A family photo of Kathleen Gemma’s son, Anthony, a teenager killed by a drunken driver in December 2006.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

The mother of a Warwick teenager killed by a drunken driver has filed a complaint against two lawyers, saying they came to her son’s wake and that, while standing next to the casket, one lawyer talked about a big case they’d just settled and about their billboard off Route 10.

The mother says the lawyers came to the funeral home with the boy’s father, who she says spent little time with his son during his life but is now trying to cash in on the boy’s death.

The lawyers say they were not trying to solicit business at the wake. They said they were there to support the boy’s father and that it was the mother who brought up the idea of pursuing legal action. She says that’s not true. But the lawyers question the timing of her complaint and say she’s made it clear she’ll do anything in her power to prevent the father from claiming his right to half of any money recovered from legal action.

Kathleen M. Gemma, 39, of Warwick, filed a complaint with the Supreme Court’s attorney disciplinary board on Jan. 7. She said an investigator has interviewed her and her relatives about what happened at the wake, but she has not heard whether the board is going to dismiss the complaint or formally charge the lawyers with violating rules of professional conduct.

Gemma’s 17-year-old son, Anthony A. Gemma, was killed when a Coventry woman, Dawn M. Simas, smashed head-on into his car in Johnston in December 2006. Simas, 31, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after hitting Gemma’s car on Route 6 while driving 71 mph with a blood-alcohol content more than double the legal limit and with marijuana in her system.

In her complaint against the lawyers, Kathleen Gemma said Anthony was her only child and she was devastated by his death. “He meant everything to me,” she wrote.

Gemma and the boy’s father, Steven A. Ricci, never married, and she said Ricci saw their son no more than five times during the boy’s lifetime. “He may have gone to lunch with Anthony three or four times during his life and saw him at one Christmas when he was 13,” she wrote.

Gemma said that during the boy’s wake at a Cranston funeral home, Ricci introduced her to lawyers Robert A. D’Amico II and Jimmy Burchfield Jr., and she remembers Ricci “making some comment like, ‘This is Bob D’Amico. This is the man! He just won a two-million-dollar lawsuit. This is the man who is gonna do it!’ ”

She said D’Amico confirmed the big settlement and asked if she’d seen the billboard for his law firm. She had not.

“I wondered if this was the way lawyers are supposed to conduct themselves,” Gemma wrote in the complaint. “It seems appalling to me that two lawyers who my son and I had never met would come to Anthony’s wake for the purpose of speaking to me and telling me about some big case they settled so they could get a wrongful death case. While Mr. D’Amico was making his comments, my son was lying right there in the casket.”

Gemma said she eventually decided to hire another lawyer, William P. Devereaux, who had been recommended by her father, retired Providence police detective Ralph C. Gemma. She said Devereaux later told her that D’Amico’s law firm had contacted him, saying they were representing Ricci and that Ricci was seeking 50 percent of any wrongful death recovery.

Gemma’s complaint accuses D’Amico and Burchfield of violating Rule 7.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which says, “A lawyer may not solicit professional employment from a prospective client with whom the lawyer has no family or prior professional relationship, in person or otherwise, when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain.”

David D. Curtin, the state’s chief disciplinary counsel, said Friday that he can discuss a matter only when a lawyer has been formally charged with violating the rules of professional conduct.

On Jan. 16, D’Amico responded in writing to Gemma’s complaint, saying that he and Ricci have been friends for eight years and have a “long-standing business relationship.” Ricci’s computer consulting business is in the same building as his law firm, he said.

D’Amico said he was one of the first people Ricci contacted after hearing about his son’s death. “We spoke at length on the day of the wake regarding Mr. Ricci’s emotional state and he asked Mr. Burchfield and me to attend to provide some moral support for him,” he wrote. “He was fully aware that Ms. Gemma and her family disliked him for the limited role he played in his son’s life.”

D’Amico said he does not recall Ricci saying anything at the wake about a “million-dollar lawsuit.” He said that after he offered his condolences to Gemma, she raised the subject of pursuing legal action.

“Her concern at that point, however, was not about pursuing a claim for money, rather she was more concerned about seeing that justice was done for the loss of her son,” D’Amico wrote. “I specifically recall telling Ms. Gemma that the wake was not the appropriate time to be discussing legal issues and that if she wanted to meet with me to discuss the case she could call my office to make an appointment.”

D’Amico said Gemma told him she would call and they discussed the location of his office, which is on Atwells Avenue in Providence. “I made reference to the electronic sign as a landmark to give her an idea as to where the office was located,” he wrote.

“At no time did I advance any conversation with Ms. Gemma having the motive for pecuniary gain or for the purpose of soliciting Ms. Gemma as a client in the wrongful death matter,” D’Amico wrote. “My sole purpose for attending the wake was to pay my respects to my friend, Steven Ricci.”

