Clients of a Naples family law attorney complained to the Florida Bar that she stopped communicating with them after they paid her for work, and the Bar knows how they feel – she has not responded at all to the Order’s complaints filed against her.
Denise Gunn, admitted to the Bar in 1997, was disbarred on May 23.
A call to Gunn’s work phone number receives “The subscriber you dialed is not in service.” Four out of five emails to their email address bounced. No databases record his death. Collier County online criminal court records indicate she is alive.
Collier County online court records say that on May 24, the day after the disbarment of “Denise A. Gunn,” a “Denise Alicia Gunn” signed a deferred prosecution agreement after being charged with possession of a controlled substance . The arrest report says that on Feb. 29, police found 4.1 grams of methamphetamine in a sandwich bag in Gunn’s car after pulling her over for turning right out of the left turn lane while exiting a Walmart. .
Still, Gunn ghosted clients and the Florida Bar.
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Money for nothing
Without Gunn’s testimony or participation in any way, the report of Judge D. Ryan Felix, the arbitrator in Gunn’s disciplinary case, echoes the complaints of the Bar Association filed by Trevor Stanislaus and Xavier Gressett.
Stanislaus said he signed a retainer agreement and paid Gunn $1,500 of a $4,000 flat fee for a matter in May 2021. Gunn spent May and June ignoring Stanislaus’s phone calls, then on July 4, 2021 , Stanislaus asked Gunn to cancel his money and give him a refund if she couldn’t handle the case. Gunn responded that she was working on her petition. He also requested a copy of the retainer agreement, which she said was mailed to her.
Stanislaus did not receive the petition, settlement or refund despite repeated requests, but did receive a message on August 17, 2021 saying his petition was ready. That was the last time Stanislaus heard from Gunn.
Two months later, Gressett signed a retainer agreement with Gunn for $3,500. Gunn filed a notice to appear on November 1, 2021, and attended a hearing on January 5, 2022. Gressett finished paying the $3,500 in April 2022, and Gunn “has not taken any further action on her behalf, but she he was unable to drop his case.”
