Gretna attorney Juan Carlos Labadie could face disbarment following a recent Louisiana Supreme Court order to consolidate various allegations against him, including his attempts in 2014 to unseat a judge who was presiding over a custody battle with Labadie's ex-wife.
The high court remanded all allegations against Labadie to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel for consolidation with an eye toward issuing a single disciplinary recommendation that would encompass all of the allegations, according to the order issued Feb. 23.
Labadie was admitted to the Louisiana bar April 19, 1996, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Three counts of misconduct are under consideration against Labadie by the state bar, including a complaint filed against him by 24th Judicial District Judge Michael P. Mentz over Labadie's actions during Mentz's re-election campaign in 2014, according to a Louisiana attorney disciplinary board recommendation last month.
The disciplinary board recommended Labadie be disbarred for having "knowingly, if not intentionally, made false public statements regarding the integrity of a judge".
Metz was presiding over Labadie's child custody and support case with his ex-wife but "was compelled to recuse himself " when Labadie qualified to run against him. During his campaign to unseat Metz, Labadie made statements that were published in local news outlets accusing Mentz of altering a court transcript and casting aspersions on Metz's integrity as a judge, according to the disciplinary board's recommendation.
Labadie's accusations against Mentz "were without merit", the disciplinary board's recommendation said. "It is undisputed that slander and libel are not speech protected by the First Amendment."
Labadie's behavior violated the state's professional conduct rules, according to the board's recommendation.
Mentz was re-elected in 2014 and his term expires in 2020. Labadie was placed on Interim suspension in August 2016.
This past September, a state bar hearing committee recommended Labadie be disbarred over Mentz's complaint and two other counts against Labadie, one for allegedly having failed to file a lawsuit for a client and the other for having missed a filing deadline which lead to the dismissal of his client's appeal.