Current Status:  Not eligible to practice law (Not Entitled)

See below for more details.

Profile Information

The following information is from the official records of The State Bar of California.

Bar Number:	80748
Address:	PO Box 10 Mary Esther, FL 32569	Phone Number:	(850) 244-1244
		Fax Number:	Not Available
		e-mail:	Not Available
County:	Non-California	Undergraduate School:	Yale Univ; New Haven CT
District:	Outside California
Sections:	None	Law School:	Stanford Univ Law School; Stanford CA

Status History

Effective Date	Status Change
Present	Not Eligible To Practice Law
2/15/2008	Not Eligible To Practice Law
6/23/1978	Admitted to The State Bar of California

Explanation of member status

Actions Affecting Eligibility to Practice Law

Effective Date	Description	Case Number	Resulting Status
Disciplinary and Related Actions Overview of the attorney discipline system.
8/24/2011	Notice of Disc Charges Filed in SBCt	11-O-15020
4/11/2011	Notice of Disc Charges Filed in SBCt	09-J-12252
1/20/2011	Discipline w/actual suspension	09-PM-13028	Not Eligible To Practice Law
11/5/2010	Ordered inactive	09-PM-13028	Not Eligible To Practice Law
2/15/2008	Discipline w/actual suspension	03-C-02219	Not Eligible To Practice Law
Administrative Actions
7/1/2008	Suspended, failed to pay Bar membr. fees		Not Eligible To Practice Law
7/1/2008	Admin Inactive/MCLE noncompliance		Not Eligible To Practice Law

State Bar Court Cases

NOTE: The State Bar Court began posting public discipline documents online in 2005. The format and pagination of documents posted on this site may vary from the originals in the case file as a result of their translation from the original format into Word and PDF. Copies of additional related documents in a case are available upon request. Only Opinions designated for publication in the State Bar Court Reporter may be cited or relied on as precedent in State Bar Court proceedings. For further information about a case that is displayed here, please refer to the State Bar Court's online docket, which can be found at: http://apps.statebarcourt.ca.gov/dockets/dockets.aspx

DISCLAIMER: Any posted Notice of Disciplinary Charges, Conviction Transmittal or other initiating document, contains only allegations of professional misconduct. The attorney is presumed to be innocent of any misconduct warranting discipline until the charges have been proven.

Effective Date	Case Number	Description
1/20/2011	09-PM-13028	Opinion [PDF] [WORD]
2/15/2008	03-C-02219	Stipulation [PDF]
2/15/2008	03-C-02219	Modification Order [PDF]
Pending	09-J-12252	Initiating Document [PDF]
Pending	11-O-15020	Initiating Document [PDF]

California Bar Journal Discipline Summaries

Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.

January 20, 2011

The probation of JAMES HARVEY TIPLER [#80748], 60, of Mary Esther, Fla., was revoked and he was placed on two years of probation with an actual two-year suspension and until he proves his rehabilitation. He receives credit for the involuntary inactive enrollment that began Nov. 5, 2010. The order took effect Jan. 20, 2011.

Tipler violated the terms of a 2008 disciplinary order. He opposed the bar’s move to revoke his probation with a declaration that the court found defective. He did not appear at the hearing.

Tipler did not file one quarterly report on time and did not file another at all, contact the probation office within 30 days or complete six hours of MCLE in ethics.

Tipler was disciplined six times in Florida and Alabama, beginning in 1992 with an arrest for possession of cocaine. The California discipline was imposed following a misdemeanor conviction in Alabama for interfering with judicial proceedings. In a medical malpractice action, he created the impression that a videotape he offered in evidence was in its original, unedited condition when the tape had in fact been edited.

February 15, 2008

JAMES HARVEY TIPLER [#80748], 57, of Mary Esther, Fla. was suspended for three years, stayed, placed on three years of probation with an actual 15-month suspension and was ordered to take the MPRE, comply with rule 9.20 and prove his rehabilitation. The order took effect Feb. 15, 2008.

Tipler stipulated to five acts of misconduct in three matters.

In 2001, he was convicted in Alabama of interfering with judicial proceedings, a misdemeanor. While representing the plaintiff in a medical malpractice case, he tried to offer a videotape into evidence, creating the impression that the tape was in its original unedited condition. In fact it had been edited, although Tipler said the edited portions were inconsequential.

As a result of the conviction, Tipler was sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine and $100 to a victim’s compensation fund.

In another matter, he was suspended from practice in Alabama the same year and was ordered to deposit $487,714.80 into a specified trust account. The money was for payment of a contingency fee alleged to be due to another law firm in a wrongful death action. Tipler did not deposit the money.

In 2005, Tipler was suspended in Alabama for engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and conduct that adversely reflects on fitness to practice law. While representing a dancer at a strip club on a charge of aggravated assault, he charged the client a fee of $2,300 and entered into an agreement with her that she would receive a $200 credit every time she had sex with him and $400 if she arranged for other women to have sex with him.

Tipler had a previous discipline record in Alabama and Florida.