NEW ORLEANS — Metairie attorney Scott W. McQuaig, who was sued more than three years ago by a former client who claimed he misappropriating funds, has been voluntarily and indefinitely suspended following a March 6 Louisiana Supreme Court order.
The interim suspension, pending further court order, was handed down following a joint petition for interim suspension reached between McQuaig and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, according to the Supreme Court's single-page order.
McQuaig's interim suspension was effective immediately, according to the order.
McQuaig was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 7, 1983 and his office is located on Lilac Street in Metairie, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. No prior discipline was listed on his state bar profile or in a search of Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board's online database.
McQuaig also held one of 19 seats representing the 24th Judicial District, Jefferson Parish, in the Louisiana State Bar Association's House of Delegates. The state bar's House of Delegates is the association’s policy-making body that meets twice a year. Delegates are elected to two-year terms. McQuaig was re-elected to his seat in November and was present at the delegates' meeting in Baton Rouge in January.
In November 2014, a client filed suit in 24th Judicial District Court against McQuaig and his personal injury law firm, McQuaig & Associates LLC, alleging the firm settled two lawsuits on her behalf but without her knowledge and then misappropriated the settlement funds.
The client, Sara J. Pitre, alleged that McQuaig & Associates represented her in two different lawsuits. One lawsuit followed second-degree burns she suffered in an accident while she was shopping at a New Orleans grocery store while the other stemmed from injuries she suffered in a January 2012 automobile accident. Pitre claimed the cases were inappropriately settled and that she never received the settlement funds.