After $8 million judgment and contempt findings, lawyer’s license is suspended

By: Clark Kauffman

The Iowa Supreme Court has refused to reinstate the law license of a lawyer who was successfully sued for $8 million and recently held in contempt of court. (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Attorney General's Office.)

The Iowa Supreme Court has refused to reinstate the law license of a lawyer who was successfully sued for $8 million and recently held in contempt of court.

In June 2021, a Polk County judge awarded $8 million to a Polk County man and his daughter in a defamation case against Des Moines lawyer Jaysen McCleary.

The plaintiffs in that case had sued for defamation, alleging McCleary had wrongfully claimed the man sexually molested his own daughter. After McCleary failed to appear for the trial, he was found in default.

Since then, the plaintiffs in the case have been unable to collect the $8 million in damages they were awarded. On more than one occasion, McCleary was ordered to sit for a debtor’s examination intended to determine the nature and location of his assets, but failed to appear, according to court records.

According to a court filing by Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie, McCleary has avoided sitting for the examination while citing a “multitude of reasons, such as trips to the emergency room, broken ribs, having other scheduled hearings, being on pain narcotics, father’s death, and weather conditions.”

In July of this year, Beattie ordered McCleary to pay $1,000 in fines and serve 30 days in jail for willful contempt of court but stayed the jail sentence and said the contempt finding would be purged if McCleary completed a debtor’s examination by Sept. 25.

The plaintiffs have since asked the court to order McCleary to appear for the exam on Oct. 24.

While that case has proceeded in Polk County District Court, McCleary has been dealing with Iowa’s Attorney Disciplinary Board on a separate matter. Court filings indicate the board has considered at least nine complaints filed against McCleary between 2019 and 2022.

In May, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an order temporarily suspending McCleary’s license due to disability, not misconduct, stating that the Attorney Disciplinary Board had determined he was “unable to discharge his professional duties associated with the practice of law.”

McCleary then filed a motion to have the court immediately rescind the license suspension, at least until a hearing could be scheduled on the matter.

In a publicly filed motion, McCleary cited the opinion of clinicians who, he said, had determined he had no “cognitive or medical problems that are disabling.” In his motion, McCleary detailed the recommendations of the clinicians, which he said included psychotherapy, psychiatric oversight and the use of a professional coach. He noted that those were considered mere “recommendations for optimal performance,” rather than requirements to safely practice law.

“A vegan diet would also be optimal for all attorneys, given that heart disease — cholesterol — is the number one killer of humans, including attorneys,” McCleary told the court.

Referring to himself in the third person, McCleary told the court that in January the board had tried to have him voluntarily suspend his license after he “suffered six fractured ribs when a bison tried to kill him.”

The court agreed to hold a June 8 hearing on the license suspension, at which point McCleary filed a motion asking for a continuance, citing shoulder surgery that “requires the use of strong prescribed pain killers that make it difficult if not impossible to think clearly.”

The court agreed to delay the hearing until “McCleary informs the court that he is able to proceed,” but ordered that the license suspension remain in effect.

McCleary, who apparently splits his time between Iowa and Montana, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Angela Campbell, declined to comment.

Editor’s note:  Jaysen McCleary filed a defamation suit against Clark Kauffman, currently Iowa Capital Dispatch deputy editor, and his former employer, The Des Moines Register, related to a story the Register published in 2017. The case was dismissed by the court.

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After $8 million judgment and contempt findings, lawyer’s license is suspended