State supreme court hears appeal from Bedford attorney suspended for improper management of client money

Josie Albertson-Grove, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
·2 min read

Feb. 16—A Bedford attorney went before the state Supreme Court this week to appeal the suspension of his law license after allegations he had mishandled clients' money.

The court approved the suspension of Robert Fojo's license in December over allegations that he had used clients' money to pay settlements owed to other clients, and failed to keep money owed to clients separate from his own funds.

Fojo gained prominence in 2020 and 2021 for several lawsuits aimed at overturning COVID-19 safety rules including indoor mask requirements and rules for nightclubs, but his license was suspended after what his attorney called a bookkeeping problem, and the state's attorney discipline office said looked like a failure to promptly pay clients, and deceit.

"He had a comingling issue," said William Satterly, Fojo's attorney, during the hearing before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. But Satterly argued that the state's attorney discipline office had misunderstood documents in the case.

Satterly said Fojo is not a trained bookkeeper, and blamed the trouble on inexperienced assistants and the burden of too many cases. Filings in the case noted Fojo was representing parents challenging mask requirements in more than a dozen school districts and arguing for several clients' vaccine exemptions.

Mark Cornell, the attorney arguing on behalf of the state attorney discipline office, highlighted a client who was still waiting for Fojo to pay her the rest of an insurance settlement more than a year after the insurance company gave the settlement check to Fojo. When the client asked for her money, Cornell said, Fojo told her the insurance company would reissue the check, though the check had been deposited into his account.

Satterly said the attorney discipline office had overreacted with the emergency suspension of Fojo's license, while Cornell said Fojo was a risk to his clients.

"He took money that isn't his, we told him it isn't his and he didn't put it back," Cornell said. "It's that basic inability to grasp that it's not his money."

Satterly said Fojo was trying to straighten out his finances, but in the meantime, his clients were being harmed by the suspension of his license.

"My client's clients are being harmed on a daily basis. Many of them have no place else to turn," Satterly said.