WARREN State disciplinary hearing set for local lawyer

The panel could recommend a reprimand, suspension or disbarment.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A state disciplinary hearing will be conducted next month for a local attorney.
Jonathan E. Coughlan of the Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel office said Tuesday a three-judge panel will preside over Atty. George Kafantaris' hearing Nov. 22 in a Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom.
After the hearing, the panel will decide if Kafantaris should face any type of action.
The panel could recommend that Kafantaris receive a verbal or written reprimand, suspension or disbarment.
The disciplinary counsel issued a 19-page complaint last year accusing Kafantaris of dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, engaging in conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer's fitness to practice law and knowingly using perjured testimony or false evidence.
The allegations stem from a civil suit filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in 1999 by a former secretary accusing Kafantaris of battery and sexual harassment.
At first denied it
In sworn depositions before the 2001 trial, Kafantaris denied having sexual relations with office employees. During the trial, however, he admitted having sexual relations with three employees.
Karen Longstreth of Warren, who worked for Kafantaris in 1998, filed the lawsuit contending he committed battery and sexually harassed her.
During the trial, Kafantaris admitted having an affair with Longstreth, contending it was consensual. The jury sided with Kafantaris.
Visiting Judge Dominick Olivito of Steubenville ruled in September 2001 that Longstreth should have a new trial, writing there "is a high probability, if not a certainty, that the jury's verdict was based on false testimony of the defendant" before the trial in his deposition.
A new trial date has not been scheduled.