Lawyer uses poetry to demand action on divorce

An Atlanta attorney could face disciplinary action for sending a poem to a Nassau County special referee complaining about his client's lengthy divorce litigation.

Days after mediation efforts broke down in a nine-year-divorce action, A. Todd Merolla of Merolla & Gold, who represents Drew Doscher, wrote a 60-line poem in a Dec. 23 e-mail that began, "Twas the week before Christmas, in the Matrimonial Part,/ All the creatures were stirring, putting their horse in front of the cart./The fee applications were pending, bills demanding to be paid,/In hopes that Drew's resolve, soon would fade."

The poem was sent to Special Referee Frank Schellace and Merolla's adversary, Kenneth Weinstein of Garden City, who had recently added more invoices to a motion for counsel fees.

The poem refers to "The attorneys and consultants nestled all snug in their beds/While vision of paid fees danced in their heads."

Weinstein moved for a finding of contempt and sanctions against Merolla.

Schellace denied the contempt and sanctions motion in a Feb. 29 order and report but referred the e-mail to the grievance committee, writing, "Whether the offensive, inappropriate and unprofessional 'Poem' rises to the level of an ethical violation, it is for the Grievance Committee, and ultimately the Appellate Division, Second Department, to determine."

The poem and Schellace's report are now part of the record before the Second Department, which is considering an Article 78 petition filed by Merolla who contends his client's divorce has become "a rudderless vessel that continues to sail ad infinitum" since the May 2011 death of Supreme Court Justice Robert Ross, who had heard 27 days of trial on the case.

"The Honorable One now passed, who will take the torch?" Merolla asks in his poem. "To rule on pending motions, some two years on the porch./Justice delayed is Justice denied,/Will Article 78 inspire someone's pride?"

The Article 78 petition asks the Second Department to compel rulings on a series of pending motions in the case, which has since been reassigned to Supreme Court Justice Norman Janowitz.

(Published by The New York Law Journal - May 7, 2012)