Disputes over bills, support
Since he became a lawyer, Baez has been involved in several money disputes. They are mostly small compared with the bankruptcy, bad debts and other financial issues that prompted the Florida Board of Bar Examiners to refuse his application to the Bar after he graduated from law school in 1997. He was not admitted to practice law until 2005.
Darlene Bryant, a court reporter in North Carolina, said she spent six months in 2007 trying to get Baez to honor a $275 bill for work she did for him.
"He finally paid after I got the state Bar Association involved," she said.
Baez also ended up being sued in April 2007 over an $837.62 bill for 1,000 of his plastic business cards, which are decorated with a golden crest. Sir Speedy Printing went to court and won after Baez refused an offer from the Orange County Bar Association to mediate.
And in January 2007, four months before he bought a $670,000 waterfront home in a country-club community on East Lake Tohopekaliga, Baez was held in contempt of court for failing to pay $4,000 in child support, according to Miami-Dade Clerk of Court records.
His office spokeswoman, Marti Mackenzie, told the Sentinel that Baez and his former wife have resolved their support issues.