Michigan disbarred Detroit-area attorney Gregory Rohl and ordered nearly $660,000 in restitution over a toddler's wrongful-death settlement.

A disbarment by consent is a professional penalty, not a criminal conviction, and no criminal charge against Rohl has been reported. What the board's notice does establish is a no-contest plea to the grievance counts and a restitution order of $659,821.44. Whether anyone else answers for the missing money is still open.

Gregory J. Rohl, a longtime Detroit-area attorney, has been disbarred and ordered to pay $659,821.44 in restitution plus $1,446.14 in costs over a wrongful-death settlement that his former clients say never reached them, Local 4 WDIV, WXYZ 7 News Detroit and the Daily Mail reported. A notice of disbarment and restitution issued by the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board on Oct. 1, 2026, says the disbarment took effect that day and was by consent.

According to the notice, the formal complaint alleged Rohl misappropriated and failed to distribute court-ordered shares of a $2.5 million wrongful-death settlement that had been held in his client trust account. The notice says it was alleged he used the funds for unrelated purposes, failed to release the children's shares despite court orders, and made false statements about the funds. Local 4 reported Rohl pleaded no contest to misappropriating and failing to distribute the court-ordered shares.

The settlement came from a lawsuit over the January 2017 death of a 3-year-old girl who was killed when a 350-pound cafeteria table fell from its wall casing at a Head Start program at St. Albert the Great in Dearborn Heights, Local 4 and the Daily Mail reported. Her mother, Tabatha Kerr, told Local 4 that shares meant for the girl's surviving siblings never arrived. "I feel like I'm walking on hell on earth," Kerr told the station. "I am tired of being kicked while I'm down." Kerr has also been pushing for a proposed state school-safety law named for her daughter.

Rohl told Local 4 he is recovering from a stroke and blamed his "now deceased partner and office manager," and a probate attorney. "I have never knowingly taken any monies from any client ever, but the account was in my name making me ultimately responsible for any loss," Rohl said in a statement to the station. He said the matter "cost me my 40-year law career." Local 4 reported Rohl was previously suspended in 2016 and reprimanded in 2024.

No criminal charge against Rohl over the settlement has been reported, and a disbarment by consent is a professional discipline order, not a criminal finding. If charges are ever filed, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.