Local attorney suspended for three years

By Hannah Black

Cody Jerabek

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Supreme Court on Wednesday issued an order suspending Cheyenne attorney Cody Jerabek from practicing law for three years. The suspension begins Nov. 1.

This came after misconduct by Jerabek in litigation involving a client who was being sued following a fire at that client’s business that damaged adjoining businesses, a Wyoming State Bar news release accompanying the order said. In a separate instance, he had a consensual sexual relationship with a client while continuing to represent her.

The attorney told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he is “appreciative for the resources that I received” through the Wyoming Lawyer Assistance Program. The organization “provides confidential assistance to Wyoming lawyers who are struggling with impairment issues,” according to its website.

“The suspension and the tools that I’ve been given will hopefully allow (me) to take this time to improve and come back a better person and attorney,” Jerabek said.

In the issue involving the fire litigation, which took place in 2021, Jerabek “failed to maintain communication with his client and with the client’s insurer and missed several deadlines in the case, including deadlines to file responses to two critical motions,” according the bar’s release. Jerabek also “misled the insurance company regarding case developments and failed to communicate settlement offers to the client and the insurer.”

He was ultimately terminated as counsel, and another attorney was hired “who shortly got the case settled.”

Jerabek admitted to violating several rules of professional conduct and agreed to a three-year suspension. The state bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility, which reviews disciplinary cases against legal practitioners in the state and recommends consequences to the Supreme Court, considered “a number of aggravating and mitigating factors, including Jerabek’s sustained and successful efforts at recovery from alcohol use disorder and other psychological problems” in making the recommendation.

The court ordered Jerabek to pay a $750 administrative fee and $50 to the bar.

A concurrent order was also issued by the state’s high court suspending Jerabek for 18 months for an intimate relationship with a client. Jerabek also failed “to withdraw from the client’s representation promptly upon entering into the sexual relationship,” and told that client “to conceal evidence of the relationship,” according to the news release.

That client submitted a complaint regarding the incident to the Office of Bar Counsel in May 2021, following the relationship’s end, the order said.

Jerabek admitted to these violations and agreed to this suspension. He was also ordered by the court to pay a $750 administrative fee and $50 to the bar.

He recently worked as both a personal injury and criminal defense lawyer.

Jerabek was formerly a prosecutor with the Albany County Attorney’s Office. In September 2019, the Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because of “prosecutorial misconduct” within that office, which it said deprived the defendant, Travis Bogard, of a fair trial. The high court in part cited statements Jerabek made during Bogard’s trial, according to reporting from the time by the the WTE-affiliated Laramie Boomerang.

Full Article & Source:
Local attorney suspended for three years