SPRINGFIELD - Supreme Court Justices disbarred Jason Caraway of Belleville on May 23, finding he dishonestly appropriated more than $375,000 from clients.
His conduct cost more than that according to suits pending in St. Clair County circuit court.
The Justices set no end date for the discipline and stated it will continue until further order.
Caraway can file for reinstatement in five years.
He practiced at 9423 West Main Street in Belleville with partner Daniel Broombaugh.
Tammy Evans of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission filed a complaint against Caraway last August alleging misconduct against seven clients.
Evans claimed he deposited checks of insurers in the firm’s client trust account but rather than disburse the funds he used them for his own purposes.
She claimed he failed to disburse $128,144.36 that Illinois Court of Claims awarded to two children of late Washington Park police officer Ricardo Davis.
Davis fell from Poplar Street Bridge trying to catch suspects.
Evans claimed Caraway failed to disburse two $50,000 checks that Progressive and State Farm issued to Debra Kaczur at Caraway’s address.
She claimed he didn’t file a crash injury suit that he told Kaczur he’d file and he settled the matter without telling her.
She claimed he signed his name and Kaczur’s name on the checks.
She claimed he failed to disburse $63,821.25 that a worker compensation carrier issued to Melissa Gordon for a back injury at Murray Center in Centralia.
She claimed he failed to disburse $42,889.12 to veterinarian Amy Wolf from settlement of a claim that a dog attacked her at Lashley Animal Hospital in Swansea.
She claimed he failed to disburse $26,060.14 to Velma Oliver from settlement of a claim that Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative injured her son.
She claimed a judge ordered Caraway to deposit it in a special needs trust but he didn’t do it.
She claimed he created a false court order to obtain $15,000 from a $250,000 settlement of a claim that a local hospital injured Ashley Ybarra, a disabled person.
She claimed the order authorized the amount for repairs at the person’s home and the trustee of the settlement fund drew a check payable to the firm.
She claimed he created a false order and other false documents to convince Tyler Kostecki that he pursued a claim Kostecki paid him $3,500 to pursue.
Evans assigned investigator Mark Pointer to serve the complaint on Caraway and after four failures Pointer handed it to his spouse Autumn Caraway through a door.
Last September the Supreme Court suspended Caraway for misconduct in a single case from the beginning of the commission’s investigation in 2022.
He didn’t answer the bigger complaint and in October commission administrator Jerome Larkin filed a motion for a hearing board to deem the complaint as admitted.
Caraway didn’t respond and hearing board members Janaki Nair of Peoria, Lauren Marie Noll of Springfield and Brian Russell of Chicago granted the motion.
“No further proof of the allegations of the complaint is required,” they wrote.
Larkin moved to disbar Caraway and the board held a default hearing in December.
In January they found he converted funds of clients, children and a disabled adult.
They found he made no effort to repay them.
“Given respondent’s egregious misconduct, the serious aggravating factors present and relevant case law, we recommend that respondent be disbarred,” they wrote.
The Justices agreed.
Kuczak, Wolf, Gordon and Kostecki have sued Caraway in St. Clair County and other former clients have sued him too.
Malpractice carrier Berkley Insurance sued the firm, Caraway, his wife, and his former partner in U.S. district court last year for a declaration that it didn’t have to defend them.
Caraway stands alone in a St. Clair County suit claiming he owes a trust of Dean Devert more than $750,000 on a promissory note they executed in 2013.
Berkley Insurance filed a separate suit in district court for a declaration that it doesn’t have to cover Devert’s suit.
In February Berkley notified District Judge Staci Yandle that Ashley Ybarra died.
On April 30 Berkley counsel Jeremy Macklin of Chicago moved to amend the complaint against the firm, the Caraways, and Broombaugh.
He stated changes in parties and positions in St. Clair County made amendments necessary.
He stated he was in contact with the ARDC about additional victims and was diligently seeking information to ensure that all proper parties were before the court.
He stated he had also been in contact with Caraway about lawsuits against him.
As of May 28 Yandle hadn’t granted Berkley leave to amend.
She has set trial next February.