CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended two Cuyahoga County lawyers who tried to collect $1 million in legal fees from the family of a teenage suicide victim as part of a wrongful death case on which the lawyers did about 15 hours of work.

Attorneys Mark D. Amaddio of Beachwood and John J. Wargo of Berea tried to pressure the girl’s father into paying the fee by threatening to ask a judge to remove his name from his daughter’s estate in the county’s probate court, according to court records.

The court’s justices in a 5-2 decision handed down Wednesday bucked the suggestion of the Board of Professional Conduct to issue a fully stayed suspension of six months, and instead suspended the attorneys for one year.

Amaddio and Wargo also agreed to donate $30,000 to mental-health organizations as an apology to the family. They paid half of it before their disciplinary hearing and agreed to pay the rest of it before the end of the year.

The girl took her life inside a hospital in 2016, after she was admitted for mental health treatment, court records say.

The girl’s family did not want to file a lawsuit against the hospital and decided to handle the negotiations themselves. On top of a monetary settlement, the family wanted the hospital to pay for the girl’s family members to receive mental-health treatment and to establish a program with local schools to give children continued mental-health treatment after they are admitted to a hospital, court records said.

The girl’s father met with Amaddio for advice periodically during the negotations, and Amaddio said he would handle the case for a 20 percent contingency fee, records say. The father declined the offer and did not hire him, the records say.

The hospital and the girl’s family reached a confidential settlement, and Amaddio and Wargo, who are not law partners but work together frequently, helped the family set up an estate in the girl’s name to handle the money. Amaddio then tried to collect the 20-percent contingency fee, which he said would amount to $1 million, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. The father had hired another lawyer, and refused the payment, the records said.

The lawyers hired their own lawyer, Tom Wilson, who came up with the idea to file a petition with the probate judge to get the girl’s father removed from her estate, the court said. Wilson sent the father’s lawyer a draft petition that accused the father of lying and committing fraud on the court by denying that he agreed to the fee, the court said. The petition also included details about the confidential settlement and the girl’s history of mental-health issues in the run-up to her death, the court said.

Wargo later admitted that he did nothing to prevent Wilson from filing the petition, and that he was trying to “play some hard ball” with the father, the court said.

Amaddio and Wargo did not ultimately file the petition, but did ask the probate court to hold a hearing so they could argue that they should be entitled to collect attorney’s fees, the court said. They dropped their request the day before the hearing.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel found the lawyers violated rules that bar lawyers from charging an excessive fee and engaging in conduct that adversely reflects on their fitness to practice law.

Read recent stories

Ohio Supreme Court suspends well-known Cleveland lawyer who mishandled clients’ cases

Disciplinary board recommends Cleveland attorney, former stand-up comic, be suspended

Ohio Supreme Court reinstates law license of former Lorain County judge with history of misconduct, criminal conviction

Cleveland attorney suspended for mishandling Bulgarian ballroom dancer’s immigration case

Lawyer captured on tape coaching client to lie loses law license

Ohio Supreme Court suspends Brunswick lawyer who blamed car crash on black man who didn’t exist