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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Supreme Court has suspended a Columbus attorney who faces felony drug charges for accepting cocaine from a client in lieu of payment for legal services.
The court issued an order of interim suspension Tuesday against James Michael Kummerer, who was arrested in April on three Class A felony charges. His criminal case is currently pending in Bartholomew Circuit Court, but the state’s Supreme Court has decided to suspend him for 180 days starting Sept. 28, unless the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission shows that time should be extended.
This emergency suspension comes “due to alleged misconduct that may cause Respondent’s continued practice of law during the pendency of a disciplinary investigation or proceeding to pose a substantial threat of harm to the public, clients, potential clients, or the administration of justice.”This is not first suspension for Kummerer, who has been practicing in the state for 33 years. He was suspended for six months and put on a year of probation in August 1999 after police stopped him in Marion County for possessing more than three grams of cocaine. Five months of that suspension were inactive and conditional on random drug tests and treatment, and he was suspended for 30 days.
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