Appeals Court OKs Contempt for Veteran Lawyer Over Debt Collection Case
Kenneth Loewinger has written a treatise on landlord-tenant law in Washington, D.C., that is relied on by judges. But the veteran practitioner, who has been a lawyer since 1971, was appropriately held in contempt for filing suit in an attempt to collect unpaid rent when the client landlord’s building was in receivership, a unanimous panel of the D.C. Court of Appeals has held.
Loewinger and his firm were in the wrong, the panel explained, because a statute prohibited the landlord from filing suit after a receiver had been appointed to collect rent, reports the Blog of Legal Times. Loewinger’s counsel had argued that an order by the judge in the case was ambiguous and did not clearly prohibit the filing of the collection action.
Although the contempt sanctions were later dismissed by D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz, following a settlement agreement, the appeals court decided the issue because it affected Loewinger’s professional reputation.
