On Wednesday, June 21, 2o23, Attorney Edward Patrick Kerns was hit with a fully stayed suspension after the Supreme Court of California determined that he failed to comply with court orders and filed frivolous motions.

The case is entitled “In the Matter of Edward Patrick Kerns,” with case no. S279672.

The charges stemmed from his involvement in three separate cases related to the attempted purchase of a property. The allegations include misconduct such as failure to comply with court orders, filing frivolous motions, and causing intentional emotional distress to the opposing party. Additionally, Kerns was accused of failing to pay and report court-imposed sanctions. The State Bar has threatened Kerns with potential disbarment and an inactive status if he failed to respond to the notice or does not participate in the proceedings.

The notice of disciplinary charges states:

“By driving his car to the Castellanoses’ residence and parking his car within inches of the front porch, effectively blocking their egress and ingress; ii) causing the cargo container to be deposited on the Castellanoses’ property; and iii) which resulted in the Castellanoses suffering severe, lasting emotional distress as a result of respondent’s conduct, respondent thereby committed an act involving moral turpitude, dishonesty or corruption in willful violation of Business and Professions Code section 6106. “

The notice of disciplinary charges continues:

“By filing a motion for default prematurely; ii) failing to timely withdraw or set aside the default despite knowledge of the defects in the default order, and iii) causing the Castellanoses to file a motion to set aside the respondent’s inappropriate default and the Court to hold a hearing on the default motion, respondent thereby engaged in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, in willful violation of Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 8.4(d).”

The notice of disciplinary charges further states:

“Respondent failed to report to the agency charged with attorney discipline, in writing, within 30 days of the time respondent had knowledge of the imposition of judicial sanctions against the respondent by failing to report to the State Bar the $10,045 in sanctions the court imposed on the respondent on or about June 24, 2018, in connection with to the Breach of Gill Property Sale Contract case, in willful violation of Business and Professions Code section 6068(o)(3).”

In response, Kerns denied and admitted some of the charges. In the stipulation of facts, it was stated that in total, the respondent committed twelve ethical violations in connection with two litigation matters, which constitutes multiple acts of misconduct. The respondent’s misconduct was directly related to the practice of law in that respondent was harassing his client’s adversary to intimidate them in an attempt to gain an advantage in litigation. It was emphasized that the respondent’s actions were serious in that his intent was to inflict emotional distress on the Castellanoses, to which end he succeeded.

The stipulation of facts states:

“For these reasons, the respondent’s misconduct warrants an actual suspension. Given that the misconduct was limited in scope, discipline less than disbarment is appropriate. Accordingly, discipline within the range of Standard 2.11, is appropriate to protect the public, the courts, and the legal profession. Specifically, discipline consisting of a 60-day actual suspension until respondent pays the outstanding monetary sanctions to Doug Michie and Jose Castellanos, with one year of standard probation conditions.”

Accordingly, the court decided to suspend the respondent from the practice of law.

The Disposition states:

“The court orders that Edward Patrick Kerns (Respondent), State Bar Number 100719, is suspended from the practice of law in California for one year, execution of that period of suspension is stayed, and Respondent is placed on probation for one year subject to the following conditions.”

Mr. Kerns practices in Thousand Oaks, California. He is licensed in California. His info can be found on Linkedin.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.