Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Supreme Court suspends two Las Vegas lawyers

CARSON CITY – A Las Vegas attorney who has pleaded guilty three times to drunken driving and another lawyer accused of being a front for a gang that staged accidents have both been suspended from the practice of law by the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court says the suspensions of Robert Weatherford and Susana Ragos Chung are temporary until permanent disciplinary measures can be taken.

Weatherford pleaded guilty to one DUI offense in April 2008 and was accepted into a treatment program. He was removed from the program after he pleaded guilty to a second DUI charge in June 2009 and sentenced to 18-60 months in prison.

He is serving his term at the Southern Desert Correctional Center and has a date of Dec. 7 to appear before the state Parole Board. And he has entered a plea to another DUI offense.

The court said the Weatherford case will be referred to the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the Bar Association to start formal disciplinary hearings to determine the punishment.

Chung, according to court documents, acted as an attorney in California for submitting claims for members of an organization that “staged” accidents for profit.

Chung worked with “cappers” who would orchestrate the collision, body shops that inflated the amount of damage and chiropractors who provided medical attention to the occupants of the staged collision. She represented them for personal injury claims.

She pleaded guilty in May this year to submitting false and fraudulent claims. She was placed on five years’ probation subject to payment of restitution of $117,561 and payment of a fine of a similar amount.

Chung did not inform the Nevada Bar of her California conviction.

As part of the plea agreement, the criminal counts will be reduced to misdemeanors if she makes full restitution and completes 12 months of probation.

The Supreme Court said even if the crimes were reduced to misdemeanors, they were still considered serious because they involved fraud.

Her case is also going to the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board to determine the final disciplinary action.

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