Chicago Attorney Suspended from Federal Court for Lewd Comments

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Summary: A Chicago attorney has been suspended from practicing in federal court after acting unprofessional towards another attorney during a case.

A Chicago attorney was suspended for one year from practicing law in a federal court after making lewd and misogynistic remarks to an opposing attorney. Jason R. Craddock Sr. made remarks and even sent an email to a rival lawyer that turned her name into a vulgar name for a female body part.

  

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The administrative panel of federal judges released the four-page finding that Craddock’s insults were “directly related” to pending litigation and was thus “intended to intimidate” the opposing counsel from representing her client. In the signed order by U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo, it stated, “Craddock admits that he twice used gender-based, vulgar terms to insult defense counsel, one time in person and the second time in an email.”

Craddock will be suspended for one year and must seek professional help, including anger management, before he can practice law in Chicago again. If he can show that he can comply with the rules of professional conduct set by the court, he could ask to be reinstated in six months but would still be prohibited from taking any cases to trial for a year minimum.

Craddock was upset with the decision, stating he intends to appeal because he alleges he was threatened first. He wrote in a statement to the Tribune, “This is a very unfair order, grossly disproportionate to the alleged offense, and completely ignoring that the complaining attorney made vulgar threatening remarks to me before I said what I said. I will fight this for sure.”

Craddock was representing waitresses in two pending discrimination lawsuits in which they claim they were improperly fired from their jobs at a Tinley Park diner. After a hearing in September before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, Craddock apparently verbally harassed one of the lawyers representing the diner. Court records indicate the other attorney was Courtney Lindbert of Andreou & Casson Ltd.

Lindbert and her co-counsel were accusing Craddock of delaying the case, and missing deadlines to file motions. His explanation in court filings is that he suffers from severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which causes him to have delays in his work since he has “extreme difficulty in estimating the time necessary to complete a task.” He claims he had tried to file routine requests for time extensions but was continually hit with resistance by Lindbert.

In the hallway, he referred to Lindbert as “C***ney” and then in an email added “Lindb****” to the vulgar first name he had come up with. Craddock claims that as he walked away from her in the hallway that she yelled, “I’m going to take your f***ing license. You are a piece of s***!”

The executive committee of revolving judges rarely takes this kind of action to suspend an attorney from practicing in federal court. Attorneys are often sanctioned but not suspended. He has not been suspended from additional court jurisdictions in Illinois as of yet.

Craddock graduated from the law school at the University of Iowa and has been an attorney since 1997. He has been co-counsel for the Thomas More Society since 2006.

Do you think Craddock could benefit from an organization app to help him manage time better? Tell us any suggests for good organization apps in the comments below.

To learn more about other unprofessional attorneys, read these articles:

• Las Vegas Judge Places Attorney in Handcuffs
• Dallas Litigator Bill Brewer Sanctioned for $133,000
• Billings Attorney Punished for Being a Bully

Photos: chicagotribune.com