D’Amico called the timing of Gemma’s complaint “somewhat suspect,” noting it was filed 13 months after the wake.

“Since that time, Ms. Gemma and her attorney, William Devereaux, have made it abundantly clear that they believe Mr. Ricci’s pursuit of his statutory right to 50 percent of the wrongful death claim and my representation of him in this regard is morally repugnant to them both,” D’Amico wrote. “They have on many occasions communicated their position that they will do everything in their power to see that Mr. Ricci does not receive any portion of the claim that he is legally entitled to pursue.”

Gemma filed a response to D’Amico’s letter on Jan. 31, saying, “The most upsetting and morally repugnant comment made by Mr. D’Amico is his allegation that I brought up the issue of legal action while standing next to my son’s casket. That is simply false.”

Gemma rejected the idea that Ricci needed moral support at the wake because her family didn’t like him. Her family “harbored no specific ill will” toward him, she said. “He was simply not around.”

Ricci initially contested whether he was the boy’s father, but when blood tests confirmed it, he agreed to “a court-ordered garnishment to pay child support” and paid about $14,000 over 17 years, Gemma said. She said she and others encouraged Ricci to meet with his son, but he seldom did. When the boy was 10, he and his father went to lunch, and Ricci promised to pick him up the next day. “Anthony waited all day with great anticipation,” she wrote. “Mr. Ricci never showed.”

Gemma also disputed the idea that she filed the complaint because Ricci wants 50 percent of any settlements. She said she did allow Devereaux to offer Ricci 20 percent as long as he would put half into a Warwick youth hockey scholarship in Anthony’s name. But she said D’Amico and Ricci refused that offer, saying Ricci wanted 50 percent.

“It is clear that Mr. D’Amico’s concern here was not about consoling his friend,” Gemma wrote. “It was about money — how much he and Steven Ricci could get.”

On Jan. 28, Ricci and D’Amico filed a petition in Warwick Probate Court seeking to have Gemma removed as the administrator of her son’s estate.

The petition acknowledged that Ricci and Gemma never had a substantial relationship and that Ricci “had very limited involvement in his son’s life.” But it said that since the boy died without a will, Gemma and Ricci are entitled, by law, to share in the estate on a 50-50 basis.

The petition said Gemma hates Ricci and doesn’t want him to get a 50-percent share. The petition cited a letter Gemma sent to Ricci, saying, “It is clear from this letter that Ms. Gemma is not of the mindset to discharge her responsibilities as the administrator of the estate when the law requires that Mr. Ricci is entitled to 50 percent.”

The petition said Devereaux tried to negotiate a resolution that would give Ricci only 20 percent of money from two auto-insurance policies. “Ms. Gemma and Mr. Devereaux are making moral judgments against Mr. Ricci and attempting to use their moral perception to negotiate against Mr. Ricci’s rights,” the petition said.

The petition said Gemma and Devereaux have ignored a $100,000 settlement offer from an insurance company, and it said Ricci would pursue “each and every claim” for “the best interest of all heirs involved.”

Gemma and Devereaux filed a reply on Friday, saying they have filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the estate and a loss of consortium claim, and that “Ms. Gemma fully intends to comply with the law.”

Gemma’s letter to Ricci simply recounted his lack of involvement in his son’s life, and Ricci cannot dispute any of those facts, the reply said. “What the facts indicate here is that Mr. Ricci is solely interested in recovering money for the death of a son, who he ignored for virtually his entire life,” the reply said.

“The idea that Mr. Ricci is motivated to pursue ‘each and every claim’ is clearly based on the premise that Mr. Ricci and Mr. D’Amico were very disappointed that Kathleen Gemma did not elect to retain the D’Amico Burchfield law firm,” the reply said.

A probate court hearing is set for March 6.

Ricci, 37, of Johnston, did not return calls Friday.

In an interview Friday, D’Amico said, “This is a heart-wrenching, complicated case where we have a grieving mother. Our heart goes out to her for the difficulty she’s going through.”

But, D’Amico said, “Clearly, the emotions are spilling over into the legal proceedings and blurring the lines as it relates to the legal issues that are in dispute.” And, he said, “Ultimately, the legal issues are for the courts to decide, and my role as a legal advocate is to advocate for the rights of my clients as best as I can.”

D’Amico said, “As far as the ethical allegations against me and my partner, I vehemently deny the allegation of misconduct.”

In an interview Friday, Devereaux said Gemma is emotional because she lost her only son. “Contrast that with Ricci,” he said. “He’s not emotional. He’s just interested in the money.”

efitzpat@projo.com