CHARLESTON – A Petersburg man has filed suit against an attorney over the handling of his suit against his former employer.
Randy G. Whetstone filed a complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Richard J. Lindroth alleging legal malpractice.
The suit states that the defendant provided legal services to the plaintiff beginning in 2009 in connection with the plaintiff's termination from South Branch Career and Technical Center. The plaintiff alleges the defendant failed to have recorded documented testimony transcribed by a certified stenographer and testimony could not be admitted as evidence, and that the defendant "lacked focus and a strategy" to preserve his property. He also alleges the defendant filed his appeal late.
The plaintiff is seeking any relief the court deems just. The plaintiff is representing himself.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
In 2017, the state Supreme Court issued an order to reprimand Lindroth for violating Rules of Professional Conduct when he personally paid his client’s child support. He was admonished, was ordered to complete an additional nine hours of continuing legal education and was order to pay the costs of the proceedings.
The order stemmed from a 2015 ethics complaint against Lindroth, alleging that while he represented Tabitha Smith's ex-husband, he continued to filed continuances for subsequent hearings and she believed he was purposefully scheduling doctor’s appointments at the same time hearings were scheduled and that he would not provide her with copies of orders or rescheduled hearing notices to her, or other documents related to the case. Smith also alleged that Lindroth angered a witness by asking her if she was paid for her testimony.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 19-C-395
