CLEARFIELD – A defense attorney has been found in contempt of court for failing to appear for a court hearing.
On Monday morning, a client of Gary Knaresboro of DuBois was scheduled for a hearing before President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman.
The man who was incarcerated was unrepresented leading to Ammerman asking more about Knaresboro’s whereabouts.
According to court documents, Knaresboro had spoken to a member of the probation office about the case previously and had received notice of the court proceeding.
With this information, Ammerman then found Knaresboro in contempt and fined him $500.
During an afternoon session of court, Knaresboro appeared in court, but Ammerman waved him off, saying he could appeal his ruling.
This is not the first time Ammerman has found an attorney in contempt of court.
In September of 2018, he ruled that LaVieta Lerch, who is in the same practice as Knaresboro, was in contempt in relation to a divorce case she was handling and ordered her to pay the opposing attorney fees.
According to court documents, the client’s spouse’s attorney filed motions for information from Lerch that went unanswered. Eventually the client wrote her own response because as Lerch said “she (her client) wanted to write a response.”
“I consider this response to be extremely unprofessional,” Ammerman stated in court records. “Is this how you practice law? This is unacceptable.”
Ammerman went on to question why Lerch hadn’t filed a motion to request information from the husband’s attorney prior to two days before the case was scheduled for a master’s hearing, especially since the case was three years old.
“How can you possibly intelligently determine where this case is headed, what she might be entitled to and try to have any meaningful settlement discussions with (her client) escapes me,” Ammerman stated in court records.
Lerch appealed his ruling and this was recently upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that stated in court documents that Lerch’s decision to use “unresponsive discovery responses that attacked (her client’s estranged husband) and refused to provide documents is a basis upon which the trial court may sanction counsel.”
