing statement that broke the money up in medical expenses ($4,687), her attorney's fees ($13,906) and the rest to Willoughby ($23,129). She said she had Willoughby's money in her trust account.
She gave the Bar a copy of a check to Willoughby dated April 3, but, the petition said, the check didn't reach his hands until April 29, 2024. Hernandez told the Bar that Willoughby moved to California and firm policy required he show up in person to get his money.
'This explanation was disingenuous, as Willoughby did not move to California until March 2024, four months after the insurance company issued his settlement check,' the Bar petition said.
Also, the Bar said, Hernandez didn't pay the $4,687 of medical expenses and still hadn't paid them as of April 21. She only 'partially complied' with subpoenas demanding trust account records and closing statements for 57 cases that got settled. That money should have gone into the trust account.
'The staff auditor's review of the available records revealed that [Hernandez's] trust account contained shortages ranging from $169,000.00 to $381,000.00,' from Nov. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2024, the petition said. 'For example, on Feb. 2, 2024, [Hernandez] should have been holding at least $296,818 in her trust account for the benefit of her clients, including the $23,129 due to Mr. Willoughby. However, the balance in her trust account on that date was only $207, representing a shortage of at least $296,611.
'[Hernandez] used other clients' unrelated settlement proceeds to pay her obligation to Mr. Willoughby.'
Hernandez also, the petition said, made online transfers into her firm's operating account that didn't correlate with attorney's fees on the firm's accounting ledger while her trust account was short.
'In addition to her 'fees,' [Hernandez] was also paying individuals believed to be firm employees and firm operating expenses directly from the trust account,' the petition said. 'The bank records further revealed various payments from the trust account to unrelated companies for unidentifiable purposes.'
A bounced trust account check for $5,000 in October triggered another investigation and disciplinary file.
'The staff auditor identified periodic deposits from (Hernandez's) operating account back into the trust account,' the petition said. 'In the staff auditor's experience, this demonstrates an attempt by respondent to correct some of the shortages.'
