A travel agent in New Jersey who claims he’s a “top seller” for Seabourn Cruise Line and an experienced “maritime lawyer” has been “aiming” for me in his last several blogs.
Eric Goldring of the Goldring & Goldring law firm and the Goldring travel agency has been obsessed about me lately. He’s recently written three articles claiming that I have filed “frivolous” lawsuits against cruise lines (he identifies none) and that I don’t tell the public about the cases that I have allegedly “lost in court.” (I have responded to these bogus charges here – I have never filed a frivilous case or even accused of doing so. I also have never lost a case). At the same time, Goldring writes that he has “such a good reputation with (his) clients and the cruise lines!” He concludes: “I am, to self-promote, a knowledgeable, honest and fair travel agent.”
Now, I have had a strong suspicion, given Mr. Goldring’s bizarre and maniacal stories, that his description about himself is entirely questionable.
One of my colleagues and friends emailed me and said to check on Goldring’s background because something seemed suspicious about this strange travel agent / lawyer.
So I spent a few minutes (literally a few minutes) and checked up on Mr. Goldring.
The first internet search said “this lawyer has been disciplined by a state licensing authority.” The website explained that Goldring was actually sanctioned by two states. He was first “reprimanded” by the ethics department of the New Jersey Bar Association and later “admonished” by the ethics department of 
the Florida Bar. The Supreme Court of New Jersey found good cause to find that he violated several ethical rules, and reprimanded him for violating Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC ) 3.5(b) (engaging in exparte communication) and Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC) 3.5(c) (conduct intended to disrupt a tribunal). The Court ordered that these findings be “made a permanent part” of Goldring’s file.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Lawyer Disciplinary Review Board noted that Goldring was the subject of a prior disciplinary diversion for violating Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC) 1.9 “Duties to Former Clients” and Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC) 3.3 “Candor Toward the Tribunal.” The Court further found that Goldring’s “failure to disclose his disqualification demonstrated a lack of candor toward the tribunal.” The Court’s 12 page written opinion refers to details of Goldring’s “attacks on the court and counsel.” The District Ethics Committee also stated that Goldring’s actions “were overly and unnecessarily aggressive, at times juvenile and always taken without due consideration by (him) of the consequences.” Further, the Ethics Committee concluded that respondent was “disrespectful to the court and ignored the court’s direction . . . ”
The Supreme Court found that the record against Goldring “contains clear and convincing evidence that (Goldring) was guilty of unethical conduct.”
The next search result turned up a website called “No Ethics” operated by the Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Judges, Attorneys and Public Officials. It summarized a disciplinary complaint and order of sanctions against Mr. Goldring by the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics which found him guilty of ethical charges. According to the website, the investigation by the ethics committee concluded that Mr. Goldring:
- Violated (a) court order to discontinue written ex parte communications;
- Falsely accused the trial judge of being biased;
- Engaged in highly disrespectful conduct toward a trial judge;
- Engaged in conduct meant to intimidate a court; and
- Engaged in contemptuous conduct toward one or more courts.
This site states that this was not Mr. Goldring’s first ethical violation. It refers to him as a “repeat offender” and states that he reportedly failed to inform a judge that he had been disqualified in a case because of a “serious conflict of interest.” He reportedly was found guilty of deceiving the trial judge. The site reports that the New Jersey Supreme Court punished him with a second reprimand.
The third search revealed that the Florida Bar also filed an ethics complaint against Mr. Goldring arising out of his conduct in New Jersey and further found, as an aggravating factor, that he “refused to acknowledge wrongful conduct.” He was admonished and required to pay the Bar’s administrative costs.
The AVVO lawyer rating service revealed that Goldring was “disciplined by a state licensing authority in 2005.”
Okay, now I think I get it. My friend was right. This guy appears to be a loser, sanctioned by ethics referees in both Florida and New Jersey. Is this the reason why he seems to spend most of his time hawking cruise tickets rather than representing clients in court?
Now I don’t think that revealing his disciplinary records is going to slow down someone as reckless as Goldring. I’m also sure that he’s foolish enough to write another insane article, at least until another state bar association reprimands him again for unethical conduct. Maybe then he can concentrate on being a full time CLIA travel agent.
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Photo Credit: Eric Goldring via the Florida Bar.