A Cedar Falls lawyer has gotten what amounts to a final warning from the Iowa Supreme Court. Over the past 14 years, the Iowa Supreme Court has privately admonished attorney Don Gottschalk of Cedar Falls for neglecting clients twice; the court has publicly reprimanded Gottschalk three times for neglect; and has suspended license to practice law for a year.
Now, in the latest go-round, a commission that reviews allegations of lawyers’ misconduct forwarded complaints about the way Gottschalk handed five more cases. The Supreme Court says Gottschalk’s "disregard for the truth cannot be excused" in one case and his procrastination on a bankruptcy case is "particularly troubling" because his clients wound up getting evicted from their home.
The court has again suspended Gottschalk’s law license for a year, but they’ve also issued a warning that he’ll lose his law license permanently if they get more complaints about his work.